Division Dreamin' by Jared Carrabis
Sox Win, Rays Lose. Boston Still Has Pulse In AL East Race

So it was Wednesday night that I was scrounging for tickets when out of no where I received a message from one of the best bloggers on SawxHeads, SportsGal. In our message exchange she was telling me of her experience at Fenway Park the night before and went on to say "I've got two tickets for the very same section for tonight's game and if you want them, you can have them." The smile on my face was from ear to ear as I messaged her back asking how much they would cost. "Knowing how much you would love to be at Fenway, I don't want any money. If I can't go--which I unfortunately can't--I'd just be happy knowing that a fan like you could be there for me. Seriously: You want them, they're yours." I wanted to jump through my screen and hug her until her faced turned blue.


So off to Fenway Park I went and immediately after entering the ballpark, I ran into the Vice President of Red Sox Nation, 'Regular' Rob Crawford who was walking around interviewing fans for this Sunday's episode of the Red Sox Report on NESN. The second we bumped into each other we began to chat on camera about Johnny Pesky's number being retired, the 2008 Red Sox season, the Red Sox chances in the 2008 postseason and what October baseball was like at Fenway Park.
(You can see all of my responses this Sunday after the game on NESN and for those without NESN I'll do my best to get it up on YouTube!)

After the quick interview, Rob guided my guest to the game along with myself up to the Green Monster as a minor upgrade in seating (sarcasm). Perched up on the Green Monster (arguably the best seats in baseball) my guest and I watched as the Red Sox completed a late inning comeback against the Cleveland Indians winning the game 5-4 on an RBI double by Mark Kotsay in the bottom of the eighth. A memorable night indeed.


Fast forward to Thursday night with Jon Lester on the mound making his final start of the regular season and what a season it was for the left-hander. Gunning for his sixteenth win of the season in what would be the last start of a season that witnessed him no-hit the Kansas City Royals. Sox fans got a little taste of what May 19, 2008 was like when Jon Lester no-hit the Cleveland Indians through the first five innings before giving up a lead off double to left off the bat of Josh Barfield.


Nearing the postseason with October right around the corner, Lester made his exit after six innings of work needing 86 pitches to do so. Lester gave up just two hits in his outing leading to one earned run while striking out four. Justin Masterson, Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon combined to throw a a perfect inning each with each pitcher striking out one batter in their one inning of work to lock down a win for Boston.


Jacoby Ellsbury continues to swing a red hot bat collecting two more hits extending his hitting streak to sixteen games. In his last ten games Ellsbury is hitting at a .386 clip (11 for 17) and if you go further back he's hitting .327 in the last 30 days. Dustin Pedroia's batting average sits at a cool .325 after a 1-for-3 night knocking in his 83d RBI of the season. Jed Lorwie's bat showed signs of life last night after previously being 4 for his last 38 (.105 clip) by going 2-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored.


In the bottom of the seventh inning, Kevin Youkilis tagged a 1-0 fastball that was 91 MPH to home plate and 101 MPH into the Monster seats (the ball literally landed right where I was standing 24 hours prior). The 2-run shot gave Youkilis his 28th home run of the season putting him two home runs away from the mark of a 30 home run/100 RBI season as the home run also bumped him up to 113 RBI to lead the team. Noted to be a player that "fades in the second half", Youkilis has stepped his game up and then some since the All Star break hitting at .314 since the mid-summer classic with 13 home runs and 50 RBI.


With the Rays magic number to clinch the division down to one, the Red Sox will have to win out and the Rays will have to lose out for the remainder of the season if Boston hopes to crown themselves the kings of the division for the second straight year. Certainly not a likely scenario but also if I remember a one Kevin Garnett saying: "Anything's possible!!".
Well, if the Red Sox are not yet mathematically eliminated from the division, why give up hope? After all, we've seen crazier things happen around here in Red Sox Nation, right?

The Red Sox are set to welcome the New York Yankees to Fenway Park for the final series of the season, only thing time: no one cares. The most exciting thing about this series will be Johnny Pesky's number being retired. The Yankees are out of the playoffs, the Red Sox are already in the playoffs and if the Rays clinch the division before Sunday then you will see nothing more than the Pawtucket Red Sox versus the New York golf team worth $207,108,489. It's certainly a shame seeing as though MLB constructed the regular season schedule for this series to be a big meaningful series full of promotions about the "rivalry", but not this year Bud. The Sox are in and the Yanks are O-U-T.

Final Score: Indians 1, Red Sox 6

Published on September 26, 2008

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