The nice part is that even the loses are entertaining lately. And it was a very exciting game. But AJ isn't going to get his 20 wins. He did pitch pretty well, 7 innings, 8 hits, 3 earned, 6 K's. It all came down to the 5th inning tonight. And inside that 5th inning it all came down to one check swing call. With 2 out, 2 on and 2 strikes Youk took a half swing at a ball and the umpire at first ruled it not a swing. Honest it was one of those that was 50/50, could have gone either way and it went against us. Youk singles and the next batter Casey doubles and we are down 3-2. We did tie it in the bottom of the inning but we never got AJ a lead again.
In the 8th Tallet got a strikeout, then gave up a single and a walk. Cito brought in Camp to face to switch hitters, Camp doesn't do well against lefty batters and shouldn't face them but our pen has been used a bunch of late. Camp walked Lowrie to load the bases then got Varitek hit a ground ball that wasn't quite hit hard enough to turn into a double play. And that was enough to win the game.
We did get a shot at the tying run off Papelbon, Lind hit a roller just past Pap and he threw it away....Lind slipped going to second but the throw just didn't get him. Then Rolen, Zaun and Moonraker couldn't get him home.
Jay of the Day? Lind (.186 WPA), Scoot (.137) and Parrish (.096). Suckage Jays? Camp gets the Batista Award. Hinske Awards go to Rolen (-.171), Rios (-.161), Moonraker (-.138), Wells (-.138) and Overbay (-.100).
Other Jay's news....saddest little news scrum around Shawn Marcum. Pretty tough on a young man to be told he won't be part of the team for the whole next season. It is even worse when the poor guy has to explain it to newsmen and cameras.
Tomorrow we have Lester (15-5, 3.15) vs Doc (18-11, 2.77). Sunday DiceK goes against Richmond. I was wondering if we would get to see Richmond ever again. All it took was a handful of injuries. I hope he has a good one; the way things are going we may need next season.
Titles from Bob Dylan's Ring Them Bells, because well it's time. One more loss or one more Red Sox win and we are offically out. It was a nice run while it lasted.