2 out of 3 ain't bad...
Coming off an ugly loss to Texas on Tue, I was hoping to see Josh Beckett come out and blow people away on Wednesday night. While that did not exactly happen, he put up a hell of a fight and got stronger as the innings wore on. I liked Beckett's intensity and the 'no quit' attitude and you're not going to hear me complain about giving up only one run during the game, that is for sure.
Timlin came out in the 8th and gave us a scare, putting a bunch of guys on base and bouncing one past Tek to advance runners, but like Beckett, he was able to bear down and get 'er done, (with a little help from Texas 3rd base coach, Steve Smith, doing his best Dale Sveum imitation in waving home an obviously surprised Mark Teixeira.)
Jon Paplebon, who is quickly becoming my new favorite player on the Red Sox, came out in the 9th and was like, 'enough of this shit. 1, 2, 3 and we're outta here boyz. We will be having none of this ground out, pop-up, relying on our defense crap. Expect no contact muthas. The only place this ball is going to wind up is in Tek's glove...'
I had some serious hetero man-love goin' for Pap as one batter after another came up to take huge a swing at a ball that had already gone by them. I love the controlled intensity of Paplebon and his 'no fear' stare, and I love how that intensity seems to boil over after he gets a strike out and he circles the mound to reign it back in for the next victim.
The end result, 2-1 Sox and we're off to Fenway South in Baltimore. Nice.
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