Ruby Tuesday....

Well if you like high scoring, poorly pitched baseball, then last night was your night.  One night after being no hit for 6 1/3 innings the Boston Red Sox exploded for 10 runs...in the first inning. Big Papi hit two three run homers, and the Sox seemed to have things under control.

  However, things are not always as they would seem, and the Sox began to have pitching problems of thier own.  Charlie Zink, making his major league debut seemed to get into trouble in every inning.  Zink a knuckle-baller escaped a few innings with minimal damage the first four innings, but things unraveled very quickly in the 5th inning.  It seemed obvious to me that Zink was not going to last, especially against the best offense in baseball, however manager Terry Francona must have thought otherwise.  Maybe thats why Francona let Zink get into so much trouble in the 5th, maybe he wanted him to qualify for the win, whatever the reason, it was one of many mistakes Francona would make last night.  Zink was finally pulled in the 5th, going 4.1 innings.  Zink's line last night, eleven hits, eight earned runs, and one walk and one strikeout.  I hope all the clamoring for Zink to replace Wakefield can officially stop now.

  The game went to the bullpen for the Rangers in the third inning, and the top of the 5th for the Sox.  Both bullpens combined to give up 18 runs for thier efforts.  The Sox bullpen gave up nine runs, on nine hits and two walks, and only Hideki Okajima did not give up an earned run.  The Ranger bullpen was only slighty better, giving up seven runs on seven hits and two walks.  The Rangers made a smart move in the third by bringing in thier long man (and my friend) Josh Rupe.  Rupe came in with bases loaded in the third, he did give up two earned runs, but did manage to keep the game within reach for the Rangers by only giving up two runs in 2 1/3 innings.  In fact Rupe was in line for the win when he left the game. 

  One wonders why Terry Francona did not bring in our long man Justin Masterson in the 5th.  It seemed like a logical move, considering that there was still almost five innings of baseball to be pitched.  Instead Francona went the route of piecing together match-ups and innings.  Something that proved very costly, as every pitcher in the Sox bullpen, except Justin Masterson pitched.  Another steller night for Manny Delcarmen, as he unloaded Ranger base runners faster than a ups guy unloading boxes at christmas.  Delcarmen pitched one inning, gave up four hits and three runs, basically allowing every other batter he faced to reach base.

  What can you say about the Sox offense last night, 19 runs in a regulation game.  However if they scored 16 runs it would have been a wasted effort and a collossal failure.  Every Red Sox batter that started had a hit, with the exception of Kevin Cash.  David Ortiz had two three run homers, and was robbed of another in the sixth.  Dustin Pedoria had five freaking hits, and two r.b.i.'s, including the game tying run.  Kevin Youkilis had two home runs in the same game, for the fourth time this year.  Youk's second homerun, a three run job provided the Sox with a three run lead in the bottom of the 8th. 

  It was certainly a game for the ages, and one no Red Sox fan will forget watching for a long time.  However this game also exposed the Sox glaring weakness in the bullpen.  Still it was a helluva of game...and helluva comeback.  I'm sure when they were up 10 runs the boys never envisioned that they would need four runs in the 8th inning to get a win.