pain

this game was so much more painful than just the obvious loss to the D-Rays.

1. for all the anticipatory grinning & hungry lip-smacking we do, worthy of sitting down to a glorious Thanksgiving feast, when we pitch Wakefield against the Rays, at this point they must look forward to seeing Matsuzaka take the mound two days later. between our offense giving him the cold shoulder they used to reserve for Wakey, and the fact that he feels the need to give up two-run homers when he only has a 1-0 lead does not improve the situation. bottom line is that our Hundred Million Dollar Pitcher can't get a win against the worst freaking team in baseball.

2. wee Pedroia took a pitch right off the elbow. the sound it made when it hit him made the one off Lowell seem like he was hit with a rolled pair of socks. Pedroia tried to tough it out, but just the way he was acting at first base, i could see something wasn't right. sure enough, after he scored the Sox lone run on a Mike Lowell sac fly, we didn't see him again. Alex Cora took his spot in the field. x-rays were negative. they say it's just a bruised elbow. but the other side of the coin is that they have no timetable for his return. if you had told me i would say this at the beginning of the season, i would have questioned your sanity: i am confident in Alex Cora to play well at 2B, but i am afraid for our offensive line up without Pedroia's bat.

3. as if one man down wasn't enough, the Rays catcher tried to pick off Hinske & pegged him with the ball. he ended up taking a seat & Kielty took over left field. i'm ok with that, but we cannot afford for this to start happening just as things start heating up. ::huddles in corner, alone, rocking & muttering incoherently::

4. ha! Tek also believes that Coco does better when his hair in cornrowed! the painful part: last night, it wasn't braided.

5. Tito was asked about Youk's nickname, Greek God of Walks. his reply: "I've seen Kevin in the shower. He's not the Greek god of anything." ummm... Tito? ouch. that was just mean.

6. adding insult quite literally to injury, the stupid Yankees just had to win. i liked the number six better than the number five. but i like five better than four.

7. at least our loss wasn't as painful as the one the Orioles were handed: 30-3 to the Rangers. i thought i saw the score wrong. and to make matters worse for Baltimore, it was the first game of a double header. they couldn't even slink back to the hotel bar to forget that game once it was over. they had to come back out for even more abuse.

8. one thing that could have been painful & wasn't: Eric Gagne pitched the eighth. he didn't give up a run. he didn't give up a hit. only a lone walk.

off to Chicago for four games against the Mega Sox. as Surviving Grady once proclaimed: "In Beckett we trust, all others pay cash." dear God, please don't let the Other Sox choose now to start playing better ball...