Smashmouth

Game 33 - Red Sox

Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 0
Record: 23-10

Man, that was a fun series. The Sox did what good teams are supposed to do against struggling clubs, never letting the Jays up for air in the process of outscoring their hosts 26-5 in the 3-game set. Most of those Toronto runs were scored long after the outcomes had been decided. This was, plain and simply, an old-fashioned behind the woodshed beating.

From MLC's keyboard to the Sox bats, apparently, as Tim Wakefield finally got some offense to go with his stellar pitching. The Sox scored all 8 runs last night in the game's first 4 innings, punctuated by a 6-run outburst in the 3rd against Roy Halladay. Wake shook off some early wildness to completely stymie the Blue Jay batsmen. His 7 shutout innings dropped his ERA to a league-leading 1.79.

Doug Mirabelli was the only Sox starter not to record a basehit in the game, but his defensive play in the bottom of the 1st inning may have been the most important play of the night. Wake had allowed a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases with 1 out and bring Frank Thomas to the plate. After falling behind, 2-0, to the still-dangerous though slightly smaller Hurt, Wake battled back to get Thomas on a swinging 3rd strike. Belli caught the dancing knuckler cleanly and whipped the ball to first, where an alert Kevin Youkilis had snuck in behind a somewhat less-alert Troy Glaus. Routine strikeout/pickoff double play to end the inning - and exactly the kind of thing that happens to teams that are going the way the Jays have been over the past 2 weeks. Sox were up, 1-0, at that point with 8 innings to play, but the game was over.

I'm riding an 18-mile mountain bike race tomorrow morning, so if you don't hear anything from this part of MLC for a bit, it's because I'm in a hospital somewhere. Call your Mom on Sunday.