Angels Knuckle Under To Wakefield, Papelbon And The Red Sox

The wind was blowing in, fluttering Tim Wakefield's uniform. The uniform wasn't the only thing fluttering as Wakes tamed his all-over-the-strike-zone knuckleball and baffled the Angels for 7 plus innings. He only allowed one run and 5 hits while walking two in that span. The Sox held a 4-1 lead in the 8th when trouble made its evil entrance. This is from the Courant, as Tito called on his number one weapon, Jonathon Papelbon, when he was needed most.

"Wakefield was lifted in favor of Brendan Donnelly with no outs in the eighth after Maicer Izturis had an infield single and moved to second on Lowell's throwing error into the Red Sox dugout. Pedroia made a diving stop on a grounder by Gary Matthews Jr. and threw him out. But Donnelly hit Orlando Cabrera with a pitch.
Papelbon was called in and struck out Guerrero on a 97 mph fastball. Anderson lined to left to end the threat."

Peter here, and as Tito said after the game, he wasn't going to waste a weapon like Papelbon when he was needed the most. And he WAS needed in the 8th. Mike Timlin came in to pitch the ninth after the good guys scored 6 runs in the botton half of the 8th. Batting stars? JD Drew stays hot, Mikey Lowell had two hits, Mirabelli hit one out and lead off guy Julio Lugo collected 3 hits. An all around good effort for the second place Sox.
This 3 day weekend will be interesting weatherwise. For today's (Sat.) game--no problems as Curt goes for his second win of the season. But after that........well, let's just say that that might be it for the Angels and Boston. A huge storm will stall very near Connecticut late Sunday, with heavy precipitation from midday Sunday on. And with a ten AM Monday game, it's safe to say the timing is not good. So let's go out and win today. No ifs, ands or buts. 3:15. Fenway Park. Be there. Or have NESN tuned in near your favorite easy chair with an ice cold beverage of your choice.
The Courant article about last night's victory is linked when you click on the title. Enjoy your Saturday, the nice part of the weekend, at least here in the Northeast. After that? Nor'easter time. Snowless, but with too much rain and heavy winds. Me? I'd rather have the white stuff, one last time. But most of all I'd love to have the temperatures become normal for this time of year, which is in the lower 60s. We haven't hit 50 on a consistant basis. Yet. We will. GO SOX.