Bananas
| Game 156: September 23, 2007 | |||
| Red Sox | 4 | L: Tim Wakefield (16-12) | 92-64, 1 game losing streak 32-14-5 series record Divisional magic number: 6 |
 Devil Rays |
5 | W: Edwin Jackson (5-15) H: Jon Switzer (1) H: Gary Glover (15) H: Dan Wheeler (18) S: Al Reyes (25) |
64-92, 1 game winning streak 15-30-6 series record |
| Highlights: It’s peanut butter jelly time! Peanut butter jelly time! Peanut butter jelly! Peanut butter jelly! Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat! Also, Jerry Remy has been watching too many Cialis commercials. | |||
Tim Wakefield turned in his fourth consecutive non-quality start against a team he usually owns. He was also defeated for the first time in the aseptic dome in St. Petersburg.
Delmon Young must have been inspired by the internet meme that has slid its way onto Tropicana Field; he knocked in a two-run homer in the second inning against the pitcher that used to give him fits.
Big-time nerd Alex Cora homered in the eighth. The dancing banana exhorted his inner geek, unleashing an unlikely power surge. The adrenaline rush also gave him an idea for an uproarious caption for a picture of his polydactyl cat: “I can has Alfonseca awtograf? Hiz mi idle.”
Not only is Jacoby Ellsbury fast in relation to the usual plodding sluggers that were listed in Red Sox lineups of years past, but he is genuinely possessed of blistering speed. It’s not everyday you see a runner steal a base on a pitchout as he did in the third.
The Red Sox mounted a rally in the sixth. Edwin Jackson unraveled, relinquishing four singles and two walks. The visiting exacted three runs out of the scrimmage but fell one run short.
Boston is now 22-26 in one-run games, but they eked out a series win and postseason berth while on the road.
It comes down to six games in the Fens. Welcome home, boys.
