The Bucky and Koji Show

Well, tonight had lots of meaning in a number of areas. It marked the opener of a very important series with Tampa Bay, the team immediately behind the Sox in second, and played at the Rays' home field, the Trop. It also marked the return from about four months on the DL of Buchholz. Leading the league in wins with nine (against zero losses), coupled with a sub-2 ERA, when he left with a strained neck, he had recently been undergoing a rehab assignment between the Hose' Lowell and Pawtucket minor league teams. The rehab had varying results, but everyone agreed that if he were to be of value to the team this year, Tampa Bay was about as good a time as any to see exactly what was going to happen.
Matched against the reigning Cy Young holder for the A. L., Price, the plan was to have him go no more than 70-80 pitches max. As it turned out, he threw 74 pitches that carried him and the team through five innings of three hit, one walk shutout ball. Toss in a half dozen K's and a game WHIP of 0.8, and it was an inspiring return. Price was more or less matching him pitch for pitch, and then some.

However, in the 5th, the Sox broke through. No Sox player having reached base through the first four innings, Nap led off with a long drive to the wall in center that the Rays fielder couldn't quite get a handle on. Nap ended up on second and was followed by a Gomes single to center that put the Sox up one zip. Gomes continued on to second on the throw home trying in vain to nail Nap. He was then sacrificed to third by Nava, and ultimately plated by a Salty sac fly.  Now it was two-zip, Sox. Bucky finished out the bottom half of the inning and would ultimately get the win.  However, the game had to be finished first. As Price hung in there through the 8th, allowing just three hits and striking out nine, the Sox pen was going to have to do a top notch job. Task assigned, task accomplished!
First Breslow contributed a pair of shutout innings, allowing only two freebies to reach base. Then, Tazawa put the first pair of Rays batters away in the 8th. When a Ray finally got a hit, Uehara came on for a four out save attempt. Thirteen pitches and a pair of K's later, the save was complete, the Sox had won, and the Sox closer had extended his consecutive perfect string to 31. It's almost as much fun listening to the sportscasters discussing his pitching as it is to watch it. As guest commentator, Derek Lowe (yes, THAT Derek Lowe) said, he just throws that 89 mph fast ball and dares you to hit it, and no-one can.  That's because he's also got the best splitter in history of any closer this side of Mariano Rivera. Mixing them the sway he does is like watching Rembrandt paint.  You can't describe it; you just watch and marvel at the results.
Separately, there were some great fielding plays. Salty threw out three attempted base stealers, the last being the finish of a strike out/throw out DP. Another great DP was started by, who else--the Dustman. Pedey took a sharply hit grounder and tagged the Rays runner on his way to second, then calmly threw out the hitter before he could reach first. Best of all, it looked like it was scripted to be done that way. The guy is a future Cooperstown resident, and he makes everything look easier than breathing. With the win, the Sox go up 8.5 on the Rays, ten on the O's and stay 10.5 ahead of the Stripes. Sixteen games to go.