Aw, what a relief to us Red Sox fans! We've clinched the Wild Card title and we're in the playoffs. It's...
 
Once again the Red Sox will play the Anaheim Angels in  the AL Division Series. This is the third time in a row the Red Sox will play them in the Division Series. We beat them last year, and I have faith in my Sox we will beat them once again.

I want to send out a BIG THANK-YOU to the Texas Rangers for losing last night. I know it stinks to lose, not only to the Angels, but also a chance at the Wild Card. But thanks! You definitely made my day! I read on the Red Sox website that Sox players stayed around in the clubhouse to watch the Angel- Rangers game till the very end to see if they got the playoff spot. Some went home after their devastating loss to the Blue Jays, (yes, the BLUE JAYS!) while many stayed around. It was reported that 90% of the team was back in the clubhouse after the news that the Rangers LOST!"
Jason Bay said "It's a little different waiting around for another game to end, but at the same time, any time you get to the playoffs, ultimately that's where you want to be. I don't see how this would ever get old." (redsox.com)

I hope to see this picture at the end of next month. That would definitely make my day! (year, actually!!)

 So, I'm sooo proud of my Boston Red Sox. I hope we win. And I faith in them that they will win. I also have to say, even though I don't want to, congrats to the Yankees for winning the AL title. You beat my boys, so I guess your pretty good. Haha!

I have to go back to my homework... I just wanted to post that my Sox are in the playoffs and I'm so proud!

CONGRATULATIONS RED SOX!

Right now, the Red Sox and the Yankees are in the fourth inning, with the Sox up by one run. The Sox are finally leading, which hasn't happen yet in this series. (Let's hope we keep it)

But I'm not writing this post about how the Red Sox are hitting (nice RBI Lowell!) or how the Yankees are pitching (geez, I wish we had Sabathia, though!), I'm writing this post because I've noticed that the word we use for how the Red Sox and Yankees teams get along, rivalry, is more a word that should be used for how Red Sox and Yankees fans get along.

This is a typical conversation between a die hard Red Sox fan and a die hard Yankees fan: (well, in my high school, anyway)

Yankee Fan: How are your dead sox doing?
Red Sox Fan: Better than your spankees.
Yankee Fan: Oh yah, who's got the first place spot right now? I think we do.
Red Sox Fan: Well we have the play-off spot.
Yankee Fan: Not like you're going to win the World Series anyway. It took you 86 years to win one.
Red Sox Fan: We'll we've won two in the last 5 years. Have you?

...and it goes on and on.

I honestly don't think this is the type of conversation that happens between a Red Sox player and a Yankee player, before or after a game or talking to each other on the field. Do you really think that the baseball players (Yankees and Red Sox) get all hyped up about this particular series? I think that us Red Sox fans were dreading more the series at Tropicana Field than this series.

I was reading comments on redsox.com, specifically the ones that are about the Yankees and the Red Sox. This is what I found:
A Red Sox insult: (referring to how a Yankee fan only come to redsox.com when they lose)
"it really is pathetic, if you think about it. Trolls only come when they win, and to what? Brag about it. Really childish"
A Yankee Insult:
(In retaliation to the first comment) 
"LOL, as if the SOX fans don't do EXACTLY the same thing? Listen up, I spent over 12 years in MA and can tell you the SOX and PATS fans are the worst anywhere. They are really bad losers, full of excuses and complaints and even worse they re bad winners, full of arrogance. I will NEVER forget the way the NYG were TRASHED by the NE fans before the Super Bowl in which they HUMILIATED your cheating team. I also remember after you beat the Yankees the first 8 games of the season this year how you claimed the Yankees were done, finished, could NEVER beat th SOX.. I believe the term used by the fans just before the 4 game series swept by the NYY was "bring on the Stankees", or some such nonsense"

I'm not saying this rivalry isn't "fun" or is "stupid", but I was quite amazed how BIG of a rivalry these series are to fans. No, I have never been to a Red Sox vs. Yankees game to see how fans treat each other there, but I think its actually funny how big of thing this is to New England and New York. What's your view on the rivalry? More for the players or more for the fans?

My new definition of rivalry: When the Boston Red Sox play the New York Yankees or vice versa, fans go crazy and insult each other with bad come-backs.

Just kidding!

I'm still going to be wearing this shirt though:

It's been forever since I've last posted an entry to my blog, (27 days ago to be exact) and I've really missed it. School's started and instead of staying up 'till ten to watch my Sox, I'm studying English vocab or doing Pre-Calculus problems. Not my idea on how to spend my nights. Haha. But needless to say, the first thing I do in the morning is to turn on NESN and watch the recap of the previous game. And I have to say, the Red Sox are definitely showing other teams, especially the Yankees, just how powerful a team we are. And watch out Yanks-- we're going ALL THE WAY this year! World Series in our near future! ( I can see it with my crystal ball)

I do have to admit, a few months ago I was not totally sure if there was light at the end of the tunnel. My beloved Red Sox were not getting the wins they needed to get, and the Yankees were taking no mercy against the teams they faced.
But now, we've got the Wild Card Lead in our grasp; it's so close that we can touch it, and almost smell it, but it's not officially ours yet.

I think us Sox fans are feeling pretty good about our Wild Card spot at the moment, we're up nine games, and on a winning streak. We have the Kansas City Royals series starting tomorrow, followed by the dreaded Yankees series for 3 games, a series with the Jays at home, followed by our last regular season series with the Cleveland Indians. (I can't wait to see Justin Masterson back at Fenway!!)

We had a lot of Red Sox birthdays in the past two weeks, including Michael Bowden's (9/9) Nick Green's (9/10), Jacoby Ellsbury's (9/11), Dice-K's (9/13) and Jason Bay's is today. So Happy Birthday Michael, Nick, Jacoby, Dice-K and Jay-Bay!!

Anywho, I'm quite curious to hear not only Red Sox fan's opinions on the Red Sox's play-off spot, but everyone's opinion. I miss my Red Sox soo much, and to tell you how out of the loop I was for the first few weeks of school, I never heard the Brad Penny had been traded!! I was on Twitter (feel free to add me redsoxmelissa) and I was talking to a woman who was talking about Brad Penny pictching at a Dodgers game. The Red Sox were playing another team at the time, definitely at the Dodgers so I asked her if she was talking about the Sox's Brad Penny. And sure enough, she was. It was a moment for joy for me. The Red Sox finally got rid of their worst two pitchers, Smoltz and Penny. Woohoo!
So please share your opinions with me and I hope I can get on some more. And if there's any big Red Sox happenings, please fill me in!

***The Red Sox have swept the series against the Orioles! Congrats, Sox!***

All last week, I was up camping in Maine with no cell phone reception, no TV, and no computer to blog at. The only way to see how my Red Sox did was the daily newspaper, which often didn't have the final scores in them or to listen to the radio. But I still followed the Sox, and overall, from reading and hearing about their week, it sounded pretty good.

I left them on a great night. The first game of the series with the Rangers made it feel good to be a Red Sox fan. The Sox came back in the ninth to score SIX RUNS, after being back by two runs, taking away the Ranger's chance of a walk-off game.The first excitement of the game came when Big Papi hit a two-run homer in the 6th inning to tie the game 2-2. But then, in the same inning, we gave up a run, going back to losing. We gave up another run the next inning, but apparently, we were saving the BIG EXCITEMENT for the last inning. So, we had gotten 5 runs so far, and the score was 7-8. We did have two outs, and Martinez was down two strikes, but that didn't put any (or not enough) pressure on him. He hit a double, allowing two runs to be scored. Another one could've been scored, but we had our fellow pitcher Buchholz pinch-running and he got into a pickle, decided to slide into home face first and unfotunately got out. But we had already gotten enough runs to take the lead and we didn't allow the Rangers to score in the bottom of the ninth...so we won! And we now were up 1 1/2 games in the wild-card race. I was glad the last game I would watch for a week was a great one (a little disappointed Jacoby had the night off!) and left for Maine with high hopes for my Sox.
 
For the next week, I didn't see any Red Sox games, including the last two against the Rangers, the three against the Blue Jays and just one of the games against the Yankees. (I just couldn't miss this series!) But, I do remember what I read in the Boston Globe, and later the Boston Herald, as I couldn't go Sox-less for a whole week! ;)

Going to bed in my cabin nestled up in the middle of Maine Saturday night (a week ago), I wondered if Penny blew it or saved us and whether or not we would win to improve our wild-card lead or be barely clenching it by only a half game. My thoughts were not answered Sunday morning, as the game did not end in time for the paper to print the scores. So it was Monday morning, when I found out not only did the Sox lose Saturday's game, but Sunday's also. And we no longer owned the wild card. Boy, was I disappointed. What I do remember about the series is Jason Bay and Victor Martinez got the only runs Saturday night for the Sox, and they lost 7-2. Ouch. Then Sunday's day game they lost 4-3, and we got another pair of home runs that night from Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz. I guess from what I read that Tazawa also had a okay night, as he only gave up 4 runs on 10 hits.

After reading about their two losses, I once thought, was I there good luck charm? Do they need me to watch them to win? Apparently not, because the we got a series sweep against the Blue Jays.

 Monday was their night off, and also Dustin Pedroia's 26th birthday. So, a happy belated birthday to Dustin Pedroia! Of course our very own AL MVP got his birthday off. I hope he had a great day.

On Tuesday night, the campground had a campfire sing-a-long, not my favorite thing, but we got to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". We were asked to sing our favorite team when we got to the part "root, root for the home team" and replace home team with our team of choice. (Sorta like what happens when the song is sung at Fenway) There were people at this camp from Washington (state) to Maryland, so I was expecting a little bit of variety. But, nope, all you could hear was "RED SOX". It was pretty cool.
 
Anyway, the newspaper was able to print the scores of Tuesday's game in Wednesday's morning paper, and FINALLY! The Red Sox (barely) won the first game against the Jays, 10-9. All I remember reading is that Beckett did not get the win but did not get the loss.Okajima got the win, Bard got the hold and Papelbon got the save. A win, I'll take it. Though, the best part of reading about that game was Dustin Pedroia wasn't in Toronto to play because he had become a daddy just a few hours before. Dustin, and his wife Kelli, welcomed their first son, who they named Dylan on August 18th. I remember reading that and was like "awwww!". Congrats, Pedroias! 
  
Wednesday's game was a memorable game too. Our three power hitters all got home runs, Ortiz, Bay and Martinez. They all helped to win the game 6-1.Buchholz got another win, which is good to hear. His base running didn't affect his pitching at all. He was also not bothered (or so it seems) by the fact he was going up against big-time Roy Halladay.I was lucky enough to hear this game live on the radio, and went to bed happy. Let's not also forget we had gotten back out wild-card spot, because fortunately for us, the Rangers ended their winning streak as we started ours.

Thursday night I also listened to the game live. J.D. Drew (who my dad always calls Nancy Drew) got a two-run homer, and went 4-4 that game and Ellsbury got a couple of hits. Lester pitched a great game, and our newest pitcher Cabrera ended it. Another great win for the Red Sox. A big win too, 8-1 and sweeping the Blue Jays series. A big accomplishment, but we all had another thought in our head, now it's time to take on the Yankees.

Friday night was a scary night in two ways. 1, I was up in Maine stuck in a series of thunder storms that lasted 3 hours and we had lost power and a tornado warning had been issued, and 2, the score at the end of the first game of the Yankees Red Sox series: 11-20, Yankees. Since I was stuck in a cabin and had no power I did not get to listen to this game, not that I exactly wished I had. A bad loss. That's all to be said. I found this out after I had left Maine, gotten reception and checked the score on my phone. I had no desire to read the game summary after I saw that Penny pitched.

Saturday night, I finally had the chance to watch a Red Sox game in a week. Aw, to see Jacoby...err...I mean the Red Sox again! I didn't watch the full game, as I was at a friend's house, but I was able to see the first six innings, which had 4 home runs spread out in them. Youkilis got two, our new short stop Gonzalez got one and Big Papi got his 20th. I later found out it was a walk-off game for the Red Sox as we SPANKED (I know, we were spanked yesterday, but I haven't used this word in awhile against the Yankees) New York 14-1. Tazawa, you are my hero!

Last night though, was a disappointment. We had Beckett. BecKKKKet. He hadn't lost in forever. Can you remember the last game he lost? But last night, our ace got a loss, and dumb old Sabathia got a win to have more wins then our Beckett. He gave up 5 home runs yesterday to the Yankees. We were tied at one point during the game, but that was soon lost. We lost 8-4 to the Yankees. At least they didn't sweep us, right?

So, tallying up the week:
The Red Sox won: 4 times
The Red Sox lost: 4 times
Do we still hold the Wild Card spot? Yes.

The week had its ups and downs, we do have a good schedule coming up. The White Sox are tonight, and then on the 26th we play Toronto. I'm not saying these games are definite wins, but they should be easier then the Yankees and the Rangers.

So, how did I do? Did I miss a lot in the last week? I'm glad to be home, where I can sit on the couch and just watch the Red Sox play. And I'm really glad to have cellphone reception. ;)

Let's go Red Sox!

Tonight, we take on the Rangers. We lost a three game series to them in July, and if there's any games we need to win, it's these 3. We need to try our hardest to win this series, or else we'll not only be fighting the Yankees for the AL East top title, we'll also be fighting the Rangers for the Wild Card spot. So...WE NEED TO WIN!

Watching the game yesterday afternoon, it was obvious we didn't have our "spark". Maybe it was because Youk couldn't play because of his suspension or Pedroia and Drew had the night off or maybe it's because we were too confident after winning 3 games of the series so far.

Anywho, I put together a list of the 10 ten things we need to do tonight, tomorrow night and Sunday to win the series against the Rangers. (and potentially secure our spot in the play-offs)

***The Red Sox have just acquired Cincinnati Red's SS Alex Gonzalez and SS Chris Woodward was designated for assignment. It has been reported that the Red Sox traded single **** Kris Negron for Gonzalez. He is expected to join the team tomorrow in Texas.***

10 Things We Need to do To Win the Series

1. Our pitching absolutely needs to be consistent. When there is a single sign that a pitcher needs to be relieved, don't think twice. I can't tell you how many times that the Red Sox starting pitchers had 0 earned runs up to a certain inning and then pitched the seventh or eighth inning and gave up one to three runs or more. If we see Penny, Buchholz, Beckett, Lester or Tazawa showing signs of exhaustion, or look like their struggling, take them out. (Though, for this series, only Lester, Penny and Tazawa are pitching) Also, I know that Beckett and Lester can get pretty far into games, but over 120 pitches and we're only winning by one run? Take them out. We have a great set of relievers, 6 of them in all. And speaking of relievers, that brings me to item #2.
   
2. Let's use our relievers better. We have 5 right handed relievers and one left handed reliever. In the time we need a reliever, we should use them in the order as follows: Bard (ERA 2.88), Okajima (ERA 3.00), Saito (ERA 3.07), Ramirez (ERA 3.30), Delcarmen (ERA 3.44) and Cabrera (ERA 4.96). Now, I know Cabrera threw a great inning two games ago, and gave up no runs and Saito hasn't been finding the pitch zone well lately, but we know that Bard and Okajima are reliable, as well as Saito, Ramirez (sometimes) and Delcarmen. I'd rather use Cabrera if we absolutely have too. Yes, he's thrown for other MLB teams, but I'm not so set in stone with him yet.
   
3. Limited play time for Varitek. Youkilis can't play 3rd or 1st for this series because of his suspension. So here's my game play: Victor Martinez will catch. Why him over Jason Varitek? One, his BA is .61 points higher than Jason Varitek, and two, V-Mart is 6 years younger than 'Tek, and his arm is just a little bit fresher, and we really need that. At 3rd base, our hot hitting man Mike Lowell and at first base Casey Kotchman. I debated over if Martinez should play 1st and have Varitek catch, but then looking at their past at-bats, I decided Kotchman has been doing better than 'Tek.
4. David Ortiz, we need you to hit! Do I need to say more? A home run here or there in this series would be amazing, and David, since you are the DH for the team, how-a-bout you step up to the plate and smack one right out of the Rangers Ballpark? We love you Papi, show us some love back!
5. Let's put our new man Alex Gonzalez at SS, not Nick Green. We just acquired (and ultimately got back) Alex Gonzalez from the Cincinnati Reds. He has only made 6 errors this season, as Nick Green made 14. I love Nick Green, but we need to try out a new SS. *Alex starts with the Red Sox tomorrow, so I guess we'll have to use Nick today*
   
6. Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia need to both get hits, being in the 1-2 spot. If you have noticed, when Ellsbury is at his first AB of the game and gets a single or a double, the game goes a lot smoother. Pedroia, who's been hitting home runs recently, also does better when Ellsbury gets on base. It gives Ellsbury a chance to steal also, allowing him to get in scoring position. Anyone who knows Ellsbury's speed knows that he can score on a crazy pitch from second.  Scoring=good.
   
7. Jason Bay needs to crush another ball into the left field. Good 'ol J-Bay, let's hit another 3-run homer! Jason Bay has been been on fire the last 5 games, not inculding last night and has helped us gain the lead or secure our lead. If he does it tonight, I think we'll be fine. The only thing Jason Bay needs to take to mind is the the Texas Ranger's Ballpark's left field is 322 ft away from home plate, while the Green Monster of left field of Fenway is only about 304 feet away.
8. The lineup also needs to be reliable. I talked about using our most reliable pitchers for this series, and I think Terry Francona needs to do the same with the lineup. The guys get a break August 17th, and they can wait out this three game series before taking it. Taking Pedroia out of last night's game probably wasn't the best move, as the same with Drew. So tonight, and the following two, the lineup shall consist of: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Martinez, Bay, Oritz, Lowell, Drew, Woodward and Kotchman. I know how much work goes into the lineup, and I have no knowledge on how to make the perfect lineup, but with those nine guys, I think which ever way they are put, it would make a dynamite nine.
   
9. The Red Sox can't take too much confidence into each game. I think that's what happened last game, and even though it's great the Sox have confidence, I don't think it did us much good last night. The Red Sox should know they can play well, but not think they don't have to try their hardest hardest to win. They do, if they want to beat the Rangers.
   
10. See the prize. A win against the Rangers would be enormous. If our guys can see how big of win tonights game would be, and the following two, I think that right that would be a big motivator for our guys to win. Come on Jacoby, Dustin, Victor, Jason, David, Mike, Alex, J.D., Casey, Josh, Jon, Brad, Junichi and Clay, let's bring home the win. We need to secure our play-off spot!

So, our mission is set: to beat the Rangers.

Why? To secure our play-off spot. (And no one wants to lose)

Let's go Red Sox!

Happy Birthday to pitcher, Clay Buchholz!

Career Highlights for the Birthday Boy:

• On September 1st, 2007 he threw a no-hitter. It was his second Major League start.
• He is the 2nd quickest MLB pitcher to throw a no-hitter in his career.
• He is the first Red Sox rookie to throw a no-hitter and the 17th Red Sox pitcher to ever throw a no-hitter.
• In the 2005 draft, he was selected in the first round, picked 42nd overall.
• Had a 92% winning percentage one year when pitching for his college team.
  

Interesting Facts about the Birthday Boy:

• Buchholz was arrested in 2005 for stealing laptops from his high school get money.
• He is engaged to a former suitcase model on the game show Deal or No Deal.
• His Major League debut was on August 17, 2007 at Fenway Park.

Happy 25th Birthday, Clay!

We were doing so good! Soooo good! We bounced back from our awful series with the Yankees winning three games in a row. But now, we've lost the last game of the 4 games series to the Tigers.

Clay Buchholz did a great job this afternoon. He only gave up two runs, a homerun being one of them and pitched for seven innings straight. He didn't win because he was going against mad-throwing Verlander, who was throwing fast balls in the eighth inning at 100mph. Verlander was striking out batters left and right. The Sox only got 5 hits (I believe) off of him. We could use a guy like Verlander pitching for us. Hey Tigers! Wanna trade Verlander for top-notch John Smoltz? I doubt that would ever happen, but it would be a pretty sweet deal if it did. Anywho, it wasn't a big eventful game as the last 3 were, we didn't score any runs, and that's never a fun game to watch.

Delcarmen pitched in the eighth, now allowing any runs. In the bottom of the eighth, with no outs, Jacoby Ellsbury got a double. I had some hope. Then Reddick struck out. Then Martinez struck out. And then Bay struck out. I was really hoping this would be the place where J-Bay hits the home run and scores a couple of runs and ties the game. But the moment didn't happen, and Bay didn't get a homerun for the third night in a row. Darn...

Then in the ninth, our newest pitcher Cabrera took the mound and had a 1-2-3 out inning. It was then time for the Red Sox to step-it up to get some runs and win the game, but Ortiz struck out, than our other hot-hitting man Mike Lowell grounded out and for the third out, Casey Kotchman did the same. So, we didn't get the sweep, and unfortunately for us the Rangers won, so now we only have a half game lead over the Rangers for the wild card spot. The only thing that can make this day better is the Yankees losing tonight. Come on Mariners!

Disappointment, disappointment, disappointment.

So, David Dombrowski, General Manger and CEO of the Detroit Tigers, I am willing to give you our wondeful John Smoltz for your wonderful Justin Verlander. I think it's a fair trade, don't you?

Things are looking up for us Red Sox fans! We had a great game last night, winning (oh, it's great to keep using that word!) the 3rd game in the 4 game series against the Detroit Tigers, 8-2. Once again we witnessed Josh Beckett pitch an amazing game, and we also got to see our J-Bay hit 3 for 3. Mike Lowell also got 3 hits and homered (3 HR in last 2 nights). Pedroia, Ortiz, Green, Drew and Kotchman all got hits. We got to see Josh Reddick (filling in for Jacoby Ellsbury) and Chris Woodward (filling in for Mike Lowell) play last night. After Josh Beckett pitched 7 innings, with 6 strikeouts and 2 earned runs, Okajima and Ramirez finished the last two innings, with no runs scored. Josh Beckett earned his 14th win, leading the Major Leagues.

But the best stuff we saw last night, other than a win and a couple of home runs, was seeing two old friends of ours:
.
Our first friend, JERRY REMY.
Rem-dawg visited the broadcaster booth with Don and Eck last night for an inning to catch up Red Sox fans on when he'll be coming back. Remy took a leave of absence this past May, not knowing when he was going to come back due to a lung cancer surgery. Remy informed us that he no longer has cancer, but has been battling depression and that's what's been keeping him from coming back to the booth.

"The cancer part, I couldn't have been luckier. I just want to get back to work, back into the flow of what I did. This depression thing has been tough. It's not easy." (AP)
 
Remy, who is 56 years old, said that his first visit back to Fenway since May was a big step for him. It was so nice to hear his voice, his stories and jokes and I'm sure all of the Red Sox Nation, the officical team fan club for the Red Sox which Remy is the president of, can't wait to see Rem-Dawg back in the booth. Every game at Fenway, you would see a fan or two hold up a "get better soon Remy" sign or a "we miss you Rem-Dawg."  Watch out Eck, Remy might be taking over your spot soon!

And our second friend: good 'ol PEDRO MARTiNEZ.
He got his first win, and first outing last night since September 1st, 2008. He pitched 5 innings, with 7 hits, 3 earned runs, 1 batter walked and 5 strikeouts. Not too shabby, Pedro. Of course, nothing like the innings Pedro used to pitch when he was on the Red Sox. He was one heck of a pitcher in his younger years, and it looks like Pedro might have some more years of pitching. Who knows? I think it was just great to see Pedro out pitching again, and he did a pretty good job, helping the Phillies beat the Cubs, 12-5. Also, if you watched the game last night, you saw a pretty pathetic Cubs fan poor beer all over CF Shane Victorino after he caught a ball on the warning track. The fan was later ejected from the game.

A few notable quotes I found from Pedro:

"They can always count on the old goat to go stand up." (philly.com)

and, talking about his father's death last June, where his father told him to keep pitching:

"To be able to make it back like that . . . I promised my dad I would do it, and this was probably my best game." (philly.com)

So Congrats to the Red Sox on their win, Pedro with his win and Jerry Remy for making it back to the broadcasting booth!

The Yankees won last night, so we're still 5 1/2 games behind. That stinks. But the Rays lost, so there 4 games behind us now, and we still have a 1 1/2 lead over the Rangers for the wild-card spot. So, all is "okay".

Tonight is our last game against the Tigers. Let's go Red Sox!

Aw, what a night! We saw a little bit of everything tonight. A charge to the mound, Jason Bay back to being Jason Bay, a long rain delay and the most important, another win for the Red Sox. 7-5 over the Detroit Tigers.

It's not very often when you see a Red Sox player charge the mound. But, last night was an exception...let's set the scene:

At Monday night's game Brad Penny hit Detroit's Miguel Cabrera with a pitch in the top of the 4th. In the bottom of the 4th, Kevin Youkilis was hit by a (most likely retailiating) pitch. Then in the eighth inning of the game, Ramon Ramirez hit Detroit's Brandon Inge.

Then, last night, in the first inning, Junichi Tazawa hit Miguel Cabrera (2nd time this guy has been hit).Then in the bottom of the 1st inning, Detroit's Rick Porcello threw a nasty pitch at Victor Martinez. It didn't hit him, but it could've have easily been taken as a threat. Martinez took a few steps toward the mound, but did not do anything. Then, in the bottom of the 2nd inning, Youkilis was up.

The first pitch he recieved hit him in the back. Youkilis didn't think twice. He charged the mound, threw his helmet at Porcello and attacked him. Within moments, both teams, in their entirety had stomed the pitching mound, pulling the pitcher and batter apart. Luckily, no one got hurt. Both Rick Porcello and Kevin Youkilis got thrown out of the game. Terry Francona later got thrown out of the game because of his disagreement with a play at 2nd base.
The umpires weren't doing their jobs either night in my opinion, as last night the umpires should have been able to see the tensions and hostility going on, and until a batter actually charged the mound, they finally took action.



Putting all that action aside, let's talk about the actual pitching and offense.

For pitching, first time starter Junichi Tazawa took the mound last night. He had a rough start as he gave up 3 runs in the first, but after he got rid of jitters, he did great. And just a note, only 1 run was an earned run, there was an error in the 1st, a throwing one by Nick Green. Tazawa pitched five quality innings, with no more runs scored after the 1st and then was replaced by another Red Sox newbie, Fernando Cabrera who got his first hold with the Red Sox. Saito and Bard both gave up no runs in their one innings pitched, but we got a little dissapointment from Papelbon, who gave up 2 runs in the ninth. He did not get the loss though. In total, only 5 runs were given up by the Red Sox. 2 were unearned. Our pitching is looking better!

The offense did great last night! We were down by three in the bottom of the 2nd, with two on and here comes Jason Bay. He's had two home runs in the last week, and the whole stadium is cheering him on. He takes a swing and BAM! The ball soars over the left field wall. A three run homer for Jason Bay! I bet he's feeling a lot better now. Then in the 3rd, Mike Lowell is up, taking Kevin Youkilis' spot and he rips out a home run. The same event happens in the 5th when he hit a two-run home run. Lowell wasn't even suppose to be in the game, yet here he is hitting 2 big home runs. We got another run in the 7th to help secure our lead. Ellsbury, Pedroia and Ortiz all got hits tonight.Ellsbury got his 52nd stolen base and Pedroia got his 15th.

Quite an interesting game, but a great one because we won. Our wild-card spot became a little bit more secure, we're 1 1/2 games over the Rangers, the Tampa Bay Rays lost also, so we have a 3 game lead over them now. Unfortunately the Yankees won, but there's still home we can take back the lead again.

Let's go Red Sox!