Quite the Comeback Win
If only every game was this great. Jon Lester looked mediocre as always, throwing 97 pitches without getting out of the 5th inning. He walked 5 while striking out only 3 and was saved by the Sox bullpen and timely hitting, and of course, Joe Borowski sucking.
(Thanks to the Globe for this picture)
Julian Tavarez once again proved he is an invaluable piece of this Red Sox team, coming in in the 5th and getting 8 outs to keep the Sox in the game and bridge the gap between the starting pitcher and the bullpen outstandingly. His ERA on the year is still high at 4.26, but he did strike out 3 guys last night which is a good sign. Add in the fact that Kyle Snyder was waived and I think its safe to say that Tavarez is here for the year. Remember, he was a big question mark coming in to this year with Buchholtz making the rotation and a fairly full bullpen. Everyone was pointing to last year when he was left off the post-season roster, expecting him to be traded or otherwise released, but once again, Julian has showed that he is an important part of this team.
Yes, I along with everyone else who tried to run him out of town in 2006 am now eating my words. He stepped up at the end of that year making starts down the stretch after struggling in relief through much of the season, and was impressive last year starting 23 games and even though he did tire down the stretch, still gave 134 innings (his most since Florida in 2002 when he made 27 starts). All is mostly forgivable when you are getting this many starts out of a guy who was supposed to be nothing more than a 50 inning bullpen guy.
The rest we all know - Manny is awesome, especially against the Indians (who have apparently stopped throwing quarters at him after he left for more money in 2001), Ortiz hit .400 in this game showing that his slump is hopefully over (in spite of striking by missing 3 straight Betancourt pitches) and Papelbon mowed them down like we’ve all come to take for granted.
Yes, that is all true but the real hero of last night was Julian Tavarez. In a game that was looking like it could be a blow out, the Sox end up winning rather convincingly. Now for the 2 game sweep tonight!
Stumble it!