The Cardiac Kids Of 2008..The Boston Red Sox. MERCY!

Good morning on this very early Monday morning. For those of you who gave up on the Red Sox Sunday afternoon after they were down five zip, this is for you. You missed an incredible comeback by this scrappy, never-say-lose 2008 Boston team. They've come from behind to win five of their past six games, three times with a game winning home run. They never say die. Clutch first baseman Sean Casey summed it up perfectly...

“I’ve been on teams that when you get down, it’s like, ‘We lost,’ ” Casey said. “With this team, it’s like, ‘No, let’s just get on base and get something happening.’ Guys don’t give up here . . . I’ve had other teams that were waiting to lose. This team is waiting to win.”

Peter here. Waiting to win...I like that! The Sox scored two runs in the seventh inning to make the score 5-2. The Fenway Faithful stirred, clearly anticipating that something, maybe something big, was going to happen. And it did. They added four more runs to their total in the eighth to make the score 6-5 Good Guys. And that's the way it stayed. Timmy Wakefield had a less than stellar outing, giving up five runs on seven hits, striking out five. Papelbon, staked to a one run lead, was up to the task, hurling a seven pitch ninth inning for his seventh save. He might surpass his 2007 save total at this rate. But the hero among many was David Ortiz, who legged out a single in the eighth inning. I swear he was almost flying, and his bad knee seems to be fully sound. Dustin Pedroia folowed shortly afterwards with a double and that wonderful lumbering locomotive who we call Big Papi made it all the way past the plate, tying the score and capping a remarkable comeback. As Ned Martin would say, "MERCY!" Oh, Kevin Youkilis remains hotter than Hades, collecting three more base hits. Jed Lowrie continues to impress. He had two base hits and played great defense. He will be a big league player, our starting shortstop, in just a year, maybe a little more. I just know it. And Sean Casey continues to prove that he was an incredible acquisition. This team is running on all cylinders with rocket fuel as the propellant. And I love it.

Today is Patriot's Day in Massachusetts, and the game at Fenway will start at 11:05am EDT. The pitchers will be the shaky Clay Buchholz versus old friend Kason Gabbard, who has a great ERA of slightly over two. This should be fun! For those of you who will not be able to catch the game on television or radio, I took my annual Patriot's Day day off from work, so I will be here posting half inning updates. It's the least I could do for the best readers (and friends) in the universe. That's you, by the way. So check back here after first pitch time. And click on the title of this post to be directed to The Boston Globe's Red Sox homepage. That's all you need. Have a great Monday and enjoy the weather here in New England, if that's where you are. The weather at Fenway will be near perfect, with a mixture of clouds and sun and temperatures in the low 60s by game's end. And we all have to hope that Clay Buchholz can have his first good outing of the spring. But the bullpen is rested, just in case. Paps was the only one who was called in yesterday, and he threw seven pitches. SO WE'RE READY! GO SOX!!