We suffer the 'football mentality', that every game is the end of the world. How many times have we heard that the baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint, and we have to appreciate that periodic stumbles don't mean the end of the race.
On the other hand, a victory in April counts as much as a victory in September. The baseball gods of fortune smiled on Matt Clement, who continues to leave sliders up, as they kept Greg Zaun's drive in the park to prevent the Jays from beating the Sox again with doctor longball. If there was such a thing as a 'must win' game in April, this felt like it.
As predicted yesterday, the Sox promoted Manny Delcarmen, as the depth of the bullpen has recently faltered. When asked on Sports Radio about the long-term fate of DiNardo, Seanez, Riske, and Wells, 'the Commissioner', Peter Gammons said he wouldn't be surprised if DiNardo was the only one to ultimately survive the season with the Sox.
The Sox offense managed twelve hits against Toronto today, and Clement broke his personal winless streak against the Jays.
The defense continued to excel, a key along with overall solid pitching. No Samson he, Jonathan Papelbon allowed a pair of ninth inning hits before fanning Vernon Wells and inducing a game ending double play. Papelbon's save was his eighth, one short of the rookie record for April, held by the mercurial Mike MacDougal http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/macdomi01.shtml
Miscellaneous Baseball. Why must we hear of 'baseball activities' as in he will return to baseball activities? Baseball activities seems like a silly euphemism for playing baseball, meaning catching, throwing, and hitting. Why do so many of the players have to have the silly goatees and Van Dykes? Big Papi has an original beard, so that's cool. Papelbon lost a bet, and at least he must be wearing a hat most of the time. And as for all the white guys with shaved heads, most of the time it looks bad - like a misshapen cue ball. There are a few exceptions, but generally black guys carry the look off a lot better. Just my opinion.
On to Cleveland.
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