Saturday, May 03, 2008

Game 31: Teach Your Children Well

Final Score: Boston Red Sox 7, Tampa Bay Rays 3

Hey, the kids are alright! This was a game almost completely dominated by the Sox young guys. Sure they stayed up past their bed time (thanks to a 2hr+ rain delay) but they had that youthful energy going all night.

Buchholz (age 23) was pretty good over 5 innings. He threw a few too many pitches (hurt by the 4 walks) but his stuff was very very good (6 K). Buchholz would have had a much different line if it wasn’t for a huge defensive play from Brandon Moss (age 24). Moss got the start for the ailing Coco and Drew and made the most of it by throwing out Carl Crawford at home. The kids got a cannon.

As good as the pitching and defense was, the real news is the return of the bats. Finally the Sox lumber-slumber was disturbed in a big way. They put up a crooked number in the 4th for what seemed like the first time in a month. The big inning was an amalgam of young players making big hits. Moss hit his second homer of the year, Pedroia (age 24) had an RBI double and Jacoby (age 24) stole second and scored (he still hasn’t been caught in the majors). Not bad for a group of guys that could combine their ages and still be younger than Curt Schilling.

A great win capped off by Papelbon (an ancient 28) closing the door with 7 pitches (all strikes) polishing off the Rays. We needed this after the sweep last week in Florida. We can’t be losing 4 in a row to Tampa Bay… that’s a level of humiliation that I’m not ready to accept.