Mossy
| Game 31: May 2, 2008 | |||
| Rays | 3 | L: Edwin Jackson (2-3) |
16-13, 1 game losing streak |
 Red Sox |
7 | W: Clay Buchholz (2-2) H: Manny Delcarmen (3) H: Hideki Okajima (4) |
18-13, 1 game winning streak |
| Highlights: Brandon Moss took advantage of J.D. Drew’s absence and made our hearts grow fonder. With this win Boston broke the logjam at the top of the AL East and its cuisine reigns supreme in the division. Nothing compares to home cooking. | |||
If three-quarters of the crowd wasn’t already in alcohol-induced stupor by the top of the second inning because of the two-hour, twenty-seven minute rain delay, Brandon Moss would be a Boston folk hero today. Moss’s feats were on par with those of Chuck Norris or Bill Brasky.
The call-up cut down Evan Longoria at home in the second to stop the Rays from scoring first. He came up with Jason Bartlett’s looper but didn’t rush his relay. Moss made sure he had proper footing in the dampness of shallow outfield, pointed himself to the plate, and heaved the ball into Jason Varitek’s waiting mitt.
Longoria, after a few seconds of laying prone across the batter’s boxes, pulled himself upright and flung his helmet down in disgust.
The Rays’ prized rookie wasn’t the only one who would be foiled by Moss in a scoring attempt. Old friend Eric Hinske (who didn’t get a warm reception as one of the 25 of 2007; perhaps the rousing round of applause was stifled by gloves) sent a towering fly ball to right field in the top of the fourth. Moss planted himself steps from the wall and made a last-second arm adjustment to glove the first out of the inning.
In the bottom of the same inning Moss rocketed a shot to dead center off the camera hut. The home run sparked a two-out barrage that would total five runs by the time the smoke had cleared.
Somewhere in the midst of the offensive onslaught my friend noted that Varitek had changed his at-bat music. No longer does 3 Doors Down’s biggest (only?) hit reverberate across the park, but we couldn’t make out the backstop’s replacement tune.
Clay Buchholz didn’t pitch as well as his most recent start but was bolstered by his bats in this second go-around against Edwin Jackson. Varitek seemed particularly mother hen-like last night, visiting the rookie pitcher even when he was ahead of the count.
Kudos to Red Sox management for saying they intended to have the game completed last evening and meaning it. Boos to the MBTA for not being flexible enough to have some sort of contingency plan to allow for trains to run longer to accommodate baseball fans.
