Beating The Rays: It Finally Happened

Honestly, I don't know why I keep up with the same strange style of titles for my posts. It's not neccessary. I don't need to use a colon in every title, do I? I guess I do. I think I have maybe three posts in total that don't utilize a colon. It's an addiction, I guess.

Anyway, first off, it makes me sad to report that Ronald McDonald has been designated for assignment. It makes me sadder to report that I forgot to mention that Vantastic had been designated for assignment last week. I listened to the interview with Ronald after the game last night, and it damn near broke my heart. I don't know if he always talks like that, but he seemed so incredibly sad. If it's any consolation, his good play in Boston certainly had to have been noticed. You can't tell me that there aren't any other major league teams that could use him on the roster. Same with Van Every. I hope that these guys either latch on with another big league club, or that they accept the assignment to Pawtucket so they can come back and contribute in the future. Baseball is a cruel business. Unfortunately, it is a buisness, and stuff like this happens every day. Where ever they end up, I wish them both the best of luck. Man, do I hate moving names from the current player list to the former player list. Mike Cameron will be activated tonight. I just hope he makes the sadness of Darnell McDonald worthwhile.

Dahmer may not have pitched eight last night, but he was solid for six. Yeah, the pitch count was really high. He was facing the Rays. They have a bunch of good hitters and were bound to make him work. Clay held his composure fantastically in his last two games. Neither game was an easy assignment. He took on the best team in the National League, and follows that up by facing the best team in the American League. I guess if there was ever a test to find out your mental makeup on the mound, this would be it. He passed. Yet, I'm going to continue to be weary of him, because I don't want to jump on the Clay bandwagon and ruin the mojo he's got going. I'll be hesitant in my praise, but he was good. He may have thrown 108 pitches in six innings, but he had eight strikeouts and only one walk. His ERA is at a nifty 3.08. I do love ERA's, no matter how bad of a stat the lowly ERA is. I guess I'm just part baseball traditionalist at heart.

Oki came in and pitched the 7th and the 8th last night, allowing nothing. No runs, no hits, no walks, no strikeouts. Just three fly outs, a ground out, a pop out, and a line out. When it comes to our pitching staff, any thing that ends in 'out' for them works for me. Oki especially needed a few clean, trouble-free innings. He's had a rough start to the season, and he's watched his role diminish a little due to his inconsistency, so I'm happy that he got in his work and didn't blow the game. Bard came in for the 9th, and had a clean, drama-less, 11 pitch inning to finish the Rays off for the day. This was the pitching that Sox fans have been expecting all year. It's nice that the pitching decided to show up at the end of May. Hey, better late than never, right?

Appropriately, the only run that the Rays managed was a solo HR off the bat of Carlos Pena. I don't care that he's no longer part of the Sox, I love Carlos Pena. I was so sad when we got rid of him, and really thrilled when he latched on with the Rays and became a force in the AL. The game last night was just about the perfect scenario for me. We win, but Carlos still looks good. Hey, I root for the laundry just like everyone else, but sometimes you just can't look past the hometown boy. Besides that, it's perfectly ok to like players on your rival team. After writing that, I realized that I don't need to justify who I like and who I don't, but there you go.

I was following along on Gameday (and watching the finale of Lost) when Victor hurt himself. I saw Varitek come in as a pinch runner, and all I could think was that Victor broke his leg walking down to first. That was the only logical explanation in my mind. Tek, for all his wonderful abilities, is not a runner. Have you seen those thighs? Those things slow him down significantly. Gladly, the injury is only a contusion on his toe, and he should be fine. Varitek may have to start a few days in a row, but that shouldn't be a problem. Actually, I see it as a good thing, but that's just me.

Papi hit another home run last night. He also came up to bat with the bases loaded again and failed to deliver. I guess 'clutch' hitting is the last thing to return? He's got the power back, and most of his timing back, but the 'clutch' isn't back yet. Hopefully, it will reappear this summer. For now, the lack of clutchiness hasn't hurt us (lately), so I'm willing to wait. It'll be back. After all, he's still Papi, and Papi is the definition of clutch.

Beltre, my least favorite everyday player, and Munchkin, the most arrogant everyday player, both racked up three hits last night. While Munchkin had been going through a bit of a slump, Beltre's been hitting pretty well, to the tune of a .335 average. Hey, call me when he learns to be Mike Lowell and I'll be impressed. For now, not so much. It takes a lot for people I don't like to impress me. And again, it's nothing personal. I just love Mikey, and Adrian took his job. How am I supposed to react? We ended up with a pretty good offensive game. After the third inning, it never really felt like we were in danger of losing this one. It was nice. Having heart attack free wins are always nice, and we just have not had enough of those this year.

Jon Lester on the mound tonight against James "Sharky" Shields (whose ridiculous and inappropriate media-appointed nickname will not be repeated here). Let's keep the epidemic going, huh?