 No worries, Javi, Steve has your back! (Photo courtesy of Kelly O’Connor – who also made the jersey!) |
Oh Javier Lopez. How I was rooting for you. You were inches from going into extra innings and instead the game was given to the Indians.
That, sadly, is all folks will probably remember about this game but the truth is the Red Sox had the lead in this game three times and all three times they gave it up. Javi had a brain cramp, sure, but that one gut-wrenching play isn’t the only thing that lost this game. So if you’re here looking for me to bash Javi, it isn’t happening. Three errors (one on Lowell and one on Lugo to add to Javi’s) gave the Indians enough runs to win this game. Javi didn’t lose it alone. And that’s all the energy I’m spending on rehashing that ugly, long-ass, painful game. Nothing but positive vibes going Javier’s way (Heck, Lugo’s and Penny’s too). He doesn’t need to get beat up about this; I’m sure he’s beating himself up enough right about now.
This is what I choose to focus on: The team just won 11 games in a row and then lost one. This isn’t earth-shattering by any means. Sure adding on to a streak would have been nice, but so what? So tomorrow they put Jon Lester out there and try to win the series. They win the series and I’m more than happy. It’s the end of April. I’m not quite ready to start calling for the heads of any of the players just yet.
“We gave them extra outs tonight”
So Tito tells Heidi Watney after the game. That says it all.
Yankees won, Blue Jays won and Rays lost. That puts the Sox one game out of first place with a 13-7 record behind the Jays with the Yanks four games behind and the Rays in last by 6.5. Not too shabby. (The O’s are hanging on to fourth place for now!)
Special note of thanks to all of you kind folks who took the time to nominate me for the “New England Sports Blog Awards”. Much to my surprise, “Toeing the Rubber” has been named one of the four nominees in the “Best Red Sox Blog” category. At some point on Wednesday, information will be released on how you can vote for your favorite sports blogs and I’ll mention it here. Honestly, it’s a real kick to be nominated and I truly appreciate all of you taking the time to do so.
In a response to a few requests for it, I’m going to attempt to live blog at least one game a week. Last Wednesday’s marathon live blogs seemed to be a hit (although I won’t be marathoning it – hopefully!). I’m looking at Wednesdays as the live blog day – which means I’ll be live blogging Jon Lester v Fausto Carmona tonight! 7pm I’ll be here with bells on. Join me won’t you?