All's Well That Ends Well

Sox: 12 Mets: 5

In a series that had two home run calls reviewed (and neither going in favor of the home team), a pitcher throwing a phantom ball plateward, Eck's vocabulary venturing into the netherworld, and the Sox losing the first two games, they really needed a game like the one that took place today. With Dwight Evans pinch hitting for Eck, who's moonlighting for TBS, the Sox gave Wake his team-leading sixth win of the year in a 12-5 rout of the denizens of Citi Field. Yes, the same Citi Field where last week someone got their hand stuck in the toilet trying to retrieve a gold tooth. Oh, what the recession will make one do! Now, thanks to losses by the Yanks and the Jays, our Fenway friends are sitting in first place in the AL Beast!

Wake's outing was not one of his best, but, thanks to his stick-wielding teammates, it was enough to win. He gave up five runs in six innings. Due to a rain (or was it hail?) delay in the bottom of the first, he had a good 45 minutes between his first two innings of work. His most troublesome inning was the third, when he gave up three runs, erasing the lead the Sox had given him via Lowell's 3-run blast in the second. Added to the run the Mets scored in the second inning on a solo homer by Ramon Castro, this gave the visitors the lead. Wake gave up a fifth Mets run in the fifth inning, but came out to pitch a clean sixth after the Sox gave him back the lead in the bottom of the fifth.

The Sox bats, who had been dormant for the first two games of the series, broke out today, starting with the Lowell tater in the second. The fifth inning started with Youk knocking one out of the park just a hair away from the Fisk pole on the Monster. Youk thought he had himself a dong, but the umps ruled it foul. After Tito came out of the dugout and argued, the umps decided to go to the review room for the second time in 24 hours. The first time was last night, when an Omir Santos fly was ruled a dinger and not, as it was initially called, a double, after bouncing off the red rim of the Monster. That call meant a blown save for Pap and a stinging loss for the Sox. The call on Youk's questionable homer didn't go any better for the Boston squad. It was ruled a foul ball and Youk, after fouling off a few more pitches, ended the at-bat by flying out to right. To me, the replay they showed on NESN made it look like the ball was just a teeny tiny bit to the right of the pole and fair, but the umps had the final call.

Two batters after the home run that wasn't, JD Drew, he of the four-hit afternoon, and Mikey Lowell singled. George Kottaras, who hit a ground-rule double in his first at-bat, followed it up with another double, this time with a ribbie thrown in. Nick Green followed the backstop's feat up with a hit that I guess would be called a single: Lowell scored and Nick Green found himself in no man's land between first and second, staying in the run-down long enough to score Kottaras and give the lead back to the Sox. The ball changed hands so many times on that play that it was ruled a 9-3-6-4-5-3. Translation: Right field to first baseman to shortstop to second baseman to third baseman back to first.

The sixth inning saw Mets reliever Ken Takahashi (not to be confused with Sox reliever Takashi Saito) pitch a phantom ball to the plate when he lost his grip on the ball as he was getting ready to throw it. The "real" ball ended up a few feet away from the mound to the pitcher's right. It was ruled a balk and Pedey, who reached first on a walk, was awarded second. After Papi, who was at bat during this bizarre occurrence, struck out, Youk walked and Bay singled, briging Pedey home. JD followed up with a double that plated Youk and gave the Sox a three-run advantage. The following inning saw Green get his second hit, Jake draw a walk and Pedey singling Green home before Youk went deep again. For real this time and scoring three times as many runs as the fifth inning long foul would have had it stayed fair. It was his way of saying "Take that, umps!" The score after that big fly: 12-5 and that's where it stayed when Takashi Saito recorded the final out of the ninth.

Tomorrow night, back to the AL and back on the road. It feels like they just got to Fenway and now they have to leave again! Penny pitches against Liriano in Minnesota. Will Papi remain in the 3-hole after yet another quiet day at the plate? We shall see...

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!!