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Three Stars of the Jays Series thus far.
April 30, 2008
Here's who I give props to for the first two games of this series...
The Pest.
That's Dustin Pedroia. Does the things that helps win ball games. Last night, he makes a sick play on what could have been a go ahead single by Vernon Wells, but instead ended up as the final out of the 9th inning.
The Large Father.
We all know that Big Papi is not hitting his normal slugger self (an insanely low OPS of .600 which is good for dead last on the team). Since that surgery of his, his bat has been in a state of flux. He's not dialed in and he's not fully healed (which is probably exasperating the problems with his swing).
All of that said, he's got 21 RBI's on the year despite that abysmal OPS, and he's been on base in the ninth in both of the last two games; both of which have been won on walk-off singles. He scored the winning run last night, put the Sox ahead tonight on a solo shot to right in the seventh and was walked in the 9th inning tonight (lifted for a pinch runner). Lowrie who replaced him in the 9th, was gunned down on an incredible play at the plate by Vernon Wells, otherwise he'd have factored in all three runs the Red Sox have scored in the last two games. The bottom line is, even when he's not hitting well, he's making key and timely contributions. That's what you get from The Large Father. What a gamer. Just wait until he gets things right. Oh man, the league will know...When the fathers wrath has been unleashed with a mighty swing.
El Capitan
In the last two games, the Red Sox pitching staff has allowed a grand total of 1 run. Our captain sets the tone for our staff, and his handling of pitchers deserves much of the accolades it's given. His leadership presence not only measures up there behind the plate, he also can do it with the bat, like he did with the game winning single at Fenway Park in the bottom of the 9th this evening.
Notes:
5 games over .500 and leading the East by a game on the 30th of April. Not a bad way to close out the first month of the season ehh? Let's just hope our healing takes place quickly...And that the Large Father returns to his normal 1.000 OPS form soon.
-9/11...Never forgotten
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