Blue Jays vs Red Sox (4/17-4/19)

Game 1: The Red Sox lost a close one on Tuesday night by the score of 2-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. With the exception of one inning, Daisuke Matsuzaka looked great as he struck out 10 batters. Matsuzaka allowed 2 runs over 6 innings, however, 2 of those runs may have come as a result of some unfortunate calls that did not go the way of the Red Sox.

Gustavo Chacin tossed 7 solid innings for the Blue Jays. His only blemise was a solo blast to Wily Mo Pena which appeared that it could be one of the longest homeruns ever hit in the building. The ball landed on top of the restaurant in centerfield almost directly above the 400 foot sign. The Blue Jays moved into 1st place with the victory.

Game 2: Tim Wakefield's start of the 2007 season is becoming quite the story for the Red Sox. Wakefield turned in his 3rd consecutive gem, pitching 7 innings and only allowed 1 earned run. Brendan Donnelly picked up where Wakefield left off and pitched a scoreless inning. Jon Papelbon closed it out, but not before allowing the tying run to come to the plate with 2 outs. Papelbon struck out the side, including Adam Lind to end the Blue Jays late threat.

Mike Lowell, Doug Mirabelli, and David Ortiz all connected on solo homeruns and Doug Mirabelli added an additional RBI in the late stages of the ballgame. With the win, the Red Sox take back 1st place in the AL East but now face Roy Halladay in tomorrow's matinee.

Game 3: Julian Tavarez did what he had to do. He kept the Red Sox close. Tavarez allowed three runs over 5.1 innings and left the ballgame with a 3-1 deficit. From there, the bullpen took over and shut down the Blue Jays. Joel Pineiro, JC Romero, Mike Timlin, and Jonathan Papelbon contributed to the brilliant effort.

The Red Sox appeared to be in some trouble in the 8th inning down by 2 runs, but Manny Ramirez picked the perfect time to hit his first long ball of the season. Ramirez hit a 2-run shot to dead center to tie the ballgame. That would be the only scoring the Red Sox would do in the 8th inning.

Mike Timlin came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th for the Red Sox and got himself into a jam after Vernon Wells lead off the inning with a double to deep center. Fortunately, Timlin was able to get an out before intentionally walking Lyle Overbay (a correct decision made my manager Terry Francona). The intentional pass that was issued to Overbay set up an inning ending double play. The play at first base was extremely close thanks to a poor throw to 2nd base by Mike Timlin. The Blue Jays runner appeared safe, but was called out. A fact that likely wouldn't have mattered because Overbay (who was running from 1st to 2nd) performed a take out slide that would likely have been deemed illegal if the runner at 1st base was safe. Alex Cora, who played shortstop for the Red Sox, was a victim of Overbay's takeout slide and Cora felt that it was a dirty play on Overbay's behalf.

In the top of the 9th, Alex Cora smacked an RBI triple for the go-ahead run. Coco Crisp scored Cora on a sacrifice fly to deep center field to make it a 5-3 ballgame. Jonathan Papelbon came in to finish the game. Papelbon struck out the first two batters he faced before engaging in a long duel with Alex Rios which resulted in an out and a Red Sox win. With the win, the Red Sox remain 1 game ahead of the New York Yankees who won on another Alex Rodriguez walkoff homerun.

In my estimation, this game was the best game of the year for the Red Sox so far. The Red Sox rallied and were able to overcome the odds of having to face one of the AL's best pitchers in Roy Halladay with Julian Tavarez opposing him. Coco Crisp did some good things, as did Tavarez, Cora, and Ramirez. All in all it was a very encouraging victory for the Red Sox (now 9-5 and 7-2 in their last 9 games).

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a three game series with the New York Yankees on Friday night at Fenway Park. Curt Schilling will take the mound for the Red Sox and will be opposed by Andy Pettitte.