[cknox0723]

Originally Posted by Y0DA55

Nice. We have a pennant race going here!

Not for long, the way this one was going. With Buehrle throwing the ball all over the place and worse, Cleveland ace Josh Beckett getting hurt, giving Boston more than a fighting chance even with "The Lesser Martinez" on the mound. But...

I WANT to see these guys in the playoffs!

By the grace of Buehrle, you will. The southpaw responded to a first-inning that looked like it was out of control by making just a few decent pitches, but that was enough. Tony Giarratano bounced out to his counterpart Ramon Vazquez on a 3-0 fastball. Wilton Reynolds hacked at a fat 2-0 heater, but got way under it, hitting an infield fly that Frank Catalanotto snagged. And Carlos Pena capped off an inning of lost at-bats by topping a three-oh pitch, hitting a weak bouncer that Adam Kennedy handled with ease and chucked over to first for out number three.

Frank Catalanotto led off the second with a triple. Two batters later, catcher Yorvit Torrealba brought him home with a thunderous double off the left-center field fence. Ramon Vazquez came through with a two-out base knock as he has so many times this season. Though Magglio Ordonez would strike out after a Scott Podsednik walk, putting the lead at two runs instead of three or four, the Pale Hose suddenly had some momentum.

And with that, Mark Buehrle coasted the whole darned way. The first Detroit hit was left fielder Reynolds' single to lead off the fourth; he'd be erased by Reed Johnson's inning-ending double play. There was an encore performance in the fifth, and then you had to know that the baseball gods were smiling down on us when Tony Giarratano lined into a double play to end the sixth, into the score books as 3U.

Journeyman reliever Nelson Cruz would wander into seventh-inning trouble by giving up two quick hits to Buehrle (of all people) and Ramon Vazquez, but he would wander out after a sacrifice bunt would waste an out that we need not have thrown away, as "Buddha" whiffed. Eric Munson would make the third out by popping off a can of corn to right.

The lead was still two-nothing, but again we'd muffed an opportunity to make it more, and it looked as though that was something to regret when left fielder Reynolds and pinch-hitter Chris Shelton each knocked one-baggers into left to start the seventh. "The Buehrle One" is no Nelson Cruz, for sure, but the Tigers are not the Pale Hose, either. And apples are not oranges.



Regardless of what Mark Buehrle is (a bona fide ace) or isn't (a Cy Young candidate), he did get out of that seventh-inning jam, first by striking out Reed Johnson, and then Mike Hessman after loading the bases. Ty Wigginton hits into the fourth Detroit double play to erase Junior Spivey's single to lead off the eighth, and Buehrle gets a standing ovation from one guy sitting on a piggy bank in front of a computer screen as he departs after fanning Jason Alfaro to end the inning. Pinch-hitter Enrique Wilson draws a leadoff walk batting in Buehrle's spot in the last frame, and Ramon Vazquez follows with a two-bagger. Both of those guys end up coming home, giving the visitors a 4-0 lead and their de-facto manager enough comfort to bring in old friend Jon Rauch (remember him?) to get the last three outs. He has his speed bumps, and of course Scott Podsednik makes an error in left field, as though his oh-for-two day at the plate isn't lousy enough. But "The Hypothetical Power Forward" retires "Pudge" Rodriguez on a comebacker for the twenty-seventh out, keeping the shutout intact.



CHW 4 DET 0

WP: M. Buehrle (17-8) - 8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 89 pitches on three days' rest
LP: R. Harden (9-16) - 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R (maybe we will get lucky and Detroit will trade him because of his undeserved lousy won-loss record)

Game Ball Goes to... "The Buehrle One" was OK, I guess. What the hey.

But the best part is... Cleveland beat Boston! 7-3, thanks to another late-inning bullpen meltdown. Proven Closer (TM) Keith Foulke has frequently been the culprit this year (31 saves, but 5.11 ERA and 4-11 record), but this time it was seventh-inning middleman Bartolome Fortunato who poured gasoline on the fire, serving up a two-run Molotov to center fielder Corey Patterson, who upped his September batting average to approximately .973 with that blast. Actually it is .455, and that's impressive enough in its own right, even for a month. Four fifty-five! Southpaw JC Romero came in and couldn't really do much better, in the end battered for a couple of singles and a couple of doubles, which is really just a couple too many.

Division mates Minnesota won their seventh in a row to stay mathematically alive for the wild card, and the same for the third-place team in the East, Baltimore, but Boston is still the only one in the rearview mirror. And at two games out with five to play, I have an inkling that they are going to be "The Other Sox" this year.