Heading into the home half of the 7th inning in Baltimore, the Red Sox sat atop a 10-1 lead. John Smoltz pitched only 4 innings due to a rain delay but held the Orioles to one run. The bullpen had kept them off the board in the two innings following Smoltz's early departure. Then something happened. Something improbable and fantastic and impossibly satisfying all at the same time.
Justin Masterson, Hideki Okijima and Takashi Saito and thayuh fackin' awesome closah combined to allow 10 runs on 13 hits in two innings. The final two of those runs crossed the plate when the mighty Jonathan Papelbon came in to try and shut the O's down with one out in the 8th inning but allowed both of the runners he inherited to score. Those were the final the final straws in a contest the Sox led 10-1 but ended up losing 11-10.
Their loss, combined with the Yankees' victory, narrows the gap atop the AL East to 2.5 games, down from 5 one week ago.
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What a kick in the balls that game was. Paps, you could take a lesson or three from the Godfather of closers. From not running your yap, to actually being a great closer, please try to learn more from Mariano Rivera...
ReplyDelete...that is, if you can realize that you haven't got it all figured out already. That is all.