Once A Grinder, Always A Grinder

That even holds true for new members of the team. One thing about this year's Sox team, and I've mentioned it here before, is that no matter how far down the team may get in a given game, they are still there to the bitter end, clawing away, digging, digging to try to get back and win. Last night's game was no exception. After coming back from a one zip deficit in the 7th to take the lead, 2-1, the Hose found themselves suddenly in danger of dropping the game after all. In the very next frame, Tazawa, the Sox' usually reliable setup man, gave up a solo shot to the Jays' Arencibia as he led off the 8th. That tied the game, and while no further damage occurred, the Sox found themselves having to go into extra innings to try to win the game. The Sox starter, Dempster, had done well, allowing just a single run in the 5th, while allowing just a total of four hits and a pair of BB's in seven strong innings, a game WHIP of just 0.86, an excellent mark. But it was all for naught when Tazawa's pitch went sailing into the cheaps. So the team moved through the 8th and 9th with only a lone hit to try to get over. Fortunately, the Sox pen from that point on was untouchable. Breslow took the ball with two gone in the 9th and closed that inning out, followed by a perfect two thirds of an inning in the 10th. Then, the Sox closer, Uehara, took over and eliminated all four batters he faced consecutively. No hits, no walks, nothing--Game Over. It took him just 20 pitches to do this, and in the process, he trimmed his ERA to a minuscule 1.32.
Offensively, the Sox couldn't seem to get anything going until the top of the 11th, but it was worth the wait. Middlebrooks led off with a hit, and Jake followed with one as well, sending Middlebrook to third. Before anything else could transpire, Jake then swiped his second base of the game, his 44th of the season to extend his MLB lead, thus eliminating the chance for a grounder becoming a DP. More on this stat later. Vic came to the plate 0-4 for the evening, and wasted little time rifling a single to score both Sox runners and returning the lead to the Sox for what would eventually become the final score, 4-2.
Coming back for a moment to Jake's lead in stolen bases, he is now ahead of anyone else in MLB by seven, SD's Cabrera, who's out on a PED suspension and was already trailing Jake at the time he went on suspension, and leads his closest competitor in the AL, the Jays' Davis, by a full ten swipes. How high the number will go by season's end is, of course, subject to the course of the season between now and then, but at his present pace, he'd end up with 59.
With the win, the Sox increased their Division lead over the Rays to four, and the distance between them and the O's to six. The Stripes stayed 9.5 back with their 14-7 laugher over the Angels.
Lester goes tonight, and the hope here is we get the Lester that has everything working and no wildness. I don't want to think about the other version that occasionally shows up in his place.