Game 113

Final Score:

Boston Red Sox 6, Tampa Bay Devil Rays 0

Three game winning streak. Three out of four games taken to win the series. Five wins out of the last six games. Thirteen games over .500 for the first time this season. Complete six hit shuttout game from a vintage looking Pedro on 109 pitches. Word.

Micah and I like to pick apart Francona's managerial decisions - it's easy to do and fun, in the way that communicating with people who can't hear you is fun. Micah's reaction to Pedro's complete game was, of course, that it was a stupid idea. He's right, of course - using Pedro to finish off the Rays when he could be saved for his next start (against the Blue Jays, it looks like) is, as I said yesterday to Nikki, like using a nuke to kill a bug.* I wonder if Francona gets caught up in the moment and forgets he has the power to pull his pitchers - not a good thing for a manager, but it's not like I haven't said that about Terry before.

Contreras returns to Fenway tonight in a Chicago uniform instead of a Yankee one - the question is whether or not it will make a difference. He's going up against Wakefield, who is 0 and 5 against the White Sox since 2001, so I will not declare the odds in anyone's favor at the moment. The White Sox make me irrationally nervous, too. I think the spirit of Frank Thomas lingers over the team, irrespective of his current injury status. The power of the Big Hurt compels you, or something like that. Robin, Nikki and I will attempt to go view the game at a local (Brooklyn) bar, despite it being a Friday night, when Red Sox baseball is in the capable hands of Sean McDonough, Jerry Remy and the rest of the WSBK team - and not on cable. GO (red) SOX!

*That's not really fair - the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are not bugs; in fact, they're fast becoming my second favorite team because they're fighting for third place in the AL East with a $28 million payroll. And maybe this situation is more like using a nuke to kill a bug when the nuke should be saved for bigger installations and the complement of bug spray is working fine. God bless my twisted, twisted metaphors.