I was looking for a song quote, because I like how Hugo puts song lyrics into his story titles, and I wanted a Neil Diamond song because Norm had to leave the game thread in the middle to go to a Neil Diamond Concert (people still do that? Kidding). Anyway I didn't know how to work Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show into it the title. Sweet Caroline? Nah. I Am, I Said....no no. Then I remembered this song on Neil's 12 Song CD (really nice music) (no honest it is good) called Hell Yeah. Thought it fit on a night Doc showed, yet again, that he deserves to be considered for the Cy Young. Hell Yeah...

Doc throws a complete game (number 8 on the season, how many does Cliff Lee have? 3), 7 hitter. Only 4 strike outs and he was helped by some nice defense behind him. Not many hard hit balls; Pedroia's home run in the ninth, that had me wondering if Cito had anyone ready in case things went south in a hurry, a line out to Wells in the first inning and a Ortiz fly out to the opposite field that Wilk went back on to make a really nice catch. I'm sure Lind wouldn't have caught it.  Other than the homer, the other six hits were singles. He got helped out by a couple of nicely turned double plays both started by nice pickups by Scoot at third and turned nicely by Inglett. And a line out double play to Lyle.

Offensively we got everything Doc needed in the first inning, after Inglett singled and was picked off, (not a bad pickoff move by Bird but Joe was too far off the bag) Scoot singles and Rios hit a Fenway homerun over the monster. As Torgen pointed out, in Toronto that was a fly out to the track, at best.

In the 6th Lind hit one to almost the exact same spot as Rios had, opposite field hitting, though again not crushed. In the 8th with one out, Rios did crush one, over center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury's head, off the wall. Rios, showing the hustle that we'd like to see from him all the time, got the stand up triple. And, surprisingly enough, Vernon drove a single thru the drawn in infield. I bet we lead the league in triples that don't turn into runs scored.

Maybe it was getting to see him for two starts in a row, but Byrd wasn't anything like the pitcher he was last Saturday, when he was an Indian and had the complete game against us. Maybe he wasn't as sharp because of the week between starts or, you know, maybe he's not that good.

The fangraph is here for those that are interested. Jays of the Day: Doc (.460 WPA) and Rios (.147) (no duh, eh, needed a fancy chart to figure that out). Honorable mention to Lind. Suckage Jay? Well Wilk had the worst number (-.053) for a 0 for 4 day but he made that nice catch off Ortiz, so no Suckage Jay today.

In other news, Cito doesn't think AJ will be back next year, though AJ said Cito is just speculating. The Yankees, White Sox and Twins all won today to so we only picked up a game on the Rays and Red Sox. We are 8 back in the Wild Card with three teams to jump but the Yankees are only two in front of us and, knock on wood, look like they are falling off. There is still hope or maybe I'm kidding myself.

Tomorrow Marcum (7-5, 3.42) faces Josh Beckett (11-8), hope he has a game like his last start. And I'm off on holiday for a week, with luck when I'm back we'll be ahead of the Yankees and some closer to the Wild Card spot. Can we do it, Hell Yeah.