A Canadian Clubbing, On The Rocks

Toronto completed its sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 7-4 victory Sunday afternoon. At times Josh Beckett, the Sox starter, looked invincible, at other times perfectly ordinary. But he tired in the fifth, an inning that Tito Francona wanted him to finish. But he could not and left with the bases loaded. At the time, the score was 2-2. Respectful enough, right? But all it took was one pitch from the suddenly vulnerable Manny Delcarmen, a grand slam by Frank Thomas off of a Delcarmen fastball, and the game was out of reach. With the day off today, Tito gave Okie and Papelbon an inning of work each, but the damage had been done and the Red Sox were FINALLY able to head home. And good for them...it was a grueling three country trip that started strong and ended weak. Josh Beckett had this to say after his outing, and it should make all of us feel better...

“My health was good,” the Red Sox ace said. Health-wise I’m fine, but obviously it was not the result you want,” said Beckett, who showed no ill effects of the strained back he suffered in spring training March 8 and kept him from traveling with the team to Japan. “But health-wise, I felt good."

Peter here, and Josh, those are the words we wanted to hear. This was Beckett's first start of the year, so it's understandable that he tired early. Francona wanted to limit him to 82-85 pitches and he ended up throwing 92. But all is well, it's early in the season and the Red Sox are home. Home. HOME at last! Oh, one other little thing...I said on Sunday early morning, before most of you were awake, that Kyle Snyder might be released, and lo and behold, he's gone. Many teams scouted him, so he'll end up somewhere and it will be fast! Thank you Kyle...you just didn't have it.

Thanks for stopping in yet again. I hope your weekend was a stellar one, and if you want to read more about yesterday's third straight Sox loss, simply click on the title of this post. I thank you for everything, and as always, be well. Forever.