3 days, 3 games...

I picked the wrong time to neglect my blog...so much has happened in the last three days I'm fearing my first 10,000 word blog, so for the sake of brevity and your sanity I'll try to be concise...

We last chimed in after the Sox tied up the first Yanks series of the year 1-1 and we were anxiously awaiting the last game because of the pitching match-up...this last game of the 3-game set featured our 1A pitcher, the Dice man against the Yanks soon-to-be stud, Phil Hughes...the "soon-to-be" couldn't be more apropos, as you know if you watched this game...Hughes was anything but the young phenomenon in this one...he looked shaky from the start, maybe the weight of the Sox-Yanks rivalry resting heavily on his young shoulders. He got in trouble via a couple of walks, Ellsbury and then to Drew after he got Dusty on a filthy curve, filthy enough to remind us that this kid will probably haunt us at some point...but then he had to face a hot Manny with RISP and he wasn't going to help Hughes out...he laced an RBI single to get the scoring started...Youk followed with a sac fly (Mr. Fundamentals gets it done) and then Sean Casey continued to fill in admirably for Mikey Lowell, hitting a rope to right that unfortunately bounced into the stands for a double, forcing Manny to stop at 3rd...luckily, Hughes returned the gift with a wild pitch, making it 3-0 before Hughes got out if his first Sox-Yanks inning...Dice-K got through the fist two innings undamaged but you could tell from the beginning that he didn't have his best stuff...he went back to nibbling instead of being as aggressive as he had been in his previous starts...maybe he too still feels the pressure, but either way he's tough to watch against them...the Yanks finally put up a singleton on a Damon walk (told you Dice was wild) and an Abreu wall ball...the Sox offense came right back though...after walking Drew, Manny blasted a grounder off of A-Rod putting runners on 1st and 2nd...Youk drove in his second run of the game with another line drive to left, hit hard enough to make Manny stop at second...once again though Sean Casey came through, driving in Manny with a knock to center..Casey must be loving playing for the Sox...seeing good pitches in that lineup, he's a dangerous hitter anyway and getting the looks he's getting is making him more so...that knocked out Hughes and one of the "awesome" Yanks relievers, I think something like Ohlenshjfalleerryer, came in anf promptly gave up another run on a wild pitch...so at the end of three it's 7-1 Sox, and while I'm a die hard fan, and so, one that knows it's never over against anyone for us, especially not the Yanks, this one felt that way at this point...even though the Bombers scored 3 runs right back off of the unimpressive Dice, you just never got the feeling they were going to pull all the way back in this one...the game got tedious fast and a whole lot of nothing happened the rest of the way...it was typical bad Dice when he's off, missing with the slider, not using the fastball well and giving away at-bats...but the pen did the job, there were a couple more meaningless runs and this one ended, mercifully at 8-5...Sox took 2 of 3 in the first series, but let's not get all excited since we would see them again soon...like tonight...for another wild one, which I'll get to later...

But before tonight, we had a nice little 2-gamer with the Indians...we all now what happened the last time we saw them, 3 straight to take the ALCS, and it just might be that we have their number now ("having another team's numbers is definitely another rant that I'll address some day...it's mystifying)...I hate to say that since we may well need to beat them again when it matters, but after this game it's hard to argue...the extremely hot-hitting Yoooooooouk knocked in a run early off of Westbrook after a walk to Pedroia and a Papi single (his first hit in like a week), but after that Jake's flaky stuff kept us off balance...his assortment of off-speed pitches and a well-placed fastball allowed a few scattered hits but only the 1 run over 6 1/3 innings...meanwhile Jon Lester had another inconsistent outing...I hope this kid figures out how to put hitters away, because he loses more at bats to just missing corners...hopefully that's just a matter of time, but whatever it is he was doing it all night, walking 5 and giving up 4 runs, a pair each in the 4th and 5th...he lasted 4.1 innings and threw 97 pitches...gross...our boys got 1 back in the 7th with some small ball...it's fun having the versatility to do that these days, not like the plodding slugger Sox teams of old...Lugo grounded into a force out but a Coco bunt and their combined speed forced a throwing error which got Lugo to 3rd, and he scored on a Pedroia single...at that point the Tribe brought in Rafael Betancourt to face Papi and Manny, and he struck them both out...that dude has some nasty stuff, and he seemingly owns Manny (0-6 against him)...Betancourt is the guy that a lot of Tribe fans think should be the closer, since their number one closer is Joe Borowski, who sports a double-digit ERA...trust me, this is relevant...then the (did I mention uber hot) Yoooooouk strikes again with a solo shot off of Betancourt in the 8th, making it 4-3 Tribe heading to the 9th...give them credit for sticking to their guy, the Indians brought Borowski right in to face the Sox...gotta have faith, right? But this was probably the most obvious comeback I've ever witnessed...I mean, even the announcers were talking about how bad Borowski has beem throwing his fastball in the mid 80s and giving up hits and runs all over the place, mentioning how he saved 45 games last year with an ERA over 5...it's like no one could believe this guy is a closer at all...foget trying to close out the Sox in the 9th...Lugo got it started with a leadoff double, and the then mandatory Coco bunt followed, putting the tying run on 3rd with 1 out...Pedroia hit the sac fly, tie game...it never even felt like we wouldn't tie it up, the only question is whether or not Papi would get us to Manny to end this thing, as cold as he's been...Papi gets up there and hits a flare to left that drops in, and at that point the HR that would follow was just too predictable...Manny strode to the plate like the big kid in Little League or a game of wiffle ball...you all remember the big kid, he'd get up there...maybe take a big cut and miss one, or foul one off, but the HR was just inevitbale...he'd get a pitch to hit, extend his arms and kill the ball over the fence, tree, pole, house or whatver marker meant HOME RUN...and Manny did just that...he didn't even wait, just saw the first meatball from Borowski coming and hammered it...technically the game wasn't over, being the top of the 9th and all, but with Pap coming on, after that, the game was over...in fact the announcers basically began talking about the game being over and how tough a loss this would be for the Indians before Pap even recorded an out...Pap did his thing, 15 pitches, 14 of them "see if you can hit this" fastballs, 2 Ks and 3 outs...game over...Sox win...

I didn't see much of the second game in the mini-series, and I didn't have to...it was going to be a "feeling of dread" game for the Tribe as soon as the first game ended...no way they'd win the second game after having to watch that...Borowski when right onto the DL after the game, as much for PR as injury I bet, and the Tribe looked beat in all the clips I saw of that one...we even decided to play rookies Kevin Cash and Jed (GREAT NAME!!!) Lowrie just to give them a shot, and all Jed "Awesome Name" Lowrie did was drive in 3 runs from the 8-hole in the lineup...it was tied 3-3 going to the 9th, so there was never really any doubt that we'd pull it out, since they had to have the feeling of dread hanging around...so when we pinch-hit Tek in the 9th the solo, lead-taking HR wasn't too much of a shock...we even added an insurance run (Youk again...Jesus, can I put him in here more...dude is ON FIRE) and give Pap a break we brought in Oki, who also struck out 2 while nailing down the win...I hate to use the term forgone conclusion about this game since baseball rarely is that, and like I said, I don't want to jinx us shoud we have to play them when it means more, but I didn't get to see this one, and, oh well...

Right now the next little Yanks series has gotten underway, and at this point all I'll say is that it's 11-9 Yankees in the 6th...2 on 1 out for Tek...what an insane game so far...I'm sure I'll have more to say about this one, and I promise not to either neglect the blog this long again or be so long-winded in catching up...so much for being concise, and if you skipped to the end, good for you...

GO SAWX!!!