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| Game 128: August 28, 2009 | |||
| Blue Jays | 5 | L: Brian Tallet (5-8) | 58-68, 1 game losing streak |
 Red Sox | 6 | W: Hideki Okajima (5-0) S: Jonathan Papelbon (31) | 74-54, 1 game winning streak |
| Highlights: Barbara Walters should ask Jason Varitek what kind of tree he would be since he stumped Travis Snider at home plate in the eighth. | |||
Jason Bay fished John McDonald’s liner out of the left field corner and relayed it to Alex Gonzalez. The shortstop pirouetted faster than Nureyev, completing the circuit to Jason Varitek. Travis Snider bounced off Varitek’s shin like a rag doll thrown against the wall. The Blue Jays right fielder lay supine and stunned as Varitek tagged him for last out before a 49-minute rain delay. The remarkable play kept the score knotted at five runs apiece.
Bay was pivotal in tying the game in the fifth. His two-run longball was a welcome distraction from Ben Affleck shilling his upcoming movie. He was there ostensibly to urge donations for the Jimmy Fund but for some reason his commercial endeavor became a topic of conversation.
Jacoby Ellsbury tied the game 3-3 in the fourth with a ground-rule double to the triangle. Every time one of his flyballs soar into the triangle an inside-the-park home run is not outside the realm of possibility. But once again the ball jumped out of the park after hitting the warning track.
Had the offense failed to flourish Josh Beckett would have been hung with his sixth loss of the season. The troubling trend of Beckett’s home run rate against continued. He was touched up by Aaron Hill and Rod Barajas; both times runners were on base and there were two outs. Harold Reynolds claims that Beckett is tipping his pitches. In an interview on NESN John Farrell said he helped Clay Buchholz with just such an issue; hopefully whatever ails Beckett has been addressed as well.
Fair was foul and foul was fair for Junichi Tazawa, who was optioned to rookie league in favor of Marcus McBeth. Rumors swirl that the Yankees are suitors of the recently-released Brad Penny, for whom I think nothing in his life became him like the leaving of Boston. But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, Joey Gathright will jump for the run to come.
