Sunday, August 19, 2007

The Comeback Kids

Curt Schilling didn't have it last night, giving up 5 runs in six innings, but the Red Sox staged a dramatic comeback from 5-0 down, scoring 6 runs in the fifth and four more in the eighth to beat the LA Angels last night, 10-5. It was Schilling's first win since his near no-hitter back in June.

David Ortiz capped the comeback with a grand slam that put the Red Sox ahead to stay (pictured). It was looking rather grim in the fifth as Schilling gave up a home run to Vladimir Guerrero, but the offense came alive against Jered Weaver in the inning, knocking him out of the game.

It is the fourth time this week that the Sox have come from behind. The staged the dramatic two-run ninth on Tuesday; came from six runs down on Wednesday, only to come up one run short in the ninth; they came from three runs down in the second game on Friday with a four-run eighth to take the lead, only to have Eric Gagne get torched in the ninth; and yesterday's return from a five-run deficit to win.

One thing that had been worrying me about this team was the offense in general, and they didn't seem to have a great ability to come back from big deficits. They've shown me something this week.

Bobby Kielty was added to the roster last night, and Jacoby Ellsbury was optioned back to Pawtucket. He'll get a start today, and Julian Tavarez will get a spot start as well. This will allow Tim Wakefield, undefeated at the Tropicana Dome in St. Petersburg, to get the start against Scott Kazmir tomorrow night. It also sets up the Red Sox rotation nicely for the New York series beginning August 28, with Daisuke Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling pitching in succession.

1 comment:

Michael Leggett said...

The Offense is driving me to drink, on occasion.