Bottom of the 7th: Coco Crisp bunts for a hit (catcher out along the third base line, can't make a play). On the first pitch to Alex Gonzalez, Crisp steals second. On the next pitch, Gonzo bunts him to third. Kevin Youkilis hit the first pitch to left for a sac fly, giving Boston a 3-2 lead. Four pitches, four bases, one (eventual) game-winning run.
Top of the 8th: Mike Timlin in relief of Curt Schilling (7-7-2-1-6, 103). Gets the first two outs, gives up a single to Carlos Beltran. Falls behind David Wright 3-0, pours in a strike, then Wright drills a ball to the gap in left center. Crisp sprints to his right, leaps as if he's jumping off a diving board, sails through the air, snares the ball and tumbles to the grass. Third out! (SNY showed seven or eight replays of the catch from at least four different angles -- and it looked more amazing each time.)
(Note: Our former CF would have had no shot at that ball, and Beltran would have scored standing up from first on the Noodle. After the 4th replay or so, all I could do was laugh at the amazingness of that catch.)
Then: David Ortiz bangs his 23rd home run to dead center for some insurance (Flo singled and doubled also), though who needs insurance with Jonathan Papelbon in for the ninth? Pap retired the Mets in order on eight pitches.
(Also, Ortiz and Manny Ramirez tagging on Mike Lowell's fly ball to left-center in the sixth was HUGE! I was shocked when I saw Ortiz take off from second -- oh shit! -- but even with his premature belly flop slide into the bag, he beat Carlos Beltran's throw (and Manny moved from first to second). Because of that, Tiz was able to score on Jason Varitek's sacrifice fly, tying the game at 2-2.)
That's 12 wins in a row -- sweeps of four consecutive three-games series. The only Red Sox teams to win more consecutive games were the 1946 club (15) and 1948 (13). It was also the first time this year that the Mets dropped three straight games. And the SNY team of Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez were actually quite good: funny, informative, and never truly moronic.
Boston also played its 16th straight game without an error, setting a new AL record and tying the MLB mark (1992 Cardinals). ... A good night! ... Marlins? You're next.
***
Tom Glavine (3.33) / Curt Schilling (3.61), 7 PM
Schilling's efficiency through 4 (39 pitches) is very impressive. As good a sign as you're going to get from him.
ReplyDeleteHas he usually been considered a fly-ball pitcher?
Yaz stole my post idea before I posted it.
ReplyDeleteBoo!
The defense it saving the Sox pitching so much. The Sox are in the bottom half in the league in pitching and it weren't for the young guns (Papelbon and Lester) I don't know where we'd be right now. Without Papelbon, our bullpen ERA would be at 5.04 (currently 4.26) and would be better then only the Royals. I never thought that defense would have such an effect on a team by that much.
ReplyDelete