Everyday

Games 20 & 21 - Red Sox

Indians 9, Red Sox 8

Red Sox 6, Indians 5 (10)

Record: 14-7

As @beardoftruth eloquently noted on Twitter this morning, "And for an encore, Van Every will save 27 orphans from a burning building, while helping an old woman cross the street, making a quiche."

Yea, verily, boys and girls, I will learn one of these days to stop doubting this early-season Sox squadron's capability to manufacture good from bad. If the President had their turnaround skills, we'd all be driving American-made plug-in hybrids on the way to our $250,000/year jobs in the healthcare industry within a few weeks. The Sox managed to transform a 5-0 deficit into a 6-5 last night, as Jonathan Van Every sparked a makeshift lineup by singling in a run during an 8th inning rally, clouting a 10th inning homer to provide the winning margin, and making several sparking plays in rightfield. Not bad for a late replacement for the banged-up J.D. Drew.

Kevin Youkilis joined Drew on the bench, leaving the Sox with a 7-9 of Jason Varitek, Van Every, and Nick Green. Murderer's Row, it wasn't. And with Jon Lester's command as fuzzy as his lastnamesake's memory of this weekend's events, it seemed as though the Sox were on their way to their first series loss in a fortnight. As has happened so many times with Terry Francona's squads, though, the Sox righted the ship, shut the Indians down, and chipped their way back. I'm used to it by now, I guess, but that doesn't make it any less fun.