Final Score: Boston Red Sox 1, Arizona Diamondbacks 5Someone seems to have forgotten to tell Randy Johnson he's 10,000 years old. That's the only reason I can think of to explain his complete and utter nine strikeout domination of the Olde Towne Team yesterday evening under the warm, sunny roof of Chase Field. I'm pretty sure the best shot the Sox had at a win was in the first, when they pushed runners to first and second with two outs but failed to score any runs. After that, the one run in the fourth was exciting, but a sense of doom soon settled on the field as it became clear that there would be no repeats of Friday's blowout.
The Red Scare did their best to compound the issue. After a solid six innings from Matsuzaka, who suffered a bit from the base on balls (4) but kept the score within a run, the bullpen toed the line for an inning, then completely fell apart in the eighth. Donnelly puts the lead runner on for the second inning in a row and hits the showers. Javier Lopez walks the only man he sees. Mike Timlin...well, Mike Timlin was Old Man Timlin yesterday, much to the glee of the insurance-seeking Diamondbacks. He did get three outs, but not before allowing three runs to score in a manner of such varied tomfoolery that it was as intellectually interesting (how did he manage to throw to first that way on a bunt right to him?) to watch as it was painful. Thus Timlin and pretty much the remainder of the game.
J.D. Drew didn't play yesterday, so his hitting streak remains intact at three games, with the potential for more peeking over the horizon against Colorado. In the meantime, he and every other hitter on the Red Sox will have tonight to brood over why they've stopped hitting consistently, why they keep hitting into double plays, having to play small ball to move over runners, keep missing the important hit that would score runs, etc. Maybe I wouldn't worry so much, but the Yankees are finally starting to come to life - as expected - and are now within 10 games for the first time in months.
Speaking of hitting, DC and I were just having a discussion about clutch hitting and how this year's team doesn't seem to have the clutch, come-from-behind luster that recent Red Sox teams have sported. I can't find a stat from come-from-behind victories (anyone know where to find one?) but even though the Sox continue to score more runs in the eighth inning than any other time, they don't inspire a lot of comeback confidence when push comes to shove. However, because feelings aren't very scientific, I did some more stat math and found a good numeric justification for the lack of confidence: runs per inning per game.
As it turns out, while the Sox score 0.84 runs per game in the eighth inning (their top-scoring inning), they only score 0.48 runs per game in the ninth inning, their second worst score overall. While this stat doesn't take into account games where the Sox are winning coming into the ninth inning (on the road) or games where they come from behind to win before the ninth inning, it does mean that if the Sox are losing in the ninth, they really are less likely to score the runs they need to win.
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