Everyone Contributes: Peter

Jenny, tonight was one of those games where it seemed everyone had a part in the victory. When a timely hit was needed, someone stepped to the plate and delivered. When the pitching looked like it was ready to give back the game, the pen came to the rescue. Finally, when else, when it looked as if Pap was going to slide back to the earlier part of the season and blow a save, he stiffened and put the Birds out of their misery, finishing with a pair of K's.
Early on, the Sox started with a quick five zip lead, and the Diceman was rolling along looking as though no O was ever going to get on base. I know three and change is a bit early to start talking about no-no's, Jenn, but things looked that good! However (the way things have gone this year, there's always a however), in the 6th the O's struck back, and suddenly, what had appeared to be an easy victory in the making was now looking very possibly like another lost opportunity. Dice gave up three quick hits at the start of the inning, and after a couple of outs, allowed another double that plated one more pair of runs. Now, it's five four, Sox and Dice is off to the showers. On comes Atch, and I'm on schpilkies (not really sure how it's spelled, but I'm on them anyway). Fortunately, Atch rears back and gets the inning ending out with a resounding K. The Hose picked up another run in the very next inning, making it 6-4 and that's how things stayed. To his credit, Atch went two full innings of no-hit shutout ball, getting three K's in the process. This kind of contribution goes a long way, I can tell you, to giving the regulars in the pen a rest. Oki finished the 8th with a quick ground ball out, and that brought on The Laser. As already mentioned, he first reverted to earlier 2010 season and started giving everyone in Sox Nation cardiac trouble. But, finally, he came around to recent performance levels and put the Birds back in the cage.
WE gain no ground on Mr. Hankie's Yankees as CC was almost unhittable against the A's, but it looks like we got a half game on the Rays, as I think they were off today.