Sox Thawts - 25 September, 2009

Series Wrap - Red Sox at Royals... AND
THE HOME STRETCH !!!

September 21st... Royals 12, Red Sox 9... Monday saw Tim Wakefield come off the shelf to try to earn a spot in the post-season rotation... Ailing back behind him (I WISH !!!), Wake pitched... uh, mediocre... giving up 5 runs in 5 innings BUT walked 7 !!! However, he DID leave with the Sox up 8-5.... so, what happened??? BULLPEN !!!!!!!! Delcarmen, Bard and Wagner provided no relief what-so-ever - giving up 7 runs in TWO innings !!!!... and handed KC the win on a silver platter. Our boys out-hit the Royal but not even JBays 36th round-tripper of the summer or VMart's 100th rbi, were enough overcome OUR BULLPEN in this one....

September 22nd... Royals 5, Red Sox 1... Tuesday saw Paul Byrd in HIS attempt to make the post-season roster... only to be undermined by his pitching coach... recent work on mechanics caused bird to get lit up in the first inning.... giving up all 5 runs in that frame... the bullpen bounced back to maintain that deficit but the bats were silenced by Cy Young candidate, Zack Greinke.... mustering only 2 hits and 1 run... BUT, 1 of those hits came off the bat of VMart to extend his hitting streak... more later....

September 23rd... Red Sox 9, Royals 2... the series brightened up on Wednesday... Josh Beckett got the nod for our boys... although he still isn't back to TRUE Beckett (obviously he still needs to shake being sick... or whatever John Farrell tried to change !!!) giving up 12 hits, but he did pitched 6 innings and only gave up 2 runs, striking out 7 (and tying his personal season's best at 194)... 1 more quality outing and Beckett will join Jon Lester in the 200 strikeout club... 2 pitchers with 200 K's on the same team.. that's a LOT of punch-outs... offensively the bats woke up pounding out 12 hits... VMart extended his hitting streak... Papi blasted #25 - continuing to lead the league in big flies since June - and had 4 RBIs - including #88 - 30/100 (homers/RBIs) is WELL within reach !!!.. Jbay collected RBIs #115 and #116 - if this kid doesn't reach 40/130, I'm going to stop blogging !!!!!!!!! And, the relief trio of Oki, Wagner and Paps pitched 3 innings of no-hit ball... now, THAT's relief !!!

September 24th... Red Sox 10, Royals 3... Last night, one of my personal favorite pitchers took the hill for our boys... and by golly, CLAY BUCHHOLZ WAS BRILLIANT !!! possibly one of his career-best outings (well, except for the no-hitter !!!), Buchhy was firing on all cylinders (and pitches)... working 6-2/3 innings of 5-hit, 8-K, shutout ball !!! #3 pitcher ?!?!?! this kid could be #2 on MANY teams... RamRam had a "bit" of difficulty out of the 'pen, but the 15 hit attack more than compensated for him (I wonder if they're working on mechanics with him too... AHHHHHHHH!!!).. Offensively, 6 of the starters collected 2 or more hits... the well-balanced attack was led by Senor Papi.. who had 3 hits including clouting #26 and driving in his 91st run... who said 30/100 ???? Jacoby also had 3 hits and 2 steals... bringing his MLB leading total to 66... ummmmm, 70 is in the "bag", no??? Pedey chipped in with 2 hits (and extended his OWN hitting streak to 16 games), including his 46th double... 50, 50, 50 !!!! 2 straight seasons with 50+ doubles ???

And VMart... ah, VMart... true acquiring VMart was undoubtedly THE biggest trade at the July trading deadline... but, Victor Martinez continues to make that trade bigger than anyone could have imagined !!!! VMart had 2 hits last night.... hitting streak extended to 23 games (I WILL NOT jinx him here.... you can all Google Dom DiMaggio - RIP Little Professor) ...

Now, you all know I LOVE Captain Tek BUT.......... the Sox need VMart's bat in the line-up E.V.E.R.Y.D.A.Y. !!!! Tek has 19 hits since the All-Star break in July.... AND the team losses NOTHING with VMart behind the dish... certainly at least as good, if not better than, Tek at this point on BOTH sides of the plate... I DO hope they keep Tek on the roster for the post-season..... but, it becomes more and more obvious that the team will NOT exercise his option next year... BUT, thank you Jason Varitek !!!! We wouldn't be where we are without you.... truly a future Red Sox Hall Of Famer....

September 25th.... The ride of baseball's regular season is nearing the end... 10 games remain. Our beloved Beantown Bombers WILL be in the post season... not a prediction, just the naked truth !!!!

Currently sitting on top of the Rangers (ok, ok, ok... BAD visual there !!!) by 8 games in the wild card race, the Sox "magic number" sits at 3 games... What??? WTF is a magic number, you ask ??? The magic number in this case is the COMBINED number of Red Sox wins and Rangers losses that will CLINCH our boys a seat in the play-offs... hmmmmm....

SOOOOOO... each and every Boston win AND Texas loss reduces the number... and brings the Sox one step closer to a post season berth....

BUT............ consider this... at 91-61, our boys have the 3rd best record in ALL of baseball... and are playing pretty [darn] good ball right now.... SO WHAT ?!?!?!... SEW BUTTONS !!!!!!

But seriously, the Yankers lead over the Red Sox for the DIVISION title is only 5-1/2 games (do NOT ask me to explain the 1/2 game thingy, it all comes out in the wash !!!)... actually all it means when a lead is X-1/2 games is that the teams haven't played the same number of games - no worries, they WILL all play 162 (uh, usually)...

With a weekend sweep of the Yankers in the Bronx, Boston could literally be 2-1/2 games back... and with the remaining 7 games being at home in Boston... hmmmmm, Division Champs has a "ring" to it.....

But NOT to put the cart before the horse, just making it to the play-offs is half the battle... and essentially the ONLY reason they play 162 games... seems like an awfully long summer just to determine play-off participants...

This weekend in the Bronx could certainly be a preview of a play-off match-up.... But the pitching match-ups favor the Yankers... Jonny Lester vs. Joba "the Hutt" Chamberlain tonight... Dice-K vs CC Sabathia tomorrow.... BYRDman vs Andy Pettitte in the finale on Sunday... uh, sweep ????... not too sure about that... let's just hope John Farrell doesn't [screw] up this series.... I'll be checking my beer and Tums supply momentarily in preparation (may need THAT too... uh, Preparation H ???) , none the less...

Thanks for stopping in for a visit. It's just my opinion, so please PAHDON it. Y'all come back now, ya heah !! - Nuf Ced