Thursday, September 9, 2010

Timothy: Makes Me Happy

My thought is that by now, everyone knows what we're going to get out of Tim Wakefield when he starts a game. You're going to get 70 mph fastballs, lots of knuckleballs, base hits, a few runs, and some innings. Generally, no one expects anything fantastic out of Tim, but it's fine because he's steady and I appreciate the predictability of his performances (even if I can't predict the flutter of the knuckler).

He is never going to put up the best numbers, but I find that he usually will keep you in the game. I feel he did a pretty good job of that last night. And in doing so, our man Tim became the oldest pitcher in Red Sox history to win a game for the home town team. When he wins his next start? He will break his own record. It will happen. Yes, Tim gave up five runs. He does that on occassion. Granted, he only pitched five, but you have to keep in mind that this man is coming out of the bullpen, hasn't gotten regular work, and when he has worked, it hasn't been for longer than a few innings. I think with all of these considerations, people should be very pleased with what they got out of Timmy.

Full disclosure - I didn't watch the whole game on TV. I watched the first three innings, and then put GameDay on. The last thing I saw was David Ortiz hit a home run to tie the game. Appreciated. I don't dislike many people in baseball the way I dislike Camel. There's just something about his constant spitting that makes me dry heave. I can't tolerate him, so watching him get handed a loss is gratifying for me. Knowing our boys hit five home runs (including 2 by Scutaro!) was especially gratifying. Beltre and Victor also got in on the carnage and hit home runs. I wonder if after Victor hits a home run if Beltre tries to rub his head? It would only be fair. Weird, but fair. I also think it's a little weird that in all three games of the series, the winning team won with a double digit score, and the losing team lost with five runs. 12-5, 14-5, and 11-5.

I also want to point out that Atchison has been a lifesaver this season. For someone who was only on the team out of sheer luck, he's come up big when we needed him, and for that, I give him credit. Two scoreless innings for him last night, and it seems like we may have found a good long relief guy. Hopefully, by some miracle, we can continue to utilize his skills deep into October. I may be dreaming, but I enjoy being a dreamer I guess.

Since I didn't see the majority of the game, I can't comment on how Oki looked, but from what I read, he was a little stressful. Hey, stressful is ok ONLY if you get the job done. Apparently, he did, because the Sox walked away with the win. I don't know how many more wins the Sox have in them this season. I don't know if we'll be playing past October 3rd (I'll keep praying). All I know is that I love beating Matt Garza. Because he doesn't deserve to win.

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