Between Lester's sparkling start, Bay's two home runs, and the Os sending an ice-cream man out of the bullpen, the Sox have a lot to be thankful for this morning.
O's "ace", and I use that term loosely, Jeremy Guthrie went toe to toe with our boy, Jon Lester last night. At the end of 7, the Sox led by a narrow, razor thin, Manny Delcarmen squandering, 2-1 margin.
Lester dominated as he has all year. But even our boy can only do so much with a measly two runs to work with. He's not Randy Johnson -- yet!
That's why the Os got Trembley and brought in the future Ben & Jerry's mascot, Rocky Cherry. That's why Jason Bay launched a Cherry bomb, a two runner to be mathematically precise, out of the park, giving the Sox a healthy 4-1 lead to work with. Dave Trembley must've done the banana split when he saw that!
And so, that's why, even when Manny being Manny Delcarmen got the yips with two outs in the eigth, Tito had to bring in Papelbon. Manny being Manny got the credit for the two runs Pap gave up, but with Baltimore's pen, there was no danger of us squandering this one.
Think about it -- as tired as our pen was, at least we weren't calling on the ice cream man to keep it close. At least we weren't bringing in some bum in the stands hoping to get lucky and win the $50,000 prize for being the 50,000,000 "guest" at Fenway South.
And it doesn't hurt that Alex Centron and Kevin Millar decided they were playing croquet at the game's most critical juncture.
Papi got a thumping double off some guy named Jim Johnson -- didn't he coach defense for the Philly beagles -- and that's all she wrote.
It was a great win for the Sox. Timely road hitting. Varitek proved yet again that if he adds any offense at all to the lineup it's gravy, or should I say chocolate syrup with a Cherry on top?
I gotta say you need to rethink your slight on Guthrie. The O's have no other starter candidate that is MLB level. But Guthrie could pitch #2 for any team in the league. He's an 'ace' only because there is nothing else there.
I doubt any MLB team would turn him down as their #2. Even Boston. Because unlike Daisuke, Guthrie isn't a BB whore. I'll take Guthrie's ERA & WHIP over that of Daisuke any day, as well as Guthrie's ability to actually pitch a lot of innings (like a starter SHOULD). And oh yeah - he doesn't cost the world, either.
Posted by: SittingDuck | August 23, 2008 at 02:46 PM
You bet we'd be glad to have Guthrie in Boston -- especially with Beckett's status questionable.
I think he'd be a good #3 or #4 on a good team. Maybe better with a few runs behind him. I'd say the same thing of Paul Byrd. He's a mid to bottom carder.
And, you never know, he might be a front line starter with more seasoning and a better offense bhind him...
Posted by: Will Tuell | August 23, 2008 at 06:10 PM
He's got like, what - 1.5 seasons?
Posted by: SittingDuck | August 23, 2008 at 08:59 PM