Hi there. Nice to see you. Um...yeah, things have been good. Can't complain...you been good? Ok...this is awkward...we said it wouldn't be awkward, but it is...look...I'm really sorry...I've neglected you...and, it's not right. I'll be better...I promise...no, really...I will...I...yeah...let's hug...
And there you have it, my official "Sorry I've been gone so long" apology. Now, the chances that any of you (except my number #1 fan) have been around long enough to know that there's even been a hiatus are slim to laughable, but hey, that doesn't make my absence less excusable! But I'm back, and of course it would be a good, old-fashioned Sox-Yanks clash to inspire me, wouldn't it? Before we get to tonight's RIDICULOUS game I need to recap the last month...usually I go game by game, sometimes pitch-by-pitch on here, but since we're talking 28 games or so and nothing incredibly catastrophic has happened (i.e. we're still near the top of the AL East) we'll just go with the highlights...and we'll take this in chunks...Yanks and part 2 of the recap to follow...
We left off in the NL, about to clash with an NL "Power" in the D-Backs. Hard to call them a power when they can't really hit, but their pitching is formidable...so the series went about as you might think...we took 2 of 3 scoring 11 total runs but holding them to 6...Haren beat Beckett 2-1 in the first game, we got to the Zona starter Davis and then pen late in the second game scoring 4 in the 8th to win 5-4 and Wake had the knuckler dancing in game 3 as we rolled 5-0 with all of the RBIs coming from Brandon Moss and Kevin Cash...how sweet is that? Good series, strong pitching and 1 total error over the three games (and that on a pickoff attempt)...solid baseball all around, nice job taking it...
From there, off to Houston...a hitter's heaven that little teeny field...so you had to figure there'd be at least one crazy game. Sox took the first game behind the return from the DL of the Dice man...5 scoreless though he was a little off overall, but we'll take it...JD homered for all the O we'd need, 6-1 final...Game 2 was the crazy game...11-10…21 runs, 27 hits and just garbage pitching all around…each starter (Lester and Backe) gave up 6 runs and both pens were terrible…Delcarmen killed us allowing 3 in the 8th and though Lowell homered off of Valverde, Youk and Tek struck out to end it…the last game was a brutal one to watch as another Beckett gem was wasted...Aardsma and Oki couldn’t keep ‘em off the board in the 8th and we dropped it 3-2…losing 2 of 3 to anyone sucks but to an NL team that’s not even contending? So far the 2008 Sox are just too inconsistent…weak in the pen and on the offensive side just too streaky…
So, back to the AL for the AL East leading…TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS!!! Boy does that sound nuts or what? But true…I didn’t think they’d last into June, forget July, but here were are starting a 3-game set with them on top of the division on 6/30…game 1 was looking like a possible catapult game…a comeback win was looking sweet in the 9th but it wasn’t to be as Julio Lugo lined out to end it with the tying run on 3rd…game 2 was EXCRUCIATING to watch…Wake allowed 2 runs, 1 earned and both scored on wild pitches!!! Mirabelli…where are you? In fairness Cash is actually doing pretty well…Hansen allowed another but it actually didn’t matter since we mustered a whole run off of Matt Garza…yeah, THE Matt Garza…and did nothing against the pen…3-1 bad guys was the final. Game 3 – we HAVE to salvage a game right? It’s the FRIGGING RAYS??? Nope, no we don’t…not this Rays team… break them up! Another bullpen meltdown…are we sensing a theme here this season kids? Not that hard to pick up…this time it was Delcarmen and Hansen and you saw it coming…3 runs allowed EACH thank you very much, and a 4-1 lead behind Dice became a 7-4 deficit…again we fought back getting 1 in the 8th and another in the 9th but this one ended on one of the ALL TIME dumbest decisions I’ve ever seen by a manager in a regular season game. With 1 out and Lowell on first, Tek at the plate, Francona puts on the hit and run. Know what, ok…why not? Tek has been looking awful at the plate but part of that has been his decision-making up there. If he has to swing with the play on maybe he gets a good pitch and puts it in play…at least moves the slow Lowell over…sure, it’s a gamble, but it’s worth a shot from time to time. Lowell takes off, Tek swings at a decent pitch, but fouls it off…ok, nice try, shelf the play and move on, right? No, not this night…Francona decides to gamble again, and make the exact same bet no less…he puts it on AGAIN!!! Now I’m pissed…are you kidding? With a guy that strikes out as much as Tek does and knowing that he’s in one of his trademark “I’m up here but I’m not sure if I can see and swing a bat at the same time” funks, you put it on twice in a row??? No f-ing way…but he did and the obvious happened…strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out…game OVER. Inexcusable…you should think about that play when you HAVE a base-stealer out there, with Mike Lowell running, trying that twice is insane…a K is a guaranteed game-ender…so kids, if we finish less than 3 games back in this division race, remember that we got swept by the Rays in a mid-summer series where we had a chance to win all 3 games…these things get forgotten in the second half, but this series just might deserve some mention later on…
And no rest for the weary…still on the road and heading to…the Bronx! Hadn’t been in a while so it was “nice” to get back there…sorta…gotta claim a little ignorance on this series as I was off in no-man’s land celebrating birthdays and laying on the beach for the first two games…we all need a break, right? Yeah, so what if I haven’t blogged in a month…I’ve been busy…
Super quick recap, of the first two…Lester gem, Beckett strong, Sox up 2-0 in a best of 4…yay…
Now for the crappy part…game 3 was the classic “If we win this one it would really hurt the Yanks” game…so of course, we blew it…pitcher’s duel all the way to the 9th with Mussina, who just owns us when he’s on (which is far less often these days) allowing zippo and Masterson giving up 2. The brutal part came in the 9th…Mo Rivera, who’s been nigh unhittable this year, took the hill…we all know the history…Sox vs. Mo is classic…we’re just not afraid of him…he’s not of us, and he’s going to get us more than we get him, but we’re not afraid, and that makes us dangerous. Drew singled and Mo hit Manny…Lowell then singled also, driving in JD…so we have 1st and 2nd nobody out…at this point I’m still not that optimistic…it’s Brandon Moss on 2nd (pinch running) and this is still Mo…I’d feel better with him at 3rd…and cue the Youk hit-by-pitch…bases loaded, NOBODY OUT!!! Talk about a chance to put the nail in the coffin…take the first 3 of the 4 game set by coming back off of the unhittable Mo this year…things like that propel teams (hell, it propelled THIS team back in 2004)…so all Coco has to do is make some decent contact…somewhere…that’s all…1-2-3 strikes he’s out…nice work…he did foul off the first pitch so do we call that a success? If Ellsbury were playing any better I’d gripe…but I can’t…so now Tek needs to do the job, but he’s still in la-la land, looking lost up at the plate…gets ahead in the count 2-0 but then pops it up to 1st…UGH!!! And now you just know there’s not a chance in hell that Lugo’s getting it done…did take him 5 pitches this time, but Mo got him swinging…Yanks win…do you get the idea that sometimes Mo just loads ‘em up with 0 outs to see if he can still get out of it? Anyway…another chance to hurt the Yanks, wasted…but, there is game 4 of the set, right? And for fear of actually seeing my own head explode I’m not going into all of the details for this one…let’s just say we had a lead, the pen blew it and Brett Gardner (yes, THE Brett Gardner to borrow my line from earlier) got Papelbon (our Mo, you know that, right?) for a walk-off single in the 10th inning…so, just to paint a pretty picture for you, we have a comeback in line, their HOF closer comes in and puts out the ultimate fire…we have a chance to take 3 of 4 and the pen, anchored by our hopefully HOF closer gives it back to Brett Gardner…I think I’d rather Brett Favre came in and got the hit…I’d feel better about it…like I said, we can never seem to put the nail into these guys, can we? Even in the blowout game 7 of the 2004 ALCS (that always makes me feel better) we just HAD to bring in Pedro to give them a little life, didn’t we? Maybe someday we’ll get the killer instinct…but maybe not…continuing with my theme from the TB series, if we’re close or hurting in September, remember this set too…we had a chance in all 7 games against the other top guys in the division, and only won 2 of them combined…needless to say we’ll need to be playing better ball in August and September…
Ok, that's enough to make you go blind, so we'll halt here...recap part 2 coming soon...before we need a recap part 3, I promise...
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