Killing Joke

Games 60 & 61 - Red Sox

Red Sox 10, Arizona Diamondbacks 3
Red Sox 4, D-Backs 3 (10)
Record: 40-21

Let us now praise famous men, and compare the lines of two of yesterday's starting pitchers:

Pitcher A: 6IP, 5H, 3ER, 2BB, 7K, 108 pitches, W
Pitcher B: 6IP, 6H, 3ER, 1BB, 5k, 97 pitches, ND

Pretty similar lines, no? That similarity melts quickly under the klieg lights of SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight, both of which led with Pitcher A's efforts last night. Pitcher B is the batshit insane 5th starter for the team with the league's best record, but his exploits didn't rank a mention, even though they were arguably more important to his team's win. I'll be thrilled if Pitcher B produces that line every time out - something tells me that Pitcher A's employers might be a bit chagrined if he doesn't improve.

Julian Tavarez (Pitcher B for the irony-challenged) was his normal partly wild partly brilliant self, but as has been the case in nearly all of his starts (8 of 11), he kept the Sox in the game. Tavarez' bunted for a base hit and walked, as well, making him infinitely more valuable to the Sox' offense than leadoff "hitter" Julio Lugo. Jason Varitek drove in 3 and Mike Lowell's 10th inning sacrifice fly brought home the winning run.

In the series' first game, another of the oft-maligned Sox bats woke up with a vengeance, as J.D. Drew homered twice and drove in 7 to pace the offense. He'll be leading the blanket party for Lugo if the shortstop can't snap out of this prolonged funk.