I Scored!

July 15 2006

Here’s a game from early in the lost 2006 season. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but what a ridiculous scorecard this is. Sixteen batting positions, but only nine innings? Three pitcher’s spots? No wonder I made my own card.

Checking out the three pitchers, we see that Curt Schilling got the start. That’s a good sign. His line shows that he pitched a fine game. Seven innings of scoreless ball is something the Sox will take every time. Especially with the line-up that they used that day.

Kevin Youkilis was sitting at the top of the order, ready to get on base for everyone behind him. He was only able to do it once that day, but it led to the second run of the game. The heart of the order was just as you’d like to see it. Ortiz, followed by Manny. Nixon was in an odd spot. But, he made that lefty-righty-lefty thing that Terry Francona adored. Plus, if you want a good fastball hitter to get a lot of fastballs, that’s a good spot to bat him. Lowell took up the sixth spot. Those guys provided all the offense for the Sox that day. They drove in six of the seven runs, and scored five of them. Exactly what you want from the big bats.

The star of the game? Manny had a great game, but I’m going to go with David Ortiz. He went 2-4 on the day with a homer, and drove in three runs.

The goat? Toss up between Jason Varitek and Coco Crisp. At least Varitek got hit by a pitch to get on base. But, he did strike out twice to end an inning. Which would you choose?

In the end, the dual goats didn’t matter. The Sox scored runs, and got the pitching to make them count. All that led to an easy win.

And the scorecard shows how it happened.