139 (Day Three)

Riddle me this, Ozzie. In the tenth inning, why do you intentionally walk Torii Hunter to set up the force and then not hold him on first base so that he strolls down to second, not even earning a stolen base because it's ruled "defensive indifference"? Or why do you not walk Hunter in the eighth inning with first base open and then watch him drive in the tying run? (Oz answered that one by saying he never wants to put the winning run on base intentionally, which the Update sort of understands.) Whether questionable strategy made a difference or not, the Sox lost last night, wasting a fine performance from Javier Vazquez. Javy tossed seven innings, giving up only one earned run on four hits, seven strikeouts, and one walk and left with a 4-1 lead. The relievers couldn't hold it and the Sox dropped a game they should have won.

The Update warned you this might happen. Check out the April 30 blog entry, which told you not to get too comfortable if the Sox jumped out to a lead on this road trip because they'd allowed the home team to come from behind to win five times. Last night's defeat was the third "come from ahead" loss out of four total losses on this current trip. (The Update also encouraged you not to give up on the Sox if they fell behind in these games because they'd come from behind themselves in all of their prior road wins. This trip, they've done it once out of their two wins.)

The loss means the Sox are now 5.5 games behind Cleveland and the Magic Number is stuck on 139. The Good Guys can't afford to let the Indians run away from them, so they need to get their game in gear. At least the bats were working last night in the temperature-controlled Metrodome. Maybe today the Sox figure out a way to beat the Piranhas. Go Sox!