Two Games Behind: Somehow Feels Like Ten

Wait.... what happened to this team? Who ARE these guys? They aren't the ones we were watching for most of May, are they? Just like that May team wasn't the same as the April team, I'm not exactly sure who the June team is going to be... but if the game yesterday was any indication, I'm not so sure I want to find out. We were on top of the East just days ago... and now, just as fast as I can shout a string of obscenities at anyone who's within earshot, we're two games behind the Yankees. I HATE being behind the Yankees. I hate watching my ultra-talented team play bad baseball. They are the definition of the word streaky.

Streaky [stree-kee] -adjective. 1)Occuring in streaks or in a streak, 2)marked with or characterized by streaks, 3)varying or uneven in quality, 4)the 2011 Boston Red Sox. See? Wouldn't lie about that sort of thing.

For Wakefield, this was a typical 'you never know what you're going to get with the knuckleball' outing. Seven hits and four runs over six innings. This wasn't a BAD performance, but we needed just a little more. Matt Albers was kind of bad. Rich Hill broke himself. Daniel Bard was good, and Papelbon did his best to put this one out of reach. Hooray pitching staff.

On the bat-side of the field, Ortiz wins. He didn't win the game, but he wins everything else. He came up with a clutch home run when we really needed it... even if it didn't last long because Matt Albers ruined the goodness. One on and two out in the 7th, Ernie commited the hitting cardinal sin number one (Don't swing at the first pitch) and he swung at the dagnabbit first pitch. In two at-bats against this Sale fellow, Ernie broke two of my hitting rules. I am taking a dozen cookies away from him, because those types of shenanigans are unappreciated and unwelcome.

Between this one and the Bruins, I'm glad there's an off-day today. My poor heart can't take the disappointment.