First Place Over The Horizon

Just another night where it pays off to be a Red Sox fan. I don’t mean it in the “we won again, four in a row, one game back” type of way, I mean it in the “edge of your seat with every pitch, massaging my Bill Mueller commemorative statue” type of way. Seriously, how many fan bases give a collective dry heave when a bullpen pitcher enters the game like The Nation with Alan Embree. The ups and downs come automatically with the pressures of rooting for the Red Sox, but instead of knowing that our beloved team will blow it, we expect to win the game. I could have easily turned off the TV when the Indians went up 4-2, but I stayed with my guys, kept the faith, and watched us sweep the formally red hot Tribe.

Entering this series, I was a little bit worried. Yes, we were coming off a nice blowout victory at home over Pittsburgh, but maybe the guys will be over their heads and continue playing sloppy baseball on the road. The Indians, on the other hand, have beaten up cellar dwellers on their way to a nine game winning streak, and they’d like nothing more than to collectively bitch slap the defending champs. Show them bastards who rules this part of town. Three days later, the Sox have a little streak of their own, and that 41-30 record is looking mighty fine.

This game was the best of the series. So many ups and downs, so many suicide thought clouds, so many “jump around the room and dance to Styx” moments. The Indians went up 4-2 and I was ready to write an Adventures Of Alan Embree: Days Of Disgust article for tonight. Then the pro Billy Mueller tied it up with a very clutch ripped single to right center in one of the most nauseating and nut-busting at-bats of the season. I was not only standing up, but pacing around the room. Another clutch hit for Mueller, and it looked good with Timlin coming in. Foulke gets out a jam in the eighth and Edgah! delivers with an RBI hit that gives us the lead. In the words of my fellow fans, he hit that ball “wicked hahhhd.”

So we sweep the Indians. Nice work, boys. Now it’s on to the launching pad known as Citizens Bank Park for another broom-related series. Keep it goin! Oh by the way, the Orioles lose to Toronto and the Yanks continue their season-long struggle with Tampa Bay. Nice day all around.