It says a lot about the state of our beloved team that Sox Blog is
thrilled to have taken two of three from the Detroit Tigers -- and that I'm not entirely sure we'll sweep the formerly-hapless
Devil Rays like we should.
The game on
Friday night was a weird one. It started an hour late. It was played on
new sod. We scored weird. We pitched weird. We fielded weird. (
Kevin Millar and
Doug Mirabelli did, at least.)
We had 10 hits on the night, but our nine runs came mainly by way of force plays, sac flies, walked-in runs. Theirs, meanwhile, came almost entirely from homers. Four of 'em, including one that seemed surely foul, but was later overturned. I screamed long and hard at my television, but then sheepishly recanted when a different camera angle revealed it was just fair.
Wake was shaky at first, giving up a run right away, and then four more of 'em in the fourth. He settled down, though, to get through two more innings unscathed. Alas, Jeremi Gonzalez had turned back into a pumpkin, ending his 11-plus inning scoreless streak with a couple towering dingers to Pudge Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez. Chad Bradford, was good, coming on to retire the last two batters of the inning, then he was bad, coming out for the eighth and giving up a couple hits and a run. For a moment it looked like the bullpen would blow it again, but Mike Timlin nailed it down with a one-hit ninth.
But
Saturday was terrible. Just terrible. When you
cannot hold a 6-0 lead against the sixth-worst team in the American League -- even one that does know how to hit a bit -- your team has big problems. Simply put:
we don't pitch so good.
A six-run third should have been enough to put the game away. But, no. Bronson Arroyo, bad '90s alt-rock ringing in his ears, managed to come back out for the fourth and -- thanks to a couple singles, a walk, a grand slam, then two doubles -- give up five runs. He surrendered two more doubles in the sixth, scoring a run, before being relieved by
Jonathan Papelbon, who gave up two more doubles, plating two more runs.
In the seventh, Papelbon walked in another for good measure run after IBB'ing the beastly
Dmitri Young. In the eighth, Gonzalez hit Placido Polanco with a pitch. Then gave up a double, scoring one. Then he gave up a triple, scoring another one. Then he was relieved by Mike "White Flag" Remlinger, who immediately gave up a run-scoring single.
Weirdly, it wasn't until the ninth, with the game all but lost, that Mike Myers, the guy with the third-best ERA on the staff, came in to pitch a one-hit inning. Cold comfort indeed.
''
Not a real fun night," opined Tito. One could say that, yes.
Rubbing salt in the wounds, the
Yankees had, just hours prior, scored five runs in the ninth, pulling a win out of their collective asses to slice our lead in the AL East to a mere game and a half.
Thankfully, we were able to keep it that way on
Sunday.
The Lord's Day started with glad tidings: the news came down that
Remlinger had been released.
And there was much rejoicing.
Things just got better.
The Fat Man was dealing, more or less, and went seven strong to give a beleaguered bullpen a badly-needed rest. Chad Bradford pitched a scoreless eighth, and call-up Abe Alvarez came on for a tidy 1-2-3 ninth. That deserves a
tip of the cap.
Of course, the pressure was off, because we hit like crazy yesterday.
Billy Mueller, in the words of
Phoenix cleaning guy
Pat D, "played through his face." It wasn't just his 3-4 day, with a home run and two RBIs. He also made two jaw-dropping plays at the hot corner, making diving stops in foul ground and miraculously getting the ball to first
toot sweet. He's been on fire of late, hitting safely in 21 straight starts (35 of his last 38 games). Gotta love the Pro.
Will he be around next season? It would be great if he was.
Johnny Damon went 2-4 with three RBIs to reclaim the top spot in AL batting average. (Meanwhile, his wife Michelle made her
blogging debut.)
David Ortiz -- who looked pretty funny in the first, playing possum by attempting to bunt before lining an RBI single to the shift in right -- hammered a two-run job in the eighth, a capstone on a heartening win. He's now tied with buddy Manny Ramirez: 33 homers and 115 RBIs each. Amazing.
But we're not gonna to slug our way to another World Series. So pitching must get better, and fast. The relative efficacy of guys like Alvarez, Papelbon, and Manny Delcarmen is heartening, of course. And
Craig Hansen will be here soon. (Let's keep expectations in check, though, m'kay? The guy was taking final exams in May.)
But it's
Keith Foulke -- and
this guy -- who'll make or break this thing. In two rehab starts in
Lowell, Foulke has allowed a run each in two innings, so it's clear he's got some work still to do. It's not his arm strength that's the issue, of course, it's that all-important location, and the differentiation between his fastball and change-up. And we might let him work it all out with the big club.
Word is we may see him in middle-relief as soon as Thursday.
Meanwhile, not-dead-yet
Matt Clement faces
Seth McClung at the Fens tonight. We should win this one. And the two after it. Let's.