Seattle Slew

As you may or may not recall we'll be picking up in the 5th inning of game 1 of a 3-game set with the Ms...Bartolo was out dueling King Felix thus far and Felix held down his end of the bargain in the top of the 6th...the bottom came and Colon couldn't hang on to the shutout...the damage started with a single by Ichiro (no shame in that) but then the big pitcher made his only real mistake of the night hitting Lopez with a pitch, and putting runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out...a sacrifice followed and then with the potential go-ahead run in scoring position, Dusty Pedroia helped out his pitcher with a fantastic diving stop on a hard shot up the middle...Ichiro scored to tie it but the out made 2 and Bartolo got Beltre to ground out, ending the threat...a couple of more 0s on both sides and Bartolo left after the 7th having pitched a very string game...7 full, 4K and only 1BB having thrown a total of 84 pitches on the night...nice work...the Ms brought Felix back out for the 8th (his pitch count was under 100 also, not a bad call) and he looked to be in charge...after giving up a leadoff single to Casey, Lugo forced him out and Jacoby grounded out, though it was just softly enough to move Lugo over...if you've been paying attention you know how much 2-out damage the Sox have been doing this year, and some more was one the way, we just didn't know it yet...Dusty came up and crushed a first-pitch fastball over Ibanez who was playing way too shallowly in left...has he not seen Pedroia swing? Not exactly a soft swing he's got there...can't be fooled by the little package, you have to play him straight up...anyway, bad scouting or bad luck, whatever it was it turned into a ground-rule double and Lugo trotted home with the lead...with 1st open Big Papi got the free pass and it would be righty power against righty power with Manny vying to continue the inning...Manny ended the suspense quickly lacing a first-pitch heater (think the Sox had the scouting report right this inning) into right field (uh-oh, Manny's hitting to the opposite field...could be time to heat up) and bringing home Pedroia with an insurance run...the hit parade would continue with Lowell and Drew singles, and all in all the Sox would bat around (10 men actually) and put up a 4-spot...now, normally this would be more than enough with Oki and Pap coming up...Oki didn't look super sharp in the 8th but got out without allowing any pain, it was Pap again that really struggled...he just doesn't seem in rhythm yet this year even though his numbers are solid, you can tell he's just a little less consistent so far this year...the Ms offense hasn't been beating anyone up, so you'd think this would have been an easy one, but instead they threw up 2 before Pap could get out of the inning...granted Pap himself contributed on a non-pitch by botching an easy out with a throwing error, but still, he had it where he needed it with 2 on but 2 out...Ichiro got a hit, again, not the worst thing in the world but obviously you want your closer to nail the door shut right there...then a wild pitch to make it 5-3...just un Pap-like...got a ground out to end it...I'm sure Pap will be ok, but it'll be nice when these struggles are behind him...so, game 1 in the books, 5-3 Sox...nice way to get off the snide on the West Coast, with another strong outing from Bartolo and some late offense...

Game 2's significance is minor in the standings today compared to what it could mean for the Sox pitching staff...the story of this game happened in the 4th inning, when Dice K left the mound with something...I say "something" because we still don't know what "it" is...there was some speculation that "it" happened when Dice made a play off of the mound, or when he landed awkwardly after a pitch, but whatever "it" is "it" can't be good...today looked like it might be a back or a hip thing, but word today is that he might have the ever vague shoulder stiffness...needless to say that with the year Dice has had so far we'll be paying close attention to "it." He wasn't sharp from the beginning last night and gave up 3 early runs, putting the O in a hole against Miguel Batista, who for some reason looked like a world-beater through 5...in the 6th he did make a mistake though, the 499th mistake that Manny Ramirez has punished...I don't need to do the math for you, we're on the verge of a historic HR for one of the best righties of this generation...I think there'll be some Bonds-esque Manny watching for, well, hopefully not too long...not only that the blast tied the game at 3...but the Sox could muster no more offense and we brought in Timlin to try to extend the game into extras, and he just can't seem to get it done this year...we still have more time to work this out but it might be time to start being more careful with the close games until we do...as a reliever you have to get the 1st guy...it's the hardest out because it's the "hope" out for most teams...if they get on they have hope, if you get that out every strike starts to make them doubt...some clubs get into a zone where they never doubt and hope is there until the last pitch, but it takes a special team to get there...and even with those teams the relievers job is the same...get the 1st out!!! As you may have guessed, Timlin did NOT get the 1st out last night...base hit for Wladimir Balentien (go ahead, say it...who???)...the mandatory sacrifice followed and then a groundout, so the winning run was 90 feet away but with 2 down, so Timlin had a shot to get out of it...worse yet, he got ahead in the count 1-2 but left a fastball over too much of the plate and Jose Lopez delivered the win for Seattle...so, the big news is really that Manny got 499 and the bigger news is that we need to join hands and pray that Dice stays healthier than not...rubber match tonight...

GO SAWX!