Friday, July 21, 2006

SOX WIN A TOUGH ONE, THIS TIME AGAINST A REAL TEAM


The Sox bats finally seemed to wake up yesterday afternoon against the Rangers. Seven Sox starters had a hit, and 4 had multiple hit games. WM Pena returned to the lineup and went 2 for 3 with a pair of 2 out RBI. You might remember Willy Mo as the other outfielder who is batting .330.

Schilling wasn't his Schutout self that he's been lately, but he was good enough to pitch 7 innings and kept the Rangers to 4 runs, which gave the Sox a chance to win the game. Delcarmen pitched a scoreless 8th, and Timlin came in to close it out with a perfect 9th for his 2nd Save of the year.

I don't think I can say enough about how valuable Mike Timlin has been to the Sox these past few seasons. Since 2003, he's been our best and most consistent reliever. We saw the rise and fall of Allan Embree, the great season Foulke had in '04, and now Papelbon is the top man in the bullpen, but Timlin has always been there. He's given us 274.2 good innings in 3 and a half seasons. 18 Saves, 77 Holds, and 23 Wins.

Anyway, the Sox take their 4 game winning streak on the road to face Seattle. They also carry a 2.5 game lead in the division thanks to Toronto's 5-4 extra inning win over the Yankees. Another important standings note, the Sox now have the same record as the White Sox, who lead the Wild Card.

Kyle Snyder takes on Jamie Moyer in a late, late game tonight at SafeCo