Sox Win, Another Bucky F-ing Dent, and Timlin Strikes Again - Jenn

That title sums up the three game series against the Rays. Things started so nicely on Monday when the Sox put a 3-spot on the board in the first and John Lester along with our favorite closer kept the Tampa Bay Rays to zeros for the next eight innings.
But then Tuesday came along and everything went to hell.

Okay, so the Sox weren't playing the Yankees. That doesn't mean the Rays, this season's evil little thorn, don't have their own version of Bucky Dent or Aaron Boone to spoil the party. After an okay outing from Dice-K and a great outing from most of the relief staff, the score was still 3-2 Rays. But in the bottom of the 8th Jason Bay, who I still say is one of the best trades the Sox have ever made, came to the plate. Youk was sitting pretty at at first base waiting for something that would allow him to advance. He didn't have to wait long. On a 1-1 pitch, Bay launched the ball over the monster seats to give the Sox two more runs and a 4-3 lead. It should've been enough to get the Sox the win. Unfortunately, the Rays still had one more inning to try and squeak out a win, but there's nothing to worry about because Papelbon's on the mound, right? Wrong!

I knew it wasn't Pap's night from the first pitch. It was a ball. As were the next two after that. But that's not the worst of it. Turns out the guy he was pitching to was a pinch-hitter who had literally just been called up from Triple A. His name is Dan Johnson and he was actually supposed to be in the starting lineup. But he arrived at Fenway mere minutes before game time and so was benched. Why Joe Maddon didn't keep him on the bench for the whole game, Red Sox Nation will never know. But pinch-hit him he did, and on a 3-2 count, Johnson launched Pap's belt-high fast ball over the Red Sox bullpen to tie the score. Although the Sox closer would get Aybar to fly out to center, Perez doubled off the wall and Navarro's opposite field double plated Perez to give the Rays a one-run lead and the win. But there was still one more game and one more chance to take the series.

Unfortunately taking the series was not to be. Although it took 14 innings for the Rays to win, the Rays still managed to get to the Sox relief staff and take game three and the series. The Rays scored in the 2nd and the Sox tied it up in the 3rd. But from the 4th through the 13th innings, neither side scored. The Rays and the Sox would send 14 men to the mound and leave a total of 29 men on base. But all that matters is one pitcher and one batter. And that one pitcher is the oldest in the Sox bullpen - Mike Timlin. And the batter is a young kid from Haverhill, Mass who was a Red Sock for about a second and a half, Carlos Pena.

Timlin may have gotten the first two batters he faced out, but unfortunately he couldn't close. Iwamura and Baldelli both singled off the reliever and set up Pena for his dream crushing 3-run shot over the monster seats. Timlin tried to make excuses by saying the pitch was a ball that Pena shouldn't have been swinging at, but Pena's homer dosen't explain Iwamura or Baldelli's singles. The fact is, it doesn't matter how or why Pena got the homerun, all that matters was that he got enough wood on the ball to lift it over the green monster and give the Rays the three run lead they needed to win the game, the series and take a 2 1/2 game lead in the AL East.

There's no game today, then it's four against that other Red Sox thorn, the Toronto Blue Jays. They're on fire, but the series is still at home, so here's hoping we can do some damage. And the Yankees are playing the Rays over the weekend. I never thought I'd say this, but here's hoping the Yanks win all three games so the Red Sox can regain the lead in the East.