Not pictured is Ryan Howard's fourth strikeout to lead off the 9th against Jonathan Papelbon, who also struck out the next two batters to close out Jon Lester's 3-0 win. The Red Sox-Phillies series is tied at one. The decisive game, a Businessperson's Special, is tomorrow at 1:05.Tonight's story was Lester, who like Cole Hamels last night, showed how a good young lefty can dominate even the best of offenses. He tossed seven shutout innings with a walk, six hits and five strikeouts.
It looked like it would be a short night for the venerable Jamie Moyer, as the Red Sox rolled up his pitch count thanks to five walks. (Christine thinks the umps weren't calling strikes for him.) But the cagey pitcher managed to last five innings, yielding only two runs.
Not much to speak of from the Red Sox bats. Coco Crisp hit a two-run homer in the 2nd and scored the third run in the 6th. Led by his two stolen bases, the Red Sox tied a club record with six, including one by the dreamy Sean Casey. It's not what you think: Look closely at his scoreboard photo above. It's not the typical game face or smart-ass grin that typically graces the big screen. No, it's puppy dogs and rainbows. He looks head over heels or something.
Observations from the stands: We were still higher than usual, but aligned nearly directly behind home plate. ... The field looked a bit better, but you could still see the Jimmy Buffett remnants. ... They're no Hooters, but the Dartmouth Cords did a good job with the National Anthem. ... In the 1st, J.D. Drew had a good strategy, hitting a grounder right at Ryan Howard, who promptly coughed it up. But it bounced right toward Chase Utley, who retired Drew 3-4-3. ... After Jimmy Rollins grounded out on the first pitch in the bottom of the 1st, Shane Victorino bunted his first pitch for a single. "What the hell is he doing?" Christine said before she even knew he'd be safe. Utley then made up for it with an 11-pitch fly out. ... We saw a guy in an old-school Expos hat. I guess all Expos hats are old school. ... Pat Burrell likes newspaper word jumbles, according to the "Ask the Phillies" segment that runs between innings. ... After a leadoff walk by J-Roll in the 6th, Mike Lowell speared a liner from Victorino and was able to double off Rollins at first. ... After Hideki Okajima struck out Chase Utley to end the 8th, I did a little fist pump. Christine punched me. ... Before the 9th, they showed Jon Runyan of the Eagles on the scoreboard to pump up the crowd. Didn't work.
Also ineffective was the Phanatic's attempt to spoof Papelbon by breaking out his Riverdance shtick. When the "umpire" ripped off his uniform to show off his kilt and join the dance, Christine thought it explained why the Red Sox seemed to get all the calls tonight. The fans bugged us more than usual tonight. No one can stay seated during a game. I understand getting up once or twice, but people were getting up once or twice an inning with no regard to whether a pitch was about to happen. I think I missed 25 percent of the pitches in the game because people were standing in the way. "Why do we go to games again," mused Christine, who was also aggravated by some obnoxious Phillies teenagers sitting behind us. They came to "beat up some Red Sox fans" but showed their mettle by taunting Jacoby Ellsbury after he was caught stealing in the 9th and Papelbon for striking out Howard because "he's the easiest guy in the world to strike out." I won't mention the crude things they said.
Odds and ends: It seems Bartolo Colon, headed to the 15-day DL, tweaked his back Monday when he struck out so poorly his helmet fell off. There's more ammo for Hank Steinbrenner's crusade to bring the DH to the National League. And listening to the Mets game on the way home, the announcers said there was already some incident with Jose Reyes and Jerry Manuel. Details fuzzy at the moment.
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