Of note

First things first. Brendan Donnelly looks like if he weren't playing baseball he'd be working behind the counter at his uncle's tiny pizza place someplace like Leominster. And probably moonlighting as a bouncer at the darkest, deepest, seediest Irish neighborhood bar imaginable.

Marianne quoted in Kristen's blog has the line of the day: "[Kevin Millar is] looking more and more like Sammy Hagar every day." It's true. I can't wait for Millar / Schilling trash talk on the blog.

Schilling was dominant against the O's, whose fans seemed to comprise approximately 5% of the crowd.

Alex Cora is a stud who hits bombs.

Jason Varitek left his bat at Fenway before leaving for Baltimore. Again.

Memo to David Ortiz: thank you for that tremendous at-bat that broke Cabrera's stalemate with Schilling, broke open the game and possibly even broke Cabrera's spirit. However, we in Red Sox Nation kindly ask that you cease and desist flirting with disaster by sliding like a jumbo jet coming in for a crash landing every time you are on base.

Manny Ramirez hit a sac fly that might have been a homer if not for a spectacular catch by Corey Patterson in the top of the ninth, and then took solace in the arms of Julian Tavarez, with whom he literally snuggled on the bench for several minutes after walking back in off the field.

Hideki Okajima remains astonishing.

TV-broadcaster line of the night goes to Jerry Remy for saying, of the O's collapsing bullpen, which had been vaunted in the offseason, "It's like flushing $41 million down the toilet." And Orioles fans' ulcers bleed a little more...(to this, which I typed to Sam in IM earlier tonight, she replied, "Ulcers?  I believe you mean SOULS.")

Part of me feels a pang of guilt for the fact that so many of our number took over Camden Yards in bright red wigs and headbands with Japanese on them and jerseys and facepaint and waving Red Sox beach towels. The other part of me figures, if the Orioles can't draw a crowd against a division opponent even when they're in second place by a game and a half, then screw 'em.

I especially like that so far, the majority of of the Sox games this year have been intricately collaborative efforts like this one--solid, grinding, never-say-die team wins. I really, REALLY love this team.

P.S. Joy of Sox has a post up on a very strange statement made tonight by an O's broadcaster...I really can't figure out why they've been so fascinated with Schilling's sock down there in Baltimore. Sam, who was listening to the O's broadcast on MLB.tv, says to her it sounded like he was joking.

Comments

[maxwell horse]

It was a nice win, especially after seeing them play like clowns yesterday. I too thought it was really funny seeing Tavarez comfort Manny in the dugout after his potential homer was caught.

However, I have noticed a disturbing trend: The Sox bullpen seems to be markedly better on nights that Joel Pineiro doesn't pitch.

"Jason Varitek left his bat at Fenway before leaving for Baltimore. Again."

I am by no means a baseball expert. In fact, I'm mostly ignorant on baseball. But why for the love of God does Varitek keep insisting on batting left-handed? I know I'm not the only fan that has wondered about this recently. I wish that just for a fun experiment, he'd play an entire week of games batting exclusively right-handed. (Really, what's the worst that could happen? You can't strike out twice in one at-bat, can you?) Surely the experts in the Sox organization have noticed a performance discrepency by now.

[maxwell horse]

Re: "But why for the love of God does Varitek keep insisting on batting left-handed?"

And of course, that is a rhetorical question, as this is not Terry Francona's blog.

[beth]

ha! i wish i could get him to guest post. that would be awesome.

[anne]

//Memo to David Ortiz: thank you for that tremendous at-bat that broke Cabrera's stalemate with Schilling, broke open the game and possibly even broke Cabrera's spirit. However, we in Red Sox Nation kindly ask that you cease and desist flirting with disaster by sliding like a jumbo jet coming in for a crash landing every time you are on base.//

Was that actually a slide, or did he just fall over onto third? That's what it looked like to me!

[julia]

Re: sockgate, haven't we heard this bs before? They really need to just have the sock DNA tested, already.

Whether or not you agree with Schilling's politics and religious views, you have to admit he's an intelligent guy. If he were to 'fake' the bloody sock, wouldn't he use his own blood? A DNA test wouldn't reveal whether the blood actually seeped out of his leg during the ALCS/WS games, but it would at least put to bed the asinine suggestion that Schill faked it up with paint.

[beth]

honestly i am kind of disappointed in some of the reaction about "sock-gate" which is such a tired, outdated falsehood, one that really doesn't warrant much of a response from RSN or schilling imo. for us to perform a dna test or come up with reasons why it's unlikely he faked the injury is more defensiveness than is really becoming, or necessary in my opinion. i think there should be response to thorne from sox management about making patently untrue statements on-air, if in fact he wasn't being facetious (and i haven't heard any followup comment from him...not really sure what his excuse might be), but that's a journalism issue. i personally don't think any further proof or defense is needed for schilling himself.