Liveblog - ALCS Game 7: Rays 3, Sox 1

Three closing thoughts:
1) That called third strike to Kotsay was way outside
2) Should Tampa fans really celebrate when none of them can name more than half the roster?
3) You score 1 run, you deserve to lose. I'll give it 72 hours before we learn what surgery Papi needs.

Obama '08.

PS Apparently blogger.com had some problems, so we kinda jumped from the 5th to the 8th... well, my rants weren't exactly Shakespeare, and I guess you get what you pay for...

Bot 8: Okay, either way this works out, it is not safe for my laptop to be in my lap because it is too convenient a projectile... Postgame commentary (rant) at the end...

Top 8: I guess Garza is out there to get out Cora, who was in there because he can hit fastballs, except for the fact that he can't. Whoa! Big E6! Somewhere, some Cora-fan (somewhere in the universe, that person exists) is claiming that Cora's sense of the game caused him to hit an easy groundball to SS, knowing full-well it'd be booted. C'mon Coco, don't suck... While we wait for the warm up, I'll note that back in the day (say, mid-2005) you'd just start counting how the Sox could get to Papi, because if you could, you'd feel good. Now, not so much... C'mon Cocobean... One problem I have with Coco, it seems to me that on the pitches he fouls off, if he had made 'good' contact, they would have been pop-ups on the infield...hey, a seeing eye single for us!!! Do you walk Pedey to get to Ortiz? ha ha... no, i'm serious... FUCKING POP UP!!! Can Ortiz just at least not GIDP so Youk can hit? C'mon Papi, hit smart! Your wrist is too screwed up for you to hit a homer, you just can't hit a good pitch, you can only hit screw ups. So don't try, else you'll whiff or hit into a DP. Use your frickin' brain boss... Ick, down 0-2 looking at a strike and swinging at a ball... prediction, Papi will look at strike 3 on outside corner... it is so sad to see Papi as a shell of his former self... 2-2 count... weak grounder to second... not sure that was the right play, and Coco was actually safe if he slides to the bag, the moron. Replays further confirm that if Coco had a good slide he's safe... Youk at 3-0 now, green light? swing at ball 4 to fill the count... ball4, bases juiced for Drew (my brain is exploding). Holy shit, this is unbelievable, a hit ties it (shoudln't we pinch run for Papi, since he can't hit anyway?), an out and we likely lose. WHAT< style="font-style: italic;">will Papi do anything? C'mon boss, do something for me here!!! PAPI, TRY TO HIT AN OUTSIDE PITCH TO THE OPPOSITE FIELD!!!! I think Ron Darling is mocking Buck Martinez by also pronouncing his name OR-teez. Jeezus he looks bad up there... Full count now, Garza at 99 pitches... FUCK FUCK FUCK, Papi whiffs on a horrible pitch. Rays 2, Sox 1; FG: 26%; Garza 100

Bot 5: Shit, another leadoff hit. Better a double than a walk, though, as the latter score more often... Really, the catcher just got an infield hit?! Hey Rocco, I think your mitochondria are feeling tired... Seeing eye single to take the lead... such shit...Caray just asks how big two out hits are in the postseason, despite there being no outs in this inning... C'mon Lester, two pitches: K, DP...Okay there's the K. Huge leverage situation here, two outs, men on second and third: a hit and you're screwed, with LBJ up to bat. Do not f'ing intentionally walk Upton! NICE! Okay, couldda been much worse... Rays 2, Sox 1; FG 34%; Lester @ 83

Top 5: I'd love for someone to figure out if scoring-after-your-opponent-scores correlates at all with winning (as opposed to scoring an inning after they score or what have you) because if the Red Sox score here, the Talking Heads will love it. Hey, um, we haven't had a base hit since the first... but now we have Alex Cora, Fastball Hitter Extraordinaire, is batting... and looking at fastballs whiz by him... Sox 1, Rays 1; FG 43%; Garza @ 75 (9 pitch inning; wtf?)

Bot 4: Rays get their first hit, and a leadoff one at that. Now El BJ is up... He's really due for a GDP... or a K. A K works too. Ah fuck, Longoria hits it the one place a guy can score from first. Tek may not have optimally set up for that throw... Ok Lester, get out of this while we still have the tie. The ump just blocked Youk getting to that pop-up. Stupid fat ass (the ump). Sox 1, Rays 1; FG 50%; Lester @ 63 pitches.

Top 4: Couldn't find anything definitive on Rocco's broken mightychondria. I found a website for people with this problem, but nothing specific. It seems to be incredibly vague, in that I can think of a lot of ways in which your mitochondria can be f'd up, so the causative genetic abnormality is likely to differ from patient to patient. Garza is dealing too, btw. One total hit though 21 outs... Sox 1, Rays 0; FG: 57%; Garza 66 pitches

Bot 3: There's a guy in an Obama shirt sitting right behind home plate. I would think this is just a coincidence, but the guy is advertising on video games, so you never know. BTW, how many nails can McCain's electoral coffin hold, because Powell on MTP was about another dozen. Does anyone know what Baldelli's mitochondrial disorder actually is? I mean, is the gene known? I'll look into this... Lester cruising Sox 1, Rays 0; FG: 62%

Top 3: TBS crew says that Francona likes to start Cora against pitchers with fastballs. Now, they may have heard someone say that, but I've never heard that before, and I'm pretty sure I know more about the Red Sox, as someone who follows the team day-to-day, than these hosers. Oh, every pitcher throws fastballs, and if Francona thought Lowrie couldn't hit a fastball, I'm pretty sure he'd still be in AAA. But otherwise, great point. Coco goes down again, ofertwo from the leadoff spot. Caray just called Pedroia "little horse" and the wife got angry (apparently she likes Pedroia... and is now noting how similar we look. Beer #3 about to be opened). The little horse got hbp on the bicep, which still almost resulted in a home run, that's how awemvpsome he is (for the record, I don't think Pedroia should win the MVP). The little horse gallops to second, stealing the base. Ortiz whiffs on a bad pitch. I'm a bit worried that his one HR has given him a false sense of confidence. Clearly, he's not right, and the less he tries to hit it over everyone's head and the more he tries to hit it where they ain't -- the entire left side of the infield -- the better off we'll be. Sox 1, Rays 0; FG: 56%; Garza at 54 pitches

Bot 2: Still no word from the announcers why Cora is in there. Can you imagine -- and I guess if you are a Dodgers fan, with Vin Scully, you can -- what it would be like to just have one guy in the booth? How great would that be?! Although, I think Sox fans are spoiled because Don & Remy are really good on NESN. I don't know why they feel the need to bring in 'national' (read: know-nothing) announcers for the playoffs. Why can't we just have the home team announce? Lester has an easy second, he's pitching smoothly. Sox 1, Rays 0; FG: 61%

Top 2: The albino physicist hawking Sharp products is just damn weird. They're replaying the home plate ump getting hurt last night -- why don't NFL officials get hurt, like, on every play? They're mostly all old men (with day jobs as lawyers) and they are surrounded by giant men, in pads, trying to kill each other. Garza has removed the ear plugs. Sox going quickly here in the second... Buck Martinez thinks that catchers and shortstops don't ever need to hit to contribute, and doesn't really follow up on that. Buck Martinez is a bit dumb. Garza averages just under 3 walks per 9, so walks will have to come after multiple foul balls. A buddy and I once wondered if fouling balls off is a specific skill -- i.e. can you try to fould balls off, or at you just making contact when other batters would whiff? I write this as Tek is battling nicely into a full count... and Ks looking. Sox 1, Rays 0; FG: 55%

Bot 1: A bit surprised to see Cora in there at short. Lowrie hasn't done crap at the plate, but Cora is no great shakes either. Can we just walk Upton? At least from the first two batters, this is the good Lester tonight, in that he's hitting Varitek's glove. Upton gives it a ride, but because the pitch was away, he couldn't get it out. Ron Darling thinks Lester looks good so far. Nice first inning, three up, three down. 1-0 Sox; 60% chance of winning from Fangraphs

Top 1: Auspicious sign for Garza, wearing earplugs for a home game. The wife just had an excellent question -- where's the ump who got hurt yesterday? Dunno.... and GONE FOR PEDROIA! I wonder if Garza can hear the crack of the bat through his ear plugs... Garza had to work in first, that's good, throwing 20 pitches. 1 - 0 Sox after a half.

Okay, can the Sox pull this off? They have the right guy on the mound in Lester. Garza throws heat, but doesn't particularly scare me. The strength of the Rays staff is their bullpen, and they've been quite uneven for the past two games. Not sure how much gas is left in the Sox pen either, though, but remember, Lester is going with extra rest, so if he's on, he can go for awhile. Let's go Sox!