What a night to be a Boston fan. First the Bruins won to stave off elimination and live to play another day, and then the Red Sox break a tie late in the ballgame to come away with the win and take the series. So we win the battle and the war. Nice. And for a while it looked like we were even going to have another Beckett-esque start. Turns out it wasn’t quite as Beckett-esque as we’d hoped, but at this point I think we have to take what we can get. Sad but true. Beckett pitched six innings, gave up three runs on six hits and three walks, and struck out five. Considering the way his starts have been going lately, that feels like a shutout to me. Not bad. Besides, for my Number One starter, I’ll take Beckett on his worst day over almost all other Number One starters on their best days, because you have to think long term, and that includes October, and come October there’s only one man you want out there starting a series for you, and that’s Josh Beckett. No question about it.
Unfortunately, he got a no decision because that third run he allowed was the tying run. Okajima pitched just under two perfect innings, Ramirez finished off the seventh, and Papelbon made the ninth interesting but ultimately got the save. He gave up a walk and a hit, made a pickoff error, and has a steal in the background before he did any damage at all. Then he proceeded to strike out Pena, Upton, and Crawford in order. Why he couldn’t just start the inning that way, I don’t know. But the bottom line is that Ramirez got the win and Paps got the save. You might say it’s good for Paps to keep everyone on their toes, but the way this season’s going I’m on my toes enough, thank you. Paps can go ahead and have a clean, straight save if he wants to. But he’s still the best closer in the game. That’s his eight save of the season. Eight saves in eight save opportunities. One hundred percent. And usually that lasts for a long, long time.
We won the game, 4-3. The Rays tied it in the sixth and we scored the winning run in the eighth, batted in by who but Jason Bay. I think the man was born to hit in the clutch late. A ballgame is never over, not even in the late innings, until Jason Bay’s had his final say. And usually that amounts to him hitting for at least one bag, very commonly four bags. Yesterday it was two bags. Bay went two for four, and both of those hits were doubles, the latter of which coming in the eighth to plate David Ortiz and give us a permanent lead. He also scored once. So basically the man is awesome on all counts. He might be in the mix for AL MVP. Incidentally, that would be something, if Boston dominated the voting and we had three guys in the first three places. Wow. Anyway, Drew, Bailey, and Green batted in the other runs. Green also had a good night, finishing two for three.
Lowell made an error. Youk’s still out. Dice-K pitched four shutout innings in Pawtucket. Lopez was thankfully designated for assignment as we finally bought Daniel Bard’s contract from Pawtucket. Let me tell you something about Daniel Bard: he’s considered our best relief prospect for a reason, and a very significant part of that reason is his fastball. Trust me. This is going to be fun.
So as I said we take two out of three against the Rays. Good. We’re gradually building up to a sweep. We get the day off today and then it’s off to the west coast again for a series with the Angels. First it’ll be Masterson at Weaaver. I hope his struggles of late aren’t a permanent turn for the worse. Either way, the sooner we’re done with the west coast, the better; this is actually our last trip out there, which is nice. So let’s make it count.
In other news, the Bruins won. To say they pulled out a win or that they hung on by the skin of their teeth would be one of the biggest understatements I’ve ever heard. Because we absolutely dominated. Even if you didn’t know the score, there is no question in your mind who won that hockey game. The score, by the way, was 4-0. It was Timmy Thomas’s first career playoff shutout. Kessel scored two of those goals; would’ve been sweet if he’d had himself a hat trick but technically anything besides simply winning is icing on the cake. Recchi also had himself a goal, and he’s the oldest Bruin ever to score in the playoffs. Milan Lucic accounted for the fourth goal. I have to say I was terrified when I saw Chara go down in the second period; Jussi Jokinen delivered a stick to his left shin and he stayed down for a few minutes. And he’s not one to fool around. He skated off on his own but didn’t start the third. But with 19:12 left, he began his first shift of the period. What a relief. Then Scott Walker drew a seven-minute penalty. No, that’s correct; a seven-minute penalty. Two minutes for misconduct and five for fighting because Aaron Ward never dropped his gloves. Unfortunately there were only two minutes left in the game at that point so we really couldn’t take full advantage of it, but still. First of all it was a classless move, and second of all any penalty against the opposition lasting longer than two minutes is awesome. Game Six on Tuesday at 7:00PM. Let’s keep it going.