After a disastrous road trip, the Sox got right back on track tonight with a win over the Twins. To all those who said the division is lost after this weekend, the Tigers showed today why they don’t totally scare myself and Zach or Matt: they can’t keep things rolling, losing again today to the Tigers and putting the Sox back alone in first place.
BABY STEPS FOR THE OFFENSE, GORDO THE HERO
It was better tonight in the clutch, as the Sox delivered three key hits (Gordo’s Home Run and single and Paulie’s single in the seventh) to power them in this one. From a team standpoint, you don’t usually just snap out of in one game. Hopefully, tonight is a sign for a step forward for the offense.
Gordon Beckham was the hero tonight, driving in three of the team’s four runs (photo via CSN Chicago).
It was also great to see Gordon Beckham come through tonight and be the hero. He’s been so great for us in the field this year, and when he’s able to pull through like this offensively, I think it lifts the team’s morale a bit.
HECTOR DOES THE JOB
The Sox weren’t asking Hector Santiago to be stellar tonight, but just wanted him to keep the team in the ballgame. He did just that, allowing a run in five plus innings. You wish he could have gone longer, but Santiago still probably isn’t entirely stretched out yet, and he was at 91 pitches anyways. It was a fantastic outing by Hector tonight.
BULLPEN KEEPS US ON EDGE
The ‘pen was shaky tonight, as Jesse Crain, Matt Thornton and Brett Myers all gave us scares. They were able to step up and make big pitches when they had to though. It seems like over the past month or so, this bullpen has gone south to an extent. I’m a bit concerned about Jesse Crain specifically, as his command has not been there in most of his recent appearances and I’m starting to make an assumption that maybe he’s having some lingering effects of his injuries this year. Hopefully I’m wrong.
FACIAL HAIR QUESTIONS
Ok, two things:
– Why did Myers shave the goatee???
– I could have sworn that before the game, when Hawk and Stoney did their little pre-game preview before the first commercial break, that they showed Hector Santiago throwing and he had a full-out mustache. When he took the mound for the game, it was gone. Am I hallucinating, or did anyone else notice that?
TWINS AGAIN TOMORROW