If that no-no by Daisuke Matsuzaka happened, I don't think I would ever have forgiven FOX for not letting me (or anyone else in the DC area) see it. Sure, I may have gotten to see the final out, but the other 26 I would have missed. Of course, I still missed a helluva game. I followed it on the radio and Gameday on my iPhone, but it's just not the same as seeing it on TV.
As it turns out, Dice-K missed a no-hitter by 4 outs. With two down in the bottom of the eighth, Juan Castro (it's always the guys you least suspect!) blooped a broken-bat single just to the left-field side of Scutaro, who made a valiant effort to grab it. I saw the replay of that hit on NESN's Sports Desk, by the way. That hit was the only hit the Phillies managed tonight off of Dice-K and Daniel Bard, who came out and pitched the ninth, as Dice was at 114 pitches. The Sox won the game 5-0 and blanked an opposing team for the first time this season. This is no cupcake lineup that got one-hit tonight. This is the best lineup in the NL and it's considered to be the equivalent of an AL lineup.
Of the five starts Matsuzaka has made so far this season, three have been with V-Mart behind the plate and two have been with Tek. Dice-K's two outings with Tek look like they were thrown by a different pitcher than the three with V-Mart. Tek caught tonight's game and the one at home against Toronto, by the way. When Dice-K has Tek behind the plate, he seems to have the confidence to go after hitters and trust his stuff. It makes perfect sense why he's more comfortable with Tek--Tek has caught most of his games since he joined the team in 2007 and they have developed a good working relationship over the years. It would be in the best interests of the team to have Tek catch Dice-K for the rest of the season. If he can elicit from the enigmatic pitcher the kind of performances we saw tonight and against the Jays, that would be a huge help to a struggling Red Sox rotation.
The Sox didn't do so badly with the lumber tonight either. After being held to one run last night by Cole Hamels, they scored once in the fourth on a Hermida sac fly, and four in the fifth, chasing Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick. Scoots doubled to lead off the inning. Dice-K, who, on top of his pitching masterpiece, got a hit in his first at-bat, bunted Scoots over to third. Jacoby "Welcome Back" Ellsbury walked. Pedey, who is having buzzard's luck at the dish, popped out to second, then Drew singled to plate Scoots. Papi knocked a double to score Ells. Beltre followed up with another two-bagger, scoring Drew and Papi. That was it for Kendrick and Charlie Manuel summoned a reliever with a most unfortunate name, Antonio Bastardo. Bastardo whiffed Hermida to end the inning and the scoring for the game.
Dice-K's 8 innings of one-hit ball, while it came short of making history, represented the third stellar outing by a Sox starter in four games. Wake takes the hill tomorrow and has the misfortune of having his teammates face Doc Halladay. Then again, the Sox have a history of roughing Doc up when he was a Blue Jay, so maybe he'll get the run support he's been missing after all. Then again, it's a day game and for some puzzling reason the Sox haven't been winning in the earlier hours this season. Poor Wake. Score some runs for him, would ya, boys?
LET'S GO RED SOX!!!! CONGRATS, DICE-K, ON AN AMAZING 8 INNINGS!!!
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