I will ask you this: when the MLB season began 91 days ago, could you possibly fathom that just 2 games after the halfway mark of the season, the Boston Red Sox, the "F*****g Boston Red Sox" as Dustin Pedroia famously said through his anger over last season's brutal under performance, would be 50 and 34? I certainly didn't.
Yet regardless of how crazy it is, the Sox defied preseason expectations today reaching a plateau many believed it would take much longer to achieve. They have become just the 2nd team in Baseball to win 50 games this year: hers how they got that elusive completion of their half centennial of victories.
Opening the scoring late in the second inning, the Sox quickly jumped out to a commanding 3-0 lead before seeing that forceful advantage nearly erased by a second inning surge by the frantic Jays. With the Sox still up by one, Boston’s beloved rallying point continued to fight, as they gained yet another tick on the scoreboard in their first opportunity to follow up on the Jay's 2 run 4th inning.
Nevertheless it was after that addition to their advantage that things turned sour for Boston. Fact is the Red Sox were just 2 outs away from winning the game when midway through the top of the 9th a crucial game tying blast by Jose Bautista sent things to the bottom of the frame with the Sox and Jays now notated at 4.
Long story short, with two teams livid with vast assortments of skill and hitting strength you think it would be a play by such a player that would seal the game: wrong. After 9 innings of a crucial rubber match in a sires already dominated by the Red Sox, and with pinch runner Johnathan Diaz sitting on third, a routine ground-ball up the middle of the field was bobbled by substitute first basemen Josh Thole and allowed to bounce into right field.
Seeing what was going to happen perhaps a second before it did, Diaz exploded off the second base bag and forcefully roared down the line before sliding along towards home. The Red Sox were winners again, again being for the 50th time all year and you know, after a week of some of the worst days in Boston sports history we needed this one.
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