the sunny side of the street

photo from the official Red Sox website

1. even if the Sox only managed to score one run in the first, they did come out of the gate, swinging aggressively

2. so what that Dougie's weight is bigger than his batting average? last night he was once again Stud Who Hits Bombs. just look at how he looks at his Wakey. =P


3. JFL errored again in the 5th. Burt Talks Sports summed it up well: If Julio Lugo makes that simple major league play, at least for a decent shortstop, in the fifth inning last night, do the Red Sox win the game? My guess is, yes. Tim Wakefield probably gets out of the inning with a 4-3 lead or at worst, 4-4. And the game is handed off to the bullpen. Instead, the floodgates opened and the blowout ensued. i know. you're wondering where the sunny side is, right? well, if it's all JFL's fault, then that means the rest of the team is still ok.

4. as i was heading to bed in the bottom of the fifth, i wondered: "how am i supposed to go to bed when the game is just getting good?? and is it safe to take off my lucky 7 Sox jersey?" turns out that meant i didn't have to witness the Sox losing the lead, and ultimately, the game.

5. ok, so we're down two games in the series. *but* at least we're losing to a respectable, division-leading team. way better than being embarrassed by the Royals or some perpetual cellar dweller.

6. apparently the wheels came off our pitching last night. but you know what? we still have the best team ERA in the American League. the only team pitching better than Boston is San Diego. just one night. and if the pitching is going to crash & burn, i would rather they *all* get it out of their systems on one night.

7. i was going to be worried about the EE being only five games behind us now but... i think i will wait to panic when they actually start winning against teams that are above .500 instead of the cake schedule they've had for the last month. we'll see how they do over the next three weeks when they go to Cleveland, then home to face the improved Orioles, followed by the Tigers. and then off to the West Coast for *their* turn in Anaheim. then to Detroit, before heading back to the Bronx for a face-off with Boston. only one sub-.500, non-playoff-contending team in the whole lot, and i don't think the Orioles are to be disregarded.

i have faith. so far this season, after any two truly deplorable performances, filled with stranding & terrible pitching, the Sox have come back to score a landslide of runs. lots of bats. spot-on pitching. i simply have no choice but to believe that they will be in the business of kicking ass & taking names tonight. after all, you can't let your kid pitcher, the one you chose to keep when you sent Kason Gabbard away to Texas, the one who beat cancer in the off-season, start back-to-back games that the team eventually loses (regardless of whether or not he actually gets charged with the loss), right? i said, RIGHT??