Jacoby Ellsbury is just out of reach of Carlos Peña's HR last night. (AP Photo)
My hat is completely off, and my head is bowed. Complete and utter props are being sent to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the unreal season they're having. Each and every time they've been tested they seem to either rise to the occasion, or have the ability to bounce back, a trait normally reserved for a veteran team. When looking at this season for them almost every single game they've played since the All-Star break has been the biggest game in their franchises history. Their ability to deal with that pressure, or not feel it, has been rather uncanny.
Last night was another perfect example of being able to stand with the lions and come out on top. They faced Josh Beckett, arguably the greatest big game pitcher of his generation, at the top of his game and came out on top. Unbelievable. I watched the first five innings with Krazy Kris and Josh in Somerville before heading over to Charlestown for a softball game (a 36-6 win by the way) and you could just see by the look in Devil Rays pitcher Andy Sonnanstine that he was not going to bend, and neither were the Devil Rays.
The obvious is to point a finger Justin Masterson's way, but that just seems lazy and unfair to me. We can't expect too much from this kid too soon, I mean geez, he's technically not even supposed to be pitching at this level yet. Yesterday was most definetly the most pressure packed game HE'S ever pitched in and I'll chaulk it up to experiance. Our hitting, in the end, is what held us back last night.
Hopefully Papelnuts can pitch tonight, and it's now up to our ol' reliable, Tim Wakefield, to bring us into a tie again with the Devil Rays. The ultimate showing of old vs. new. Two games up at this point could be too much to make up with so few games, bringing it to a tie again on the other hand will make this last 100m of the regular season an all out sprint.
Damn...this really is fun to watch, and hat's off again to the Devil Rays, you deserve a better city to play in where the fans actually will show up to watch you play for a pennant...
I agree with you Derek, hats off to the Rays. They have been playing really well in high pressure games, for such a young team.
However, it's time for the Sox bats to come out swinging again. I hope tonight they break their habit of never giving Wake any run support!
Posted by: j9 | September 17, 2008 at 03:41 PM
Tonight it's Wakefield of Dreams time. I predict Kevin Ca$h having a big hit....call it a hunch.
Posted by: Derek Hixon | September 17, 2008 at 03:43 PM