I'll admit I really thought, when that home run call went against us in the first inning, that it wasn't going to be our night.
If you missed it, and if you missed that game you should be kicking yourself, Adam Lind came up in the first with 2 runners on. He hit a fly right down the right field line. It hit the top of the fence, inside the foul line that was painted on the fence and then bounced outside the foul pole. The first base umpire called it fair, but after review they called it foul. Apparently the umpires aren't talking to the press about the call.
For whatever reason (stupidity of the Fenway grounds crew is my guess) the foul line on the fence didn't line up with the foul pole. It put the umpires in a bad spot. I'm not sure that was the right call but I understand the call. The Red Sox really should be fined for not having the foul line and pole line up. I thought the call should go our way, if only because they caused the problem, not us.
After that it was pretty uneventful till the bottom of the 3rd when Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkillis each hit home runs and we were down by three. Brett Cecil wasn't looking very good, but then those two have hit a few homers in their careers. After that Cecil was lights out, perfect through the 4th, 5th and 6th innings. His line: 6.0, 2 hits, 3 earned, 4 walks, 5 k and a win. The two hits he gave up were both home runs.
Meanwhile we got 2 runs in the 5th off a Corey Patterson triple. We tied the game in the 6th on Travis Snider's double to center.
Then the 7th we had maybe our best inning since the first inning of our home opener. Jayson Nix lead off with a walk, then faked a steal of second, Scutaro moved to make the play at second and Yunel Escobar hit the ball right to where Marco had been playing. Jose Bautista lined one hard off the Green Monster scoring Nix. In Toronto that would have been a home run, but wasn't high enough in Boston, so a single. Lind singled, scoring Escobar. Bautista and Lind pulled a double steal. Very pretty. A wild pitch scored Bautista and a Hill single scored Lind.
Suddenly we are up by 4.
Our bullpen ran hot and cold. Frasor pitched a great inning, just a pop up single that fell between Snider and Escobar given up. Marc Rzepczynski started the 8th and didn't do well. Ground out, walk, walk, strikeout and infield single. I honestly thought he was being squeezed by the plate umpire and then had bad luck on the ground ball single. We were thinking 'not again'.
Casey Janssen came in and gave up a double to make it a one run game but got Jacoby Ellsbury to fly out.
There was a little worry when Jon Rauch came in for the save in the 9th but a strike out and two ground outs later, the inning was over quick and the game was over, not so quick. It was a long one tonight, 3:47.
Nice to see some offense tonight. Aaron Hill was 3 for 5, hitting the ball hard. Adam Lind hit the ball hard each time up but was the unlucky one to get the home run called back, thenEllsbury make a great catch in deep (400+ feet from the plate) CF and lined, hard, into a DP for the last Jays outs. But he had a big single as well. Snider had a double, Patterson a triple. Nix walked twice. Rivera walked once. Everyone but J.P. Arencibia got on base at least once.
Jays of the Day are Rauch (.221), Bautista (.167), Escobar (.123) and Snider (.095). J.P. Arencibia had the Suckage number (-.229) but looked good behind the plate. I thought Scrabble would have the Suckage number too but he had a -.079.
I have to mention how great Adam Lind is looking at first base. He made a terrific pick on a bad throw and make a couple of other good plays. Anyone that was worried about the guy, you can stop now.
The Jays are now 7-6, in 2nd place, 0.5 games behind the Yankees, who lost tonight as did the Orioles. The Red Sox? 2-10 and dead last in baseball.
I've said it before, but any day that both the Red Sox and Yankees lose is a good day.
Tomorrow is a 1:00 Eastern start. Jo-Jo Reyes vs Josh Beckett. Go Jays.