The Battle for First Place

Since the beginning of the month, Drew's been one of the most reliable of the Red Sox. He's 7 for 13 with 2 homers, 5 RBIs and a stolen base. Plus, he's made at least three tremendous catches out in Right Field.

Today he went 2-3, made one of the great catches, drove in a run and scored two others as the Red Sox took sole possession of first place from the Tampa Bay Rays. It's about time. Both for Drew to be preforming and for the Red Sox to be ahead of Tampa Bay. Tonight J.D. got to hit third in front of Manny, so maybe he's seeing better pitches or something.

In other news, Coco Crisp seems to be in the middle of a feud with Tampa Bay. I didn't notice all this during the game, but I found it on the Red Sox web page. Crisp stole second in the sixth, and apparently jammed his finger because Shortstop Jason Bartlett put his leg in front of the bag to block him. Crisp called Bartlett's actions "shady" after the game and went on to say something along the lines of, "If you try to hurt me, I'm gonna come back and try to hurt you."

In the eighth, Coco again tried to steal second, but this time slid feet first and hard as if breaking up a double play. The only problem was Bartlett wasn't covering, Akinori Iwamura was. Yeah, it was a hard slid, but watching it live, I thought it was a good hustle play, and maybe I'm wearing my Boston tinted glasses, but I think the tags high and Crisp is safe. Granted at the time I didn't know Crisps intents, but at least he didn't pull an A-Rod and give Iwamura a flying elbow smash. I don't know. You be the judge.

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon was pretty mad about it and later on while making a pitching change, started screaming at Crisp who yelled right back at him and did his version of the P.J. Stock wave, only with a Red Sox jersey (note the Hockey reference, Cale.). Coco played well tonight, going 2-2 and adding a run and an RBI to his stolen base. It'll be interesting to see if anything carries over to tomorrow night's game.

Game 6

With one swing of the bat, J.D. Drew and the Boston Red Sox both had a clean slate.

In the bottom of the first, the Red Sox loaded the bases with back to back infield hits by Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis followed by a walk to David Ortiz. Carmona struck out Manny and got Lowell to pop up to shallow right field, not deep enough to score a run. J.D. Drew came up, and Carmona threw three straight balls. Drew was taking all the way and Carmona delivered strike 1. I was watching the game with my friend Jose at his place and I said "I'd have Drew take this pitch too. 3-1, walk gets a run, Drew's up? Take it. But then again, what do I know?" He agreed with me, as Drew has pretty much sucked with the exception of the back-to-back-to-back-to-back homers he was part of against the Yankees in April and that three game series in Arizona. 3-1 pitch, Drew swings and drives it to centerfield. It looked to be a low line drive, so I'm yelling for it to get over Sizemore's head, whose running back towards the wall trying to chase it. It becomes apparent he's not gonna catch it, and I'm thinking "off the wall, come on, bounce around in the triangle." But the bounce never came. It ended up in the camera well in center field for a grand slam. Everyone in the apartment complex erupted. As I stated earlier, what do I know? I would have had Drew take it.

As far as I'm concerned, that one hit makes up for anything and everything. I'd take that grand slam and his pathetic season any day over him hitting 50 homers during the regular season but striking out to end that inning. If he hit 50 homers and batted .350 and knocked in 140 and won the triple crown or whatever, what difference does that make? The Red Sox win 100 games as opposed to 96? They get the top seed in the AL without relying on the tie breaker? But if Carmona gets out of a bases loaded nobody out in a tie game situation, the games completely different. I refuse to think about it. Moral of the story is J.D. Drew has been absolved of all his sins. What I am thinking about is the fact that for the fourth time in my life, the Boston Red Sox will be playing game 7 of the ALCS.

The Red Sox also got a clean slate tonight. Their backs are still against the wall, but the Indians are too. It's not so insurmountable anymore. Jake Westbrook vs. Diasuke Matsuzaka. I suppose "and friends" should be added to each. Recent Red Sox game 7 history has taught me to expect one team to go to its bullpen REALLY early. That doesn't necessarily mean the team will lose mind you.

For the past three or four days, the Boston Red Sox have been one loss away from elimination. Now, the Boston Red Sox are one win away from the World Series.