I missed most of the game tonight. I missed Cliff Lee pitch eight shutout innings, giving up only five hits, and striking out five. I missed Tim Wakefield throw a one-hitter, while walking four and striking out five of his own in seven shutout innings.
No, I turned on the game at the start of the ninth inning, with the score set at 0-0.
What I didn't miss was Kerry Wood walk Dustin Pedroia on a 3-2 pitch. What I didn't miss was Kerry Wood give up a single to David Ortiz, putting two runners on with nobody out. What I didn't miss was Jason Bay, once rumored to be prized by the Indians in a deal for Cliff Lee, park a three-run homer off of Wood to give the Red Sox the lead, and ultimately the victory.
Oh, Cleveland managed to get a rally going of their own in the ninth inning, with two lead-off singles by Shin-Soo Choo and Ryan Garko. After Jhonny Peralta struck out looking (gotta love the bat on the shoulder in the ninth), Mark DeRosa drove in Choo with a single of his own. Yeah, the winning run actually came to the plate with only one out against Jonathan Papelbon. That's where it ended, when Kelly Shoppach struck out, and Ben Francisco popped out to end the game.
If only my cable was out all night...
Wakefield has been awesome this year, lowering his ERA to 1.86 in the no decision. In a normal game, I wouldn't be surprised that Wakefield has shut down the Indians early in the year, but the Indians slump didn't exactly help matters. The fluttering knuckle ball proved to be too much for the Indians' bats. Like I said, I'm not surprised.
Wedge ejection
Is it a coincidence that Eric Wedge was thrown out of the game the same day as he laid out his team to the media? I still haven't seen why he was tossed, and there likely was a good reason, but I'm sure there was a statement in there somewhere. There always is. Wedge took his veterans to the shed for their lack of offense, and re-iterated that this is now a veteran club. I couldn't agree more.
On a personal note, it's really good to be back blogging about the Tribe. I'm not here to take anything too seriously at this point in my life. I love every nuance of every game, win or lose. I was scrolling through my blogroll the other day, reading several different blogs, and there are a lot of good ones out there that are related to the Tribe. I actually got an e-mail today from a new viewer asking why I promote other blogs, and I had to reply with the truth. "I Love them all." It's funny. Over the years, I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly of Indians' blogging. I've been part of all three, and proud of it. That said, everyone's got something to say. I watched Wood tonight get lit up throwing a 99 MPH fastball. Some will say it's not a big deal. Some will scream that it's the return of JoeBo. Some will blame inactivity. Some will blame back-to-back games. Some will stop watching for a week. Others won't be able to wait for game two. There will be some data to support it all. What's my point? It's baseball, and it doesn't get better than this...
...other than a win...
...and a record over .500...
...and beating the Red Sox...
...and...
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