Wake & Speed! What Else Do You Need--Peter

Well, tonight's game in KC, the final one between the teams this year was a Sox victory, although it took a few innings longer to develop than pre-game guesses would have indicated it should have. In fact, but for a bang-bang catch and relay for an inning ending DP in the 1st, the Sox would have broken on top a lot sooner.

Anyway, as the title would indicate, Wake was once again in excellent form tonight. Staying almost exclusively with the knuckler in the low 60's, not even going very much to his "fast" ball (around 70--hell, wouldn't even break a pane of glass), he celebrated his 42d birthday (actually last Saturday) with a win. He has deserved to be the winner a number of times through the summer, but failed because he got no run support.

Not tonight! The eight runs the Sox bunched between the 5th and 7th innings were more than enough to insure that this time he came away with the W. Even though he gave up the Royals' two runs, he allowed just four hits and not a single free pass. One of the runs was unearned, coming after Cash's passed ball in the 5th. After that, the bullpen took turns, an inning at a time--an inning per hurler, finishing off the Royals.

As for the speed, Jake took over the game offensively. Looking more and more like he's coming out of the long slump he's been suffering through, he went 3-4 tonight, topping off the performance with his 6th homer, a solid shot that brought across three runs in the 7th and finished out the scoring for the evening. Perhaps he didn't attempt any steals tonight, but you got the sense watching him perform that the urge-not to mention the certainty--was right there just waiting for the right moment to be unleashed.

There was one play in the 5th, however, when he demonstrated his ability to turn on the jets at a moment's notice. With the boys from KC batting and already having plated a pair, the next batter, Maier, drove a low screamer into center. Anyone else likely would have taken it on the first bounce, allowing a single and another run. Jake isn't anyone else. He flipped on the switch for the afterburner and, stretching full length, snared the ball in a tumbling roll, making the out and ending the inning. For you older folks, it almost made you think of Number 37 from the mid-50's--Jimmy Piersall.

Other highlights of the game: Bay continued to hit and score, getting a pair each of hits and runs, and JD also picked up a pair of hits and scored one.

One possible negative: Youk was hit on the hand or arm by a pitch in the 1st and after the inning ended, left the game. MRI's showed no damage, but it was/is worrisome. It doesn't take much for a misplaced pitch to radically change a team's offensive lineup via a broken bone. One of the Sox' great stars of the 60's was put on the sidelines with a broken hand or arm at least three times, not to mention literally almost being killed by what was ultimately a career ending beanball in 1967 during his relatively and unfortunately brief stint with the team. That's Tony C I'm referring to--another memory for those of you older than 45. Conigliaro was the most tragic example of getting hit, but even a broken hand and DL for a month or so can drastically affect a team's chances in a tight pennant race.