John Lackey made one mistake among 113 model pitches.
He left 1 pitch, one pitch out of so many where the hitter could capitalize and even while 99.992% of is pitches were all but perfect, we pouted and uttered some naughty words when that one mistake took away what could have been the perfect bookend to a career year for John lackey: a no hitter. After pitching the first 6.1 innings without allowing a hit, Lackey was just 7 outs away from becoming the first Sox since Jon Lester in 2008 to complete the No-no when Adam Jones capitalized on a stunning 0-1 pitch driving the ball to deep left field and earning the first of just 2 hits on the night for Baltimore.
"Oh no" was a common exclamation around 9 PM last night but eve while that cry was omnipresent in Fenway park as Jones touched home, Sox fans soon recovered and tipped their caps to a man whom that had relearned how to cheer for. John Lackey pitched his best game as a Red Sox last night but what’s better is the fact that for the first time since 2009, the team that was will have handed him 15,000,000$ by the end of the year will be competing for the right to go to the World Series.
"I mean, it's nice to be a part of going to the playoffs," Lackey said post-game. "There was a lot of hard work getting back to this point, for sure. To be back here and be pitching well again and being healthy, it's been fun."
But while last night's game officially ended a 4 year stretch with a lot more booing than cheering, the Sox are not celebrating yet.
"We know where we're at," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "We know what was pending. We still feel like the next step is a more important one than this. We know that we're in. We've said a few times that winning the East, that's been a stated goal since Day One of Spring Training. That's getting closer. I think that will be more the realization of where we've come from and where we are at that moment."
Prior to tonight's match-up with the Jays, the Red Sox stand 9 games secure of the Tampa Bay Rays for the division lead and have lowered their magic number for clenching the division to just 1 game. With the next occurrence of either a loss for the Rays or a win for the Sox, that goal that they have worked so hard to realize will finally have been reached.
In the court of public opinion, the Boston Red Sox have won the AL east but according to the math, nothing is truly set in stone and for that reason, no post game celebrations were held well, that is not post game celebrations involving the Red Sox players. For those who watched last night's game with either an open mind or one slanted in favor of the Sox, you could not help but yell in delight, jump on top of a chair and celebrate like you had just won a championship.
Lackey hurled 9 innings of 2 hit ball, walking just 2 and lowering his season ERA by almost a full 10th of a percent. But what’s better is the fact that finally, a near perfect game by John Lackey coincided with an acceptable game by Sox batters.
Whether it be a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 2nd inning by Stephan Drew or any of the 5 extra base hits that guys like Jarrod Saltilamaccia, Jackie Bradley Junior and without a doubt Drew who went 2 for 3 with a homer and a triple put up, Boston won. 3 runs was enough.
"The remake of John Lackey, both physically and getting back on the mound and performing as he's done all year, mirrors that of this team," Farrell said. "It's somewhat fitting that to clinch a spot to get into the playoffs is with him on the mound and to go nine innings the way he did, like I said, very fitting."
John Lackey might very well go down as the MLB's best comeback player in 2013 but on a team that will likely finish the year having gone from last to first in just 1 season that title of comeback player should be amended to comeback PLAYERS of the year. What the Sox have done is spectacular but they will look to lock it all up tonight when it is as simple as this: you win the game and the division is officially yours.
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