SIX IN SEVENTH SINKS SOX

by Max Blue

http://maxblue3.tripod.com

                                    Another comeback win for the Champs,

                                    helped by well-known Francona brain cramps.

                                    J-Roll homered in seventh to break tie,

                                    five runs followed, my-oh-my.

                                    Park and Mad Dog then turned out Sox lamps.

Sunday, June 14, 2009. Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia – 11, Boston – 6.

WP – Chan Ho Park (3-1), LP – Beckett (7-3).

HR – Baldelli (3), 2^nd; Green (3), 2^nd; Beckett (1), 6^th.

Rollins (5), 7^th.

            Cramp one: Fifth inning, Josh Beckett dominating Phillies with 95 mph heat and knee-buckling curve ball, cruising with 4-1 lead. Shane Victorino, bless his Flyin’ Hawaiian heart, lines a clutch two-out single to right to cut the lead to 4-3, and Chase Utley dribbles one to third where Mike Lowell tries the bare-hand pickup, off balance throw that major league third baseman seem to feel is the mark of their trade, but more often than not fails miserably. Like now. Victorino is on third and Utley on second after Lowell‘s throw gets past Youkilis at first. Beckett is cool; he takes the ball and glares at Ryan Howard digging in.

            Red Sox fans attention! Phillies fans have seen this before, here is a question for all arm-chair managers. Let’s take a poll. With first base open, tying run at third, go-ahead run at second, do you pitch to the guy who over the past four years has more runs batted in than anyone in baseball, or do you put him on and take your chances with a right handed hitter batting somewhere around .260?

For Terry Francona it’s a no-brainer.

                                    The first pitch to H-bomb was fine,

                                    and he hammered it tight to the line.

                                    A double to right,

                                    what a beautiful sight;

                                    making Red Sox lead die on the vine.

            Cramp two: Seventh inning. Josh Beckett is a warrior, but he’s not superhuman. His answer to Howard’s go-ahead double – he drills J. Happ’s first pitch in the top of the sixth over the 370 foot sign in left center field for a game-tying homerun. It was the first homerun by a Red Sox pitcher in three years. The last was in May, 2006 off Brett Myers at Citizens Bank Park by – drum roll, please – Josh Beckett. Yo, Tito: Is that why you left him in to start the 7^th, even though he had already thrown over a hundred pitches? What about all those big arms in your bullpen, Tito?

                                    Jimmy Rollins in season-long slump,

                                    all efforts to break out, a failed jump.

                                    Do we dare to take hope

                                    from his game-breaking rope,

                                    that at last he is over the hump?

            A final note about those Red Sox fans, calling themselves a Nation, that made so much noise at the Bank yesterday. They were easy to spot with their jerseys, caps and such. And easily approachable, friendly, and not at all confrontational. But what does it say about Red Sox fans in general, when a random sampling reveals they didn’t know that Babe Ruth started as a Red Sox pitcher, and that the Red Sox won the 1915 World’s Series with a game five win just a few blocks up Broad Street from Citizens Bank Park here in Philadelphia?