Final Score: Boston Red Sox 3, Baltimore Orioles 2Josh Beckett threw another good 7 innings and is now an 18 game winner, but I’m not happy. Okajima threw a perfect 8th inning and has an ERA smaller than his wispy mustache, but I am not happy at all. Paps got his 35th save and struck out two, but I have to be happy or he’ll come to my house and stare me down.
116 pitches. That’s what it took to get Beckett through 7 innings. Yeah I know our relief core is a bit depleted right now, but that’s a TON of pitches for a guy who should be prepping for the playoffs soon.
Part of that aforementioned relief core is the increasingly tired Oki. He has pitched in pretty much every single game this season and I think it’s starting to get to him. He looked pretty sharp today, but his overuse could be devastating in October. I know this problem almost totally contradicts the first issue… but what are we gonna do? They need to stretch these innings somehow and not overwork these guys before it counts. With Gagne out, they need someone to step up and fill this space. Be it Buchholz, Tavarez or Corey… there needs to be another step before we get to Papelbon.
Oh… and it would be GREAT if we could score these guys some runs too. Another 9 guys left on base and a ton more hair pulled out of my head. What’s with all the bunting? This epidemic of bad bunting is making me crazy and it’s NOT scoring any runs. Hit the ball you morons. A double moves guys over just as effectively.
Thankfully, Coco came through in the 8th with an RBI single and that magic number shrinks to 14. Know how he did it? Not bunting, that’s how.
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