No Extras!

I hate it when games I assume are won turn out not to be sure things after all.

Here we are, in extra innings, after having a 6-4 lead going into the 9th inning. The worst part is Papelbon is the one who gave up a 2-run shot to put us into this 11th inning. It's so rare when he does stuff like this that it's kind of hard to believe it even happened. But everyone is human, or so they say.

So Julio Lugo has doubled, which is quite good. Youkilis is having a lengthy at-bat, he finally got to a full count after 8 pitches. And he walked! All those pitches he fouled off were worth it (TB manager Joe Maddon got ejected for that one). So now we have David Ortiz at the plate. Extra innings and we need some runs, this is where he loves to shine. Unfortunately, he just struck out.

One last chance in Manny Ramirez. On a side note, I'm listening to this Fray album and it's pretty good. But back to the game. What will Manny do? Ball one..foul..foul..(getting nervous)..ball two..OUT. To the bottom of 11 we go.

Nothing happened. 12th inning: ooooh! SIX runs! They totally doubled their score in one inning. TB did nothing in their half and we ended up winning 12-6 in 12.

They can be so good sometimes!

There's the Good and then There's the Bad

The Red Sox won tonight, and many good things happened: A two-run single that snapped an 0-for-33 hitless streak for Julio Lugo; Matsuzaka earned his 10th win of the season; and Juan Carlos Ferrero won his 4th round Wimbledon match. Oh, was that not baseball-related? I gotta show some love for my favorite tennis player, and I may not have much longer to do it -- he's playing Federer in the quarters :(

I know the Boston winning news is great, but there is something really, truly bad going on at the moment. If you've got 10 little minutes to spare, watch this video of a man who loves baseball and also happens to be 100% amazing in this clip.

Feels Nice

Finally, Boston finished a game before I fell asleep. And it was a win, which is very important considering the fact that that lead is dwindling. NY is winning now, which isn't too great, but at least we won't lose any more of the lead.

A new look to the lineup: Poor Lugo got slammed down, right down to the 9 spot, and Pedroia got the better half of the switch and moved up to leadoff. He went 1-for-4 and Lugo went 1-for-3, so nothing concrete yet on that one.

Jon Lester is in Pawtucket, which is good news. He will be back with the team in no time!

Tomorrow = Win #2 in a future streak of 40.

How Different

What a difference a few hours makes.

We won the first game today 13-3, with a Mike Lowell grand slam (!) and a fantastic pitching performance by Matsuzaka (8 IP, 3 ER). Over his last three starts, Matsuzaka is 3-0 with a 1.87 ERA. Oh yeah, and Lugo, Wily Mo, and Youkilis also had HRs in the game.

And then came the second game. Hansack started and gave up 4 over 4 innings. Not that bad. Then Pineiro came in and gave up 4 in 2. And Lopez allowed 3 in only one measly inning of work. Romero tried to end the bleeding, and he did, for one inning. But Donnelly came in after that to pitch the 9th, and totally gave up 3 runs. BULLPEN '06 RETURNS. We lost, embarrassingly, 14-0.

Those Yankees lost again - in awesome fashion. Johnny Damon pushed a non-HR ball into HR territory. Cano made 3 errors (though I kinda like that kid and do feel bad for him - he actually threw one ball off his foot after making a really good stop). Jeter was very un-clutch. Another one of their pitchers didn't make it through the first inning, though I can't be too happy about this one because Rasner ended up with a fractured finger. They have some BAD luck lately, somewhat reminiscent of a certain team from Boston late last season.

Matsuzaka Gives it All

Well, Matsuzaka wowed me tonight. He pitched a complete game and only allowed one run as Boston's offense put on another show and scored 7 runs. A bases loaded triple by Lugo was the highlight of the game, at least offensively.

I guess Matsuzaka didn't enjoy Detroit manager Jim Leyland's comments: "I don't give a (expletive) about him," Leyland said. "I'm not getting into all that. I could give a (expletive) less. It's another pitcher." NOW maybe he'll care?

Leyland was complimentary about other parts of the Sox' game: "I think they're loaded. They're real good. I don't think there's any question about that. They've got a lot of nice pieces, and I think the biggest piece was when they put (Jonathan) Papelbon back in the bullpen." About Beckett: "He's been the best pitcher in the league, to this point."

Seems like a nice guy. Too bad his team is about to get swept.