To the Rubber Game

Sox win. Sox win. What turned out to be a very long afternoon / night even by Sox-Yanks standards, was rewarded with a victory that symbolizes the franchise post 2003.

Strong starting pitching: Beckett was solid painting both sides of the plate at 92-95 and dropping in a vicious curve.

Timely hitting: Ellsbury and Pedroia get on base and Manny shows why he is "a bad man". Think Joe Torre would have pitched to him? Youk comes through too.

Bridge to the closer: Delcarmen and Oki survive and get the ball to the closer.

"That's the Defense": Ellsbury, Casey, Drew, Lugo all made plays worthy of Baseball Tonight.

Door closed: After two hours Papelbon blows away the first three hitters and battles Cano to the end. 97 mph 4 seamer and a 90 mph split!! Absolutely filthy.

A couple of observations

• Tim MacCarver is not good. Did he truly believe that Papelbon was going to re-warm up and only face Arod in the 8th? Good thing Joe Buck was more concerned with the ramifications from his bosses, who watched his stand up act during the rain delay, to even say anything to his partner.
• Loved seeing the masses up front in the Dennis Drinkwater seats after the delay. Their camera phones got a lot of use.
• What's up with the new mascot(s)? After the game I saw a Red Sock walking around. My wife tells me there is a twin (left/right) that also is in the mix. I warmed up to Wally but this is going to take some getting used to.
• Did anyone miss the last out? Fox had to show the green flag to start NASCAR. With two outs in the 9th they abruptly started the race and put the game on the Fx channel. I was prepared and was able to catch the last out. Direct Tv to the rescue. Those NASCAR sponsors paid for their commercials to be aired during a race not a silly baseball game.

Dice K vs Phil Hughes tonight. Advantage Sox! Good thing tomorrow is a Saturday for us teachers. ESPN Sunday Night Baseball + Joe Morgan + Peter Gammons = good stuff.