That Guy: He Won Again

That guy I mentioned yesterday? The one who used to pitch for the other team but now he sometimes pitches for our team? He beat that team he used to pitch for again. He seems to be having lots of luck in that regard, and our offense seems to have no problem facing them. I like wins. I don't know if I've ever mentioned that before, but wins make me feel all warm inside. I haven't really liked that guy all that much.... well... ever, so it's nice for him to give me a reason to not want to punch my TV. Yeah, ok, the 3-run home run was frustrating, but it's fine. He didn't give up anything else after that, and that's really all that matters. I think. For now.

As for Daniel Nava... while I completely and utterly appreciate his hard work in this win, I think it would be in his best interests to, you know, not dive for baseballs. Yes, it had to be done, but that doesn't mean it wasn't scary. Especially after being hit in the ribs with a 90-something mph pitch. Sue me if I'm a little overprotective of our outfielders' ribs. I have justification for being this way. Nava was sort of my hero during the game last night. Watching him this season has been fun, hasn't it?

Bill Hall has also been a pleasant surprise. I think I've brought it up before, but aside from his suspect fielding, he's turned into a pretty good pickup. Solo homer to tie the game at 2 in the 4th was delightful. I don't know, it's another night that I really can't complain about. Everything seemed to make me happy.

Especially seeing Dave Roberts. He's looking fairly fantastic for someone who has gone through as much as he has, and that wonderful smile almost never left his face. The day before the Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon commenced, it was great to see Dave and get an update. I wish him absolutely the best in the world, and hope to see a little more of him. Good luck, Dave! We're all rooting for you!

Since I've been piling on Paps so much lately, I'll go ahead and give him credit. He was great last night. Nothing negative to add. I'm not going to bring up anything else from the season. He was great, and when he pitches like that, I'm happy. I think for the first time all season, I wasn't complete nerve-wrecked when he stepped onto the mound. I don't know why I wasn't nervous. Sometimes you just know that it's going to work out. So much credit to Paps. Let's keep that up, huh?

And last, but absolutely not least, happy birthday to my dad, who would have been 69 years old today. How very appropriate that today starts the radio telethon for the Jimmy Fund. My dad (also named Jimmy) passed away February 2, 2007 of colon cancer that metastasised to his lungs, so every year, I pledge my money to the Jimmy Fund, hoping that one day, there will be a cure. I pledge in my father's name, and I honestly believe that the money they collect makes a difference. I hope to live to see the day when I won't have to pledge any more. So happy birthday, dad. I love you, and I miss you so much. And I've already made my pledge in your name to try to put an end to this awful disease.

If you want to pledge money to the telethon, please go here: http://www.jimmyfund.org/

Bill Hall: For The Win

Literally. Bill Hall created that win last night almost single-handedly. Two home runs, four RBI's, and some fancy leather work in the infield. I can't say that he hasn't been performing up to this point. He was brought in as a utility guy, and he's gotten over 200 at bats so far due to the fragile health of, well, everyone. He had something like 13 home runs coming into last night. Sure, his fielding has been a tad precarious at times, but he did what he could. But last night Backup Bill was pretty much the story.

Sure, Dahmer was good too, but we all know that you can lose a game with good starting pitching. If your offense doesn't help you out, you aren't going to win. Just ask Jon Lester how he feels about that, and he'll tell you... actually, no, he probably won't tell you anything. He'll just get into a Beckettesque speech about executing pitches and that sort of thing.

Wow, I really enjoy the word Beckettesque. But there I go, getting off track again. Dahmer pretty much rocked that pitching mound last night. Eight innings, five hits, one run., 2 walks, 4 K's. Saved the bullpen and took advantage of the rare offensive onslaught. I cannot remember the last time we won by such a large margin. I guess it's been far too long. Just so everyone is aware, Dahmer is sporting a very nifty and quite impressive 2.49 ERA. Man, do I love those ERAs.

Credit also goes to Dustin Richardson, who I was very mean to around the trade deadline when I heard that he had been promoted. It was nothing personal. I was frustrated. I also wasn't being very consistent, because I complained that I don't think the Sox should make any moves, and then I complained that we didn't make any moves. Never happy, I guess. But, really, I did stick by my belief that we have to ride it out. I just sort of wanted another reason to complain about Theo. Grudges. Hard to dispose of. But Dustin pitched a very clean, very lovely 9th innning yesterday. Granted, there was almost no pressure in this one, but it still needed to get done. Thank goodness for us that it did.

Let's see, who else on the offense side of things made me happy? Well, as usual, Mikey. Love that man. Three hits, a walk and an RBI are always appreciated. There were also HR's from Beltre and Drew, and a triple from Ronald. Poor Scutaro went 0-5 from the leadoff spot, but everyone is allowed to have a bad game once in a while. I LOVED the game last night. There haven't been many games I've truly loved this season. Feels like most of them have been more like heart attack theater than love stories, but what can you do? Bailing is not an option, because if you bail, you miss games like last night. It was refreshing. I think the whole team needed that.

Unfortunately, John Lackey, the killer of all momentum, is on the mound this afternoon. Hopefully John can prove me wrong about him and like, do something good. Because my patience with him is incredibly thin. Not like he cares.

But I'm watching you, John. Don't let me down.

Jon Lester: Different Kind of Laser Show

Oh Jon Lester, how do I love thee? I cannot even count the ways. They are far too numerous. I mean, I obviously love Jon's pitching, and his ability to almost be Josh Beckett, but now I get to love him for his hitting, too? Yes, I know he didn't actually notch a hit, but he did walk, and he did drive in a run on a sacrifice fly that if it had just gone another few feet would have been a grand slam.... I'm just saying. Jon did it all to cap off interleague play.

One day after we had to use the entire pen to cover for an injured Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester told the rest of the pitching staff to sit the hell down and watch how it's done. On the mound in the opposite halves of the innings was Tim Lincecum. Now, I've never seen Lincecum pitch before, but considering he's got 2 Cy Youngs under his belt in his short career, I reckon that he's probably a decent pitcher. Luckily for us, even decent pitchers have bad days, and Tim definitely had a bad day. He lasted three innings, giving up five hits and four runs, mixing in three walks (one intentional walk of Ronald) and four strikeouts. How many innings did Jonny last? Nine. Yup, complete game. We needed it so badly out of him, and usually when we need him the most, he comes through. Jon also allowed 5 hits, but only 1 run and 1 walk while piling up 9 strikeouts. That is my definition of awesome. For the season, Jon is 9-3, with a 2.86 ERA. And yes, we're sure this is the same guy who was looking like toast in April.

Our offense, despite piling 11 hits and five runs on the San Francisco pitching staff, managed to strike out 15 times. How on Earth does a team strike out fifteen times and still win a game? I don't know, but I'm glad they did. Papi got it started with a solo home run in the first. Do you know Papi is now batting .252 with 16 home runs? It seemed like just yesterday that he was batting .140. No, .252 isn't amazing, but look at that other number again. It makes the first one much nicer looking.

In the top of the second, after a walk to Martinez, a double to Hall, and an IBB to Ronald, Jonny came up to bat and smashed one to the 420 marker. Man, any other direction it would have been a GS, but he hit it to the deepest part of the park. Still, VMart would come in to score. Scutaro followed that up with an RBI single to bring Bill Hall in, and the Sox ended the inning with a 3-1 lead. Just for the heck of it, Hall (who was filling in for the wounded Munchkin) singled in Youk in the third. In the top of the ninth, Beltre hit a solo home run to give us our final score of 5-1.

Oh, but what would a game in San Francisco be without an injury. Sure enough, for the third time in three days, we walk off the field with one player less than we started with. This time, VMart got bitten by the injury bug and ended up fracturing his left thumb. Goodness. Yes, this means that Tek is going to be the starting catcher, but that worries me. He has been doing so well as a backup, I'm afraid the extra playing time is going to wear him out. I want him to be able to come off the bench fresh and contribute to the team. I just hope he's still able to do that. Luckily, Victor isn't going to require surgery, but he is requiring a (hopefully short) trip on the DL. Hooray for us. Also, Dusty Brown and Mark Wagner of Pawtucket are also on the DL, so they won't be coming up to help us. Gustavo Molina is being called up to take his place.

The very injured Sox needed Monday's off-day. Tonight, they'll be facing Sharky Shields and the Tampa Bay Rays... which sounds like a really bad children's show. We have Lackey on the mound. Let's just hope no one gets hurt!