Pedro Martinez turned the clock back in the series finale with the D-Rays. Complete game shutout, 6 hits, 10 strikeouts, no walks. In the month of August, Pedro has pitched 23 innings (3 starts) and given up 3 ER’s while striking out 32 batters. He is your ace, ladies and gentlemen. Please take all of your “Curt-Schilling-is-a-workhorse” cliches and slide them neatly into the number two spot in the rotation where they belong.
Meanwhile, the great baseball puppetmaster in the sky decided to crank the Red Sox offense knob down a notch from “Unfair” to “Overpowering”. Every starter in the lineup had at least one hit and 5 of the 15 hits were for extra bases. Youk hit his seventh long ball while Mueller and Ortiz had 3 hits each. Manny showed signs of life with a single and his 32nd double.
Johnny Damon got a much-deserved day off after playing 18 straight games. During that streak he perfected his new-found hobby of running full speed and leaping into the wall. Once, he almost caught a fly ball doing it. Terry Francona was quoted as saying “he’s been playing pretty banged up for a while”.
Remember the time they duct-taped Pedro to the pole in the dugout? Better idea – duct tape Dale Sveum’s arms to his sides so he can’t send any more runners to their baseball deaths at the plate. Two in one inning yesterday – the fleet-footed Kevin Millar, then on the very next hit, Jason “Cheetah” Varitek. Of course he then held three runners at third in the next inning – did somebody finally tap him on the shoulder and mention Baldelli’s arm or did he tear his rotator cuff the previous inning?
So, for the third straight day, we haven’t had to hear how “he really battled out there”, nor did we have to “tip our cap” to anyone. That in itself is like Christmas in August. Tito, whatever you’ve done to get these guys going, keep doing it. And have an extra grape knee-high – on me.
