Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

(Photo from Yahoo! Sports)

I’ll be honest, when it got to be 11 o’clock last night and we were still in the fifth inning and I took my mental well-being, the length of the season and, you know, sanity into consideration, I decided to go to sleep. Doesn’t mean that when I woke up at 3 am, I didn’t check the final score. ‘Course, at the rate the game was plodding along, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised to find them still playing.

But it appears that Matsuzaka did that thing he did so often last season when he got himself into jams but then, for the most part, managed to work himself out of them. Which is encouraging, even if the jams themselves are a bit worrisome. Joe Morgan, in and amongst his nonsensical ramblings did get one thing right when he praised ‘Tek for calming “Matsuzaky” down and coaxed him through the trying fifth inning. ‘Tek’s the man, you guys. Even Joe Morgan’s addled, Moneyball and computer-hating brain can see that.

Saturday night’s game was just rife with old-fashioned drama and despite how sick I often get of Boston/New York ballyhoos, the game was great. A two-hour and 11 minute rain delay – and you absolutely knew the game wasn’t going to get called because A-Rod was facing Papelbon with two on and two out and there is no way MLB wanted to deal with the Yankee whining, had they called a rain-out – just amped up the intrigue. Luckily for all of us, Paps was just not having it and promptly struck out A-Rod. I’m guessing I’m not the only one who imitated Paps’ fist pump.

I also loved when Josh Beckett gets in his pissed off mood. His “I have better shit to do, I’m just striking these jokers out so I can get out of here and go buy Kamikaze shots for those Northeastern sorority girls.” And when that doesn’t exactly work out for him – as when he gives up a hit or, god forbid, allows a run, his body language is excellent. Very “this is really interfering with my Pemican and Jack Daniels time.” Pissed off Josh Beckett is the very best Josh Beckett there is.

As for Friday…pffft. Whatever. At least Buchholz’s start was encouraging. Mike Timlin, perhaps not so much. But I’ll take two out of three for sure.

In unrelated news, congratulations to the BC Eagles men’s hockey team for taking home the national championship on Saturday. Way to represent the Hockey East, boys. Nice work.

And it appears that I won’t be attending a Bruins elimination party tomorrow night after all as they managed to pull one out in overtime at the Garden last night against the Canadiens. Will wonders never cease? Go Bs!