Final Score: Boston Red Sox 15, Tampa Bay Devil Rays 4What better way to celebrate a night on the town than with a pants-down spanking of the teal trouble makers from the Florida Bay. Eric and I ventured to the always fantastic Sox bar Professor Thom’s (proud owners of the handmade Roger Clemens bobblehead doll you see to your left) to see Beckett get his 12th win in grand fashion. Nothing cures a hitting slump quite like a visit with the Rays and a three game sweep was just what the doctor ordered after a disappointing run last month. Why can’t we play these guys every week?? Wait… I guess we are pretty much going to after the All-Star break.
So much crazy stuff happened tonight I'm gonna break it down for you in bullet form:
- Beckett was nasty through 6 innings, had 9K’s and at least one fan that the bar who was willing to look past the fact that (in her words) she would be a one weekend girlfriend.
- Drew was 2 for 2… in the first inning. I was still on my second beer when he got his second hit. I want to see a stat for that.
- Coco Crisp had a grand slam in the first, but came up with the bases loaded 2 other times in this affair and only managed one more RBI. I honestly can’t tell if that’s good or bad.
- Even Lugo got in on this beat down. The shortstop that stops short got 2 RBI but also managed to ground into a killer double play just to make sure we didn’t forget who we were dealing with.
- The Rays catcher Navarro smashed his face into Beckett’s shoulder during a collision at first base. Beckett was fine (and continued to pitch) while Navarro broke his freaking jaw. Call me poetic, but I think this incident was a metaphor for the game overall.
- Lowell had 5 hits, 5 RBI and about 500 comparisons to George Clooney. Most of the bar patrons were certain he would be the classy gentleman at your Red Sox social gathering. I’m not convinced.
- As much as I bash Timlin, he looked good in his 2 innings of relief tonight. I suppose an 11 run lead is enough to make me comfortable seeing him pitch.
- One of the best moments of the evening goes to Okajima (who didn’t even pitch) because he was the recipient of the final fan vote for the AL All-Star game. Oki tipped his hat to the Fenway crowd while they gave him a standing ovation. However, the applause was slightly muffled due to rampant carpel tunnel syndrome caused by constant and repeated online voting. By my calculations, everyone in Boston and Japan voted for Oki at least 9 times.
That’s the final home game before the All-Star game in San Fran. Now we head to Detroit as the 1st place Tigers host the 1st place Sox. I’m not really a betting man (if I was, I'd see that BetUS.com gives the Tigers the advantage), but I would wager the Sox could use this little momentum boost to ride into Detroit for a few wins - say maybe 2 out of 3?
Come get some you overstuffed striped cats.
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