Football Cardiac!--Peter

Well, it's now obvious what the Pats were missing in the Super Bowl--the Red Sox! By the time the game was over tonight, I really wasn't sure what to say. I mean how often does a team--any team--score ten runs in the first inning and face the possibility of losing? How often does a starting pitcher (the Rangers') give up 12 runs, find himself down by ten, and not get the loss? The answers to those rhetorical questions, in order, is rarely and over ninety years ago (August 3, 1918; Cards over Phillies, 16-12). As Casey Stengel, former Yankees manager, used to say, "You could look it up."

The way tonight's game went, Tito's comment about trying to score a field goal was pretty apropos. I mean, in the first inning, after the latest Sox rookie pitcher, Zink, a knuckleballer, no less, went through the three batters he faced without a scratch, the Sox sent their entire lineup to the plate, almost twice, and came away leading ten zip. Big Papi was the biggest he's been in a long time, getting a pair of three run shots as the start of a 3-4, 6 ribbie night. The rest of the lineup also contributed in what looked like the biggest onslaught since the German army's march across western Europe in 1940.

However, in what then made it really look like a football game out of season, and what really began to make me start to worry about the possibilities of blowing this insurmountable lead and losing, the Rangers tacked on eight in the 5th to close to 12-10. True, our heroes did add a pair in their half of the same inning, but in the 6th, Texas came all the way back, and took the lead, 15-14. You watched this, and two things happened. First, you began to feel a cardiac coming on. Second, you quickly understood why the Rangers have the best team B.A. in the league. Ultimately to total 20 hits for the second straight game, the Rangers were threatening to run away with a contest that just a few innings earlier they were looking like they'd be happy to lose by only ten runs.

Fortunately, two things happened to save the Sox. First, the back end of the bullpen, starting with Okajima, did its job and held off the ravenous hordes from the Southwest. Oki was like we came to expect him to be for the first time in a long time, shutting out the Texans for an inning and two thirds, allowing just a single walk in the process. He ultimately was credited with the win. Papelbon allowed an unearned run, but his pitching was classic Papelbon when it counted. With one gone in the 9th via a K, he found himself with a runner on as a result of Youk's second error of the game. Youk with two errors in a game? Well, it happened and the two were #'s 2 & 3 of the week! This from one of the surest handed defensive players in MLB over the last twenty years. Anyway, that runner made it to second without drawing a throw, to be brought home by the next player with a double, 19-17 Sox. Bearing down, Laser got the next two batters, bang bang and the game at last was over.

The cardiac conditions, however, continued from the 5th onward. Having crept to within 14-10 in the 5th, the Rangers continued their scoring tsunami by tacking on an eight spot in the 6th, capped by Kinsler's sacfly to take the lead, 15-14. As if that weren't enough, they added what was beginning to look like an insurance run, expanding the lead to 16-14, in the 7th. However, as the Sox were soon to show, when it came to insurance, they didn't have enough coverage.

In their half of the 7th, the Sox matched that insurance run, leaving them trailing 16-15. Oki held serve in the top of the 8th and the Sox again took charge in the bottom half. Getting his fifth hit of the evening, Dusty banged his 36th double of the year to left, bringing home Ellsbury, who'd walked on four pitches a few moments earlier when he came in as a pinch hitter--tie score. Then, things got even more interesting. Thinking that it was probably wiser to walk Papi than pitch to him, given his 3-4, two HR, 6 RBI evening to that point, they elected to pitch to Yoouk. After all, even though he'd already had a homer, he'd also struck out his previous two AB's.

Now, we'll never know if lightning would have struck a third time for Papi tonight, but it definitely did a second time for Yoooouk! Working the count to two and O, Yoooouk unloaded on the third pitch and drove it over the Monster to put the Sox back in front by--that's right--Tito's 'field goal', 19-16. That left it to Papelbon to finish things off.

The total of 36 runs by both teams ties an AL record set by an earlier Red Sox lineup against the Philadephia A's--in 1950. The Sox were actually outhit tonight, 20-17, but had eight extra base hits among theirs, including the aforementioned four homers by Papi and Yoouk.

Outside the bounds of the game, the Sox picked up a new pitcher, Paul Byrd, from Cleveland. He's good at eating up innings and has been really good in his last four outings. Hopefully, he'll be a help oer the final six weeks of the season. As for our new rookie, Zink, after giving up the Rangers' first eight runs, and leaving with an ERA of 16plus, he was sent back down to Pawtucket after the game.