Welcome National League!!!

It's been a long time (long time) I shouldn't have left you (left you)...

But I'm back from my mini-break and the Sox are apparently back in form. When last I left you we had just been mini-swept by some team from Baltimore that apparently still plays baseball, and that after losing 3 of 4 up in Minny...overall the Sox had lost 4 straight, 5 of 6 and 6 of their last 8...bad timing all around in terms of hitting when not pitching and vice versa, not to mention a shaky pen had sent us reeling a little bit...so what were we to say on our much-needed off day? WELCOME NATIONAL LEAGUE!!!

That's right, our favorite AL slump buster came to town in the form or Interleague Play. That fantastic experiment instituted several years back that basically guarantees the entire AL a winning month while conversely destroying half of the NL's hopes...it's really sort of sad at this point, since you can almost see the looks on the NL teams' faces as they leave the AL towns...they're thinking "Crap, even if we win our division and playoff rounds, we get to face this???"

And so the Milwaukee Brewers (formerly an AL squad lest we forget) came marching into Fenway, probably determined not to be AL doormats, but unknowingly really arriving just in time to fuel a Sox rebound. A little bit of fortune also grabs an assist, as the first game of the Brewers series was scheduled for Friday, May 16th, but Mother Nature decided the boys needed some more rest, and so she brought the rains. This meant, we're playing 2 on Saturday! May 17th...Happy Birthday MCF...

Game 1 featured Dice against our old friend and whipping boy Jeff Suppan, who somehow still pitches and for a team considered an NL contender no less. Always nice to see Jeff...not so nice for Dice to see the Brewers lineup, which is stacked. Rickie Weeks and Mike Cameron lead it off, and then the real firepower...young studs Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder in the 3 and 4 holes, followed by some legit hitters in Corey Hart and JJ Hardy. No joke these guys, but somehow (ahem, pitching) these guys were 2 games under .500 coming into this one. Dice was strong, gave up 2 runs, both unearned thanks to a RARE fielding error by Youk...luckily by the time that happened (7th inning) we had 4 on the board...didn't take long to get them either, 1st inning it was some patient 2 out hitting getting it done (have you noticed all of the 2 out runs we're scoring lately? If not, you should...it's happening a lot) and then the big blow, a 3 run bomb by Papi in the 2nd, with how many outs? 2...Lugo and Ellsbury got on with singles and took the ride with the big fella...oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, Papi is still lighting it up (since the whole Yankee stadium jersey debacle)...Ryan Braun did hit a HR off of a still not perfect Pap in the 9th to cut the lead but Pap got Fielder to pop out to end it...good solid win to break the 4 game loser and hey, anyone up for a nightcap?

Game 2 was Wake time, against the ever unpredictable Dave Bush on the other side...this one looked to be done early with the Sox taking a 5-0 lead by the 5th...more 1st inning damage (after Wake struck out the side to open the game...DANCING knuckler) got it done with how many outs? 2...Jacoby and Dusty went down easy but the Manny-less heart of the lineup showed some heart again...Papi walked, Youk followed with a double to put men on 2nd and 3rd for Lowell, and Mikey ripped a double of his own to plate the runs...in the 3rd it was Mikey again, drilling a 2-run homer over The Monster for 4 RBI in 3 innings...obviously both Youk and Mikey Lowell are playing great ball right now...Youk has been hot all season and since coming back off of the DL Lowell has just been his usual self...no way Youk can play like this all year, but if these guys have spurts like this and Papi and Manny are healthy we should at least avoid big losing streaks and stay near the top of the division...anyway, Wake cruised through 5 but the 6th was his obligatory shaky inning...Corey Hart homer, Gabe Kapler single (welcome back Kap - he got a well-deserved ovation for his 1st AB in game 1, and thereafter too) wild pitch, hit-by-pitch and there's some trouble...brought in Aaaaaaaaaaaardsma (to out out the fire, really?) and he got a K before a hit-by-pitch of his own and giving up a single to Weeks, scoring 2...another walk to load the bases and the blood pressure started to rise a little at the Fens, but he somehow got Braun to pop up and end the HUGE inning possibility...sigh of relief...of course that sigh was a short one since Tito thought it a bright idea to bring in Craig Hansen to start the 7th...TITO, APPLY THE FORMULA!!!! I don't even need to reiterate it here, read the previous blog for the details of the Hansen Formula, but needless to say a 2 run lead in the 7th is NO TIME FOR HANSEN!!! But, in he came nonetheless...I can't completely kill him this time since 2 errors played a HUGE part in this one, but still, before getting 3 outs there was a single, a double and a wild pitch in there...maybe he just makes the guys that much more nervous too...the errors were by Lowell and Cora, who basically never make errors...it's the Hansen effect, I'm telling you...and the Hansen effect turned a 5-3 lead into a 6-5 deficit heading into the bottom of the 7th... thankfully the Hansen effect seems to have hit the Brewers too, since a couple of errors on their end led to us taking the lead right back, with 2 runs scoring thanks to some more awful baseball...I guess the baseball gods were trying to even this one out, and before you knew it, Timlin was shutting the door with a perfect 9th...the nightcap was ours and in one day our losing streak became a winning streak!

Game 3 was just nuts...had to think going in that it would be a Beckett-dominated game...he was due for a strong start and even with a strong NL offense you just had to think he'd lock it down...wasn't the case...but hey, with Carlos Villanueava on the other side we weren't in for a pitcher's duel...balls were flying out of Fenway all day...4 homers on EACH SIDE...the Sox damage came from Dusty (2nd) Papi (hit 2, numbers 9 and 10) and Youk (9th...um, is he hitting for more power this year, or is it me?)...the big boys for the Brew Crew did it there Braun hitting 2, Fielder 1 and Hart another...the Sox were able to outslug overall though, putting up 11 on the Brewers staff, which let's face it, is going to have to get stronger for them to seriously contend...they were a great story last year, but we all know that pitching wins championships, and though that offense keeps them dangerous they won't really get it done until a couple of their vets pitch better and the young arms develop...the worrisome thing about this one from the Sox side was the return of the gopher-ball Beckett...granted this game may have been an anomaly but that does make 9 HR allowed in 8 games...much more like the 2006 JB than the 2007 JB...as is his current ERA...hopefully it's just a blip but worth mentioning...Pap came in and nailed the door shut with solid 9th...allowed a hit but Kd Tony Gwynn Jr. to close it out, Sox win 11-7...

Nice little sweep over two days at the Fens...the rest seemed to help and the bats got it done with a little help from the baseball gods when needed...pitching was up and down, Pap still looking a little off but not disastrously so...unfortunately the NL creeps away for a while now and it's back to some AL competition...the Royals were next up and while they used the be some guaranteed wins when they came to town they've played tough this year (so far)...you probably already know how this series went down since I'm so absurdly late getting these blogs in...since this one's getting long and one of those Royals games just miiiiiiight require special attention, we'll stop this one here with a simple...GO SAWX!!!