Seven
| Game 30: May 8, 2009 | |||
| Rays | 3 | L: James Shields (3-3) | 14-17, 1 game losing streak |
 Red Sox | 7 | W: Brad Penny (3-1) H: Hideki Okajima (5) H: Ramon Ramirez (5) | 19-11, 2 game winning streak |
| Highlights: Seven runs scored, seven etched on the field, seven in heaven. | |||
For the second game in a row the Red Sox defeated a pitcher with the initials “J.S.” Like Jeremy Sowers before him, James Shields cruised for most of the game until sixth inning.
I wish MLB weren’t so protective of its copyright on YouTube. I could watch Shields’s reaction to Jason Bay’s game-tying home run off the stanchion a million times over. Shields let fly a cookie (in Dennis Eckersley’s parlance) and even before Bay followed through with his swing the pitcher knew he lost his lead. He swiped at the mound with his pitching hand causing an eruption of dirt.
The fireworks weren’t over with Bay’s blast to left. J.D. Drew launched a two-run shot to right with Mike Lowell on second. This time Shields’s response was quite so violent: he jerked up his head to watch the ball’s lofty trajectory take his chance for a win into the visitors’ pen.
Lowell was fortunate to be on second in this inning; Carl Crawford’s throw to second was off and Lowell’s head-first slide didn’t cause a freak injury. The third baseman tried to stretch out a wall-ball single into a double in the fourth inning and failed. Lowell seemed to be running much better, but it would be a shame that in attempting to prove his soundness that he reinjure himself.
(Watching Michael Felger on “The Baseball Show” on Comcast SportsNet New England is like watching George W. Bush as President of the United States. It is one thing to be uninformed, but Felger, like Bush, is aggressively, ostentatiously ignorant. “Geez Louise,” as the Wisconsin farm boy would say. Please stick to being an apologist for football.)
Eckersley had his highs and lows last night. In the fourth he showed he didn’t know the rule about balls in the seats being a free-for-all between players and fans. Jeff Bailey was astounded that the fans didn’t clear out of his way on Pat Burrell’s pop-up, but luckily the designated hitter eventually flied out to center.
Later that inning NESN replayed clips of Coco Crisp yelling from the dugout about his encounter with Akinori Iwamura at second base. Eckersley provided the missing audio: "You got to let me know what you’re going to do if you slide over me when I’m stealing like that. Send me an e-mail or something."
Don Orsillo just might send Eckersley an e-mail requesting some pics of the pitcher in his baseball uniforms. Announcer Boy was a tinge too interested in Eck’s tight pants. Who can blame Orsillo, though? The fossil’s still got it, even with the bad moss.
