Sooner or Later---They're Gonna' Get Ya'--Peter

Tonight's game is a prime example of what happens when a team is facing one of the most loaded, top to bottom, lineups in the game. The loaded team occasionally goes cold with the stick, looking lucky to even get three or four hits in a game, sometimes for three or four games in succession. Then, suddenly, with as little warning as they had going into the cold snap, they explode--often from the least likely source.

Here the Sox were, a couple of games of sparse hitting, topped off by last night's famine, and looking as if the drought was going to continue for at least another game. Eighth inning and they're trailing 4-1, having basically gotten little of anything after Dusty's solo shot in the first.

The D-backs' starter, Davis, is rolling along sitting down Sox batters just as quickly as they come up to face him when, suddenly, Lugo leads off with his first hit of the evening. Following him is the Speed Racer, and the Sox have got men on first and second. After Drew strikes out (has he cooled off fast or what?), Manny hits a sharp grounder. Now, if the base runners are cursed with just normal speed, it's an inning ending DP. But they're NOT! You have the league leader in steals and another very speedy guy on the bases. At the crack of the bat, they're off like someone's chasing them with a very sharp knife. Result? When the dust clears, Manny's out at first, but, because the other two are so quick, first was the only option the 'Snakes' infielder had and there are Sox players standing on 2d and 3d. Lowell comes up and with one swing of the bat, the score is tied--and it's not over yet!
Varitek, in one of the worst slumps of his career, something like one for thirty, comes to the plate, and batting left-handed singles in the go-ahead run, Lowell, to make it 5-4.

Meanwhile, Masterson is off the hook that a couple of ill-timed fat pitches had put him on and another young Sox pitcher just called up from the minors, Smith--how plain and simple can you get--has a shot at the win. Why? Simple! He's just pitched two innings of no-hit shutout ball, allowing only a single baserunner on a free pass. Total pitches for TWO innings-28! That's averaging 14 an inning--not too shabby.

With that scenario, you know what comes next--Laserman! Pap comes in and finishes off the Diamondbacks the same way the fat broad kills snakes in the comic strip BC. He beats them to death, not with a club, but just as deadly--his assortment of high energy laser beams the official scorer calls pitches. Although he does give one D-back a free ride, after four batters, the game is in the books and Pap's line score shows not a single ball leaving the infield. In fact, only one got even into play that far. The other two guys were his usual stat--large K's. Save number 22. Scary, really scary!