Too Long? How About Tonight?: Peter

Well, Jenn, if you think that JB & Bucky stayed in too long last week, you'll just LOVE (not) tonight. Before I get any further, I'm not ignoring Baltimore--we took the series, just losing (needlessly) the finale after leading it too. But I want to get on to the teams above (dammit!!) us. That starts with Toronto tonight. From inconsequential birds to dangerous birds, as it were. Well, JB was in again, and for two innings, he was sailing along as the Hose quickly built a five zip lead, topping it off with a nine batter four run 3d inning. In fact, as the evening wore on, it was The Captain leading the way offensively, but more of that later (assuming I remember to return to that point). Anyway, into the Jays 3d at 5-0, out of the Jays 3d at 5-6, to be followed by an additional two for the Jays without getting any outs to start the 4th. JB for the night: three plus, eight earned runs. Oouchh!! Fortunately, as the Sox moved along, they managed to regain the lead in the 4th and, every time the Jays caught up, regain the lead again--three times over the course of the evening, finally only letting the Canadians get to within one at game's end, eh.

This is NOT the way to win championships! In fact, it's not the way to even manage a winning record! Something has to change and FAST! Now, admittedly, not everything was bad for the Hub heroes. IN addition to the eighteen hits on the evening (five guys each getting three), there were some bright spots. First, as I already mentioned, Tek has been playing in this short time this season like he's ten years younger. With tonight's three hits, including four ribbies, he's hitting .357 and slugging, better sit down, a Ruthian (that's how sportswriters always used to refer to amazing power stats, B.S.[Before Steroids].857! I mean that's from some other world. That's in Sox terms Teddy Ballgamesque, and then some! I know that realistically the chances of this continuing for the season are like those of Clyde Vollmer winning the Triple Crown (you'll have to look that up, Jenn, and definitely please do;as a sample taste, he's the ONLY player in MLB history to get eight at bats in eight innings in a single game, one the Sox won 29-4(no, that's not a misprint; as Casey would say, "You could look it up.")--another interesting part of Sox history from my very early youth). But it's a nice bit of eternal wishful Sox thinking. Also, the pen, at least part of it, performed well again. Although Oki didn't help at all tonight, giving up a trey in, officially, no innings (couldn't get a single out) and all three batters he faced scored, TOM (The Other Manny, as you long time followers of this blog will recognize)(maybe I should retire that acronym as the original Manny is now long gone, and busy amusing folks in LA--have to think about it, we'll see)pitched two perfect innings, the 6th and 7th, lowering his ERA to 1.74.After Oki did his aforementioned thing, which was NOTHING in any good way, Bard came on for a perfect 8th with a pair of K's, followed by The Laser for a perfect door closing 9th and his 6th save of the young season.
By the way, the game is the longest in terms of time this season in MLB, making the Sox the only team to be involved in the three longest games of the season so far. Hey, the important stat is the W, but some sanity MUST arrive before it's too late. Perhaps it's the coming arrival of the Diceman, set to start this Sunday, I believe. Of course, we've won five of the last seven, but the way we've done it is a way set to wear out everyone just in time for the second half of the season.Remember, Jenn, look up Clyde Vollmer.