Game 81: Grumpy Old Men

Final Score: Boston Red Sox 5, Arizona Diamondbacks 0

Now I’m no stat guy (that’s more of an Eric thing) but I think the combined ages of the two starting pitchers in this match up was somewhere in the range of 300 years. They have been called veterans, vintage and seasoned. But honestly Randy Johnson? HE’S OLD! Tim Wakefield? OLD! These guys are just freaking old.

Fortunately that doesn’t mean that they aren’t freaking good, too. Randy went 6 and gave up 2 earned. He looked pretty good, but the Sox had some chances they couldn’t capitalize on (read: Lugo forgot how to run bases). Wake was masterful. He had the knuckler moving and diving and made the snakes look silly. 7 innings, 2 hits 1 walk and 6K… NO RUNS! That’s a champ and a half. Sox completed the shut out with a good inning from Delcarmen, a bad partial inning from Hansen (2 walks and a single) and a big K from Papelbon (who got a save that I don’t really understand). That’s a pretty damn good outing if you scratch the Hansen meltdown. His roller coaster outings still scare the crap out of me.

As good as the pitching was, the Sox bats were pretty quiet for the majority of this game. Moss had the first two RBI’s (both made on outs) and the rest of the Boston crew seemed content on leaving men on base all night. That is, until Kevin Cash stepped up to the plate with two men on in the bottom of the 8th. KABOOM! Cash was money and blasted a shot over the monster. This homerun was not only huge on distance (in the parking lot!) but it was also huge for the man himself because it was the first he has hit since 2005! Way to go Mr. Backup catcher. Sox win the series and end the home stand on a high note. Even the geezers have to smile.