Imagine using chlorine as an eye-wetting replacement for Visine. Burns, right? That’s about how I feel after watching the Red Sox blow a ninth inning tonight to the Mets. I would almost rather have my scrotum nailed to a park bench while being attacked by an army of ants! OK, maybe that is a tad bit extreme, but there are very few felling in sports worse than losing game, that is seemingly already been won.
To recap, Papelbon enters the game in the 9th with a 2-1 lead. He looks scared to death of the first batter he faces, Gary Sheffield, and promptly walks him. Now he’s got problems, because the best hitter in the Mets lineup is at the plate, David Wright. No worries, Paps blows away Wright and the next batter, Jeremy Reed. Both guys look over-matched.
Whew, I think as the next batter is some triple-A catcher with one career home run. Nice win and though the Sox have not played well this year, they will find themselves back in first place.
The best laid plans . . ., the first pitch (at 97 MPH, no less) Santos sees is sent deep to left and barely clears the “Monster” for a game winning two run homer. What? Are you kidding me, Omar Santos just took Papelbon deep? And with the way Santos danced around the bases like Joe Carter did in game 6 of the 1993 World Series, you would have thought this game had more meaning than a regular season game in May. Note to Mets manager Jerry Manuel – you might want to sit Omar on Sunday, if not, he will certainly take one in the ribs for his extraordinary celebration.
The worst part of this – a month from now the Mets and the Yankees will engage in six games over 10 days and my guess is Santos, if he’s not back in Buffalo, will repeatedly crap himself. That’s how it always seems to work, guys go off against the Sox and then shrink when they see the big, bad pinstripes, a la Brad Lidge!
