And the Beat(ing) Goes On--Back to Back--Peter

The Sox expanded their latest streak tonight to five in a row and seven of eight, beating the Bengals again in the Motor City. You can look at a number of sparkling things that our heroes had going for them in the game, offensively or defensively. But with the title I'm using, I guess I'll start with the offense. The back to back shots were from, who else, Papi and Manny in the seventh. They even came on successive pitches, Papi's on the last pitch from the Tigers' starter, and Manny's from the reliever's (Dolsi) first--in fact, his first pitch in the Bigs. Welcome to the Majors, sonny. Enjoy the view while it lasts.

However, these two runs merely rounded out the Sox scoring for the evening. They had picked up three earlier in the game on a combination of hits and base running. Drew singled in a run in the second, followed by an RBI double by the catcher, Cash. He, in turn was plated when Coco grounded out and the only sure play for the Tiger with the ball was to first. That's pretty much the way the scoring remained until the bookend homers in the seventh.

It remained that way on defense as well, as Wake's knuckler was dancing, tumbling, fluttering and everything else that a good knuckler is supposed to do, except getting hit by the Tigers for eight solid innings. He gave up a meaningless single in the second, and then nothing until Dusty's error on a grounder with one gone in the seventh, a total of 17 batters retired in a row--not too shabby. For his eight innings, he only gave up a total of two hits and no walks. In fact, none of the Sox pitchers surrendered a free pass the entire evening. I guess we were owed that much when it's balanced against the Diceman's eight BB's last night. Wake's ERA dropped to a very nice 3.33 on the season. Even Jenn's favorite reliever, Yes, I do mean Timlin, did his part. Although giving up a single, he quickly set the Tigers down for the ninth inning to close out the game, surrendering no runs in the process.

A few quick thoughts--Papi clearly (and I hope I don't jinx him) is back. His homer and Manny's leave them tied for the team lead at seven apiece, and climbing in the AL leader list in both homers and ribbies. Lowell went for the collar, but did hit the ball solidly a couple of times, so it appears he may well be on his way back, as well. Yoooouk continues to torment opposing hurlers. Tonight it was a pair of doubles, giving him eleven for the year. The performances by Wake and Timlin also gave our setup and closer a night off to just rest up for whenever they're next needed, and a bit of rest over the long season is no small thing. Some late good news: the Tribe beat Hankie's Stripes. That's four and a half up on them now.