Colon Wins Again. It's Safe At Safeco For Boston...Red Sox 5 Mariners 3

"Is it safe?" That's the question Sir Lawrence Olivier asked Dustin Hoffman in the thrilling movie MARATHON MAN. Rent it!! Please!!! The late, great Roy Scheider costars with Olivier and Hoffman. And the answer, at least for the Boston Red Sox, is a resoundingly loud YES! They were treated as if THEY were the home team in a thrilling comeback 5-3 victory. They scored four runs in the eighth inning to make a winner of Bartolo Colon. who is 2-0 and is proving himself to be just what the baseball doctor ordered. He was able to go seven strong, giving up only one lonely run on five measly hits. He walked one and struck out four and was in command from his first pitch to his last. And remember this, my friends, he's only going to get better. I'll say it again...HE'S ONLY GOING TO GET BETTER! What an acquisition by Theo & company!!

The Sox were tied with Seattle 1-1 after seven innings before they made something happen against Felix Hernandez, who pitched so well. They scored four runs in the eighth inning and Okajima (0 runs given up) and Papelbon (shaky, 2 runs allowed) made those five runs stand up to improve Bartolo's record to 2-0. His fastball was consistantly in the 93-97 MPH range and his control was great, and he's just what this club needed. His manager said this about him...

"I thought the movement and the life on his fastball was good and he got stronger," Francona said. "As he goes into the game, he gets real strong. I thought his ball was running back for strikes. He made a lot of quality pitches with life."

Peter here, and I felt that same life, an infused energy that Boston fed off of before they scored those five vital runs. And if a pitcher can help his team with a spark, any kind of spark, it HAS to help his team. Colon did JUST that. I look forward to each and every one of his starts, as we all do. To me, the only weakly inconsistant starter we have is good old Timmy Wakefield, and I hope he'll find some consistancy before the All Star break. If he doesn't find anything near that for the rest of this 2008 season, the Sox front office, the powers-that-be, will have a tough decision facing them in the upcoming off season. And that would be whether or to not let Timmy, old warrior and forever friend that he is, go, retire, whatever. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I do that too often. The wheels turn, I'm in the future, and that's not fair. I have to live the present before giving my opinion of the future. Whatever, the Boston Red Sox won last night, finally, and all is well in Red Sox Nation and Red Sox International. Daisuke takes the ball from Terry Francona tonight in Seattle, and I hope he's done something about his awkward control problems in his last couple of starts. Go Dice! Go Sox!!!!!

I want to thank you for stopping in yet again. As my readership continues to dwindle (the holiday weekend, maybe?), I continue to count on that inner core of fans, my friends, YOU! And I always will. Click on this post's title to be directed to the Boston Globe Red Sox homepage, and enjoy this Monday-like Tuesday. Because that's exactly what it feels like. Comments would be great--if you saw part of the game last night, and I know it didn't start until 10:10 pm EDT, let me know what you thought of OUR Pillsbury Dough Boy, Bartolo Colon. I see the world...he's pitched THAT well. And as always, be well. Thank you.