A Two Inning Fantasy--Peter

Well, here we were with Clay Buchholz on the mound. I'm starting the game very nervous. Will he continue to do as poorly as he has for most of the season or will he find himself and really be a plus for the rest of the season and the pennant race? One inning and no hits, a one, two, three inning in fact. Meanwhile, the Sox pick up a deuce in each of the first two innings. Bottom half of the second and Buchholz gets two outs while only surrendering a walk, I'm starting to think, "Hey, he's allowed no hits. He was pitching against these same Orioles when he got his no-no last year. Could it be....a repeat?" Hell of a fantasy. Then, unfortunately, reality arrived. Had been on its way all along, but got held up in rush hour traffic from Baltimore's Inner Harbor on its way to the ball park. By the time the third out was in the books, the O's had scored three times and the no-hitter--fuhgeddaboudit! Three hits to go with those three runs were on the board.

But wait! It got worse. After a base running error took the Sox out of a potential scoring opportunity in their half of the third when Lowrie went from a leadoff double to the second half of a twin killing, the O's really went to town on Buchholz.

A hit batsman and a walk, sandwiched around a fly out, followed by a steal of 3d, left Buchholz in the showers and set up an explosive greeting for Aardsma. Usually pretty sharp, the first batter he faced, Hernandez, took two and then unloaded-- a three run shot into the cheaps--O's, 6-3. So much for fantasy. After the game, Buchholz found himself on a longer trip than just to the showers. He was sent down--way down. Usually, he'd go from Boston to Triple A Pawtucket, as he did earlier this year. Not tonight. This time it's Double A Portland. Well, at least he'll have plenty of lobster right at his doorstep.

It just went downhill from there. The Sox outhit the O's 13-9 and had more men on base, but it was the two 3-run homers by the Birds that made the difference. With the exception of Okajima, who went two innings, allowing only a single walk and K'ing two, every Sox hurler gave up runs. Jenn's favorite, Timlin, had the next fewest runs allowed, giving up one in two innings. By the way, it was Timlin's 1,049th career appearance, second only to Kent Tekulve in baseball history for right handed pitchers.

Offensively, Ellsbury, Youkilis, Bay and Crisp had two hits apiece, with the Sox getting three doubles, a triple and another homer, the last from Bay. They just weren't timely. Jake also picked up his 41st steal.

So, where are we? Well, the Rays lost, so we missed a great chance to pick up a game and are still four and a half out. The Twins and Stripes both won, thereby cutting the Hose wild card lead to a half game over the Twinkies and to five and a half over Mr. Hankie's Yankees.