A Wet, Muddy, Soggy Mess

It's time for me to eat some crow for speaking too soon. My excuse for putting the cart before the horse: I went to yesterday's game, got stuck in traffic on the way home and by the time I got around to writing the blog, my brain cells were fried for the day. Unfortunately, I had to wash down my serving of crow with tonight's gooey mess of a game. Blech! Ugh! Napkin, please!

Now that the theatrics are out of the way...

The game started out pretty well for the Sox; they put up a six-spot in the third and Wake was getting it done despite being held together by duct tape and determination. Then the rains came. Apparently, a wet knuckleball is easier to hit than a dry one because, as the monsoon picked up, the Royals were smashing the ball all over the place. When they weren't whacking the ball, they were watching knucklers dart and dash all over the place and taking their free bases. Wake gutted his way through 5 giving up 5 runs and walking 7. Still, he left with a lead after Bay made a fantastic catch against the left field wall to rob an extra base hit from Yuniesky Betancort.

Enter Manny "the firestarter" Delcarmen with a can of kerosene and a lighted match. Boom! Three runs! Enter Daniel Bard with more of the flammable stuff. Three more runs! Whoosh! A toilet flushes and down it goes the Red Sox lead. An inning later, Billy Wagner stokes the fire by walking two and allowing another Royals run. The bats, tired of trying to keep up with the nuclear bullpen, mailed in the last three frames and a game that should have been won ends up in the loss column, along with a chance to trim the Magic Number and possibly gain on the Yanks. This game gets the ol' Mr. Yuk Seal of Disapproval. Do they still make those green Mr. Yuk stickers or are they a relic from my childhood? Note to self: Wikipedia "Mr. Yuk"

Tomorrow's matchup is no picnic for the Sox, with Paul Byrd facing Cy hopeful Zack Greinke. On paper this looks like another loss, but once the teams take the field, anything can happen. Let's hope it turns out to be a pleasant surprise. Taking three out of four in KC would be nice. I'd take a split, but a series loss to the men in blue could let the Rangers back into the race.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!