July 8, 2008 Red Sox 10, Twins 7

Both teams keep the scorekeeper busy with each scoring in 5 different innings, in fact the only innings in which neither team scored were the 6th inning and the Twins half of the 9th. Victory seemed to be easily in hand until Hideki Okajima almost implodes in the 8th inning, allowing 3 runs on Denard Span's first major league homerun of his career to narrow the Sox lead to three. That brings in Papelbon, who gets the final four outs easily for the save and knocks his ERA below the 1.00 mark in the process. Jon Lester gets his 8th win of the year with only one earned run allowed thanks to some un-Sox like sloppy fielding with 3 BoSox errors today. Kevin Youkilis continues to put up MVP style numbers with a 2 homerun 3 RBI day. Youk in fact, with his current .333 average, 23 HR and 67 RBI runs third in the MVP voting behind #1 Jermaine Dye of the White Sox (.338 avg for 2nd in the AL, 26 HR 71 RBI) and #2 Josh Hamilton of the Rangers (.310 and league leading totals of 28 HR and 89 RBI). Youk isn't the only almost award winning player on the team as Jonathan Papelbon runs second in the Cy Young behind Mariano Rivera. That stats for the two - Paps 5-1, 18 saves and a 0.99 ERA vs. the untouchable Rivera's 0-2, 31 saves and 0.79 ERA. That is including the 4 run shellacking that the Sox gave him the other day.

Strat-O-Matic Report

---

BOXSCORE: 2008 Minnesota Twins At 2008 Boston Red Sox                7/8/2008
 
  Twins              AB  R  H RBI AVG     Red Sox            AB  R  H RBI AVG
  C.Gomez CF          4  1  2  1 .227     J.Ellsbury CF       5  2  2  2 .324  
  A.Casilla 2B        4  1  0  0 .236     D.Pedroia 2B        5  0  1  0 .288  
  J.Mauer C           5  0  3  2 .353     J.Drew RF           4  1  2  1 .280  
  J.Morneau 1B        5  0  3  1 .287     M.Ramirez DH        4  0  0  0 .302  
  C.Monroe DH         4  0  0  0 .169     M.Lowell 3B         5  2  3  1 .284  
  D.Young LF          5  0  1  0 .255     K.Youkilis 1B       3  3  2  3 .333  
  B.Harris 3B         4  1  1  0 .228     B.Moss LF           3  0  1  2 .192  
B-B.Buscher PH        1  0  0  0 .200   A-J.Bailey LF         0  0  0  0 .750  
  N.Punto SS          5  2  2  0 .274     J.Lugo SS           4  1  1  0 .327  
  D.Span RF           3  2  2  3 .266     K.Cash C            3  1  2  1 .179  
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
         Totals      40  7 14  7                 Totals      36 10 14 10
 
A-Subbed Defensively (LF) For Moss In 8th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For Harris In 9th Inning
 
Twins........... 1 0 1  1 0 0  1 3 0  -  7 14  0
Red Sox......... 1 1 3  0 2 0  3 0    - 10 14  3
 
Twins (38-52)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
N.Blackburn LOSS(6-7)     4 2/3  10   7   7   2   0   2  91   4.20
J.Crain                   2       2   2   2   2   2   0  45   3.80
B.Bonser                  1 1/3   2   1   1   2   2   1  25   3.95
Totals                    8      14  10  10   6   4   3
 
Red Sox (58-35)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
J.Lester WIN(8-5)         6       9   3   1   2   3   0 106   3.44
C.Hansen                  1       1   1   1   1   1   0  17   3.54
H.Okajima                 0 2/3   4   3   3   0   0   1  29   4.41
J.Papelbon SAVE(18th)     1 1/3   0   0   0   0   1   0  13   0.99
Totals                    9      14   7   5   3   5   1
 
ATTENDANCE- 33,330 DATE- Tuesday, July 8th 2008 TIME- Night WEATHER- Bad
UMPIRES- Gary Cederstrom, Fieldin Culbreth, Jim Reynolds, Tim Timmons
T- 3:05
LEFT ON BASE- Twins:10  Red Sox:10
DOUBLE PLAYS- Twins: 2  Red Sox: 0
ERRORS- J.Drew, M.Lowell, J.Lugo
DOUBLES- J.Mauer(24th), J.Morneau(31st), D.Pedroia(24th), J.Drew(18th),
         M.Lowell-2(17th), B.Moss(5th), K.Cash(5th)
HOME RUNS- D.Span(1st), J.Ellsbury(8th), K.Youkilis-2(23rd)
SACRIFICE HITS- C.Gomez
WALKS- A.Casilla, C.Monroe, D.Span, K.Youkilis-2, B.Moss, J.Bailey, J.Lugo,
       K.Cash
HIT BY PITCH- J.Drew, M.Ramirez
STRIKE OUTS- J.Morneau, C.Monroe-2, B.Harris, N.Punto, D.Pedroia, M.Ramirez,
             B.Moss, J.Lugo
GIDP- D.Pedroia, M.Lowell
WILD PITCHES- J.Crain, C.Hansen
PASSED BALLS- K.Cash
WEB GEMS- Bot 7th: Delmon Young robbed Dustin Pedroia of an extra base hit.
 
First baseman Kevin Youkilis blasted 2 homeruns and had 3 RBI as the Boston
Red Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins by the score of 10 to 7 at Fenway
Park.
 
Youkilis enjoyed a fine evening at the plate.  He lofted a solo-blast
'downtown' in the 2nd inning and popped a two-run clout over the fence (his
23rd of the season) in the 5th inning.  Minnesota scored in 5 different
innings, but their shaky pitching kept them from victory.  
 
The win was credited to Jon Lester(8-5) who went 6 innings allowing 3 runs.
Jonathan Papelbon recorded the save, his 18th.  Nick Blackburn(6-7) was
tagged with the loss.  He was knocked around by Boston, allowing 10 hits and
2 walks in 4 and 2/3 innings.  
 

• Go to Strat-O-Matic Homepage