September 6: Red Sox 6, White Sox 1
It was just three days ago that Scott Podsednik started off the game by reaching second base with nobody out, then getting doubled up thanks to some dumbassed baserunning.
So you’d think that particular event would be so fresh in his memory that he wouldn’t do it again.
Apparently not.
Podsednik slapped a bunt to shortstop for a single, then stole second on Jon Lester and Victor Martinez. After Jayson Nix walked, Paul Konerko hit a dying quail to short right, behind first base.
Now, Dustin Pedroia made a terrific play. He made a sprinting catch, needing every bit of speed and reach to snag it. He then had the werewithal to spin and throw to second, on the off-chance that Podsednik had strayed too far from the bag.
We know there’s no “off chance” about it. Podsednik was two-thirds of the way to third when Pedroia made the catch, and had no way to get back. It was yet another awful double play, and the offense never mounted a similar thread off Jon Lester for the rest of his start.
Lester was good, throwing seven shutout innings and eclipsing the 200-strikeout mark with eight of them. He also happened to be better than John Danks.
Danks met the minimum for a quality start, but some long early innings kept his day abbreviated. One swing by Mike Lowell altered the course of his day, as his towering fly landed five feet into the White Sox bullpen for a two-run homer, giving the Red Sox all the runs they would need. A Jason Bay RBI single in the fifth gave them a key two-out run.
Ramon Castro prevented the Sox from getting shut out by hitting a no-doubter off Billy Wagner, but Octavio Dotel made the game uninteresting just as quickly. With two outs in the eighth, he gave up a three-run shot to Victor Martinez that kept Sox fans from watching Jonathan Papelbon take 20 seconds with an O-face to decide to throw another fastball.
Note: Alex Rios struck out three times in three plate appearances, even though he was ahead 3-0 in every instance.
Record: 68-70 | Box score | Play-by-play
