Wednesday, May 14, 2003

Game 38 - Red Sox

Red Sox 5, Rangers 4
Record: 24-14

Truly, the yin and yang of baseball life is represented by these Red Sox and Mets. While Whitney spent the first part of his evening reveling in the Mets offensive outburst and Mike Piazza's thunderous bat, I spent the same period wondering why the hell the Red Sox were only managing three hits through 6 innings off John Thomson. Then, as the Rockies charged back against the thin Met relief corps, the Sox did the very same thing against the mediocre Ranger bully, plating three in the bottom of the 8th to chalk up yet another come from behind victory.

This game marks the 8th time in 37 games that the Sox have scored the winning run in their final at-bat in 2003. I daresay that they didn't have many more than that in the entire 2002 season (and I'll prove it if I have some time this afternoon - edit: they did it 12 times all season in 2002, and only 4 of those were come-from-behind wins). The 2002 Sox were as good as dead if they trailed after 6 innings. The 2003 team will not lie down in the face of a deficit - not at all. Even though it's early, I don't remember a Sox team with more heart and offensive balance than this one. They really seem to believe that no deficit is insurmountable - not 9-1 against Minnesota, and sure as hell not 4-2 against Texas. Shitfire, if they can pitch - even a little bit - for the rest of the season, well...I'm not going to say it, but it's good.

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