Turkish Song of the Damned

Games 21 & 22 - Red Sox

Indians 7, Red Sox 1
Indians 15, Red Sox 3
Record: 13-9

After completely missing Wednesday's game (and it seems I should be thankful) while engaged in recreating my youth with Whit, I tuned in last night just in time to see the Indians whaling away on the wall and the stands, battering Josh Beckett just like they did all Red Sox pitching throughout the 3-game set.

Sox starters gave up 16 earned runs (and 19 total) to the Tribe in 16 innings, for a tidy 9.00 ERA - guess my hunch about Cleveland's level of irritation following a series loss to Kansas City was accurate. All told, the Sox yielded 28 runs to the potent Indian lineup (as an aside - damn, but those guys can rake) and were lucky to escape the Jake with 1 win in 3 contests. The Cleveland offensive fiesta took a little bit of the bloom off the Sox' pitching rose, leaving Boston struggling now on both offense and defense.

I was well into a 2nd helping of whiskey in a jar before last night's game got out of the 4th inning, which helped a bit, I suppose. The Sox appeared as lethargic and hungover as I was, so we were good company. On the sunny side of the street, the Sox' performance allowed me to catch a new episode of The Office, so I've got that going for me, which is nice. On one channel, a comedy of errors involving urine testing, ill-fitting uniforms, and unrequited love - on the other, a sitcom.

3 games in Tampa Bay this weekend for the stumbling Sox, 2-5 over their last 7. The Devil Rays are beat up, and the Sox need to get healthy lest their early season success be worth nothing more than a bottle of smoke. The Yankees come to Boston next week for Johnny Damon's Fenway debut in pinstripes. The 2 teams are headed in different directions at the moment, so the Sox need to shake of their recent doldrums if they hope to recreate 2004's fairytale of New York.

I could go on, I guess, but it all sounds like so much yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah at this point, so I'll spare you.