I must admit that Junichi Tazawa impressed the hell out of me last night. In the 1st inning of his 1st Major League start, Nick Green's errant throw spoils a potential inning ending double play. Tazawa kept the damage to a minimum, and cruised once he got out of the inning. He was cool as a cucumber, going 5 innings, and truly earning his first MLB win.
In a game that had multiple ejections, Mike Lowell made perhaps the biggest statement of all. He replaced the ejected Youkilis, and went 2 for 3 with a pair of homers. He hasn't been playing much lately. He's had 7 of the last 22 games off. And I don't think he's too happy about it. Honestly, I think he should be sat in order to keep him fresh, but not as often as he's been benched. His bat is so much better than Varitek's.
The whole beanball thing? Well, that was just one of those baseball kind of things. I'll give credit to Rick Porcello for the nice takedown on Youkilis. And I can't blame Youk for charging the mound after getting hit yesterday, and already seeing Victor Martinez thrown at.
Hopefully, it's all settled now.
The Yankees came behind to beat the Jays 7-5. The Indians shutdown the Rangers 5-0. The Rays were shutout 6-0 by the Angels. So the Sox now have a 1.5 game cushion in the Wild Card.
The Tigers send Amando Galarraga to the hill to face Josh Beckett Wednesday night. Beckett hasn't allowed a run in 14 innings.
Source:
ESPN.com
Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Elise Amendola
