Lip Stick on a Pig....

Well whenever a game goes 14 innings, it usually comes to down to whose crappy back of the bullpen guy is better.  Last night Tampa won the battle of back-of-the-bullpen crappy reliever contest.  Mike Timlin made a close game not close, failed to get an out with two outs, allowed four batters in a row to reach base, and three of the them to score, in the 14th inning no less.

  Last nights game seemed an excercise in futility, no one seemed to be able to come up with the big hit until Mr. Strikeout Carlos Pena finally connected on a belt high fastball from Mike Timlin.  The Sox had so many chances last night to win in extra innings.  They stranded most of the guys on thier 40 man roster on the bases at some point in innings 9-14 it seemed.  The Sox were the victim of some strange calls and some bad call, and the worst strikezone you may ever see.  All that aside, the Sox need to forget about this loss and focus on the matter at hand, which is getting in the playoffs and defending thier World Series title.

  Josh Beckett pitched well last night, but he did not have his best stuff.  Like most great pitchers though, Beckett grinded through his six innings of work, only yielding one run.  A run that should have been an un-earned run, but due to some bad hometown scoring, was not.  The good news for the Sox is that Josh Beckett appears to be in post-season from, and ready to lead the Red Sox rotation.

  As bad as the Sox hitters were last night, the Red Sox bullpen was that good.  Until the 14th inning, the bullpen went innings 6 thru 13, and did not yield a run.  Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen, and Justin Masterson, and Javier Lopez all pitched liked thier October lives depended on thier performances.  Last night, they were all equal to the task.

  The Sox have an off day today to get the stink of this series loss off of them.  They will need that off day because the hottest team in baseball is coming to town.  The Jays have hopes of becoming this years Rockies.  The beauty for the Jays is they have seven games against the team they are chasing.  Lets hope the Sox aren't this years Mets.