Remember a couple of days ago, when we wrote about how sometimes the best help a team can get comes from an enemy? Well, last night it just came from a different enemy, one you usually can’t count on getting help from.
Paps was in the spirit last night. Sox fans will just hope he gets back in the spirit what, three more times?
That’s right. Thank you Baltimore.
With the Orioles furious comeback and dramatic 10th inning victory over the Yankees, the Red Sox sealed their first AL East title in 12 years. This on the heels of the best Dice-K outing in a couple of weeks - a win which the Dice-man will be able to stew over and gain confidence from for a full week - and suddenly life is rosy again. Like spending a night with Marisa Miller. Sure, she’s a surfer from California, which might not seem like the best karma heading into a series against a team once called the California Angels. But who cares. Boston is the AL East champion, and Marisa Miller’s about as hot as you can get.
That’s right. It’s a celebration bitches.
And why shouldn’t it be? Sure, there were rough moments the past month. Or two. And there’s been plenty of hystrionics as a result, many of which Terry Francona and co. probably didn’t fully deserve (some of them they did).
But in the end, it’s all turned out about as well as it could have in the regular season. The Sox have a bona fide Cy Young candidate, and it’s not the one almost anyone would have thought it would be, with the notable exception of the Globe’s Gordon Edes, of couse. Dasiuke Matsuzaka has 15 wins, despite a late-season slump and at least three, if not four, games in which he should have earned a win if his team had shown up with any bats at all. Curt Schilling has looked better in his last three starts than in the rest of the season - near no-hitter not included - and despite concern about Hideki Okajima, even Eric Gagne looked strong the last couple of times out. If you can overlook the sudden loss of Clay Buchholz, who had the potential to make a serious impact as a rookie, there’s little to be upset about at the moment.
And then there’s all to be happy about. An AL East title. A 50 percent shot of the best record in the bigs headed into the playoffs. A chance to line up the rotation perfectly, while also resting Big Papi, who blasted another bomb last night, Manny and the rest of the regulars.
Mmmmm. Marisa Miller. That’s a celebration worth winning, huh?
All of that is secondary to last night’s champagne room, of course, a celebration worthy of Ms. Miller herself. Red Sox fans will be hoping to see more of her, of course, but it’s nice to see an initial appearance before the end of the regular season for a chance, isn’t it?
Just in case you thought Josh might not be from Texas, there you go.
Regardless of bad names, Boston game against Minnesota this evening still has surprisingly far-reaching implications. The Sox are two games away - either via Boston victories or New York losses - from clinching the team’s first AL East title since 1994. Such a title would all but lock up the first round playoff matchups for the league, putting Los Angeles on a plane to Massachusetts for a first game either next Wednesday or Thursday, all while the Yankees prep for a flight to Cleveland.
Naturally, now that the Sox are already assured a playoff berth, the high-wire balancing act comes into play. This will be Josh Beckett’s last start before the playoffs, an outing for him to grab a major league-leading 21st win while also heading into the playoffs with a bit of gusto.
Meanwhile, Boof Bonser will be hoping to regain some of the strut he had in the season’s first half, when many - including we here at Sox Nest - were bracing for a major second-half push to put Minnesota back in contention in the AL Central and for the league’s Wild Card berth.
Neither one of those things happened, and now the Twins are playing out their string while simultanously bracing for the defection of longtime twin city legend Torii Hunter. The center fielder will be making his final Fenway appearance in a Twins uni in three days, and there’s plenty of speculation over where he’s headed next (Texas is a particularly popular potential destination, according to some sources). Regardless, there’s little doubt he wants to go out of Minnesota as a winner.
His chances of doing so will likely improve markedly if Boston can win the first two games of the series. Regardless of the AL’s best mark floating out there, it’s likely that the Sox will sit a full complement of their regular contributors as soon as they lock up a division crown. If they do.
Tonight would seem to be a better chance to start locking up that title than any other. If the Sox hit like they have the last couple days, things could easily fall into place. But Sox fans know not to get ahead of themselves, don’t they?
Torii will be pulling down catches like this in another uni next year. Or so we think.
Wait, no they don’t. Oh well. Here’s hoping they don’t have to look back in retrospective regret one more time tonight.
Ever been in a situation where you’re really proud of one accomplishment, but know that there’s an even bigger step on the immediate horizon? Welcome to the world of fellow Red Sox fans.
Make no mistake, the team’s last couple wins have been huge accomplishments. Two nights ago the Sox needed to get a win and solid performance from Curt Schilling. They got both. Last night they needed a win to keep momentum going, not to mention take a huge step toward officially getting rid of all digits in the “magic number” column.
They’re close. That counter now reads two, with a chance to wrap up the organization’s first AL East crown in 13 years as early as tomorrow. Still, until the final score from a Sox win or Yankee loss in a clincher goes up on the big left field scoreboard, cementing it, no Sox fans are going to be breathing any easier.
Does that diminish the strong vibes from yesterday’s win? Not at all. But it does make it a little hard to enjoy completely. Remember the Real World Las Vegas? Last night’s win takes a cue from that season. It’s a little like getting drunk and hooking up with Brynn, enjoying the experience but knowing all the while that you really want to land a night with Trischelle, who’s more attractive and a much bigger slut (clearly, anyone that would have dated Steven, one of the all-time Real World douchebags, would have to be). It almost cheapens the whole Brynn experience, doesn’t it?
Sure, it absolutely does. But that doesn’t mean the night with Trichelle won’t be glorious. It just means that you have to make sure it’s happening. The Sox have four games to get rid of the number two. Whether they do it with two wins or a win and a Yankee loss or even, God forbid, two Yankee losses, that hardly matters. What does matter is that they get to the finish line of a quest which started months ago. A drive toward a division title that has been more elusive than in any other stretch of the team’s history.
Trischelle and Irulan? Both had quite the, ummm, prolific love life in Vegas.
After last night’s walk-away, they have all the weapons to do it, including Eric Gagne, who finally pitched a relatively drama-free inning of late relief. Jonathan Pepelbon’s sitting amped in the pen. Manny Ramirez is back to being himself, and Big Papi is hitting up a storm. All of that, of course, is before even factoring in Mike Lowell, who has now officially put up the greatest offensive season for a third baseman in team history.
There’s no excuses. Two games left in the column. All the weapons. Like having a handle of vodka with Trischelle in the signature suite of the Palms. Viva Las Vegas? Screw it. Viva Las Fenway. Viva Las Back Bay. Viva Las North End.
Viva Boston. Sox fans just need to hope they can make it an AL East champion city again.
Jon Lester has looked good in his past two outings. If he can keep it up for a third, he may warrant serious postseason consideration.
After last night’s Boston victory and simultaneous extra-inning Yankees loss in Tampa Bay, the Red Sox are within three game - be they wins or New York losses - of clinching their first AL East title in, well, almost forever. The Sox looked dynamic, pounding A’s starting pitcher Chad Gaudin and reliever - not to mention former Boston prospect - Lenny DiNardo. Curt Schilling was also effective in the best way possible. He got batters out, limited his patented SSS’s (Schilling Solo Shots) to one (in the first inning) and generally controlled the flow of the game. Needless to say, it was a huge confidence builder, the type of game that will only loom bigger if Boston takes care of business.
And the team will go a lot further toward determining if they will tonight. That’s when Sox twice rookie Jon Lester takes the hill to face off against a legitimate Oakland pitching stud, Joe Blanton. Blanton has been strong throughout the season, but particularly in the first half. He has a good fastball and terrific location, which has been just the kind of recipe to screw up the Sox bats this year.
Then again, Lester has surged at just the right time, and if his legs are now firmly under him, he could be the exact strong addition the Red Sox need to propel them in the postseason. He’s a long way from proving that his recent performances are for real, but each win takes a big step toward that conclusion.
Will he continue that tonight? And will Big Papi continue to crank out extra base hits at a rate closer to his past three years, which has been the most comforting side of the team’s recent mini-surge? Good questions all. Tonight would be an extremely good time for the Sox to answer in the affirmative on all thee above, putting them in a controlling position for an AL East title, even if it will still be a reach away.
Here comes a twilight start at the Fens. Time to crank up the wayback machine to 2004 and get this string cranking at breakaway speed.
Things went swimmingly the last time Schill faced the A’s. The first time in the Fens? Not so much. Here’s hoping he goes 2 for 3 with O-town this year.
Let’s face it, there’s no place the Sox would rather be right now than at Fenway Park. Even Tampa Bay, where they took 2 of 3 again to stop the bleeding and regain at least a modicum of positive trajectory. Tonight, Curt Schilling steps back to the mound to face the team he nearly one-hit in one of the most masterful games of controlled execution in recent memory.
Of course, tonight could be a different story. Or maybe not. Like the last time Schilling faced Oakland, the Sox have been reeling, struggling to find any offense, often letting down decent pitching efforts in the process. Lately, the lineup has looked like a pair of reliable on-base guys at the top - rookies Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia - Big Papi, who is starting to round back into form at just the right time, Mike Lowell, who continues to out-produce his career statistics, and then a whole bunch of crap. Coco Crisp hasn’t done anything particularly notable since returning from back spasms. Julio Lugo continues to provide intermittent sparks, but little else. In fact, only captain Jason Varitek and - get ready to be shocked - J.D. Drew have provided any substantive offense in the second half of the lineup during Boston’s struggles.
That makes for an interesting comparison with Oakland’s stretch lineup, a group that includes Sox-killer Eric Chavez, the surprising and surging Jack Cust and, well, a whole lot of crap. They don’t even have the unreliably potent bat and temper of Milton Bradley. For proof of the potent temper, check this.
So, will Schilling return off extra rest tonight and put up the kind of triumphant performance he mustered out at “Enter Bland Corporate Sponsor Here” Park in Oakland early this spring? Or will he put up the kind of solid starts he’s had the last three times out, when he’s thrown five-plus solid innings, slipped a bit in the sixth and then been rocked in the seventh?
Good questions all, and only one man - if that - knows. Here’s hoping Schilling lets us in on a good secret rather than a bad one. If he does, the entire point of winning these games at home down the stretch will be a sort of place-holding mental masturbation anyway.
After all, if Boston can’t beat the A’s at home, far removed from the playoffs as they are, then how are the Red Sox supposed to beat the Angels or Indians?
Ahhh, a night with Roseanne Barr. Doesn’t get much worse than that. And think, the blonde variety is about as GOOD as you can get with her. Yuck.
Look, we love the knuckler as much as anyone around. Without Wakefield, the Sox rotation wears down quicker. The bullpen struggles because it’s overworked earlier in the season. That taxes the offense with a need to produce more on a day-to-day basis. It’s a trickle down effect, we get it.
Still, it’s time to come to the realization that since back spasms first felled him three weeks ago, Wake has been a shadow of his former self. He can’t get the knuckleball to flutter the way he needs it to. When that doesn’t happen, his other stuff, i.e. slow and straight, gets absolutely crushed. See the Delmon Young homer yesterday afternoon.
Where does that leave the Sox? Next to a pretty rough redneck in the morning. Think Rosanne Barr, hopefully after lipo. After all, it may have been a loss to the Devil Rays, but hell, there was a rally in there, right?
Unfortunately, the rally wasn’t exactly a big one. And now the AL East lead isn’t exactly that big, either. Fourteen-plus games is suddenly 1 1/2. And that is as tenuous as ever. The Yankees get the D-Rays as the season closes out. The Sox? Oakland and Minnesota. Not giant killers, but not exactly patsies, either.
And what happens, God forbid, if the Sox do blow the divisional lead? It’s a huge psychological mind-screw with the Yankees, should the teams match up in the playoffs. But even before that, it puts the Sox at a big disadvantage. Not only has Boston squandered a lead in the division, it has let a lead on the best overall record in the AL slip away, meaning that the Sox are likely to open the postseason on the road instead of inside the friendly confines of Fenway Park. That hurts, especially if it means a trip, perhaps even two, across the country to take on the Angels, who wrapped up the AL West yesterday afternoon.
It all makes for a big dilemma, the kind that you need a lot of time to scratch your head and think through. Kind of like trying to figure out the circumstances that led to waking up next to Rosanne Barr. Uggghhh!
It may not be the whole enchilada, but it’s a hell of an appetizer, isn’t it? It’s a little like waking up next to Tara Connor; it might not have happened under the most holistic conditions, what with the Red Sox ongoing meltdown, but it sure looks good in the morning regardless.
Tara Connor and a nice bottle of Brut? Hard to beat, unless it’s an AL East or World Series title.
The Red Sox sewed up a playoff berth, aborting the frustrating conclusion of 2006, by mounting a ninth-inning comeback against Tampa Bay in the dome. Just when it appeared the Boston bullpen had blown a sure-fire win - again - the captain himself came to the rescue, with Jason Varitek launching a game-tying homer to start things off, then Eric Hinske knocking a double to start the game-winning explosion. Naturally, Jacoby Ellsbury had a hand in the spurt, providing the latest proof that Boston’s bounce-back is being powered by its internal youth movement, not the mediocre over-priced free agents (though Julio Lugo is making a late case for himself, isn’t he?).
Still, so much of the credit for the win should go where the win that should have been last Friday should go, too: Daisuke Matsuzaka. Suddenly, the Dice-man is back on schedule and looking like the dominant pitcher he was early in the season.
Of course there was the inevitable letdown when Terry Francona summoned Javier Lopez from the bullpen instead of the significantly more reliable Manny Delcarmen or Mike Timlin, matchups be damned.
Tara Connor gone wild. Like we hope the Red Sox will.
In the end, it all worked out, right? And what better place to celebrate than Florida?
Especially when you’re celebrating with Tara Connor.
And tonight, the great Boston resurrection continues?
Dice-K’s been in better moods at earlier points in the season.
Good question right? Last night the Sox got through Tampa Bay’s best starter and still escaped with a win, thanks to your future AL Cy Young winner Josh Beckett. Not only that, they also got some keen help from the team that spent the better part of the last week trash bagging them: Toronto. The Blue Jays beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, and they spent a full 14 innings doing so, wearing out some of the pinstripe bullpen in the process. Including Joba the Piglet.
Not a bad way to start a weekend.
Still, that extra game buffer will mean nothing if Boston blows game two tonight. The mercurial Japanese national treasure is back on the mound, and his very appearance will underscore just how unpredictable he may be for the rest of the year. Before his last start against the Yankees - a significant and strong outing eight days ago - Dice-K had five consecutive woeful starts, each looking more tired than the previous. Then last week he looked like vintage Dice, tossed either his best or second-best outing against the Yankees this season, and seemed destined for a win.
Of course, we know what happened after that.
Tonight he gets a significantly easier lineup, though it’s one he’s struggled with before. In fact, that up-and-down line graph is a true theme for the game, as Tampa starter Andy Sonnastine has gone through similar issues against the Sox this season.
So which starter shows up with his good stuff? And which lineup comes through with big hits tonight? The Sox looked like they were on a mission last night. Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury looked like MVP candidates, not rookies. Big Papi blasted a shot that was remiscent of the past three years. Mike Lowell looked like, well, Dr. Double with more power, which he’s done in leading the team throughout the second half.
Did the Sox use up their entire quota of clutch hits last night? Will Dice-K be able to overcome the stigma of traveling through international customs in a Teletubby costume? While Manny Ramirez remember that he still plays for the Sox and make a guest cameo, as if he was on a mid-90s sitcom or a new late-night MTV show hosted by Will Smith that’s a direct rip-off of Wild N’ Out?
Did that last question even make any sense? The answer to the last two questions is no. But the answers to the first two are much more significant. Now comes the time where we figure out what they are.
Or, if you’re on the other side of the pond, it’s time to watch Dice in his other role, as LaLa. Either way, enjoy.
Boy, that win took long enough, didn’t it? Why didn’t the Red Sox just think to pitch Josh Beckett earlier?
Kylie Minogue would constitute a nice change from a slump, no? So would a Josh Beckett win, as last night proved.
That, of course, is a joke. Though two more Red Sox losses, and a preemptive Beckett start on short-rest might not have been such a jocular exaggeration. As it stands, however, Boston finally won, the Yankees finally lost, and for a night at least, all was right in the AL East universe.
Really, it was a bit like coming off a long nightlife slump after the end of a long-term relationship. Sometimes it takes a few months before someone can get back on the horse. And the last week of losing made for one tall horse.
Somehow it seems rather appropriate that a cocksure Texan - all puns intended - would be the one to mount the horse, doesn’t it? Beckett’s been known for brash reactions when turned down by women at bars, but his reactions were all confident last night in becoming the bigs’ first 20-game winner. By giving up just a single run through six innings, Beckett dropped his ERA back down below that of fellow top Cy Young contender C.C. Sabathia - Beckett’s is 3.14, Sabathia 3.89 - and almost single-handedly got his team back on the winning track.
OK, single-handedly is quite the exaggeration. A couple bombs from Big Papi didn’t hurt, and neither did another night from Mike Lowell, and two more tremendous hitting performances from youngsters Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury.
All-in-all, it made for a huge Florida night for the Red Sox. A huge Florida night for Beckett, who’s known to have a few of those, dating back to his days in a Marlins uni. To think that he’s hitting those marks again now, and that he’ll get a chance to in the postseason again. Well, at least we know the Sox have one thing going for them.
OK Clay Buchholz, here’s the deal: The Sox need a win. They need one bad. You’re already well on your way to becoming a true Boston hero. If you can come through with another big performance on the hill, you’ll be up at Roger Clemens like levels three starts into your career, and that’s saying something.
Clay Buchholz gets his first start tonight since that little no-no deal in Baltimore. Maybe he can even log some help from fellow frosh phenom Jacoby Ellsbury.
Of course, we’re talking about the Rocket circa hats with B’s on them, not afterwards, like when he played for the God foresaken team in the other dugout tonight.
Two nights in a row the damn Canucks have gotten to the Sox. Twice. IF they pull it off three times in a row that lead over the Yankees that you’ve already contributed to three times will be all but evaporated. You don’t want that, do you? Didn’t think so.
Still, as Red Sox fans we understand that you’re just a rookie. We understand that you might be nervous out there. This is your first start on the road, after all. But you looked good in relief in Baltimore, that first inning aside, and everyone knows that your stuff is absolutely filthy. If you can get that curveball working, 12-6 and all, this should be a picture perfect set-up for a win.
Here’s the other good news: because Boston has sucked the past three nights, we’ve got the back-end of the bullpen all juiced for you. Hideki Okajima has had almost an entire week to think about how he screwed last Friday up. Jonathan Papelbon is almost certainly chomping at anyone’s arm he can get a hold of just trying to get into the game. Everyone knows he’s a lunatic, and he’s been waiting to pull that “slutter” pitch of his out on Toronto for God knows how long. Actually, we know how long. About a month, since he invented it.
So Clay, can you handle it Bubba? This may not be Texas anymore - hell, it’s not even the US - but a win would go a long ways toward saving your team’s season. That may be a hell of a lot of pressure to put on someone entering his third start who’s so young that he has shades of Frankie Muniz wearing a hat.
