Darned
| Game 136: August 31, 2008 | |||
 White Sox |
4 | W: Gavin Floyd (15-6) H: Matt Thornton (16) H: Octavio Dotel (20) S: Bobby Jenks (27) |
77-59, 1 game winning streak |
| Red Sox | 2 | L: Tim Wakefield (8-9) | 79-57, 1 game losing streak |
| Highlights: Completing a series sweep is taxing for the Red Sox (unless it is the World Series). Runs were scarce for the Red Sox on Sunday. Even the hot bat wielded by Dustin Pedroia cooled off; his streak of reaching base safely ended at 11 in the third inning when he tapped back to Floyd. Pedroia represented the go-ahead run in the bottom of the ninth. Boston scraped back one run on Jed Lowrie’s ground out, and two men were poised to score with the 2007 Rookie of the Year in the box. | |||
It would have been a storybook ending to a memorable series, but not every wish over the course of 162 games can be realized.
Tim Wakefield allowed two runs in the first inning on Jim Thome’s homer. The shot wasn’t one of Thome’s typical bombs to the bleachers or bullpen; instead, this one curved around Pesky’s Pole like a tetherball. Carlos Quentin had doubled to the left field corner right before Thome, so the early lead gave Gavin Floyd some cushion.
Not that I wanted to see the Red Sox lose, but I was amused that the Pale Hose succeeded based on a strong performance by Floyd whereas Mark Buehrle crumpled under the pressure in the middle game of the series. Buehrle stated that he thought Floyd would succumb to the strain of a playoff race while stating that he thought John Danks had a better attitude because he was “laid back.”
Three games into having video replay available it still hasn’t been used at Fenway, but the umpires applied their capricious judgments in the usual manner. In the third, David Ortiz took issue with third base official Eric Cooper’s call that he went around for the third strike. The decree caused so much animosity that DeMarlo Hale had to intercede, halting Cooper as he made his way up the third base line to confront Ortiz.
Home plate umpire Marty Foster applied the recent call-up rule to pinch-hitting Jon Van Every in the ninth, calling the first pitch he saw a strike despite it being outside. It will be amusing to see when these prima donna officials are entirely replaced by technology.
