Red Sox Wake Sleeping Tigers

One day after Tim Wakefield hypnotized the Tigers to sleep with his dancing knuckle ball, Clay Buchholz woke them up with the smell of blood. In the second inning, Gary Sheffield laced a ball off of Buchholz for a single. Buchholz was okay, and got out of the inning unscathed, but the wound left the smell of blood drifting across Comerica Park. The sleepy Tigers took the field in the top of the third, and slowly the aroma wafted past their noses. Slowly their whiskers twitched at the detection of the scent, and their excitement rose. The once sleeping Tiger lifted its head, stretched and let out a fearsome roar.

Claws fully extended, the Tigers came up to bat in the bottom of the scoreless 3rd inning. By the end of the inning, all nine batters had been to the plate, seven of them reached first base, and 4 of them had crossed home. Buchholz returned to the dugout, alive, but tattered and torn. The Sox fought back in the fourth with a 2 run home run by Kevin Youkilis, but the Tigers were not done with Buchholz yet, scoring one more run off of him in the fourth inning on 3 consecutive singles. Buchholz was finished, nothing left but bones strewn across the lair.

The Sox still had fight left in them and were able to score 2 more runs in the 5th inning as Tigers' starter Armando Galarraga wore down as well. Galarraga surrendered a lead off walk to Jason Varitek and hit Julio Lugo to put the first two batters on. A Jed Lowrie sacrifice fly, and a David Ortiz single pulled the Sox back within one run with the score now Tigers 5, Red Sox 4.

There has been discussion about how Julian Tavarez has not pitched in a long time, and without regular work, he'll become rusty and ineffective. That no longer needs to be debated. Sent in to help the vanquished Buchholz, Tavares was as rusty as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (pre-oil can). Terry Francona gave him the entire 5th inning to manage, and he managed to turn that into three singles, a double, and three more Detroit runs. When a Tiger eats, he gets tired and goes off to rest and digest, which is what Detroit wandered off into the jungle to do. Meanwhile, the Red Sox, faced with a daunting 8-4 deficit, did not give in but rather continued to chip away.

In the 6th inning, Youkilis hit his second home run of the day, this time a solo shot, and in the 7th inning, it was Mike Lowell's turn for heroics. With two on and two out, Lowell ripped his third home run of the season into the left field stands to tie the game at eight. Then in the 8th inning with two outs and runners on first and second, Tito had a hunch and pinch hit Dustin Pedroia for Jed Lowrie who was 0-3 with a sacrifice fly up to that point. Pedroia did not let Tito down and hit a single to bring in JD Drew from second base to put the red Sox on top for the first time in the game, 9-8.

Hideki Okajima held the Tigers scoreless in the 8th inning, with some help from a questionable base running move. With runners on first and second, the result of back to back singles, one out and Gary Sheffield at the plate, Tigers' manager, Jim Leyland, sent the runners on a 3-2 pitch. Sheffield swung with enough force to tear down a small building, but missed for out number two, and Varitek fired down to third base to nail Magglio Ordonez to end the inning.

So, Red Sox fans everywhere sat back, put their feet up, and said, "Papelbon is coming in, this one is over". Well, not so fast. Matthew Joyce, playing in only the second big league game of his career, tried to check his swing on a Papelbon changeup and made contact with the ball. The ball lazily rolled out onto the field like a well executed bunt, and Joyce easily reached first base. Next up was old pal Edgar Renteria who hit a weak grounder to short. Lugo panicked and tried to rush in order to possibly get the lead runner at second, and bobbled the ball for an error. Ivan Rodriguez bunted the runners to 2nd and 3rd, and Curtis Granderson grounded out. So, with 2 outs, Placido Polanco, who had a hot bat all night, stepped up. Papelbon threw him three straight balls, before finally getting two strikes to even the count. His final pitch of the night was a fastball that jammed Polanco. Polanco swung and shattered his bat on the pitch. As parts of the bat flew everywhere, the ball lofted over Lugo's head and landed safely in shallow left field.

The Tigers had won. They loped off into the grass to lick their paws and digest their meal.

But, the Red Sox went back into the dugout, and loaded both barrels of their big game shotgun (also known as Josh Beckett). Tonight, the Tiger hunt commences.

(Baseball photos courtesy of ESPN) (Shere Kahn image courtesy of Animated-Views)

Floats Like a Butterfly, Stings Like a Bee

"Hitting that thing is like trying to catch a butterfly with a pair of tweezers." - Tim McCarver
That must have been the general feeling last night in the Tigers' clubhouse as Tim Wakefield's knuckleball floated, dipped, and dived all around the strike zone, guiding the Red Sox to a 5-0 win in the second of their four game series in Detroit. Not only does the knuckleball dance all over the place, but Wakefield was able to greatly vary the speed of his pitches between 57 and 73 mph (as per MLB Gameday) mixing in the curve and fastball more than usual. That is a deadly combination and kept batters off balance all night. Wakefield pitched 8 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts, walked no batters, and allowed only 3 baserunners all night; Carlos Guillen reached first base twice on a single in the 1st and an error by Dustin Pedroia in the 7th, and Ivan Rodriguez reached 2nd on a double in the 8th.

With a 5-0 lead, Terry Francona handed the ball to Mike Timlin in the 9th, providing Jonathan Papelbon with a well timed night off. Timlin allowed a lead off single to Curtis Granderson, but Granderson was erased when the next batter, Placido Polanco, hit into a double play to Julio Lugo at short. Timlin then closed out the game by inducing Carlos Guillen to fly out to Jacoby Ellsbury in center. Good to see Timlin have a nice clean inning. Timlin's fastball topped out at 90 mph, but after being hypnotized by the cobra-like stare of Wakefield's knuckler all night, it must have looked blinding to the helpless Tigers' batters.

The Sox did not need a lot of offense to win this one, but got plenty with Manny Ramirez and Kevin Cash leading the way with 3 hits each. The Red Sox scored 3 in the second inning, sending 7 batters to the plate and driving Tigers' starter, Nate Robertson's, pitch count up. A pair of Kevins (Cash and Youkilis) accounted for a pair of doubles, combined with a lead off walk by Mike Lowell and an RBI single by JD Drew to start the scoring, was all Boston really needed.

But, what better way to celebrate Wakefield's tremendous outing than with some fireworks? Fast forward to the 7th inning. Robertson, whose fastball was less than menacing all night, was tiring out, and David Ortiz took advantage, forcing Robertson to throw eight pitches in the at-bat. Most of the pitches were tantalizingly close, but well placed, until Robertson finally wore down and tossed his final pitch of the night like a boxer wildly flailing at his opponent before dropping to his knees for the TKO. The pitch was right in Papi's wheelhouse, and he sent it high into the Motown night sky for his 7th home run of the year, providing sox fans with the fireworks. But any good fireworks show has a grand finale, right? Enter Manny Ramirez...

After what seems like months, Manny finally broke out his home run swing and took one step closer to history with home run number 497 for his career off of the first pitch thrown in the game by Tigers' reliever Freddy Dolsi. Nothing says Grand Finale better than Big Papi and Manny going back to back!

So, the Tigers are down, losers of 5 in a row, and struggling to get their talented lineup all rowing together. Perfect time for the Sox to stop by for a visit. But before you start to break out the brooms, beware of Tigers in the rushes ready to pounce. In particular, be very wary of tonight's starter for Detroit, Armando Galarraga. He has been sharpening his claws and has been very aggressive this year, touting a skimpy 1.88 ERA with a 2-1 record in 4 starts. He spent a short time in his first big league debut last year with the Rangers, and has never faced the Red Sox in his young career. The Red Sox counter with Clay Buchholz, who has been brilliant in his last 3 starts, and has likewise never faced the Tigers in his young career.

Should be quite a match up! But, beware of sleeping Tigers - and do not, under any circumstances, pull their tail!

(Photos courtest of ESPN)

Walk in the Park as Red Sox Beat Tigers 6-3

Walk in the park indeed, but it was the Tigers who did the walking as Daisuke Matsuzaka gave up 8 free passes in just 5 innings and still managed to exit with a 4-1 lead. The Tigers just couldn't convert those free base runners into runs. It is very unusual for a pitcher to survive that many walks, but that shows you that Dice-K battled hard and never gave in. In fact, he seemed to be following a trend he started last year. Dice-K is stubborn and does not like to give up hits to batters. In counts where a fastball over the plate is warranted, Dice-K would rather keep the ball away from the batter and risk the walk, and last night he gave up a dangerous number of them. But, when he wasn't walking batters, he was getting them out, as the Tigers only managed two hits against him, as he improved his record to a perfect 5-0 on the year.

Following Dice-K to the mound was Craig Hansen, fresh up from Pawtucket. The Red Sox are looking for someone to step up into a dependable middle relief role, and Hansen is loaded with talent that the Red Sox hope is finally ripe for the picking. Hansen did not disappoint as he make quick work of the Tigers with a 1-2-3 6th inning. The 7th inning, however, was not as clean. With runners on first and second and no outs, Hansen induced the dangerous Magglio Ordonez to hit into a double play, leaving one runner on third. But, rather than a quick out to escape any damage, Hansen tore a page from Dice-K's play book and walked the next two batters to load the bases. Terry Francona had seen enough, and with the left handed Matthew Joyce coming up, he brought in Hideki Okajima to create a favorable lefty-lefty match up.

But Tigers' manager, Jim Leyland, has been around far too long to fall for that old trick. Jimmy said, "I'll see your lefty and raise you a righty", as he sent Marcus Thames to pinch hit. Sure enough, Marcus drove the first pitch he saw into center field, driving in two runs. Okajima immediately settled down and retired the next four batters he faced before turning the game over to Jonathan Papelbon to close shop in the ninth for his tenth save of the year. It has become clear that Okajima does not do so well with inherited runners. He is much better coming in at the top of an inning (note to Francona).

The Sox got some nice hitting from Mike Lowell as he went 3 for 5 with a 2 run home run, a double and a single. Believe it or not, the home run gave Lowell his first RBI of the 2008 season, thanks to his time on the DL. Kevin Youkilis also contributed with a 2 run home run of his own, while Big Papi collected the final 2 RBI with a single that drove in Pedroia from second in the 7th, and a solo home run to right in the 9th. Great to see Papi driving the ball again as the home run tied him with Manny Ramirez for the team lead with 6. Manny had himself a well hit double (that would have been an easy triple for Ellsbury, who unfortunately went 0-5), but Manny remained homerless, unable to close in on magic number 500.

So, the Sox extend their winning streak to four games, while the Tigers match with a losing streak of four games. Tonight, Tim Wakefield squares off against Nate Robertson, who has struggled this year starting off with a 1-3 record, but may be coming around as his win came in his last outing against the Yankees. The Red Sox should pounce on the Tigers while the Tigers are cold - they have too much talent to want to face on a winning streak. Let's get our wins and get out of town.

On the injury front, Curt Schilling will throw this afternoon for the first time in his rehab program. He'll be throwing from 60 feet just to feel things out and take it slow. One step at a time, but keep your fingers crossed. We all know how valuable Curt can be come October! Bartolo Colon, meanwhile, pitched two scoreless innings in an extended spring training game against the Orioles. He experienced no pain in his injured oblique, and topped out at 93 MPH. Good news - you can never have too much pitching!

Red Sox Douse the Rays' Beacon

Last week the Red Sox got swept for the first time in the history of the universe by the team from Florida formerly known as the Devil Rays. When the final out of that sweep was recorded, the newly named Rays blared Fenway's beloved song, "Sweet Caroline", throughout Tropicana Field. Touche! But, the newly named "Rays" are apparently a beacon that only radiates across Florida and does not shine brightly enough to reach all the way to Boston. This allowed the Red Sox to pay back the Rays in full with a sweep of their own in friendly Fenway Park. I was hoping the Sox could return the "Sweet Caroline" ribbing, but the Rays simply don't have any distinction or character to make fun of. So, we'll just have to settle for taking 3 wins from the Rays this weekend, and showing them that the Champs are not going to step aside quietly and let some upstart "light beams" settle into first place.

As a regular visitor to this site, do you find it just a little bit creepy that the day after I publish a Batman-oriented post, a fan is shown on TV at the game during the 2nd inning wandering through the Fenway crowd in a head-to-toe, full-blown, Batman costume? Must be a big Rational Sox Fan!

Jon Lester had a very solid game. Remember, this guy is young, missed significant time to win a battle with cancer, and is still trying to invent himself as a top notch big league pitcher. He continued his growth yesterday going 6 innings allowing only one run on a solo homer to Carlos Pena in the 6th inning. He threw 112 pitches, which is a few too many for 6 innings, but he only allowed 4 hits and 3 walks to go with 5 strike outs, which all combines for a good outing.

While it is exciting that the Red Sox swept, they had to do it with yet another lineup adjustment. Brandon Moss is out, having had sudden emergency appendectomy surgery Saturday night (he's fine now and out of the hospital), and the Sox decided to wait to make a move to fill his vacancy. Then prior to this game, David Ortiz' recently operated on knee was experiencing too much stiffness, and they decided to give Papi the night off. This moved Manny Ramirez into the DH role, while Jacoby Ellsbury played left, Coco Crisp played center, and JD Drew took his usual spot in right. The bench was very bare with only Jed Lowrie and Kevin Cash available. We really do need to get Alex Cora back!

The lineup adjustment resulted in the Red Sox fielding arguably the fastest outfield in Boston history. That speed made itself known right away as Jacoby Ellsbury chased down a fly ball to left center that Manny never would have had a shot at. Ellsbury continued flashing his speed as he beat out an infield single to lead off the Sox half of the first inning. And when was the last time you recall the Red Sox performing a double steal? Well, yesterday they completed, not one, but TWO double steals in the game!

Kevin Youkilis was the offensive hero of the day. Batting third in front of Manny Ramirez may have allowed him to see some good pitches, and when he saw them, he hit them! Youk went 3 for 4 with two doubles, a solo home run, and 4 runs batted in. Manny also contributed on offense with an RBI double off the green monster, but remains stuck at 496 career home runs. It never seems easy for players as they approach those historic milestones, but fear not, those home runs are coming.

Now, you recall I mentioned Lester only gave up one run. The Sox won 7-3, so where did those other two runs come from? In disturbing fashion, Manny Delcarmen came into the game and once again looked all-too-hittable. Francona has had a short leash on Delcarmen, which has proven to be wise, and yesterday was no exception. Manny got the first batter out on a groundout, but followed that up with a single to Jason Bartlett and a triple, that Coco Crisp dove for and missed by mere inches as he banged his knee up in the process, to Akinori Iwamura scoring one run. Hideki Okajima was called in has been pitching reasonably well, and rarely gets tagged with an earned run, but he has been much less stingy with inherited runners scoring. Okajima allowed a single to the first batter he faced allowing the Rays' third run to score, but then he settled in to pair up with Jonathan Papelbon to secure the win.

Sox land in Detroit today and will send Daisuke Matsuzaka to the mound to face Jeremy Bonderman. The Red Sox should fare well against Detroit, but I do worry about the bench depth. With Moss out, the Sox have opted to call up Craig Hanson, a pitcher. This does help the bull pen out, and gives Hanson an opportunity for add to his big league experience, but Terry still has to squeeze blood from a stone when it comes to lineup substitutions. This could cause trouble, especially with guys like Crisp diving all over the field. Let's stay healthy!

Holy Hit Parade, Batman!

Were you waiting for the Sox to have a big offensive night? If so, your prayers have been answered! Last night looked like it had all the makings of a pitchers' duel with a rematch of Josh Beckett going up against the Rays' James Shields. In their match-up last Sunday, Tampa Bay scraped out a 3-0 victory, with Shields pitching a complete game shutout allowing only 2 hits, while Beckett allowed 2 runs (1 earned) on 4 hits in 7 innings, taking the loss.

But last night was all about offense as the Red Sox had at least one hit all but one inning. Every Red Sox starter had at least one hit in the game, seven starters scored at least one run, and seven starters drove in at least one run.


The punishment started right from the start as the first four Red Sox batters in the game all had hits, scoring 3 runs in the inning. Welcome to Boston, Rays! Big Papi is officially out of his slump. Last night he went 3 for 5, scoring two runs and driving in two runs off of 2 doubles and a single. What you need to know is that Papi's 2 doubles were both well executed opposite field hits to left. That is exactly what he needs to do. If the defense is going to shift to the right, you hit to the left.

JD Drew was back in the lineup and went 2 for 4, scoring 2 runs and driving in 2 more. Smart move to sit sit out a couple of nights to be able to get back and contribute quicker. Manny Ramirez ended a short drought of not driving in any runs by driving in two with a single in the first inning. He is still stuck on 496 home runs, but he is driving in runs again - one step at a time. Jacoby Ellsbury was also menacing at the plate recording a single, double and a walk in 4 at-bats, scoring 2 runs.

But last night had defense too. Mike Lowell was stellar, making a terrific play on an attempted bunt single by Akinori Iwamura in the 3rd inning, and robbing Jason Bartlett of a sure double in the 5th inning leaping up to grab a hard hit line drive. Manny Ramirez (again) showed off his throwing arm in the 4th inning. With bases loaded and only one out, Nathan Haynes hit a line drive to Manny in mid-left field for out number two. Carlos Pena wanted to score badly, so he tagged up and took off for home. Manny fired a perfect strike to Jason Varitek for out number 3, inning over.

Josh Beckett was good, but not great. He was not lights-out dominating, but he did go deep into the game allowing 4 runs on 7 hits in 8 innings. Three of the four runs were scored off of two home runs. I am not worried about that yet, but it is something to keep an eye on. Two years ago Beckett had a fine year for the Sox, but it was marred by too many home runs. The two last night give Beckett 4 for the season. Hopefully just a blip on the map.

Now, one more win tomorrow would allow the Sox to extract sweep revenge on the Rays. The game will feature two talented, young lefties as John Lester faces off against Scott Kazmir. This will be Kazmir's first start of 2008. He has been nursing an inflamed elbow all season, so we will see if he is truly ready. Kazmir has historically been tough against the Sox, but I am not so sure his first outing of the year will be as successful as he hopes. My guess is that he'll look fantastic for 3 or 4 innings and then be done. By then, the Sox will either have solidified a lead, or kept close enough to bash the bullpen.

We are looking sweep here folks.

Red Sox Snag First Place From Tampa Bay

They were the wettest of times, they were the coldest of times. My daughter and I arrived at Fenway Park at 6:20 and were greeted with clouds, cold, and drizzle. The field was empty and covered by the tarp. Yellow-clad security guards stood sentry to thwart the likelihood of 30,000 people spontaneously starting the world's biggest game of "slip-and-slide" (which we were very tempted to initiate). We wandered around, took in all the Fenway sights, sounds and smells. We said "hi" to Jerry Remy and Tom Carron out by RemDawgs, and we looked for Luis Tiante who must have been indoors keeping warm. And we waited. And the rain drifted down, and we waited. Fans filled the concourse like the tide slowly rising up the beach. And we waited.

The Red Sox front office did NOT want to give up on the opportunity to play last night. We were occasionally informed that the game was delayed due to "inclement weather" (duh!) and that the Red Sox were "hopeful" that they'd be able to get the game in. And we waited. At 7:30 the Red Sox put the Yankees-Mariners game on the big screen. That was fun, except for the fact that the Mariners spent the first three innings proving they are more inept than the injury-depleted Yankees. At 8:05, the Red Sox thankfully switched the big screen to the Celtics game and we actually got to watch the entire first half of the game, while we...waited.

At 9:00 just as everyone was counting down to their decision to flee, the announcement came out that the game would start at 9:30! A cheer went up, and a swarm of worker bees gave an impressive demonstration in the art of clearing a 100 foot soaking wet square of tarp off of a baseball field. Now, we were all glad to see some baseball, but a 9:30 start is pretty extreme. If we had been playing the Yankees, the game could have easily gone until 2:30 in the morning. But, we were not playing the Yankees, we were playing the Light Beams from Florida.
We did, however, have to leave at 11:45 after the 6th inning, to make sure we made our subway connections. But, the 6 innings we saw were fun.

Clay Buchholz looked good, but a little stiff from the cold and late start. He twice allowed the first two batters to get on base, but seemed to bear down and pitch brilliantly to get out of the trouble. Brandon Moss, who had a great game, got Clay out of his jam in the second inning. With two outs, Evan Longoria tried to score from second base on a hard single to Moss in right field. Longoria had turned the corner around third as Moss was setting up for the throw - it looked like he was going to make it, until Moss launched a rocket to home, easily getting there a step ahead of the runner. Jason Varitek fielded the throw cleanly on one hop and applied the tag.

There was more excitement at home plate in the fifth inning. Jason Bartlett had already scored from third on a wild pitch, and the speedy Carl Crawford now stood on third base with one out. The Rays thought they had the momentum, and apparently thought Crawford had "Ellsbury speed". Crawford did not have Ellsbury speed (or at least Ellsbury smarts). Jonny Gomes hit a ground ball to Mike Lowell at third base, who was playing a step behind the bag. Lowell fielded it cleanly and looked Crawford back to the bag. Lowell timed it perfectly. As soon as Crawford took his step back towards third, Lowell fired a strike to first, and to everyone's surprise Crawford took off for home. Kevin Youkilis secured the out at first, stepped off the bag and fired home, Varitek applied the tag, inning over!

The exciting news for Sox fans is that the offense finally broke out. They almost got a big inning going in the third. Julio Lugo and Dustin Pedroia both doubled accounting for one run, but no one else was able to chip in. But, in the fourth inning, something finally clicked and the Sox managed to score 5 runs with two outs! Brandon Moss (remember I said he had a good game?) started the fireworks by crushing a home run to center field bouncing off the camera booth. That got the crowd fired up, and the bats too.

Jason Varitek singled and Lugo walked to set the table for Jacoby Ellsbury, who took advantage and laced a single to center scoring Varitek and sending Lugo to third. Then, Jacoby (who DOES have Ellsbury speed) was off with the pitch and stole second base as Pedroia swung at and missed strike two. Dustin hung in there and laced a single to left fielder Carl Crawford. Ellsbury was around third base as Crawford was scooping the ball. He dutifully fired to home in a futile attempt to gun down Ellsbury, who easily scored standing up. In fact, I think the throw crossed through the wake left behind Ellsbury and the wake knocked the ball off course. With Pedroia on second base, and still two outs, Big Papi got into the action guiding a single through the "shift" and into right center field, scoring Dustin. The Sox' offense was back! The surprise was that the coldest bat of the night was Manny Ramirez'. Manny struck out to end the inning, and went 0 for 5 with 3 K's on the night.

Clay Buchholz came out of the game in firm possession of a 6-1 lead with one out in the 6th. Javier Lopez and Manny Delcarmen stumbled through the remainder of the 6th and 7th, giving up 2 runs, but hanging on to the lead. That set things up for the Red Sox 1-2 punch of Okajima and Papelbon who sent down the Rays' batters 1-2-3 in the eighth (Okajima) and the ninth (Papelbon).

So, the Sox steal first place back from Tampa Bay (I can't believe I just wrote that - tip your hat to the Rays!), and all is well in Boston again (unless you are a Celtics fan and have chewed all of your fingernails to the bone by now).

Josh Beckett matches up against Scott Shields today and will try to keep the Rays from jumping back into first. Shields pitched a fantastic game against the Sox last week, and if he can repeat that, we are in for quite a pitcher's duel. I am still waiting for Manny to launch home run number 497, and can't imagine we'll have to wait much longer for that.

On the injury front, expect JD Drew to be available tonight, and Ellsbury is already back and running fine. Bartolo Colon has gone to Florida to begin an extended spring training. He'll join the Sox in Detroit this week and be examined by the medical staff. If all is well, he'll be inserted into the Pawtucket rotation to increase his pitch count in preparation for a call-up later possibly later this month. Curt Schilling, meanwhile, is on the verge of starting to throw for the first time since shutting it down early this spring. Keep those pitchers coming!

Shhh, Don't Wake Up the Offense

That's right, the Red Sox offense remains fast asleep. I was at the game on Tuesday, and I did notice a suspicious character roaming around outside Fenway with a long black hooded cape, carrying a basket of nice shiny apples. My friend got a glimpse under the hood and swore it looked like Hank Steinbrenner. But why would Hank be hanging around the players' entrance with nice shiny apples? Hmm, I wonder...

Well, a few things have remained constant these last few days; the weather is brisk, the bats are sound asleep, the pitching is dependable, and the games are close. Last night, Tim Wakefield pitched a fine game against a team that generally hits him well. He lasted 7 innings, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits, 4 walks, and no strikeouts. The bullpen held up their end with Aardsma pitching a scoreless 8th, and Lopez and Timlin combining for a scoreless 9th.

But, the Sox could only muster 4 hits, 2 of them from David Ortiz (breaking out of his slump). So, the Sox' streak of inept offense stretches to now stand at:

54 straight innings with only 5 runs scored!

The other worry for the Sox is health. Last night both Jacoby Ellsbury and JD Drew were unavailable. Jed Lowrie played shortstop, giving Julio Lugo a rest. So, let's see who was available off the bench last night...Jason Varitek and Julio Lugo. That's it! Luckily Ellsbury should be available soon, perhaps as early as tonight, and JD Drew should be available this weekend. Now, before you feel too bad for us, it looks like Yankees' young star of the future, Phil Hughes, will be out until at least July with a cracked rib. So, the Yankees have A-Rod, Posada, and reliever Bruney all out with injuries. So, maybe the Tampa Bay Rays will win the East after all?

The game went along without too much drama until the 9th inning. In the top of the ninth, with no outs and runners on first and second, Alex Rios attempted a steal of third, only to get gunned down by Kevin Cash. Probably saved a run with that play. In the Sox half of the inning, things got strange. Let me paint this for you...

There were two outs, the Blue Jays holding a 3-0 lead, Toronto closer BJ Ryan pitching and Brandon Moss at the plate. Good time for nervous drivers to head for their cars for that all-important head start. But wait, Brandon Moss walks to keep a glimmer of hope alive and Coco Crisp steps into the batter's box. Die hard fans start fantasizing ahead (if Crisp gets on and Lowrie walks, Varitek could pinch hit and hit a grand slam walkoff homerun...). But wait, let's watch Coco's at-bat first. Coco sees a pitch he likes and take a big cut, but fans' arms droop as the ball lofts easily into the outfield and is caught for out number three. So, the players begin to jog off the field, and the Rem Dawg is about to wrap up the game when...

Suddenly the players head back onto the field, and Toronto manager John Gibbons flies into the face of the second base umpire and begins chewing his nose off. Even Remy is confused - why is the manager arguing with the umps - the game is over? Well, the game is almost over. Umpire, Bruce Dreckman, has called a BALK on BJ Ryan! That nullifies the pitch - so Crisp's out does not count, and it sends Moss to second base. Crisp gets another chance, and Gibbons gets to be the first Blue Jay to his car as he is ejected for yelling "Frankly Two" in the umpire's face (I've been practicing reading lips - pretty cool, huh?). Now, that fantasy of Varitek hitting a walk-off slam begins to take shape again as fans return to their seats, confused, but with renewed hope. Sure enough, Coco Crisp takes advantage of the second chance and lines a single to right center field sending Moss to third base. Now, all we need is for Jed Lowrie to get on base, and the fantasy will come true!

Well, that's the end of our story. Oh, yeah - Jed Lowrie was called out on strikes to end the game - and moments later BJ Ryan's head turned beet red and blew off as he let out his emotions.

Fear not Red Sox faithful! I have been to three games so far this year, and have nearly single-handedly buoyed the team to three victories. I am going to the game tomorrow and I am bringing 6 of my closest friends, and we will wake those sleeping bats - I promise you! (In the photo below, I'm bringing up the rear!)