Game Story: No Pitchers' Duel Tonight.

by Allen Chace on Aug 22, 2007 4:08 AM EDT in Game Stories

In this moment, Papi holds the lives of himself, Akinori Iwamura, and the majority of the New England-area in his hands.

C'mon Jon Lester. Let's get a handle on these walks (4 in 5 1/3) buddy. I don't even care about the HRs. No more free passes. Let's make it a motto.

Of course, after Jon Lester, it was textbook: MDC-to-Oki-to-Paps. 3 2/3, 6 Ks, 2 BB, 0 H, 1 (unearned) R. Well done sirs. Paps, of course, making some measure of history with his second 30-save season, the first Sox closer to have two.

999 times out of 1000, DP makes that play. Shake it off. Great job by the 7-8-9 hitters, who combined for 4 hits, 2 2Bs and 5 RBIs. And the Papi triple, and it's probably unanimous in RSN that it caused extreme levels of elation and fear simultaneously.

Paps, who en route to "history", recorded 4 outs (1 pop-up, 3 Ks) on 15 pitches. Yowza.

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Re: Game Story: No Pitchers' Duel Tonight.

What are you doing up at 4AM?

My OTM for today:
PoTG: Pedroia
DiceK 7IP, 4H, 2ER, 2BB, 10K
A&B: double digit hits for Bahsten and no errors

by sdkramer.otm on Aug 22, 2007 11:11 AM EDT reply actions

Re: Game Story: No Pitchers' Duel Tonight.

Well, I'm actually CDT, so it was 3 am. Even so, I have no answer aside from a touch of insomnia.

by Allen Chace on Aug 22, 2007 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Game Story: No Pitchers' Duel Tonight.

Pap apparently used a new pitch: a "slutter!"

I'm serious.

He describes it as a mix between a cut fastball (cutter), and a slider. Read more here.

Brings new meaning to the term "filthy pitch", and we can now exclaim, "goddamn that pitch was slutty!" As you can tell, I'm a big fan.

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Aug 22, 2007 12:32 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Game Story: No Pitchers' Duel Tonight.

OTM for Today:

Player of the Game: Manny
Matsuzaka's Line: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K
Above and Beyond: Gagne works a scoreless inning.

by gnick55 on Aug 22, 2007 4:32 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Game Story: No Pitchers' Duel Tonight.

For today's game (8/22):

Player of the Game: Drew

Matsuzaka's Line: 7 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K

Above and Beyond: Jackson's been pretty decent since the last time we pounded him (July 4), but he's going to lead the Tampa staff in yielding at least 6 runs and 12 hits today.