Woolly
| Game 89: July 13, 2007 | |||
 Blue Jays |
6 | W: Shaun Marcum (5-3) H: Scott Downs (11) H: Casey Janssen (12) S: Jeremy Accardo (12) |
44-45, 1 game winning streak 13-11-4 series record |
| Red Sox | 5 | L: Kyle Snyder (1-2) | 54-35, 1 game losing streak 19-8-3 series record |
| Highlights: Early runs by the Red Sox could not stave off the Blue Jays, who took the lead in the sixth and never looked back. Despite the loss, Mike Timlin, Joel Piñeiro (taking the place of the recalled Jeff Bailey), and Javier Lopez combined for three and one-third innings of near-perfect pitching. Boston has a winning record in one-run games, but just barely, 14-13. | |||
Shaun Marcum is far from my favorite “Shaun,” and that’s not just because he possesses one of the odder spellings of the moniker. Of course, that title belongs to Chone Figgins.
My favorite Shaun is a plasticine creation from the mind of Nick Parker. The most noteworthy sheep from Wallace & Gromit in A Close Shave was named Shaun. To me, this half-hour feature was the last of the series’ charming installments. At any rate, when pronounced with an English accent Shaun sounds like “shorn,” which is exactly what happens to the sheep. The shivering lamb was given a wool sweater to wear after he was rudely disrobed of his fleece.
If only the same would happen to Marcum’s facial hair. Not that I think anyone should get the Yankee treatment, but “Marcum” must be Canadian for scruffy.
The Red Sox batters seemed disturbed by the flourishing biosphere in Marcum’s beard and did their level best to eliminate the pest emanating from the opposing pitcher’s chin. The five runs Boston notched were the result of hitters attempting to swat at the insects taking wing with the disruption each pitch delivery caused.
David Ortiz swatted a single into the opposite field in the first to combat a swarm of gnats while Manny Ramirez’s two-run home run into the Monster seats was a particularly hard swing at a cabbage moth.
By the end of the third all of the vermin in Marcum’s whiskers were expended. The last few mosquitoes prompted a double off the bat of J.D. Drew, a single by Ramirez, and a triple by Mike Lowell over the head of Vernon Wells.
If only there were a few more winged beasties to smack. Boston could have mounted ninth inning comebacks like the other division leaders, the Angels and Indians, did.
