Sox Thawts - 18 September, 2009

Series wrap - Angels in the Fens Field !!!

First, It's Been Awhile (Staind !!!) well, a few days anyway so YOU'RE S.O.L., and you know what THAT means !!! It means this will be a long post... but no worries, size DOES matter, right ?!?!?!

Tuesday 9/15/09 - Well, well, well... I'll be the first to admit when I am... hmmmmm... uh..... wrong (YEOUCH, THAT HURT !!!). In an earlier post, I "begged" 2 of the Sox' 4 potential starters to "step up to the plate" in an effort to solidify a 5-man rotation behind Beckett, Lester and Buchholz. They won't win the World Series without a consistent 5-man rotation... and had my doubts as to whether Dice-K could/should be one of them...

In an "experiment" I deemed disastrous with the play-offs hanging in the balance, the Sox decided to roll the... uh... DICE... sending Daisuke Matsuzaka (Dice-K) to the mound for the first time since June... pitching moderately successful in the farm system since then. Perhaps, I was trying to give him additional motivation... yeah, like he reads or gives a [crap] what I say !!!! Nuf Ced

Anyway, much to my surprise, rumors of Dice getting into shape and regaining command of his.... uh, "junk" appeared to be true on Tuesday... pitching 6 shutout innings, giving up 3 hits and leading our boys to a much needed victory - for both himself as well as the team... he even had a no-hitter going for 4 innings or so.. ALTHOUGH, you're only as good as your last "performance", so for NOW at least, Dice is back in the saddle... Nuf Ced

Wednesday 9/16/09 - Byrd was the word in Beantown for Wednesday's contest. As quickly as I admit to being "wrong" (for now at least), I MUST pat myself on the back when I'm right (no one else will, right ?!?!?) I corrected a friend yesterday who uttered "[Frigging] Byrd" - seemingly blaming Paul Byrd's performance for the Sox ALMOST losing his game.

I IMMEDIATELY corrected her, reminding her that Byrd pitched 5-1/3 innings giving up 3 runs - EXACTLY why the Sox brought him out of retirement !!!... consistently pitching 6 innings or so and giving up 3 runs or less - certainly well enough for a victory...

BUUUUUUT, the BULLPEN tried their hardest (and succeeded) to undermine Byrd's solid outing, collectively giving up 5 runs (and the LEAD) over the next 4 frames. Good thing our bats had no quit in them and finally prevailed on a hot shot to left by Gonzo with the bases loaded in the 9th... ok, ok, ok..... so, it was a blooper.... but read the box score, it all looks the same !!! Nuf Ced

More on Gonzo... Alex Gonzalez.... brought back to Boston to sure up the defensive play of the shortstop position... tauted as an excellent defensive player but a casualty at the plate... Hmmmmm, last time I checked Gonzo was hitting close to .300 with 4 dingers and 7 doubles in the 30 games since the acquisition... boy, I'd love to see the numbers he could put up if he could actually hit !!!!

Thursday 9/17/09 - This is where it really gets good !!! Josh Beckett was on the bump - coming off a sparkling rain-shortened outing that lasted 5 innings... Regular readers may recall my criticism of John Farrell's comments that Beckett was working on "mechanics" for 3 weeks !!!!!!!!

Check this out... DA DA DA DA !!!! APPARENTLY, the latest word is that Beckett was SICK for 2 weeks !!! MECHANICS SHMANICS !!!! Who said it was NOT a mechanical issue ?!?!?!? You can't fool a fool... Nuf Ced !!!

Anyway, Beckett again appeared to be past what ailed him..... uh, UNTIL that PASSED ball that tied the score - last night. Actually, it WAS a nasty curve that got the punchout - AND got through Tek's (5-hole)... uh, legs.... But Beckett did go 8 strong innings giving up just 3 runs, punching out 7 and scattering 7 hits - certainly a strong outing that cuda shuda wuda been a win for our boys... HA, but no win equals no song for ya, big guy... Better "luck" next time !!!!!!!!!

Jacoby and JBay tried their best to bring home the bacon, each going yard but the entire rest of the line-up only managed 3 hits combined.... And the bullpen did a "bang-up" job to preserve the game... uh, Billy Boy Wagner got pinned with his first loss.... I wonder what PAPS has to say about THAT (heh, heh, heh) !!!!!! Nuf Ced

It was a critical series... I know, "NO [CRAP] SHERLOCK !!!!"... on many levels... as quite probably, our boys will square-off against the same California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels from Anaheim - but WTF is in a name (or 3) right ?!?!? GEESH !!!! I'll bet Gene Autry is rolling in his grave (google it !!! - never mind, here it is)... in the ALDS (uh, first round of the playoffs)... no predictions here but the Beantown Bombers have OWNED the Angels in the post-season.... Nuf Ced

It was also critical to see if Dice-K could come back and if Paul Byrd wishes continue to pitch to major leaguers instead of returning to tossing at... uh, TO, a bunch of 13 year olds... both major developments as Wake is obviously going to be a pain.. I mean IN PAIN, down the stretch and Taz is busy dressing in "drag".... rookie initiation for the last road-trip of the season - funny as hell.... actually he makes a "decent" chick !!! Nuf Ced

LAST, but not least, it was a critical series that saw our boys lengthen their lead over the Rangers in the wild card playoff race to 6 games (although, SHOULD be 7 !!!). To those of you who think Texas still has a chance to catch our boys despite being 6 games back.... consider this.... the Sox are "only" 7 games behind the Yankees for the division lead.... hmmmmmmmm... NUF CED !!!!

Now, Buchhy takes the bump tonight in Baltimore....... I'll say it now instead of tonight, and you all can shoot me tomorrow... Buchhy WILL have no-hit stuff tonight !!!! Nuf Ced

Here's a shout-out to GFS (good friend Sue) who actually thinks I know what I'm talking about on here... hmmmmm, I guess you CAN fool a fool !!!!! (she's gonna kill me for sure !!!!!)

As always..... it's been real..... it's been fun..... and it REALLY has been lots of fun !!!!!

-Nuf Ced