 God, I love good pitching! Photo of Daniel Bard taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net in April 2009 and used with permission. |
When Ramon Ramirez came in and, essentially, erased all the good Jon Lester did last night, I realized how much I wanted the team to win. (Mind you, I’m not blaming Ramirez here. I wanted Tito to go with Bard in the ninth instead of the 13th. If for no other reason than it seemed like they needed to just shut down the Phillies right there or the bullpen would end up depleted. And if we have to now start saving Masterson every game that comes before a Daisuke Matsuzaka start because the team might need him for long relief, I’m failing to see the point of having Daisuke in the rotation right now. Okay, I’m done with the complaining.) Unless it’s a must-win (or against the Yankees), I don’t usually get so worked up about the first game in a series. But the adrenaline from the Yankees series must have still been coursing through my veins because I REALLY wanted this one.
As an aside, I was also watching parts of the Yankees/Mets game. Both games gave me equal amounts of agita at certain moments but I wasn’t really invested in the New York game as much as I might have been, given the tense nature of the Sox game. Which is a good thing since I missed Luis Castillo drop an A*Rod pop up to end the game. Game would have been over, Mets would have won. Had the Sox lost I might have felt worse about this. As it is, I have friends who are Mets fans and I honestly just ache for what they’re going through right now. The Mets have lost three in a row to walk-offs…all three against rival teams. To lose so cheaply last night must be a dagger in the heart. Here’s hoping they come back and ground the Yankees into dust for the rest of the weekend.
Last night the Sox gave up 5 hits over the course of that game. Five hits and only 2 runs…along with twenty strike outs – 11 coming from Lester while Masterson struck out the side once (to be fair, he also gave up a double and an intentional walk in that same inning) and Daniel Bard struck out his side in the 13th freaking inning (after hitting a batter). Short of Ramirez’ hiccup in the ninth, the pitching was great and the bats hammered out 11 hits once all was done. (Okay, 5 runs on 11 hits might not SOUND great but the bottom line is the team won.) How impressive have our pitchers been lately? Even with Ramirez’ struggles this week, I still look into the bullpen and never once think that there is someone in there I don’t want to see come out. And when the starters needed to come up big, they all have.
If you look up “The Balls” in the dictionary, there should be a photo of our pitchers next to it. S’all I’m saying. Here’s hoping Daisuke got the ballsy memo.
It felt like it took forever and it wasn’t pretty (well, some of it was) but at least the Sox still came out on top. With Daisuke on the mound, tonight, I fear it’ll be a long, frustrating game. I still have faith that the Sox will win. 7 innings from Daisuke would be nice, though, wouldn’t it?
I can’t stop now…
Win, Daisuke. Just win. (And some runs would be nice too, fellas!) <–Even though Lester didn’t GET the win…I’m still considering it a streak.