Mudpie Deserves No Love: And That's Exactly What He'll Get From Me

Damnit, Mudpie. Just damnit. You know, even though we had a lead and Mudpie had two good innings, I just never felt good about it. You know, because of who was pitching and all. Just... ugh. And to make matters worse, he let his sucktasticness spread to Bard. Me and Daniel Bard didn't quite see eye-to-eye a few times early on in the season. There were some moments where face-ripping gloves were needed, but in the last couple of months, I've had no complaints! Daniel and I were getting along just fine, and to be honest, I don't want to ruin the harmony we've had, so I have to blame Mudpie for this.

Mudpie left the game in the top of the seventh in a tied game. He had let the Indians take the lead in sixth, but Salty showed a little power and hit a two-run shot to tie it up for him. Not that he deserved it, but Salty was gracious with the run support. It stayed knotted up till the eighth, and then sad stuff happened.

You all know the story by now. Bard's scoreless streak, dating back to May 27th, had reached 26 1/3 innings. Solid, in-control pitching for more than two months. He comes into a Mudpie game and ends up surrendering what would be the winning runs in the form of a home run to Asdrubal Cabrera. Not for nothing, but Asdrubal is the worst name in the world, and based on that fact alone, he should not be allowed to hit home runs off of our solid set-up guy. It's not fair. There's no justice in that.

Am I being irrational? Absolutely. And it's not likely to stop. Because after Bard was infected by Lackey disease, Matt Albers caught it, too. I don't know if you've been paying attention to Albers, but he's another one who's been solid out of the pen. Prior to Monday night, Matt had not allowed a run since June 25th (13 1/3 innings). It's not quite the streak that Bard had, but it's impressive nonetheless. Look at the chain reaction Mudpie caused. Even these reliable bullpen guys could not protect themselves from the awesome sucktitude of John Lackey. Ridiculous.

Nothing in my being wants to discuss this game any more, especially when I know what happened last night. We've got happy thoughts coming our way, boys and girls. Happy thoughts in the form of Josh Beckett.