Walk-off Sox

(originally posted 3/7/07)

The Phillies AND Red Sox both won their games today with walk-off HRs by minor league infielders. I suspect that we will see more walk-off HRs this season from both of the 2007 World Series participants. (I also suspect not too many will be hit by Phillies farmhand 3B Brennan King and Sox minor league SS Ed Rogers, however. At least not at the Major League level.)

I watched the Sox game on NESN HD - the 1st Sox game I have watched in its entirety this year. They did not disappoint.
As a bonus, the Sox were facing the Mets, who are tied with the Yankees for the top spot on my "MLB Teams I Love to Hate" list. (The Braves are 3rd on the list.) The Mets lineup was missing Delgado, Beltran, LoDuca, and Green from their top 8, and Chan Ho Park, competing for a spot at the back of the rotation, was the starting pitcher, followed by Aaron Sele, also competing for a rotation spot. The Sox had, probably, their top 8 starting, with the (possible) exception of Cora starting over Lil' Dustin at 2B. Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield and Jedi Warrior Jonathan Papelbon were the 1st 2 pitchers for the Sox.

Wakefield looked pretty damn good, allowing 0 R, on 4 hits and 1 BB, over 3 innings. One of those hits was a looper to left that Lugo probably should have gotten to. The Sox scored a run on an inning-ending DP in the 1st, and led 1-0 after 3 innings.
Bob Ryan stopped by to chat with Remy and Orsillo for awhile, mostly about the 1967 Sox. He mentioned going to the ticket office to buy tickets a month before the end of that season, and picking up $3 box seats behind the plate for the season finale. Yikes. You can't get a Fenway Frank for $3 these days. But we do get to experience the wonders of the Virtual Waiting Room, while hoping for SRO tickets. Of course, we also have NESN HD. So it's all good. Somewhat good, at least.

W.B. Mason had more irritating commercials touting their same day delivery service in, quite possibly, the most irritating possible way. I do not like W.B. Mason commercials. Their blue pens also kind of suck. And their same day service is only available in "Metro Boston."

But Jordan's Furniture had an intriguing commercial where they promise that any furniture purchased in the next month is free, if the Sox win the World Series. Now the Sox will not be beating the Phillies in the World Series. That's just crazy talk. But maybe Jordan's could offer half off for a Sox Series APPEARANCE. I would be down with that. My couch is looking a lil' shoddy. (Not as shoddy as Tavarez' ERA, though.) Jordan's has really good stuff. I would totally endorse them if an appropriate offer was put on the table. Or if they gave me a new table. Are you listening, Jordan's?

Papelbon came in and was awesome, as usual. 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 K. His fastballs were in the 92-94 MPH range. Only threw a few non-fastballs, though. As a regular starter, he's going to need to use his curve and his Jedi Mind Tricks more than he did as a closer. Might be good to use them a little more now. When he left after the 6th, the Sox led 5-0.

Starter Boy gave an interview after his appearance- the part most memorable to me was the fact that he said "you know" 78 times when answering about 8 questions. (Yes. I counted the "you knows." I have a responsibility to my reader(s).) He did NOT mention any more ways to make a gajillion dollars.

The Sox took a page from the Phillies' Spring playbook, and utilized a bunch of players with numbers mostly greater than 70 to systematically blow their lead. Brendan Donnelly pitched poorly for the 1st time this spring, despite the fact that his #53 is lower than #70. He got 2 outs, and allowed 4 baserunners (2 H, 2 BB). Hideki Okajima came in with the bases loaded and 2 outs to face Damion Easley. Okaji got 2 strikes on Easley, and then threw a hanging curve that was popped for a game-tying grand slam. Donnelly was charged with 3 of those ER. With an assist from Okajima, Donnelly's ERA is now an unsightly 12.27.

The next 1 and a half innings were fairly uneventful. Don Orsillo, Jerry Remy, and Tina Cervasio mostly talked about the zoo. (For the record, Jerry Remy has transitioned past the time in his life that the zoo was exciting to him, but he is intrigued by the thought of seeing an albino raccoon.) I will cut them some slack, however, seeing as this is Spring Training. Besides their "zoo talk" was somewhat amusing. I really enjoy the Orsillo-Remy team. They are very knowledgeable and have a good rapport. Great to listen to. The only duo I can think of right now that I have enjoyed more than them was the Harry Kalas-Richie Ashburn Phillies combo. I look forward to another season of the Sox on NESN.

Back to the game, the Sox loaded the bases in the 9th off Mets reliever Ambiorix Burgos, best known for blowing saves for Kansas City last season. With one out, Ed Rogers hit the game-winning slam to left. An exciting win for the Sox. I figure that they have another 125 or so ahead of them this year. Go Sox!