93 Year Flashback

This past weekend our Red Sox took on the Chicago Cubs for the first time since 1918.  The Sox went into the series having won six in a row, a sweep against the Yankees, one win against Baltimore Orioles, and two wins against the Detroit Tigers.  The series between two of the oldest and most storied teams in history took place in the oldest ballpark in the nation, Fenway Park.

The series began Friday when Jon Lester took on Doug Davis.  Davis allowed seven runs on eight hits in only 3.2 innings highlighted by an Adrian Gonzalez 2-run single.  Three pitches later, but against a different pitcher, Kevin Youkilis hit a two run bomb over the Green Monster.  Jarrod Saltalamacchia added a solo shot, his 2nd of the year, in the fifth inning.  Gonzo went 4-for-6 with four rbi, Youk and Jacoby Ellsbury added three hits each.  The three of them combined to go 10-for-17 with nine rbi.  Lester pitched well, but not great.  He gave up five runs on 12 hits with two walks and only five strikeouts in six innings for the win.  Scott Atchinson pitched three hitless innings to earn the save, while striking out three batters.  The Sox won 15-5, scoring the most runs in one game this whole season.  The only bad thing about such a great win was that with Daisuke Matsuzaka and John Lackey on the disabled list, nobody knew who was going to pitch the next two games.

Saturday night's game was on FOX and both teams wore throwback jerseys from 1918.  The Sox's jerseys were all white with just a red number on the back.  The Cubs' jerseys were all gray were dark blue pinstripes and a dark blue brim on the hat, they also say Cubs on the front of the jersey with a dark blue number on the back.  Both jerseys looked pretty sweet.  The game however was not so sweet.  Alfredo Aceves got the start for the Sox against Carlos Zambrano.  Down 1-0, Ortiz hit a 2-run homer to take the lead in the third.  Ellsbury added an rbi single in the 6th.  Dan Wheeler and Rich Hill pitched two scoreless innings, but Matt Albers allowed 6 runs, 5 earned, in the Cubs' breakout 8-run 8th inning.  It was embarassing to watch, the Sox had extremely sloppy defense, including a messed up pickle that allowed two runs to score.  Youkilis was charged with the error on the pickle, but Crawford and Lowrie also had errors in the inning.  Albers got the loss in a 9-3 game.

Sunday's night was on ESPN and Time Wakefield pitched his second game of the year.  The stroy from this game was Wakefield's performance clearly.  Wakefield only pitched 75 pitches, but pitched 6.2 innings allowing only one run on four hits, no walks, and three strikeouts.  Two sacrifice flies by Jed Lowrie and Mike Cameron gave the Sox a 2-0 lead in the fourth.  On the second pitch of the fifth inning Saltalamacchia hit his third homer of the season and second of the series to make it 3-0.  After Wake allowed his only run in the sixth, Youk hit a two run triple that sent Cubs outfielder Reed Johnson all the way to the 420 mark in dead center field.  That made it 5-1 and thats all the bullpen needed.  Papelbon and Bard combined for 2.1 innings of one-hit ball and secured Wakefield his first win of the year.  Mike Quade, the coach of the Cubs was in the Pirates system 22 years ago when Wakefield first threw his knuckleball and after the game Quade said he has a new respect for Wakefield.

The Sox face their old teammate Justin Masterson and the surprising Indians starting tonight for a three game series.  Buchholz pitches tonight, Beckett tomorrow, and Lester on Wednesday.