Source: Yahoo!
First off, a hearty ol' "well done" to Jon Lester. Only one BB tonight, and he didn't hit anyone. 16 of 20 outs in the air? Um. Wow. Have to stop leaving those pitches up buddy.
Secondly, an even heartier "thanks" to the Rays' pitching staff for 8 free passes. We were able to take advantage, even if one was quite correctly argued by Rays' manager joe Maddon.
Third, time to abandon numbering my thoughts. This was an exciting game, and I'm truly sorry if you missed it. It wasn't shaping up to be so exciting. 6-4 in the bottom of the 9th, Oki had neutralized the Rays on 10 pitches in the 8th, and Paps was coming in. Game over, right? Yeah. Not so. Paps only needed 13 pitches to finish the 9th AND allow two runs on a Jonny Gomes 2-run HR to put the game into extras.
There was some drama in-between, most notably when Kyle Snyder came into the 10th with a lack of control, and Al Reyes getting pretty upset with 1B umpire Adrian Johnson on a controversial check-swing call. None of this amounted to much, as neither team scored in the 10 or 11th despite the Sox being granted an extra out in the 11th and Snyder, as I mentioned, looking like he was sure the strike zone was a foot or two higher than it really was.
The 12th inning. Well. I suggest you go to the Sox website and watch the provided highlight video. With the bases loaded (single, walk, walk) and one out, DP was nowhere to be found as Alex Cora stood at the plate, threatening to ruin our night. It has been suggested, by me, that the Sox probably had to keep DP in a cage in order to keep him from taking that PA. Cora bounced into a fielder's choice, with Mike Lowell being forced at the plate. Julio Lugo came up, and reassured RSN that he was NOT going to waste Brian Stokes' wildness. He walked, knocking in the winning run, and Youks and Manny hit bases-clearing 2Bs to bring the total runs in the inning to 6. J-Lo pitched a pretty worry-free 12th to secure the non-save.
Pretty much everyone contributed to the offensive attack: Julio Lugo, reaching base in 4 of 7 PAs, stealing a base, knocking in two and hitting a 2B. Youks, Tek, even Drew before the latter innings. Lowell going 4 for 6. Drew scorched one right at CF B.J. Upton to begin the 12th, while "Being" was twice robbed on excellent plays by Rays' 3B Akinori Iwamura.
...drumroll? C'mon. Gotta be The Wrath of CoN. If you have to ask, then you must not've watched baby.
Tito, whose players bailed him out on his not-best night of managing for the Sox.