Wake is Toaster, Jays are Toast

Sox: 2 Jays: 1

Now why, you might ask, am I comparing our knuckleballer to a kitchen appliance? Because, the AL East-leading Blue Jays were popping up like it was going out of style, taking a very aggressive, swing-early approach to Wake's knuckler. As a result, Wake goes eight innings, surrendering just one run, on a big fly hit by old friend Kevin "Cowboy Up" Millar. Millar seems to be working his way around the division, playing for the Sox from '03-'05, the O's from '06-'08 and now north of the border with the Jays. Knowing the jovial Millar, I bet he wanted to say "Hey, Wakey, ol buddy, remember me?" before he sent one over the Monster. It was a nice bounce-back outing for The Wakester, whose evil twin Shaky Wakey took the mound in Anaheim last week. Everyone on the team has an evil twin, when you think about it: Mike Lowell has Bad Mikey, who grounds into those rally-killing double plays. Beckett and Lester's nefarious dopplegangers are Wreckett and Jester. I could go on, but that would detract from the game recap.

The offense continued phoning it in after the early innings. Papi, who returned after his three-day sabbatical, sadly, picked up right where he left off and went 0 for 3 with a strikeout, but he did draw a walk in the first inning. I really don't think he should be batting third until he shows he can still produce. I was hoping against hope that he'd be dropped down in the order when he returned, if only to take the pressure off of him. Fortunately for the dormant bats, the two runs they scored (via a Bailey RBI single and a Kottaras sac fly) were all they needed, thanks to Wake and the Blue Jays' pop-up parade. Youk comes back tomorrow and hopefully he'll bring his hot bat with him and energize this ephemeral offense.

Tomorrow night, Penny tries to add another quality start to his Sox resume and his teammates face Jays rookie Brett Cecil.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!