JD & The Team: Peter

Well, Jenn, tonight's game is simple to discuss in retrospect. JD put a pair in the cheaps and the moundsmen, both of 'em, kept the O's pretty much at bay. The roundtrippers were his 9th & 10th of the season. The finishing touch was then added by one of the Sox injury dictated callups from the PawSox, Nava. Wake started, thus passing The Rocket for all time lead in games started at the Fens by a Sox hurler, and, while he did allow two runs, he kept it manageable for the Sox hitters to take control. Allowing just seven hits and a single free pass in eight innings, he had a game WHIP of 1.0, nailing down four K's while he was at it. The Laser then took over for the 9th and it was classic Pap--three up, three down, including a pair of K's. This, after Nava pinch hit and drove in Scutaro from second where he'd landed after a two bagger with the winning run. Game, set and match.

On the negative side of things, I couldn't believe today when I learned that Tek is now on the DL with a broken foot. Not sure how he broke it, but this is getting way beyond ridiculous! I mean the team now has ten players on the DL for one thing or another. But two good things are coming of it. First, it's allowing the healthy guys to band together and chip in to keep things going well in spite of the injuries. Every player is contributing and that's the mark of a good team--you don't have to rely on the same individual every game. Second, the callups are gaining valuable MLB experience that you just can't get any other way. This benefits the Hose in two ways. First, it allows them the advantage of more MLB game experienced players when the need arises. That always helps. Second, when it's trade time, as much as you hate to give up quality experienced young players, you often can get more in the trade than you could otherwise. A good example of this is the way we got JB from the Marlins. We gave up one of the best young infielders around, Hanley Ramirez. Both teams benefited and look at the good stuff from JB for the Sox!
Now, if we can just manage to keep nine players on the field and a couple of good pitchers....
Tonight's win got us within a half game of Mr. Hankie's Yankees too.