Well, Jenn, at least you didn't have to worry about Timlin again today. Beckett is slowly, but surely coming around. He pitched a very nice 6 2/3 innings today, including 5 K's and a WHIP (for today's game) of less than 1.0! But the stars of the game were Manny and Papelbon. The former accounted for the Sox's first three runs. The first came on a drive that would still be traveling if it hadn't slammed into the second 'V' on the Volvo billboard. The folks at Volvo may be considering a new commercial for the safety of their cars as a result: "Volvo--the car that took a hit from Manny and is still OK"; or something to that effect. The next two Sox runs came on a first pitch line shot to right center by Manny after Yankees manager Girardi decided that Mussina could get Manny out. Sorry, Joey. Youk finished off the scoring with an RBI single that drove in Manny, who was running like he was being chased by someone with a knife--a very big knife.
An inning later, top of the 7th, Cano doubled in Posada and, with two gone, it was time for Beckett to do likewise. The 'other Manny', Delcarmen, came in, struck out the only batter he faced and that ended that. Moving to the 8th Okajima kept his spotless ERA, but created a little anxiety as he surrendered a walk and a hit, but no harm done overall. Except for one thing, his two men on base were there when he was relieved by the Bosox answer to (pick your favorite Biblical figure: we're nondenominational on this blog), Papelbon. Like Jenn's T-shirt says: 'Papelbon Saves'. Talk about tension. Who does he come in to face? ARod, the same guy who homered to win a game off him last year (the Skankees' first win against the Sox in '07). This, however, is '08. Three pitches--three strikes--inning over. Take a seat on the end of the bench Mr. Rod. Papelbon actually was even more amazing than this sounds because he came in to face ARod, but before he could throw a single pitch, the skies opened up and a two and a half hour rain delay ensued. When the tarp finally came off, he has to again warm up and finally gets ARod on the aforementioned three lasers. I mean how else can you describe his pitches? These things have such speed and power, not to mention accuracy, a batter has about the same chance a tank does against the Army's wire-guided missiles. After the Sox' half inning, Papelbon came in and duplicated his feats. This time he took down all three batters on a total of 16 pitches, striking out two of the three. Game over, let's get dinner.
Non-game commentary: Papi continues to go deeper into the slump. It's unfathomable, because for his career as a Sox, the only guy with more slugging achievements in a wide variety of categories is Number 9. That's pretty good company, but he's now 3 for 45 on the season, and no sign of any reversal. Watching him in today's game, he's got a good eye and not swinging at bad pitches. He just isn't getting hits. Got my fingers crossed. It'd be great for him to win tomorrow's game for the Diceman with a shot off Pesky's Pole. I'm hoping, and any of you fellow Sox fans who read the works of another Sox fan, Stephen King, know what he says about hope. Definitely applies here.
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