For the time being, the eighth and ninth innings belong to the Land of the Rising Sun. Bailey and Hanrahan out, Tazawa and Uehara in. Now we’ll see what the team is made of. The Sox bounced back after a brutal series in Texas to win an extra-innings game. Now they face three more against the Twins with Dempster, Webster and Lackey starting, and the aforementioned Japanese connection setting up and closing. I’m sure the stats-masters out there will be able to confirm if this is the first time in the majors this has happened. Great seats for the rest of the series, as well as the weekend series with the Jays, are available at TiqIQ.
I like our chances with Dempster tonight. He’s 2-2 in his six starts and has only given up more than three runs once, oddly, against the Royals. He’s won his last two starts, and just looks like a guy that would be a hot-shit to have a few beers with. He was born in Canada but we won’t hold that against him. Seven innings, two runs and ten strikeouts would be nice.
Play ball!
*The title of the post is from and old SNL skit*
