He couldn't close the gap last night, though he did everything in his power to try. Unfortunately, it's impossible in baseball to hit a 5-run tater. He hit a salami in the 9th to bring the Sox within a run, but Cameron looked at strike 3, well, you know what happened then.
This afternoon was a different story With the sacks juiced in the bottom of the ninth with one out, lefty and ex-Yankee Phil Coke on the hill and Youk having been intentionally walked and the Sox down by two runs, the Tigers took a big gamble by electing to face a guy who had just grannied against them the night before. Fortunately for the Red Sox, Detroit lost that gamble and Papi sent a bases-clearing double in the left-field gap. In came McDonald (who singled to lead off the inning), Lowrie (who doubled, pinch-hitting for Patterson), and Youk. Dice-K's somewhat dicey start and the six innings of frustration at the plate at the hands of Max Scherzer became an afterthought. After all, it's not how you start the game, but how you finish.
This win came on a day the Sox let the trade deadline pass without making any big splashes. They shipped RamRam off to San Fran and got Salty from Texas in two separate deals. They also DFA'ed Hermida and called up outfield prospect Ryan Kalish, along with recalling Dustin Richardson to take RamRam's place. Kalish, who had been lighting it up in AA and AAA this season continued this season's theme of newbies coming up big when he went 2-for-4, the second of those hits driving in the Sox' first run. He also scored a run on Darnell McDonald's single and made a great catch in left. If Kalish can provide some solid offense and defense in the outfield, then he's the ideal solution to the outfield conundrum. He has a high upside and doesn't cost a thing. When Ells comes back, the Sox can choose to DL Cameron and let him have surgery to fix his sports hernia (if that's what he has) and go with a starting OF of Kalish in left, Ells in center and Drew in right with McDonald coming off the bench as the fourth OF.
As for the bullpen, the Sox got rid of one of their less-than-trustworthy relievers by sending him to the NL where he may have a better chance of succeeding. They are converting Felix Doubront to a reliever and they have Bowden getting more relieving experience in Pawtucket before possibly coming back up to Boston. Had they gone out and got a reliever on the trade market, it would have been just as much of a gamble as relying on their internal options. Eric Gagne, anyone? The guys the Yanks and Rays picked up have struggled this year and have inflated ERAs. Both teams are hoping their new acquisitions will benefit from a change of scenery--hoping being the operative word. Had the Red Sox picked up either Chad Qualls or Kerry Wood, many of us would have thought they were trading one problem for another. Middle relievers are a crapshoot, as Tito said today, and I agree with him here. You really don't know what you're getting until you've already made the deal and paid the price.
Salty is a good pickup because he's a young catcher with what they call "a high upside". He has struggled with injuries and controlling his throwing arm, but those issues have been supposedly resolved while he's been the Rangers' minor league system. He'll go to Pawtucket first, but if all goes well he could make Kevin Cash expendable soon.
When all is said and done, I'm okay with the Sox not making a blockbuster move this trade deadline. There wasn't a lot to be had that would fill the team's needs and Ells and Pedey will be coming back soon (hopefully within the next two weeks). They can also make waiver trades this coming month.
Buchholz vs. Verlander in the series finale. Let's hope Clay doesn't follow Lester and Dice-K in the not-quite-a-quality-start department and the bats run up Verlander's pitch count early.
LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!
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