At this point in the Red Sox' long, strange season, a playoff berth has essentially (if not yet mathematically) gone by the wayside, as I pointed out in my last blog. That doesn't mean I'm not still watching and cheering for the Sox. It just means that I've accepted the reality that, with the unreal amount of injuries, combined with the struggles of the bullpen and two key starters in Beckett and Lackey, 2010 is not their year.
That said, it was still uplifting to watch the Sox come from behind to win tonight. The O's, under new skipper Buck Showalter, have played some good ball of late. They look like a different team than they did earlier in the season. There's a lot of talent there and who knows what a whole season of Showalter will do for them next year. The Sox were able to get to the new and improved Baltimore Birdies tonight, though. Down 5-3 in the seventh, pinch-hitter extraordinaire (6 for 9 in that role this season) Darnell McDonald leads off with a single off towering lefty Mark Hendrickson. After Hall strikes out, Scoots atones for the previous game's costly error by knocking a 2-run dinger to tie the game at 5 a side. Drew works a walk and Hendrickson is lifted for righty Alfredo Simon. V-Mart doubles and Drew hauls ass all the way from first to score the go-ahead run. Having used up their lefty and with first base open, the O's elect to put Papi on via the four-finger salute. Beltre makes the O's pay big-time when he takes Simon yard for 3 runs, capping off a 6-run inning. The O's plate one more in the eighth off of Bard (double, groundout, sac-fly), but Pap gets his 34th save as the Sox win 9-6.
Lester had a rough first two innings, where he surrendered 5 runs (4 in the first, 1 in the second), which was very unusual for him against a team he usually dominates. However, he settled down to go 6 innings with 10 K's. His offense made sure he remained undefeated against the O's and picked up win #15 on the season by breaking out of their collective slump in the 7th, while he was still the pitcher of record.
Tomorrow, Dice-K takes the mound against Brad Bergeson in the rubber game. Dice was skipped the last time around due to back soreness, but is apparently ready to go tomorrow. Salty and Patterson were activated from the DL and Richardson was called up once again. More call-ups will follow as Pawtucket ends it's season.
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