whatever happened to predicability...?

it showed up at Fenway Park Wednesday night, that's what.

i watched in an almost numb resignation as Lestah melted down before the game barely started. 4-0 after half an inning. even Matsuzaka manages to wait til at least the third inning. the Yankees score provided no solace. and Youk worried me for a minute when he argued a bad (in my opinion) strike out call, because he was covering third base tonight for a Mike Lowell with a very angry tummy, and we couldn't afford to have him tossed, justifiable argument or not.

the Sox stranded a base runner here, two there. despite a three-run Papi shot to right field in the third, the Sox still trailed by a run.

and they trailed.
and they trailed.
and they stranded runners.

Julian replaced Lestah in the fourth. and like a good little Julian, got the job done, not allowing any more runs to cross the dish over his three innings of service.
MDC elicited a mild wash of panic when i saw him take the mound in the seventh with one on & two out, but he also held off the Rays from causing further damage.
Oki was okie dokie, K-ing someone named Carl Crawford to end the eighth.

and they still trailed.
and they stranded more runners.
and they went down 1-2-3 in the eighth.
flying out.
swinging strike out.
caught looking.

Jon came in. non-save situation, but he did what Jon does.
sit down, please.
all hail The Cheerio Mouth.

bottom of the ninth.
Reyes has only two blown saves this season. (great.)
he walks Lugo. (i'm pacing hard.)
Pedroia Pocket flies out. (i groan & continue to wear a path in my carpet.)

and then, as Daniel is my witness, i change my Gmail status to say (we were "watching" together, exchanging commentary via Gmail status messages):
c'mon Papi... give us just one walk off home run this year...

ball.
ball.
foul.
ball.

and then Papi's bat thundered. in a way we haven't seen this whole season. i don't enjoy going into the bottom of the ninth, losing, but i can tell you that the jumping going on in my living room matched that of the group that awaited The Big Man as he lumbered home.

(photo from Yahoo Sports)

a day of rest to prepare for the arrival of the pinstriped nemesis. but they roll into town five games back, and we get the scariest match up over with on Friday: Matsuzaka & Pettitte. then comes the battle of the 18-win Cy Young candidates on Saturday: Beckett & Wang. and we wrap up Sunday with a game of which old wind bag will get tired first: Schill (but he's our wind bag & we love him) & Rog-ah (love to hate him).

get out your Sox gear. practice all your crazy superstitious Sox rituals.

this division race isn't done yet.

who said baseball wasn't exciting?! every nail-biting second of it, baby.