Saturday, July 31, 2010

As The Deadline Nears

I missed most of last night's Red Sox game, as I've had a sudden surge in background acting parts, with the new TV season coming shortly. I got back just in time to see the Detroit Tigers score twice against Tim Wakefield, and it was 6-1 in the 8th and it looked like a loss was a certainty.

Jon Lester just didn't have it on Friday night, as he allowed four runs on eleven hits in six innings. He gave up two home runs to Jhonny Peralta, who Detroit had just gotten in a trade with Cleveland (figures).

But at least the Red Sox went down with a fight. Jose Valverde walked the bases loaded with one out in the ninth, and David Ortiz hit a line drive grand slam into the right field seats down the line and it was 6-5. Adrian Beltre doubled and J.D. Drew was walked intentionally to bring up Mike Cameron with two outs.

But Cameron got caught looking at a third strike and it was over. A great comeback was not to be, and with Tampa Bay beating New York, the Sox could gain no ground, and are now 6 1/2 back of Tampa Bay for the Wild Card, and 7 1/2 behind New York.

Game 2 of the series takes place at 4:10 PM today, with Daisuke Matsuzaka taking on Max Scherzer. It starts 10 minutes after the trading deadline happens. What will the Red Sox do? I really think they will make a move or two, but there are no strong rumors happening even right now (it is 1:05 PM as I write this).

Sit tight, folks.

The Sox can still swing deals in August, through the waiver wire. A bit tougher to do, but they got both Alex Gonzalez and Billy Wagner that way last year. So if it passes with nothing significant, it's not the end of the world.

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