Sox Win in Ten

Well, after losing  a real heartbreaker last night to the Stripes in the last of the 9th when Koji gave up not one, but two long shots into the cheaps at the Imitation House That Ruth Built, the Sox took their turn tonight and, after being behind from the start and most of the game, put up a trey in the home half of the 10th at the Fens to beat the Jays, 9-8 and put a crimp in the Jays hopes for the post-season.  The Sox began down two zip, but gradually worked their way back via single runs in each of the first three innings to a lead, only to drop behind the Jays when the guys from north of the border tacked on a pair on Bautista's 30th dinger of the year to center. The Jays expanded to a 6-3 lead in the 8th and things were looking like a possible third loss in a row for the Hose. But, never lose faith--in their half of the 8th, the Hose tied it up at six via four hits that plated three runs, the big blow coming from the bat of Bogaerts in the form of a two run two bagger, one of his three hits on the evening.
Comes the 9th, things go nowhere for either team, and we move to the 10th where, things turn south quickly. By the time the smoke clears, the Jays have retaken the lean--by a pair, no less--on three hits and a sac fly, and once again--how many times have we heard this this year?--things are not looking for the Bosox.
But, as mentioned a little bit earlier, never lose faith. Sox take their turn in the bottom of the 10th and their first four batters get singles, cutting the deficit to one with the bases still jammed and no-one out. Pedey, back for the first time since his possible concussion of last week, sends a sac fly to the outfield, adding to his earlier pair of hits, and plates the tying run. The Sox still have a couple of guys on base and only one gone. Papi comes up, and I'm praying anything but a grounder. What does he do? A grounder, but due to an error by Tolleson of the Jays, the Sox find themselves with sacks jammed again and still only one out. Up comes YoBaby. He wastes little time, singling to center and bringing home pinch runner Weeks with the winning run. Game over. Sox win!
Now, I'm not claiming the Sox still have a chance at October (mathematically they actually DO),  but some of the rookies they've brought up in the past six or eight weeks do look like definite players as the team builds back in 2015. Add Vasquez, Betts, De La Rosa, Ranaudo and Holt to a core of Pedey, Papi, Nap, Bogaerts and maybe Cespedes and Bucky. Get Lester back in free agency, and toss in the new Cuban outfielder they won out with a few weeks back, and the Sox very well could show a return to post-season play. I can hope can't I?

Sox Beat Yanks After Rays Series Split

Well, after pulling off a Trop split of four against the Rays, narrowly missing taking the finale in a 10 inning loss, the Sox opened in the Imitation of the House That Ruth Built by grabbing an early lead and finally blowing out the Stripes, 9-4.  It was six zip after two and a half, and quickly became 7-1 an inning later. The Sox put a dozen hits on the board, topped off by eight extra base knocks, three of which were shots to the cheaps. Danny Nava, continuing his late season hitting recovery, had a three run shot followed by Bogaerts's solo job a moment later. Rookie Mookie Betts added his solo rocket an inning later. According to info from the team, this is the first time two rookies have homered in the same game at Yankee Stadium since 1952 (Ted Gernert and Faye Throneberry for you trivia buffs). Overall, Bogaerts went 4-5, missing a cycle by a triple. The new Sox left fielder, YoBaby, again had a productive evening, going 3-5 with a two bagger, a trip and another ribbie. He now stands fifth in the league and looks to be a cinch to join Papi over the century mark in that category. Betts was also 3-5 with a ribbie, and that aforementioned shot in the Sox 4th.
Pitching and defense featured a solid game from recently acquired Joe Kelly, who showed what pitching means. He was in control most of th4e way, but often by pitching himself out of jams he'd gotten into. IN 6 2/3 innings, he allowed five hits and four freebies, but kept things under control by picking up a half dozen K's, many of them when it really counted. The Sox pen, Layne and Koji, closed things out, although not without a little drama from the Sox closer. After Layne went 1 1/3 no-hit innings, allowing just a single freebie, Koji came on just for some work (he'd not pitched in over a week), and opened things up by presenting Stripes catcher McCann a fat pitch that the catcher quickly deposited over the wall. After that, Koji took control, and although allowing a single, effectively ended the Yankees evening with a pair of K's.
Backing up the Sox hurlers, Yo made one of his classic artillery launches from left to assist on nailing a Yankees runner who went too far, thus ending the possible Stripes big inning.

Another Three Zip Lead

Well, the Sox again started off three zip, this time after three innings at a run apiece. However, after a few more innings, the Jays chased Rubby de la Rosa and tied the score at three. I'm thinking, 'not again', but the Hose had a couple of surprises in store for me and thee from that point on. They picked up another run to take the lead at 4-3--then allowed the Jays to again tie the score. Hey, guys--forget about courtesy and consideration! Get the lead and screw the other team!  Anyway, from that point through the 10th nothing they did was enough to take the lead again and possibly win. Then came the 11th.
Led by Nap and Craig, the Sox put two in the cheaps. Nap's was an unbelievable shot, landing in the fifth (no typo here) deck and plating three runs. A couple of batters later, Craig put his out with a man aboard. Between them that accounted for five Sox runs in the 11th. Add in a pair of others for good measure and the Sox had snatched another fragment of last season and placed it squarely into 2014.  In doing so, they dropped the Jays to .500 for the first time since mid-May. The Sox are now still 18 back and thirty to go.
While we're at it, Pedey also had a homer, his second in two nights.
Sox leaders last night were Holt, Pedey, YoBaby, and Nap, each with at least a pair of hits, Yo getting three. And while we're on Yo, he picked up another ribbie as well, leaving him at 87 and withing shouting distance of team leader and 2d in the AL, Papi. Since coming to the Sox, Yo's looking as if he may be a real RBI machine of sorts, and could make it to the century mark on the season. That would likely give the Hose their first pair of 100 RBI guys in the same season since Manny left.
Sox pitching also gets some of the credit. Layne, Mujica, Badenhop and Taz collectively threw 4 1/3 shutout innings, with Taz getting the W and dropping his ERA under 3.0 again. Had his successor not allowed three runs in the home half of the 11th, the Sox margin would have really been more of a laugher.

Sox Break Skid--Defeat Jays

Well, tonight started off with the Sox getting a three zip lead (sound recently familiar) in the 5th on homers by Betts and Pedey, coupled with some excellent pitching by Bucky going through the 8th. K's were not very high, but the way he was getting the powerful Jays lineup to beat the ball into the ground more than made up for the relative lack of K's. Came the 9th--Bucky got the first batter he faced; then gave up consecutive singles and a walk to load the sacks. On comes Koji. He quickly dispatches with the first hitter he faces on a fielder's choice grounder that scores a run, but is the second out, and leaves runners at the corners. The next guy up drills a two bagger to left scoring both runners, tying the score and giving Koji another BS (though he ultimately did get the W), a total that's getting uncomfortably high in recent weeks. Then he closes out the inning, score: three all. I'm thinking, "Shit, not again! Oh me of little faith! Sox 10th: Holt gets a one out infield single, steals BOTH second and third and waits for new Sox outfielder YoBaby (Cespedes) to single him home, which he does. Sox back on top! Jays' 10th and we get the closer who used to be--long, long ago--at least it feels that way (2012 for the A's)--Breslow. He puts away two of the first three batters, sandwiched around the tying run on a freebie, then closes out the Jays and the game on a foul pop to Craig at first--Game Over--So's the Streak!! Sox creep back to within 17 below .500--Ugh! Now I'm not at this stage going to put my rose colored glasses back on and say the Sox could still pull it off.  But, hey--the reverse is how they missed the playoffs in 2011 when it was such a sure thing.  I can hope, though!
In addition to the two Sox shots, YoBaby got a pair of hits, one getting home the winning run, as did Nava.  Overall, YoBaby's gotten 19 ribbies since arriving in the trade for Les, seven of those ribbies giving the Hose the lead at the time. Overall, the Sox had eight hits, so the runs all came on three of them. Papi sat out the game due to a bruised foot suffered against Seattle when he fouled a ball of the foot. Farrell hopes he'll be back in the lineup tomorrow. We do to, but only time will tell.

Well, as previously noted, the Sox were getting deeper into their latest losing streak, and it hit 8 in a row with the weekend sweep at the hands of the M's at the Fens. seems no matter what the Sox did to grab a lead or come from behind to tie and then take a lead, the Mariners went them one better. I think the one that hurt the most was Friday's loss to the guys from Seattle when the Sox, armed with a three zip lead into the 9th gave up five and the game, the M's getting to Koji wholesale. As I've previously noted here, I went elsewhere in Sox Nation history Friday night while this was going on. Went to see the local San Rafael minor league team, the Pacifics, featuring former Sox hurler Bill 'Spaceman' Lee. He was supposed to be retiring that night, but also got into the game as a PH, and grounded out. I seized the opportunity, went down to the dugout and got a selfie of he & I together. As we snapped the pic, he said make sure to tell all of RS Nation he's still rooting for the old team. Here's the pic. Enjoy!

Sorry, but it won't go in upright. Wonder if that's the effect of the two guys in the pic or the glass of beer.

Sox Comntinue to Sink; Blow 3-0 Lead in 9th

Well, tonight there are two different things Sox to report. Unfortunately, one of them is tonight's game against the Mariners. The other was a brief trip back in Sox history to the Spaceman. But more on that in a moment. Tonight, against a guy who is arguably one of the half dozen best pitchers in the AL, "King" Hernandez, the Sox took a three zip lead midway through the game on a couple of hits followed by a shot by Cespedes that cleared everything in left, the Monster and everything else, giving the Hose that 3-0 lead. The Sox pitching was just as solid, staring with the Hose starter and continuing through the guys from the pen. Of the latter, Badenhop and Layne tossed 1 1/3 hitless, allowing only a single freebie between them. Enter the 9th with Koji on the mound. Should be lights out, no? Exactly! NO! At least not tonight. Koji worked it to two outs and a man on, the Sox still holding that three zip lead--and then he surrendered five (count 'em) runs, and the game. Too bad. This was a real waste. In a twinkling he went from almost untouchable to unbelievably touchable. That's the way the season's gone for our team.
The only good news today was the aforementioned Cespedes shot, and Papi's continued consecutive hit streak, now six for six, counting yesterday's four for four. Away from the Fens, some good news for the Sox: maybe very good news. The Sox won the bidding war among eight teams, including the Evil Empire, for Cuban outfield superstar Castillo. Seven years for a total deal of about $78 million, most of it back loaded. Next year could be an interesting year in the Hub outfield--Havana northeast.

Now for the other bit--Sox history with the Spaceman.  For those of you old enough to remember the Sox of the late 60's through the 70's, one of the outstanding characters was a southpaw by the name of Bill Lee. Better known as "Spaceman" due to his antics and outspokenness on a wide variety of issues from baseball to politics, to counterculture issues, he was a pretty damn good starter, probably a number 2 or 3 on one of today's rotations in MLB. His career stats were 119-90 and a 3.62 ERA, with 713 K's. The career lasted until early 1982, and of the roughly thirteen years he was in the Show, Spacemen pitched for the Sox for ten years. He also was an All Star in 1973. He is a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame, holding the record for most games pitched by a lefty (321), and the third highest total W's by a Red Sox southpaw at 94. He's also written four books on baseball, the general tack of them being the more 'unusual' stuff and people ijn baseball from his point of view. So, you ask, what has Bill Lee got to do with Sox baseball today? Well, simple. At the age of 65, a time when most former MLB players are showing up aty old timers days, if anywhere, Lee at age 65 signed a contract a couple of years ago to pitch for the San Rafael Pacifics, an independent minor league team. Tonight, at age 68, the Pacifics had a Bill Lee Retirement night, and the Spaceman actually pinch hit during the game.  Figuring Sox Nation citizens would find the news interesting, I snuck down to the Pacifics 'dugout' and walked up to Lee between innings. I introduced myself as a "Boston native', whereupon the Spaceman grabbed ny hand for a good solid shake. I asked if he'd do a selfie for the Duffys Cliff site and he was happy to oblige. Keep your fingers crossed; it should be up tomorrow. Tried to upload tonight and no luck, but we'll get it done tomorrow.

Papi Joins Teddy Ballgame

Well, looks as if I spoke too soon about the Sox' appearance of returning to the methodology and success that marked last year's wonder season. Since then, they've lost four in a row and are mired deeper than ever in last in the AL East. However, that doesn't mean nothing positive's happening. Papi has in recent days propelled himself into the lead in RBI's not just in the AL, but all of MLB. With last night's rocket into the cheaps, he now has 93. More interesting, that shot was Papi's 30th of the year, leaving him in third in the league. BUT it also allowed him to tie the all time great Sox hero, Ted Williams, for the most seasons of thirty or more homers. The total is eight seasons.  I'm not suggesting that Papi is the equal of Teddy Ballgame--nobody could be--but Ted had 521 career homers in his military shortened career. Papi's blow last night is his 461, and counting. He has averaged 36 homers per year for his career. Last night's shot came as part of a 4-4 evening, which raised his BA into the mid-.260's. Unfortunately, it was the final Sox run in an otherwise disappointing evening and one more loss for the Hose.