Party's Over

It had to end sometime, right? Sure, it would have been nice if they had stretched the win streak to double digits, but it wasn't to be. Shields is a beast in his home dome and the Sox couldn't put together very many good at-bats against him. It didn't help that Shields owns Youk and Youk happens to bat cleanup. The only cleaning up Youk did was in Shields' favor, by hitting into 2 inning-ending double-plays. Ells' running game was silenced also, as he wasn't able to get himself in scoring position for Gonzo to drive him in. Gonzo himself had 3 hits, all singles. Unfortunately, this put him on first with less than two outs and tonight's double-play machine on deck. Seeing that he would probably be bested by Papi, Tek, and possibly even former Red Sox Sean Casey and Doug Mirabelli in a footrace, stealing to take away the double-play was not an option. He's one of the best hitters in the league and a helluva first baseman, but any reference to "Speedy Gonzalez" would be in jest.

Wake pitched very well, going 7 innings and allowing only one earned run (2 total). He had the misfortune of matching up with Shields, who owns the Sox in the Trop. He deserved a better fate than to be stuck with the loss (which is why I take a pitcher's win-loss record with a grain of salt. The ERA and number of quality starts is more indicative of performance than a stat based partly on elements beyond the pitcher's control, especially in the AL)

I'll be on vacation for a week starting tomorrow and won't have NESN where I'll be, so no blogs 'til I get back. In the meantime, I hope the Red Sox can bounce back and take the next 2 against the Rays. At the very least, win 1 out of 3. The Yankees aren't allowing the Red Sox to gain any distance in the division and actually gained a game tonight, beating the Rangers while the Red Sox lost to the Rays.

It's interesting how some teams just seem to own other teams. In the case of the Red Sox, they've owned the Angels, Tigers, and, so far this season, the Yankees, but the White Sox, Rangers, and Rays seem to own them. I have no doubt that this holds true for pretty much any team, but I have yet to figure out what it is about certain teams matching up that causes one team to dominate (or be dominated by) another.