Jon Lester, I have two words to say to you: Thank you. Despite Buchholz's struggle and Tim Wakefield's injury, you give our starting rotation hope. Yes, Dice-K and Beckett are great too, and it would be rude for us to forget that. What makes you stand out from the two of them is that you do not have as much pitching experience, and yet you continue to dominate on the mound.
So even though the 8th inning didn’t go the way Lester had planned, he gave us another great outing (7.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 6 K). With the way the Red Sox offense has dominated Texas pitching (same as the rest of the league has been doing), it was more than enough. Unfortunately, the Red Sox bullpen struggled once again last night. Before I go into details, I need to say that Mike Timlin has to be one of the nicest guys in baseball. He’s a great family man who even brought his kid out with him on the field for BP during the final regular season game last year. It kills me to say this, but I think Timlin might want to call it a career. He just hasn’t been the same since his injury. But on that note, don’t boo him! I understand that the fans are upset, as the Red Sox seemed to be blowing another huge lead. But really now, stop the booing! I don’t care if Mike Timlin looses the World Series for us. He might need to retire, but he does not deserve to be booed.
As for Javier Lopez, I almost started throwing things at the TV when he came in to replace Timlin. Eventually I realized that there were two lefties due up and that it made perfect sense to bring him in (and it was even better that he only had to throw a single pitch before getting out of the inning).
While the Red Sox offense was great, how about some of the Texas defense? That throw from Hamilton in the 5th was an incredible play. Right on the money. Wow. I was in awe after watching that play. Next inning – another great catch! – but wait, that’s not Hamilton! Milton Bradley let everyone know that he replaced Hamilton with that jumping grab in the 6th. Although it seemed odd for Hamilton to be taken out of the game so early, they would eventually announce that Hamilton left for Texas after hearing that his wife had gone into labor! I was happy for Hamilton, but felt terrible that he had to miss something as big as that.
That being said, I hope as much as anyone that we complete the sweep tonight!
Keep the faith!
Post game notes:
-Mike Lowell: Lowell, as expected, was placed on the 15 day DL. As I mentioned before, I can’t wait til he’s healthy again, but in the mean time I’m happy that we have Sean Casey.
-Kevin Youkilis: Does anyone still miss Manny in the clean up spot? It’s easy not to when Kevin Youkilis is absolutely dominating. He went 3-4 in last night’s game with 3 runs and 2 RBIs.
Comments
Sorry for the long reponse, Kari.
I respect your opinion, but I still stand by what I said about Timlin. He did, however, have a decent outing on Wednesday night against the Yanks. Obviously the 9th didn't go so well for him, but if the game was closer, he wouldn't have even been out there. Although I can see why you'd consider pitching him in the NL West, there's still a lot of good hitters out there. The Dodgers alone have Nomar Garciaparra, along with allstars such as Manny Ramirez and Russel Martin.