Ah, those long grinders. Although it’s always nice when the good guys score early and often, it doesn’t make for a particularly exciting game. After the initial burst of Red Sox runs, where the Boston offense lit up Cabrera like fireworks on the Esplanade on July 4th, the fun was mostly in watching Clement work – one or two hits and a walk through six innings as Ole Matty made the Baltimore hitters look foolish. By the seventh, though, Clement started to tire, pitches started to hang and the Orioles started building a comeback. Not a real comeback, mind you; just enough to make the game drag for the next three innings. Rudy Seanez came in to put out the fire or, if you prefer, waste outs and absorb runs (four runs on six hits before he got all three outs in eighth). By the time Foulke came on for a confidence building nearly perfect ninth, the end was just a matter of time. Really slow time.
Obviously, tonight was a breakout night for the offense picking on some weak pitching, but with luck, it’s the start of some momentum: Lowell went two for three, Youkilis had a perfect night with a walk, three hits and two runs, Nixon hit home run number two and Manny rocked the house with three hits, three runs, two RBI and a walk…and he ran out a single that shot down the left field line and off of Matos’ glove at third like he would go for a double if possible. In other words, he’s motivated and that’s always good for Red Sox bats.
Tomorrow afternoon at 4:35, the rotation starts over again as Schilling goes for win number two against Bruce Chen, pride of Panama. When Chen is on he throws a pretty good game, so this should be a good match up. We’ll see if fourteen runs tonight kills the offense for tomorrow, or if Boston can keep the momentum going. GO SOX!!!
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