I rolled down into dirty little Palmyra last night, where an otherwise pleasant visit with my friend Jason was ruined by a two-and-a-half-hour butt whoopin. Here's the skinny -
Game 1: Anderson @ Masterson
An exciting game one saw Butts grab a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st on a Mike Young RBI. Momentum swung the other direction in the bottom of the inning following a 2-run Josh Hamilton jobber. Butts added four runs in the 5th courtesy of a leadoff on-base-on-error, a double, a single and then four walks in a row - that's right, four in a row - from Masterson. However, a run by Keith in the 3rd and a Kendry Morales 2-run bombski in the 7th left the game tied a 5, where it stayed until the top of the 11th when Butts pushed two runs across the plate.
Butts wins 7-5 (11 innings)
Game 2: Weaver @ Niemann
Derrick Fucking Jeter opened up the scoring in the top of the 3rd with a solo jack, holding a 1-0 lead into the top of the 5th. Things got a bit nuts at this point, with Butts knocking in 4 runs highlighted by a blooper to short left that fell in for a double following a Carl Crawford/Cliff Pennington injury-inducing collision. Between Game 1's bullpen-eater and injuries to Youks, Crawford and Pennington, even Russell Branyan might have found some playing time. The real story of the game was Weaver though, perfect through 6 before letting off the gas a bit in the 7th.
Butts wins 7-3
Game 3: Danks @ Gaudin
Varitek drove Torii Hunter home in the top of the 2nd off consecutive doubles before Adam Jones home run in the bottom of the inning gave the lead back to Keith. Jones' 3rd RBI of the game off a double in the bottom of the 6th left Keith with a 3-1 lead and a false sense of security. Butts got a solo HR from Cabrera in the top of the 8th to crawl back to 3-2. Top of nine, Mariano is in to shut the door. Unfortunately (for me), it was not to be. Riemhold - and for the love of God I don't know who this guy is and I had berated him each of the 6 games I played against Butts - scored the 1st run of the season against Rivera with a leadoff homer in the top of the ninth. Veil of invincibility pierced, Rivera then allowed Jose Bautista to score on a Cabrera single later in the inning. That one hurt, ya'll.
Butts wins 4-3, sweeps series
Whoa - watch out now, Butts has a pretty kick-ass lineup by my estimation, and we didn't really even hear about his studs Miggy, Mauer, and Pedroia. Not looking forward to playing 6 of my last 9 against his squad. Yikes.
ReplyDeleteKeith - please tell me that you exercised the JAM on that HR off Mariano, making Butler earn it on a deep drive.
Look for my write-up of my 2nd series vs. Matt coming tonight or tomorrow (I took 2 of 3). 9 hit batsment and a major ejection/suspension for Matty in those 3 games...
Also, sounds like there are some significant injuries to report after this one... let's hear 'em.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite sure I misremembered the whole jam thing - yesh. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteLuckily, Crawford was only out for one game and Youks and Pennington return next game - although I'm not so sure I'm happy about Pennington coming back.....