A Real Nailbiter--Peter

Well, last night's game was a true nailbiter! It really was a great example of a pitcher's duel--and all the while, in another game, a more or less 'nothing' pitcher who'd lost his rotation spot for the Giants was tossing a no-no--even perfect into the 8th! So I guess Lester's duel was fitting for the evening. Things went back and forth all evening. First the Lester would put up a zero for his half inning's work. Then the Royals' hurler would give us his imitation. On and on it went inning after inning. The trouble with these things is that when you get into the later innings, it gets particularly nerve racking because you know that, God forbid--the other guys score first, you've got much less time to respond to avoid a loss--particularly when you're in a tight division race.

But finally, in the 8th, the Hose came through. Bates, pinch running, was waiting for someone to do something when Dusty stroked his 28th two bagger of the season and brought him home with the winning run, in fact the ONLY run. This time Papelbon didn't waste any time. Taking the mound in the 9th, he went right after the Royals. Eleven pitches later everyone could go home--no hits or free passes from The Laser this evening.

Lester was also sparkling. He's definitely back in the groove. Going into this game, he was 4-1, with a 1.74 ERA in his most recent seven starts, and that single loss was the rain shortened game that was called 'official' just after five innings with the Sox behind by a single run. On the season he's 8-6 with his ERA for the season back into the respectable range at 3.87. While we're on ERA's, by the way, Pap's is now down to 1.85 for the year.

Nerve racking, but a good night after all. Making things even better, Mr. Hankie's Yankees lost and dropped out of the first place tie they'd moved into a day earlier--against an Angels lineup that had been damaged by its two best players--Hunter and Guerrero--going on the DL earlier in the day.

Smoltz goes today. Keep your fingers crossed.