these days are but a drop in the bucket

after living through the Sox getting hammered night after late late West Coast night, there was nothing sweeter than to see Tim Wakefield come out on Wednesday, pitch a complete game, taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning, and come away with a win. Wakey, who never sees much in the way of run support (though the sleepy Sox bats coughed up 8 runs for him this last go-round), is the senior staff member of the team, and has been around through it all. he gets alternately criticized & praised, depending on the fickle nature of his particular brand of pitch, but he's like a trusty corner stone. rarely rattled and always willing to take one for the team. despite the unpredictable nature of a knuckleballer, i find some sort of security in his starts. *he* is a familiar & reliable presence, even when his flutter ball fails him.

(photo from Yahoo! Sports)
while it was awesome to finally see the Sox win one and start hitting the ball with some productivity, Wakey's outing showed me something else. something a bit more subtle. it showed me something about George Kottaras. more specifically it shows me that Wake is comfortable pitching to him. i'm convinced that, though he would never say so, Wake just never had the right chemistry with Josh Bard. to see the knuckleball floating & fluttering precisely the way it ought to, making big league hitters look like they're swatting at butterflies, and Kottaras handling that incoming pitch like a master was exactly the medicine i needed going into the off day.

yesterday, all was quiet for my boys, a much-needed day of rest to hopefully reset with the pleasant taste of victory lingering in their mouths. and what could make that kind of Sox-less day even better? the Yankees getting knocked all over The House That Babe* Didn't Build in the afternoon followed by John Danks of The Other Sox continuing his dominance of all things Ray**.

now the Sox are back at home. they're starting at a more comfortable time. they've had a day to clear the shadows from their minds. and it looks like i'm going to have to be "baseball enemies" with Bart and J-Dawg for the weekend. with upside down standings & all, i by no means think that the Orioles will be a pushover, but i do look forward to the friendly banter sure to spin off the matchup.

as frustrating as 2009 has kicked off for the Red Sox, there's no gloom-and-doom here at Broken Road where the Sox are concerned. the season is young. Spring is still trying to remember it's no longer Winter in some places. things are just getting thawed out, with the promise of warmer days in the coming days. we're seeing glimmers of it already. by the time we're watching baseball on long lazy Summer nights, the awkward fits & starts of Spring will be nothing more than a distant memory.

*here's an interesting tidbit for you: it took the Babe two years to earn the $2600 that the most expensive seats will run you for one game at new Yankee Stadium.

**for lack of Sox of the proper color last night, i opted for the paler variety. which means i got to sit through Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum announcing the game. they are *still* whining about the AJ Pierzynski interference call from the end of last season. because, you know, it was during a pennant race and the Rays lost that game. correct me if i'm wrong but didn't the Rays (oh boy is this going to be painful) win the division, win the American League and go to the World Series?? so why are they still whining about this again? maybe the White Sox are somehow responsible for the Sunbeams losing to the Phillies... in which case AJ may be one of my favorite new players despite his infamous unlikeability.