Final Score: Boston Red Sox 10, Texas Rangers 6Do you see this man to the left? This man is a BAD. ASS. You've heard the original stories: pitching over 200 pitches in a high school tournament game, then coming back to pitch the next day. Pitching like a demon during the WBC last year. The array of pitches, including the mythical gyroball. Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to say those moments were just the first act in a long string of awesome.
What prompts me to make such a bold claim about our newest pitching hero? What deed could suffice to awe my jaded baseball sensibilities, in a time when every man is a juicer, when laundry, not the man inside it, dictate fan loyalty and yesterday's heroics with the bat or the ball are only good enough until the next start? Dude, Dice-K pitched with the frickin' flu.
What's even more incredible is that Matsuzaka, who ended his night getting intravenous fluid replenishment in the visiting clubhouse, managed to keep the Rangers down for most of the night, then had humility required of a true bad ass to feel shamed for giving up the runs that he did. Shame? There's no shame! You were throwing up between innings and still came back in the fifth to get a double play and a strike out to end your night! Lesser men would have crawled back from whatever high tech vomit receptacle they have in major-league clubhouses and demanded bullpen relief ASAP. Matsuzaka pitched long enough to make a complete start before his manager ended his night.
Hats off to the offense for picking up their pitcher's slack, too. Four runs to knock out the starter not good enough tonight, Dice-K? That's cool: we'll add another six over two innings to make the point. At one point, every time I looked up at the screen the Sox were getting another single, another double, driving a few more nails into this game's coffin. Everyone but Lowell (0 for 2 with three walks) and Drew (0 for 4 with a walk) got hits, Youkilis pushed his hitting streak to 17 games and Boston set up the momentum to keep the ball rolling tonight.
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