Walk Off Happiness

Photo capturing genuine joy taken by Kelly O'Connor last night and used with permission.

Many is the time a game stresses me out so much that I shut off the volume…why I’m not sure.  To drown out the disappointment of the crowd or announcers?  Maybe I think if I don’t HEAR it then it didn’t happen (or isn’t as painful to deal with).  In any case, I didn’t shut the volume off last night because the game was stressing me out.  I shut it off so I could hear something else and then I just didn’t turn it back on.  This happened at the start of the ninth.  With Ellsbury and Pedroia both on base, Adrian Gonzalez up and the volume still off, I stood up in anxiousness. I had a good feeling about it but I was still bouncing around a bit. itI didn’t even have time to pace when I saw the ball heading toward the Green Monster and I just started saying, calmly, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…”.

It was a nice way to end that game.

If you watched this game, I don’t have to tell you that the first six innings were a terrible letdown after the weekend the Red Sox had.  By the bottom of the sixth, I had resigned myself to the idea that they just weren’t going to take this one.  But by the top of the seventh, when the score was 6-5 Orioles after having been 6-0 Orioles at the top of the sixth, I was convinced they would pull the game out. It’s amazing what can happen in four innings, isn’t it?

Chris Tillman pitched a good game and left the game with that cushy 6-0 lead.  His teammate Jeremy Guthrie can commiserate with him on what it’s like to lose that lead and have the team lose the game. I’d like to feel sorry for them but, really, I don’t.  I’m greedy.  I want my team to win and if they have to crush the spirit of their opponent in the process, well, so be it.

Not so incidentally, Kelly O’Connor, as she was for the Mother’s Day Miracle, was in attendance at Fenway Park last night and, along with the above photo which is on the short list of my favorite Red Sox celebration photos ever (Jed Lowrie looks positively giddy!), she got some fantastic shots that you must check out.

Dustin Pedroia added to his legend last night with a classic at-bat in the ninth that followed a Jacoby Ellsbury stolen base and set the stage for Adrian Gonzalez to, once again, be the hero.  But, really, the win was a team effort.  These guys didn’t give in after being down 6-0 in the sixth.  It was a beautiful game to watch from that point on.

Adding to that happiness is the New York Yankees squandering their 5-1 lead over the Tampa Bay Rays last night in the sixth as well to end up losing the game 6-5.  The sixth inning was good to Red Sox fans last night and I thank the Baseball Gods for that.

Yesterday the Red Sox put John Lackey on the 15-day disabled list with a strained elbow.  What this means, aside from sparing us a Lackey outing tonight and this weekend versus the Chicago Cubs, is that Tim Wakefield is on the mound against Baltimore tonight (and against Chicago, most likely, this weekend).  I’m always eager (yet anxious) for Tim Wakefield starts this season.  I’m not ready to let go just yet…I’ll admit it.

It’s probably no more than any other season and I just don’t remember it, but this year there seem to be an awful lot of two game series.  After these two games against the Orioles, the Detroit Tigers are in town for two games before interleague play begins on Friday against the Cubs.  The Red Sox have a good chance this week to keep up the streak…I’m looking forward to more of the happiness!