With Buccholz getting the nod last night you really had to like the Red Sox chances of clinching the Wild Card. Then Clay went out and laid an egg against the Blue Jays.
Tell me he doesn't look like Beavis
Just like the night before the Blue Jays were spotted a four run lead before the Sox had a chance to bat. Typically digging yourself a four run hole to start a game is a game you’re going to have a hard time winning. Well that turned out to be the case again last night. The reliable number three starter (who’s had a stellar August and September) that you’re counting on for the playoffs looked more like the rookie brought up the night before that got shelled.
Adam Lind had a career night for the Blue Jays accounting for four of those runs after homering twice off Buchholz (a solo shot and a two run shot) and then hitting a solo shot of Saito in the seventh. The home run in the seventh proved to be the game winning run as the Sox rallied for five runs in the eighth to pull within a run. Then with the tying run on second, the winning run on first, Kevin Youkilis struck out to end the game. Sox lose.
Then, apparently, all the Sox players went into the club house and turned on Direct TV. That’s where the sat and watched the Rangers lose to the Angels again. The game ended around 12:45AM and the Sox celebrated their playoff berth. I’m hoping there was at least one veteran in there to keep things grounded by reminding the team that they’re celebrating another team’s win and that they’ve now lost five straight. On the plus side it’s their sixth playoff berth in seven years.
Tonight the Sox look to right the ship in what’s sure to be a wet night at Fenway. Great weather for a knuckleballer with a bad back. Should be interesting if nothing else to see if Francona rests the regulars and starts a lineup of scrubs behind Wakefield. That’s been his M.O. since becoming the Sox manager, resting all the starters the day after clinching a playoff berth. We’ll see if the urgency to snap a five game losing streak trumps his wanting to rest everyone.
