Yeah. I dunno. So that sucked. We're so spoiled by the likes of Becks and Paps. Did anyone have any doubt, at all, that after the ball-busting loss that was Wednesday's game in Detroit, that Josh Beckett had a little something for the Tigers to chew on for Thursday? And guess what? He did.

Tonight, we entered the 9th with a one-run lead, and was there a doubt in anyone's mind that only Julio Lugo was capable of preventing Paps from getting his 11th save of the season? And yet, this is what reminds us to enjoy the good times. Paps didn't have it, mentally as well as physically, and the Twins used that combination quite effectively to engineer a walk-off win. I'm not going to get into the specifics. Suffice to say, it was not a good night to be a Sox fan. 

Also, I apologize. I'll take responsibility for a thread not being up tonight, and you can rest assured there will be one ready for tomorrow, though probably once again sans lineups. So, I'll take blame of the game with Paps.

But y'know what? Let's talk positive for a bit. Lowell and Papi are back, ladies and gentlemen. Lowell, in particular, seems intent on proving me wrong that we'll be getting '06 Lowell this season. He wants to repeat last season instead. All right. *shrugs* I'll take it. KY continues to take care of business, ditto Tacoby. 

Tomorrow? Daisuke v. Glen Perkins. Am I being too optimistic when I say that all I'm hoping for is < 8 walks?

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Oki did more than his job tonight. Kudos to him, even if it ended up being in a losing effort.

Summary:

...no. In fact, F no.

Player of the Game:

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Comment of the ClusterF. Entertaining Redeeming Moment:

At some point in the game, the FSN Detroit cameras caught a Sox player in the dugout, eating a cup of A) applesauce, B) pudding, or C) yogurt. The # on this player's wristbands? 24. I'm pretty sure if they'd panned lower, they've have caught him swinging his legs back and forth too.

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Summary:

I don't even know what to say at this point. The Jays and the Sox have the best pitching since the I didn't care about actually looking that up. The Jays and the Sox also have the worst offenses, from the same timespan. There's no way to tell which statement is more true less false. Was Daisuke just good, or was he helped by a Jays' offense seemingly committed to ineptitude? Dustin McGowan, same question kind of.

Offense included a solo Papi HR, an attempt at a walkoff single by Brandon Moss, and a real walkoff single by Kevin Cash Jason Varitek. 35-almost-36 year old "Being" is apparently faster than our young non-DP middle infielder. WTF is that about, right?

Maybe this is just how we're going to do it from now on. And Paps will make a bid for 30 wins.

Player of the Game:

Kidding. I just really liked this picture. Here he is:

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Comment ...Sequence of the Game:

When you walk Julio Lugo, there's something very wrong with you, and you should have your (ed: expletive) sent to AA in the morning. -MerryGoByeBye

...on 5 pitches, no less - BoSox415

Before yesterday, I would have bragged that Lester would have done it 20% more efficiently. -nuthinboutnuthin

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Summary:

All right. It wasn't really wasted. But when your up-again, down-again young LHSP puts together his best start in the history of ever, it'd be nice for him to get a W to go along with it. Instead, Paps (who started off the 9th as well as ever, then needed a bit of DP help to avoid damage from a 2-out 2B off the bat of Scott Rolen.) got the win by throwing one scoreless inning in relief.

The offense is still woeful. Only Youks had a positive WPA out of the Sox hitters last night, and losing JD Drew for however long that might be certainly won't help matters. It's a chore watching Coco leadoff, btw, even if it's not as difficult to watch him at the plate in general thusfar in the season. 

Lester, however, went toe-to-toe with CG artist Roy Halladay and emerged the victor no decisioner. Lester was uncommonly efficient, still allowing 4 walks in his 8 innings, but seemed to buckle down after each walk, and was certainly aided by inducing a number of ground ball outs. He also struck out 6, and finished his 8 innings with less than 100 pitches (97). Like Buch, we'll just have to see if some of this carries over to his next couple starts before making any kind of long-term judgments.

Player of the Game: Vernon Wells

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Comment of the Game:

At this point, I'll take a 1-0 win as long as it's the home team winning. -DJDP23's

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Summary:

Jennings v. Lester

Woohoo and whatnot. Jon Lester threw 6 innings. I threw a little party for him last night, on behalf of that. Good work by the 'pen as well, with J-Lo, MDC, Timlin and Paps combining for three scoreless innings after Lester left. Hitting-wise, Dustin, Papi, and especially "Being" threw down the other night. Manny just keeps on hitting for us in big moments, answering the question we all wondered about just what might've happened 2003-2006 if Papi didn't come through every single time.

Millwood v. Wake

First of all, Wake was ridiculously efficient. Averaging about 2.7 pitches per inning, several innings were over before the infielders and outfielders were actually through warming up. The Rangers were jumping on pitches, exhibiting no patience, and actually were fairly successful doing so. They were able to get their 7 hits in bunches, and combined with two of those hits being HRs, scored 5 off of Wake by the 6th inning. If you caught the game thread, you know a lot of us were pretty despondent. In retrospect, I suppose I'm not sure why. I think it's that the runs scored off of HRs, which always seem like more than they really are. Nevertheless.

...so what happened? 2 runs in the 7th, run-scoring singles by Papi and Drew brought us to within 3. We entered the 8th inning, and the magic really began. All with 2 outs: Tacoby 1B, Jed Lowrie 2B (5-3), Papi 1B (5-4), DP PH 2B (5-5), Youks IBB, Drew BB, Casey BB (5-6). Kevin Cash, who made the first out of the inning, also made the third, and Paps came on for the save, though it wasn't the most relaxed save he's ever given us.

Players of the Gamez:

Jennings v. Lester

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Who else, really?

Millwood v. Wake

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Thank you, Yahoo! Images. This way I don't have to choose. Also, good job Jed Lowrie.

Comment-mania:

GIDP - Now Papi is trying to make Lugo look good. There’s a lot of love going on in this team. :) - MerryGoByeBye

There's no element of surprise. I'm just watching our inexorable march towards yet another amazing win.Tedious is hardly the word. - britsoxfan (Proper context: We were still down 5-2, and there were 2 outs in the 8th inning with only one runner on.)

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There's not much to say about Manny Ramirez except he's a bad, bad man.

Ramirez proved too much for the Yankees yesterday. While the rest of the Red Sox lineup didn't seem to get it all going, Manny was in the zone all 9 innings. Manny's 4th inning home run put the Sox on the board first. The Yanks struck back scoring two, but Manny wasn't done.

With the score 2-1, Manny smacked a double scoring Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury. A Kevin Youkilis single scored Manny, putting the Sox up for good.

Josh Beckett looked a lot better than his first start of the season. Beckett went 6.2 innings, struck out five and only gave up three runs while only throwing 88 pitches.

This was one of the best games we could ask for out of Beckett. He wasn't perfect, but he didn't have to throw a lot of pitches to get a lot of outs. I think that's one of the most important things to look for when pitchers come off the disabled list. Only 88 pitches this time means he can throw more next time.

Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima combined to bridge the gap to Jonathan Papeblon who, after a two hour rain delay, struck out three batters in 1.1 innings to earn the save.

I sure do love that guy.

In other news, David Ortiz goes hitless again. Shocking. His batting average is now .070 ... Ellsbury was the leadoff man and went 2-for-3 with a run, a walk and a stolen base. This guy looks ready ... Pedroia and Youkilis also had two hits on the day.

Comment of the Game:

"where's the hawk that attacks small children when we need it?" - pedroiastroika