nail-biting & other hazards of being a Red Sox fan

i'll be the first to say that pitchers' duels scare me. especially when you are on the bottom end of a 1-run deficit & neither pitcher is giving an inch in the margin of error. you're thrilled for your pitcher but man, you wish that other guy would make a mistake already & hang one out over the plate!

the whole time you are watching your team, notorious for stranding runners in the double digits, and they don't even break 10 in total base runners for the game! and they're trapped in this ballpark that eats homeruns for breakfast...as you watch a huge 425-ft towering ball slammed by Big Papi that would be in the next state if he hit it at any other park become nothing more than a routine fly out to center. your hopes fade...and those damn Yankees are trying to ignite an ulcer in your stomach as the scoreboard shows them coming back from losing to tie it up, go ahead, fall behind, tie it up, go ahead...

as a Sox fan, you are dreading seeing Boston fall to 2nd place in the division, but you see it coming none the less. you see it coming across the field from the bullpen, wearing a jersey that says Riske. and you see it coming when Rudy Seanez is warming up. you see it coming when your Major League leading defense commits an uncharacteristic error that should have ended an inning late in the game.

and then...with two outs in the top of the 9th...one man on...the last chances slipping away like the final grains of sand in an hourglass...you see this:

and by some small miracle, the ball goes yard & the 1-run deficit swings the other way.

or as Surviving Grady puts it: Papi launching a drive that should've hit Mercury but barely scraped the walls of the valley that is Comerica....Youk comes up and says, suck it!, belting a two-run shot. Wham, bam. 35,000 asses meet seats. And we're jumping off the walls in Boston. "35,000 asses meet seats." LOL! i *love* that.

then how do you hold onto that lead when the team holding the best record in the majors steps up for its last at bat? well you call in the one pitching replacement from the Boston bullpen that allows every Red Sox fan's body to sag, limp with relief:
JONATHAN PAPELBON

"Awesome win, that's an awesome win," said Schilling. "I've been saying it for a while now -- our bullpen is a shutdown bullpen. We came in and shut down a good lineup. Pap did what Pap does. Youk, that was awesome." (Redsox.com)

i admit to agreeing that Papelbon is a shutdown closer. 20-for-20 in saves. it's really almost time that we come up with a "scary" nickname for him--he's earned it. but Curt? are you smoking something in the corner of the dugout between innings?! the only thing shutdown about the majority of your bullpen is the fact that THEY shutdown when you need them to come through & instead start giving up runs to lose games. they are many things, that Boston relief squad, but a "shutdown bullpen" is not high on the list of things that come to MY mind!

but in the end, it's all ok. the Sox are still 1/2 game up in the AL East. (and again from Surviving Grady, words too great to not quote): Lowell and Youk...made it happen. And they're continuing to provide the fuel that spurs the engine of awesomeness that this team has become.

Lowell. King of Doubles. the man who plays with more heart & soul than i have seen in ages. the man who puts health & comfort on the line, plays limping with a tweaked hamstring because him team needs him.

He was noticeably limping, but said he felt an obligation to play. "I love him," Schilling said. "You see what kind of person he is. It's very satisfying to have a guy like him on the team. He knows we're a better team with him on the field at whatever percent he is, than we would without him. That says a lot about him." (Boston Globe)

i just hope he is ok to play out there again tonight to assist Wakey in the field & at the plate. but then i'm worried that they won't be able to rest him & have him healthy when we'll be needing him in NY the first part of next week. maybe we can pick up enough of a lead the next two games that we can safely sit him half way through for some rest. (yeah, i know. i'm laughing too. more like maybe we will be so far behind that a win is like a fairy take & we can sit him because even his heorics won't save us at that point.) i just fear the day i see them list his name on the DL...(sorry Daniel.)

back to the nail-biting. which indicates that there will indeed be pacing tonight.

c'mon lucky number 49...