Antagonists
| Game 91: July 6, 2008 | |||
| Red Sox | 4 | BS: Javier Lopez (1) L: Jonathan Papelbon (3-3) |
52-39, 2 game losing streak |
 Yankees |
5 | W: Mariano Rivera (3-3) | 47-42, 2 game winning streak |
| Highlights: Alex Rodriguez homered to lead off the second inning last night tying him with Mickey Mantle. He emulated another Yankee immortal, Joe DiMaggio, with the furor over his entanglement with a blond bombshell, although DiMaggio was not linked to Marilyn Monroe until well after his divorce from Dorothy Arnold. Cynthia Rodriguez filed for divorce today on the grounds of a “long period of infidelity” and “emotional abandonment” by husband Alex. Media speculation is rampant on how this will impact Rodriguez on the field, imagining that he actually cares for anything or anyone outside of himself, his money, and his fame. | |||
The saga of Joba Chamberlain and Kevin Youkilis continued last night. The Red Sox first baseman singled to begin the fifth, sending an 0-2 pitch into the opposite field. Sean Casey singled to advance Youkilis to third. Perhaps it was the mere presence of Youkilis in his line of sight that set Chamberlain off; the fiery pitcher bounced a wild slider to the plate and was forced to cover home.
Youkilis came in fast with one foot up and the other tucked beneath him. With the slide the score evened to 1-1. The antagonists did not bother to acknowledge the other after the collision as you would expect after a good, hard play. Chamberlain regained his focus and struck out Julio Lugo and Kevin Cash, but neither are formidable offensive threats. Jacoby Ellsbury walked to fill the bases and Dustin Pedroia smacked a gapper to Bobby Abreu for the lead.
Chamberlain threw behind Youkilis in the top of the next inning in obvious retaliation to which the umpires continued to be oblivious. Perhaps the umpires were too concerned with preparing to throw out Joe Girardi in the bottom of the inning, as the storyline of building up Girardi’s reputation requires.
They really need to get a better wardrobe designer for this series as Jon Miller’s outfit (blinding yellow tie, navy shirt with white collar, and navy suit) had all the tastelessness of Craig Sager yet none of his panache.
Many have noted that Joe Torre was a genius thanks to Mariano Rivera’s arm. I am beginning to think that Jonathan Papelbon’s renown as a closer is in part based on the David Ortiz’s presence. So often Ortiz would provide those final few runs that proved the margin between a loss or tie and Papelbon would come in to mow down the remaining opposition.
Where Rivera can shutdown a lineup for multiple innings in a game or a few days in a row, even at his age, it seems Papelbon tends to peter out. Papelbon surrendered a run on July 4 and last night allowed two singles, one by Robinson Cano and the other by rookie Brett Gardner, to lose the game.
The Red Sox miss Ortiz, like how DiMaggio pined over Monroe for decades. Please don’t make us wait that long, Papi.
