AP Photo/Winslow Townson
It takes some time for me to recover from such a gut-punch. Don't get me wrong. At no time was I unaware that it was 'just one game' or that the Sox succeeded in making Fausto Carmona a non-factor in the game. We'll get into the positives in just a second.
It was all kind of hard to take at the time-slash-this morning-slash-this afternoon. I put a lot of my thoughts towards the Patriots this evening, because I know quite a few (including one of my managers at work) Cowboys fans, and was kind of hoping the Patriots would show those MFs up on their home field. As they say in the Bush Administration, Mission Accomplished.
Anyway, here's some of the things I wanted to highlight from the game.
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Youk's AB against Betancourt in the 9th.
Even given the result. I said to my Mom at the time that, at the very least, Youk ensured that the 3-4-5 hitters would be facing a much weaker reliever.
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"Being's" game-tying HR against Perez, followed by Lowell's solo shot to put us ahead (for the last time).
I can't even begin to tell you how pumped I was at the time. The folks at LGT had a great point when discussing that entering the series, their setup corps had a distinct advantage over us. We drew first blood in that particular 'competition' and it felt good, I won't lie.
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Rafael Betancourt and Jensen Lewis.
Both of these guys did an excellent job of pitching. I wanted to brain Tim McCarver when he was orally slapping Betancourt on the back for the battle with Youks. He deserves credit, but I'm not sure that AB was the one to highlight. Either way, they both looked good, challenged the Sox lineup, and were very successful. I know there's been a lot of credit given to Tom Mastny, and I'll just say this: if you don't think it at least had something to do with Papi, "Being", and Lowell all being a bit over-anxious to be the hero on one swing, well. We're just going to have to agree to disagree.
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Oki, Timlin, Paps.
These guys don't need a whole lot said about them. They did what we needed them to do, and I have no doubt that Timlin would've been more than willing to pitch the 9th so Paps could've gone a little later into the game as it were. 12 pitches. Just saying.
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Jon Lester.
What an incredibly poor situation to be put in for your first postseason appearance.
- Daisuke v. Westbrook. 7 EDT. Watch it.