A couple months ago, Bartolo Colon was the punchline to at least a half-dozen jokes–many involving pork chops.
But after watching him turn in a lean, six innings of work against the Orioles, giving up 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7, I dare say he’s turning out to be one of the most important pick-ups of the season, helping us weather the loss of Daisuke and The Schill and giving hope to all the chunky fellers out there whom society has pretty much given up on.
Of course, Colon was aided and abetted by the Sox offense, which put up a five-spot before the first inning had ended, courtesy of the torrid J.D. Drew and Tek, who cracked a three-run homer that ended up on a windshield in the parking lot across Lansdowne. Before it ended, Scenic Lowell added a home run to give us a 6-1 lead, and it turns out we needed all the padding we could get, thanks to another Timlin meltdown in the ninth that gave back two runs. But the Bot came in to close it up, and just like that, the bad vibes are gone, and the Sox are back in the driver’s seat, two games up on the Rays in the East.
The highlight of the night, however, was D.O.’s snag of a Luke Scott foul ball, and his subsequent ribbing from a nonplussed Remdawg. “I don’t get it. You wear the ugly tie, you get a souvenir.”
We are fortunate to follow a team that gives us broadcast magic like this every night, boys and girls. Pay attention. And thank you, NESN.
