I went to the Red Sox game against the visiting Athletics today, and it was one of the craziest games I have ever been to. It started with a bang when Adrian Gonzalez hit a home run over the Green Monster. Despite the fact it barely cleared the Monster, it was still a considerable feat considering he went opposite field.
After that, however, both offenses stalled over the next few innings. But the bats turned back on when J.D. Drew singled home Carl Crawford. This wouldn’t be the last time that would happen, however. The A’s quickly tied the game with two runs of their own in the sixth, but it didn’t stay like that for long.
The Red Sox answered with a 3-run sixth inning of their own to take the lead 5-2. The A’s narrowed the gap with a run, but again the Red Sox answered in big fashion, scoring two runs in the eighth inning to take a 7-3 lead heading into the ninth.
At the time, Jonathon Papelbon was warming up in the bullpen, and I wondered whether or not the Red Sox should bother putting him in with such a large lead. It turns out, they shouldn’t have.
The Sox indeed decide to pitch him, and he promptly came in to give up four runs, allowing the A’s to tie it up. And to make matter worse, amidst all of Papelbon’s frustration over calls of strikes and balls, he yelled at the ump and charged him. Needless to say, he was ejected. And soon after, Jason Veritek followed Papelbon’s poor example also arguing to no avail, getting the same result—an ejection.
Even without Tek and Papelbon, the game went on to extra innings. Things seemed bleak, though, when the Red Sox’ bats turned off for the next few inning, and the A’s were able to score a run in the 11th.
But with two outs in the bottom half of the 11th, however, Jacoby Ellsbury hit a double to send Jarrod Saltalamacchia home the game-tying run, sending the Fenway crowd into a frenzy.
But both offenses would stall for another three more innings before an outcome would finally be reached. This came in the 14th inning when Nancy—I mean J.D.—Drew stepped to the plate and, far exceeding the low expectations,delivered a walk-off single, sending Crawford home again.
In summary, after spending nearly six hours at Fenway today, I got to see 15 runs, a blown save by Papelbon, two ejections, five extra innings, and a walk-off hit by Drew. Certainly not your average day at the ballpark.
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