Another Walk-Off Wonder

The Red Sox starting pitchers continued their absolute dominance Wednesday night at Fenway Park as Boston defeated visiting Toronto by a score of 2-1. It was a Jason Varitek single in the bottom of the ninth that plated Manny Ramirez with the winning run, and the crowd went nuts. The Red Sox players celebrated a little bit too early one batter before, but Lowrie was called out at the plate. But all was well when Jason Varitek singled in the hustling Manny Ramirez, making a winner of Jonathon Papelbon for the second night in a row. Manager Tito Francona had this to say about the late inning dramatics...

"Late heroics are better than no heroics," manager Terry Francona said after watching David Ortiz homer to break a scoreless tie. "Our pitching has managed to keep us right there and allow one big hit or two to win a game for us."

Peter here, and the Boston starting pitchers, for the fourth game in a row, were overwhelmingly great, and we have to hope that spirit will continue tonight for Timmy Wakefield, who has been in a little bit of a rut. Consider these facts, which I borrowed from the Boston Globe...

"The last four pitchers to start for the Sox have taken a one-hitter into the eighth (Clay Buchholz), struck out a career-high 13 (Josh Beckett), pitched eight scoreless innings of one-hit ball (Jon Lester), and pitched seven shutout innings of two-hit ball (Daisuke Matsuzaka last night). You have to go back 11 years (!!!!) to find the last time four consecutive Sox starters went seven or more innings and allowed two or fewer runs."

Peter here once again, and those were MY exclamation points. When I read that paragraph, even though I was completely aware of the numbers, I said "WOW." Loudly. The Blue Jays can hit the ball, and even though they've been in a slump, they can flatten opposing pitchers. But I have a question for you, a question that cannot be answered unless you can see into the future...when will the Boston Red Sox offense awaken from its slumber? One answer would be this-with the pitching we've been getting, who cares? But that would be the wrong answer. Ninth inning walk-off wins do not happen often, and until the lumber can snap, crackle and pop once again, nailbiters will abound. But hey, even after a five game losing streak, the team that plays at little old Fenway Park is back where they belong, and that's in first place. I like it!

I want to wish you a happy month of May. Yes, it's the first day of that lovely month, a time of the year when spring wanes and summer starts to strut its stuff. But you wouldn't know it by the temperature this morning here in north central Connecticut. It's a balmy 26.5 degrees F. But it'll warm up nicely, and the sun is as strong as it is in mid to late August. Maybe that's why I have a tan from my daily half hour of jogging. It's tough to look up and face the sun and, at the same time, continue to see where I'm going, so if you see a jogger with his face turned toward the sky, it might be me!

Click on the title of this post for the Red Sox home page, brought to you by the Boston Herald, as we turn our hopes to Timmy Wakefield tonight. He'll be facing the always tough AJ Burnett. May the mound forces be with us. Again. And as always, be well.