Saturday’s game could very well been “one of those games.” The starting pitching gets you six innings, the bats swing mighty and get you lots of runs (where did Cora’s bat come from?), but then something, or maybe a combination of somethings conspire to rip it all away. Fortunately somebody gave Grady Francona a nudge in the seventh to relieve a tired Josh Beckett. Beckett got a big double play ball in the sixth and was clearly tiring, but he came back out in the seventh to load the bases with nobody out.
The next game-saving move was bringing in Lopez, not Tavares or Seanez, to face Thome. After that, it was all Hansen and Paps to wrap things up. So the Red Sox take the first two and head into today’s game with a Curt Schilling who is no doubt looking for redemption after his last start. This has all the makings of a sweep.
The downside yesterday? You guessed it; Buck and McCarver. Most of the broadcast was spent bashing Manny for not playing in the All-Star game, or rubbing the nuts of the great White Sox team and ownership. On one of Dye’s homeruns we were treated to: “interesting to note, Dye’s homerun landed just below Dye’s name” – referring to the big screen in center that has the player-at-bat stats. Fascinating commentary.
Red Sox fans would have been much happier to listen to the whole game from the “mic’ed up” Jon Papelbon. Fox actually did play some clips and they were pretty funny. Not funny enough to offset the inane dribblings from the other two, but still funny.
Get out the brooms, then we’re off to homerun derby and “this time it counts” All Stars.
