Scorecard: June 12, 2011 Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays - Game 3 of 3

From Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario,

Canada:

Boston Red Sox

(38-26)

Manager: Terry Francona

@

Toronto Blue Jays

(32-33)

Manager: John Farrell

Game 3 of 3

First pitch: 1:07 PM EDT

Starting Pitchers
Boston - Jon Lester
Toronto - Kyle Drabek



Umpires
Home - Jeff Kellogg
3B - Mark Carlson
2B - Tim Timmons
1B - Eric Cooper


Weather
Partly Sunny
Temp: 16°C | 61°F (at 12:34)
Wind: North-West at 19 kph | 12 mph
(left field corner to1B line) 


Listening to the radio again today, with Jerry Howarth and Gregg Zaun; that's Gregg with three g's. Oh, and now that I've been here a few times apparently Mike Wilner does the 5th and 6th play by play at home games.

Middle 5th

I can't do this anymore... Hit after hit the Boston's score, one after the other, and in order most of the time. Station to station then big bats to clear them all - then they fill them up again.

It's unbearable.

The Boston Red Sox are HOT. This is the hottest team in baseball right now.

After witnessing this I'm left asking, Is this the hottest team in history? One would have to add some parameters to the question - over how many games, by what metrics? Run differential might be a good one... ..etc.. But I'm thinking after the Yankee Sweep and now this 3 game pummelling...

With this win today the Boston's have won nine in a row. Going back to the beginning of May the Sox lost 3 (May 4th, 5th, 6th) then swept Minnesota, lost 2 in a row to Toronto May 10th and 11th, then swept the Yankees, Baltimore, Detroit and the Cubs; won 2 out of 3 over Cleveland, then 3 of 4 over Detroit - before losing 3 to the White Sox; and then starting on this 9 game win streak going into June. That's a pretty good month, 19-10, and a scintillating start to June.


'Perhaps the best order ever?'  Some were asking in Boston early this year. I read the articles but my puritan side said you don't talk about those things like that - and the Boston's April proved my superstition right - and perhaps that bears a little closer look - Most agree on paper this line-up is fantastic, and Boston, being the Baseball Media Capital of the World wouldn't let these individuals forget it - the pressure to perform as the greatest line up of all time fell upon Crawford worst of all, his start was particularly gruesome - but even Big Papi was being pilloried by the Boston media, 'Trade him!' they shouted, '..but what could we possibly get for this sort of washed up lay about?' they moaned in chorus...

Not any more, this team has turned a corner this week - just in time to embarrass this young Jays team but good.

All the pressure seems to have come off off the pitching staff as well - now they're looking like last years version again.

The New York Yankee's 1961 line-up is considered by many as the best line-up of all time. Here's the most common lineup the 1961 Yankees fielded:

1. Boyer
2. Kubek
3. Maris
4. Mantle
5. Berra
6. Skowron
7. Howard
8. Richardson
9. Pitcher

1961 Yankees from Baseball-Reference.

The 1927 Yankees lineup wasn't too bad either; this is my favourite - the one I'll be using for comparison, watching Boston's progress this year:

1. Combs
2. Koenig
3. Ruth
4. Gehrig
5. Meusel
6. Lazzeri
7. Dugan
8. Collins
9. Pitcher

1927 Yankees from Baseball-Reference.
(all links go back to BB-Ref.)


 9th Inning

The FAN590 radio Play by Play voice of the Blue Jays, Jerry Howarth just opined that he had never seen such a lopsided series in 30 years of broadcasting, Gregg Zaun added he can't remember a trouncing this bad as a player.

For example I think I can count 7 runs scored by the Boston's this weekend, the result of high throws from the outfield that missed the cut-off allowing runners to move up that then scored - that wouldn't have if defenced properly. This young team has some lessons here - if they choose to seize them.

Final Boston 14 - Toronto 1

mh




Line-up and pitching totals from ESPN (box score).

Colour Legend (as of this date)

Neon Green is a Base Hit Forest Green is a runner advanced by a Base Hit or a Sacrifice Yellow is Intentional Base on Balls, Defensive Indifference, a Sacrafice or Fielder's Choice Red is an out Pink are un-earned bases - Wild Pitch, Passed Ball or an Error Neon Blue is a Stolen Base Navy Blue is a base earned that results in a Run Scored - colour marks the path of the RBI

The Scoring Notations

BB Base on Balls - Batter to first base because the umpire ruled that pitched ball was the forth pitch of the at-bat out of the strike zone HBP Hit By Pitch - Batter is ruled by the umpire to have been hit by pitch - awarded one base BH Base Hit - Batter-runner safe at first base via a hit ball 2BH Two Base Hit - Batter-runner safe at second base via a hit ball 3BH Three Base Hit - Batter-runner safe at third base via a hit ball HR Home Run - Batter-runner safe at home plate via a hit ball RBI Run Batted In - via a BH or a BB or a SAC or a HBP...  a run scores RS Run Scored. SAC Sacrifice - With less than two outs the batter causes a base runner to advance but in the process, is put out FC Ball hit on the ground, fielded and a put out made anywhere but at 1B DI Defensive Indifference - A baserunner advances because the defence, for strategic reasons, does nothing IBB Intentional Base on Balls - The defences decides to walk a batter for strategic reasons

SB Stolen Base - Base runner advances on a pitched ball despite the defence's best efforts CS Caught Stealing - A baserunner is put out while tring to advance on a pitch K Called third strike - Batter out because the umpire ruled that with two strikes in an at-bat, a pitched ball was in the strike zone Ks Batter out, swinging third strike IFR Infield Fly Rule - A ball popped up on the infield that an umpire rules is easily catch-able - batter-runner is out, the ball is dead LO Ball caught that was hit so hard it appears like the vector was a straight line GO Ball hit on the ground, fielded and the batter-runner is put out at 1B FO A high arching hit ball caught on the fly by a fielder E The defence allows runners to advance because of less than stallar play Eth The defence allows runners to advance because of less than stallar throw WP Wild Pitch - a pitched ball that bounces in and is not caught by the catcher and that results in a runner advancing PB Passed Ball - a pitched ball that doesn't bounce and is not caught by the catcher and that results in a runner advancing

pop A ball hit in a high arch such that the distance travelled up is greater than the distance travelled from the plate GR To prevent injury, "Ground Rules" define what hit or thrown balls are in, and out of play  f Hit ball caught in foul territory - for example "FO3f" - Fly Ball caught by First Base, foul op Out of Play - for example "FO5op", Fly ball caught by Third Base across the railing in the stands, or in the camera bay... BRIF Base runner is out for interfering with the defence while they're making a play on a batted ball

Box Score - Final	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	Runs	Hits	Errors	LOB
Boston Red Sox	1	0	2	0	6	3	0	0	2			14	17	0
Toronto Blue Jays	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0			1	2	0

Boston Red Sox	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	bat around 5th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	AB R H BB SAC RBI SO HBP LOB 2BH 3BH HR AVG PO A E
1.  J Ellsbury CF	C 1:07 FBX pop FO5		*BBB B RS BB #9 1,2		CSX RS GB 2nd BH8	BCX GB4 DP #9 BRIF out out of B-path 4-3 /
2.  D Pedroia 2B	BBFF X 5-3		BCSS (wp) WP #9, #1 1b Ks		C-BX strpped out time not given RS 2RBI HR7 #1 1,H
3.  A Gonzalez 1B	BBX RS RBI HR9(8)		BBX RBI 4-3 #9 3,H #1 2,3		X RS 2BH7
4.  K Youkilis 3B	BFBB FFB BB		BBBC X RBI GB5(6) BH7 #1 3,H		B(pb)B BB RS WP #3 2,3 BB
5.  D Ortiz DH	shift> CBB1 FS Ks /		BB*B X GB4 1-3 /		B(wp) X RS 3RBI WP #4 1,2 HR #3 3,H #4 2,H Drabek -
6.  C Crawford LF		BCSB FBS Ks		BBX LO5	BFX Perez + RS BH
7.  J Saltalamacchia C		FCBB BS Ks		BX BH9	BFX BH7(8) #8 1,3
8.  J Drew RF		BX FO8 /		CFBB S Ks	BCSB S Ks Progress!
9.  M Scutaro SS			bCBB CFBF B RS BB	X 5-3 /	FBX DP #1 RBI BH8 #6 3,H
Per-Inning Totals	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	bat around 5th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	Totals
Runs Hits Errors LOB	1 1 0 1	0 0 0 0	2 1 0 1	0 1 1 1		6 7 0 1

Red Sox's Pitching Totals	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P/S	ERA
Jon Lester	8.0	2	1	1	1	8	1	102/68	3.73
Michael Bowden	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9/7	0.00

Toronto Blue Jays	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	AB R H BB SAC RBI SO HBP LOB 2BH 3BH HR AVG PO A E
1.  Y Escobar SS	BX 4-3			BFBS C K
2.  C Patterson LF	CBX pop 8 FO6(8)			X FO7 short
3.  J Bautista RF	CX 3UA /			CBBF X RS RBI HR7
4.  A Lind 1B		CSX 4-3		BBBC X FO8 /
5.  J Arencibia C		SFBC K			CBFF S Ks
6.  E Encarnacion DH		X pop FO5 /			BCX BH8
7.  A Hill 2B			CX 6-3 bad call?		FCFF BX FO9
8.  R Davis CF			BBFC FX 4-3		CFBS Ks /
9.  J Nix 3B			BFSB S Ks /
Per-Inning Totals	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	Totals
Runs Hits Errors LOB	0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0	1 1 0 0	0 1 0 1

Jays' Pitching Totals	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P/S	ERA
Kyle Drabek	4+	7	8	8	4	5	3	91/45	5.70
Luis Perez	1.1	5	4	4	1	2	0	31/19	3.92
Shawn Camp	1.2	2	0	0	1	2	0	32/18	4.45
Frank Francisco	1.0	1	0	0	1	2	0	22/13	5.50
Jon Rauch	1.0	2	2	2	0	0	1	25/17	4.15