A Stew That Left A Bad Taste--Peter

I was going to stress how the oldest pitching team to combine for a win in baseball history did it again. That would have been Wake & Timlin, who, at 83 years and 300 plus days, were the oldest pitching combo to win a shutout ever last week against Detroit. Unfortunately, Wake was gone before the 3d inning was over, trailing 7-1.

He was succeeded by Tavarez, and I thought, "I hope it's Dr. Jekyll, not Mr. Hyde's turn on the rubber. He quickly ended the carnage to that point, ending the 3d, and started the 4th with two quick outs. Then, just as I thought, "Great--the Doctor is on the mound", his nefarious alter ego decided to join the party. I don't know why, but there he was nevertheless--probably felt left out or something. Hyde quickly reopened the flood gates, surrendering a hit and two free passes that led to an unearned run, 8-1. He finally did manage to end the inning with no further damage. Tito quickly produced the hook and the Sox definition of pitching schizophrenia headed for the showers.

That brought on Aardsma, who did pretty well. Throwing for two shutout innings, he gave up only a walk and a hit. Meanwhile, we had picked up four runs and, in the 7th, added a pair. We're within two runs at 8-6 and for the 7th, we get: Jenn's favorite--Timlin.

Now, for all his faults, he did pitch well enough--he actually reduced his bloated ERA to an even 10.00--he even gave up only a single hit in the inning and two thirds he pitched. Unfortunately, that sole hit came to rest not in an outfielder's glove, but in the cheap seats, putting the Twinkies again ahead by 3 runs. Lopez closed out the 8th, quickly retiring the only batter he faced.

Which brings us to the 9th, trailing by three. The Twins closer, Joe Nation, comes in to seal the win. But--not...so...fast. Our heroes get two batters on and Drew quickly plates one with a sharp single, 9-7. Coco comes to the plate having already contributed a triple and a homer and lines a shot off Nation's glove. Another run, Youk, crosses the plate, 9-8, but Nation has a shot at a play on JD going to 3d and gets it easily. JD'd had to hold up midway between 2d and 3d in case the liner by Coco had been caught to avoid getting doubled up. When it fell fair, he was in a baserunner's no-man's-land between 2d and 3d, dead meat whichever way he went, barring a bad throw by Nation. The throw wasn't bad and JD was out number two.

Manny is brought up to pinch hit for the catcher, Cash. On the first pitch, Coco takes off for second like someone is chasing him with a gun and beats the throw. Now in scoring position, with his speed he can score with a simple single. Manny doesn't have to launch one into orbit to tie things up.

And that's when things return, for the moment, to the origins of the old expression from the days of my youth and before, "Good luck to you and the Red Sox." Manny, who only needs to get a single, but has never gotten a hit in his career from Nathan (should be due, no?), harmlessly grounds out to short and the game is over. That shot Timlin gave up was the winning run, even though Wake got charged with the loss. That's one of the mysteries of baseball scoring rules that I have never understood--and probably never will. I can explain it, but don't understand it. Wakefield surrendered seven runs, but the Sox got back eight. The winning run was surrendered by another pitcher, Timlin. So he should be the losing pitcher, right? No--wrong. The way baseball record keeping scores things, if the losing team never takes the lead after initially falling behind, then the original pitcher who left with them trailing shall be the one with the big L after his name. Makes no sense, but I didn't invent the game; I just follow it--like a supplicant visiting Lourdes. By the way, Timlin's appearance was his 1,023d in his career, putting him in eighth place in baseball history for a career.

The comeback from their slumps continues as Papi got two more hits and Lowell one, picking up an RBI in the process. Yooouk got a pair and Coco got the aforementioned three bagger and homer, along with three ribbies. Overall, the Sox got 15 hits, 50% more than the Twins got. Unfortunately, the Twinkies had more circuit shots included in their 10 hits than the Sox did in their 15.

Well, tomorrow's another day in the big garbage bag to the North. As with tonight's game, ESPN's got it on.