Thrilling double header Saturday whispers of good and bad: Drew homers twice, Lackey dominates in loss

After Hurricane Arthur decided that we in Boston would rather get soaked in 10 inches of rain than watch a baseball game, the wallowing Red Sox compensated with a thrilling double header Saturday. Coming into the two game set with a win loss record of 38 and 47, the Sox saw Saturday as a chance to close the gap between themselves and the division leaders ahead of next weeks All Star break. 

The double header could help the Red Sox reverse some of the bad energy that has plagued the team for the better part of the first half by infusing the team with pride and a bit of momentum. 

At the end of the day the Sox had not done everything they wanted to. At the same time though, they had done things that no one expected prior to the double header. In winning game one with a score of 3-2 and loosing game two by a margin of 4-7, guys like Stephan Drew, John Lackey and Jon Lester played for contracts, statistical mediocrity instead of failure and reassertion as solid pieces of the Red Sox lineup. 

Beginning with Lester in game one, the Sox pitching pushed the limits of what defined a grey area in pitch count volume. Lester started the day with a win loss record of 9-7 going into his 18th game of the year. In a season marred by mediocrity and underperformance by men who were supposed pitching aces, Lester had remained a lonely bright spot for Boston, hurling a team high 122 innings pitched and an ERA of 2.73. Furthermore, in games that Lester lost, his shortcomings really had not been his fault. Much like John Lackey last year, Lester has often been given very little run support and seen his record suffer as a result of that.  

Though that was true once again in game one of the double header, Lester played good enough to not need such a petty thing as run support. Pitching 8 full innings with a hefty pitch count of 118 tosses, Lester allowed 5 hits and 0 earned runs striking out 7 and setting the stage for a stunning finish in the afternoon. 

With the game tied at 2-2 and 1 out in the 9th inning, Johnny Gomes stood on second base and took off running for 3rd as pinch hitter Johnathan Herrera cracked a broken bat single into shallow center field. Before the ball was even played, Gomes had rounded 3rd and by the time a wild through was caught about 10 feet to the left of the plate, Gomes had got there. Herrera logged his first career walk off to cap off a great performance by Lester and for once, the Sox fielders. 

Catcher David Ross praised his pitcher's pitch control. 

"He was really sharp today, throwing the ball to both sides of the plate [with a] down angle, great cutter, great breaking ball, had some phenomenal two-seam fastballs to get ground balls," Ross said. "Sometimes for me, Johnny can get a little rattled, but today he really kept his poise. We didn't really play well behind him, but he kept his poise, it was a very mature start for him today with great stuff."

Johnny Gomes hailed the fact that the team failed Lester again Saturday and yet as true aces do, he bailed them out.

"I really can't imagine the pressure of that along with the pressure of just trying to pitch your game and help your team win. If there's a book to be written, he's definitely writing about how to deal with it."

But beyond the thrill of game one, the Sox had to run back out onto the feild a few hours later. That game while ending with a different victor followed many of the same story lines. With a win loss record of 9 and 6, John Lackey pitched a strong quality start for the Sox but felt no run support and eventually fell apart late. Regardless though, Lackey hurled a very strong statistical outing 120 pitches, striking out 11 and allowing just 1 walk.  

Another similarity between game one and game two was the long balls lofted off the bat of Stephan Drew. Having spent his first 20 games as a 2014 Red Sox completely incapable of hitting baseballs, Drew came alive in both ends of the double header. With a batting average of .141, 2 RBI's and 0 home runs, Drew cast it all aside July 5th and lit up some fireworks of his own.  

Hitting balls out of the yard in both games, Drew finally married his fielding success with at least a measurable amount of power and offence. 

"It's a work in progress," Drew said. "Putting good swings on some pitches and getting some more results. That's a good feeling." 

His coach shared similar feelings about Drew's improvement.

"He's been working at some things, trying to get some timing. Good to see him get a couple of balls that he squares up to the pull side. It's not been a lack of work. It's not been a lack of effort by any means. Good to see him be in the mix here tonight and today." 

Now Drew's dominance was great, Lester and Lackey's strike out assaults were both admirable but the day was not without low lights. After the conclusion of game two John Lackey managed to stir up the emotions of the media. In reference to O's power threat Nelson Cruz's recent 50 game PED suspension, Lackey lashed out with pretty wild accusations.

“I’m not even going to comment on him,” Lackey said. “I’ve got nothing to say about him. There are things I’d like to say, but I’m not going to. You guys forget pretty conveniently about stuff.”

After those comments surface, O's manager Buck Showalter fired back in kind.

"There's so many insinuations, quite frankly, about people in every club. You usually don't hear those comments after a shutout or something," Showalter said. "I mean [Lackey's] doing really well. He's up throwing 93, 95 again and he's got one of the top ERAs in the American League, which with the DH means all of baseball. He's a good pitcher, so God bless him. He was good yesterday. Considering the timing of things, it's one of those things that you keep quiet about it and it reflects poorly upon the person who said it."

But perhaps the most stinging comment Showalter made in an interview with ESPN's Mike Lupica Show was that directed at the Sox other long ball hitters. 

"He might want to be more careful who he accuses of PED use. Just make sure he had no users on his team." 

But regardless, the Sox salvaged a promising performance Saturday at Fenway and that is a good thing.

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The deal with Stephan Drew: With Spring Training around the corner it is time for the Sox to cut ties with their shortstop

Between Will Middlebrooks' playing at 3rd base and the probability of Xander Bogaerts pressing for time at shortstop, there is no need for the services of Stephan Drew and yet here we are, just over a month before Spring Training and he is still here.

While opinions may vary on whether or not he should return to Boston the statistics, reports and direct quotations do not lie. Drew and his agent Scott Boras do not care which team they go to. They have their priorities laid out an they so carefully detail that with his career already firmly built up what Stephan Drew wants is a serious pay day that frankly, he may not be worth. While he did log his second best on base percentage since his rookie year in 2006 that OBP was still .040 less than fellow defense based infielder Dustin Pedroia and logged 80 fewer hits in a season where he came to the plate a rather whopping 442 times. As if his regular season offensive numbers were not bad enough, Stephan Drew was truly awful in October smacking a hit in just 11.1% of his at bats while getting on base at just a 14% clip. In 54 postseason at bats, Drew landed just 6 hits with 2 walks and a near constant at bat result of a simple, anticlimactic ground out. He was terrible and it seems that the only reason he is still here is what he does away from the plate. When it comes to defense, Stephan Drew is one of the best shortstops in baseball, committing just 8 errors in all of 2013 and repeatedly going up and getting towering line drives that very few other shortstops could even dream of getting.

Now for some the case could be made that a Red Sox team that scored 800+ runs in 2013 is not one in major need of the extra 40 RBI's the man who would come in to replace Drew should he leave really is special and must not be held out of the lineup any longer. Assertively hailed as baseball’s best prospect since Pedro Martinez, Xander Bogaerts is ready to take the MLB by storm. To state plainly, holding him out of the lineup would simply be an illogical decision on the part of the Boston Red Sox not only for the reason of Xander Bogaerts's need to play but also because of the station currently stewing over at 3rd base. As bad as he was at times this season, we must not forget that Will Middlebrooks is still the same human being who booted Kevin Youkilis from this town 2 seasons ago and frankly his omission from this lineup would be close to as heinous as an equal act committed against Xander Bogaerts. Like Xander, Middlebrooks is a small nimble base runner whose strong suit lies mainly with his quick reactionary snags of line drives drilled towards the "hot corner" he tends. Additionally, the loss Middlebrooks as would probably be the case if Drew stays in Boston would subtract a great young power threat from the middle of this Boston lineup that in a couple years will be greatly weakened via the possible retirement of David Ortiz.  

Yet through this all, through all this uncertainty the Red Sox are remaining professional, preparing to play for whatever team they land on next year. Earlier this week, Will Middlebrooks seemed to put to words this kind of preparation. 

"I haven’t talked to anyone about it,” he said. “I haven’t even talked to Stephen. I have to prepare like I’m the starting third baseman for the Red Sox. So I’m going to prepare, because regardless of what happens I’m going to be playing baseball somewhere. I’m hoping it’s in Boston because this is where I want to spend my career. I love it here. We’ll see, but, like I said, I’m going to be playing baseball so I have to be ready.”

You have to be ready, you have to be ready. That is pretty much it. Between the trio of Stephan Drew, Xander Bogaerts and Will Middlebrooks there is no shortage of talents and yet it is no secret that the Boston Red Sox must let one of those superstars go and in one simple opinion that someone has to be Stephan Drew. 

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2013 in 8 Days: A year of Leaders

Christmas has come and gone and New Years Day is just around the corner. As inspired by my 9 year old brother, during the 8 days spanning from Christmas morning to New Years morning "Go, Titletown" will add daily updates to an 8 part series remembering the highs, lows and all around heartwarming moments of 2013 in Boston Sports as well as a look ahead to what we might see in 2014. This is not a statistical analysis of these 298 professional sporting events that took place in Boston in 2013, this is a written rehashing and a reminder that we are the greatest sports town on the planet. 

Complete Schedule 

December 25th- A Year of Leaders

December 26th - Best Patriots Moments 

December 27th - Best Red Sox Moments

December 28th - Best Bruins Moments

December 29th - Top Plays 

December 30th - Top Games

December 31st - [To be determined] Is the Boston Athlete of 2013

January 1st - The Promise of 2014

- The Attacks

I stand 3 rows back from the curb of Boylston Avenue reveling in the contrast of mood that this piece of real-estate holds between the present moment and one lasting 12 seconds that occurred nearly 7 months earlier. 7 months ago, 3 lives ended while thousands were changed forever as the sounds, the shrapnel, and the gut wrenching sight of the human blood that stained those Boston sidewalks that afternoon broadcast to the world managed to bring tears to the eyes of the large majority of many an American. Within hours, the possibility of the twin explosions being accidental has been ruled out and as we stood in shock that evening we knew that terrorism had returned to this nation.

The Bruins game scheduled for that evening was cancelled as a result of the panic and "police activity" enveloping nearly the entire city and yet as the days went on and the thirst for justice harbored by many Bostonians, for the first time in years, sport was meaningless. Why, because just 4 days after the initial attacks, tragedy struck again. Late on the night of April 18th it was reported that men claiming to be the Marathon Bombers had carjacked Mercedes and then robbed its owner of 800$ via a withdrawal from a bank in nearby Watertown. Upon allowing the man to escape without suffering any physical harm he preceded to alert police officers of his recent ordeal all while the still on the loose bombers raced towards the borders of Boston. By then they had already gunned down a police officer at MIT and were soon confronted in a Watertown neighborhood by what was immediately identified as a full scale swat team.

Within minutes residents of the Laurel Avenue portion of Watertown were awakened to the sound of gunfire as within a span of just under 10 minutes the Tsarnaev brothers unloaded additional explosive devices and hundreds of rounds on the police officers who were making their attempts to bring them down.

To restate the words of any and all who heard or even saw the firefight that night, these men had one intent in mind: to kill anyone they came in contact with, and by extension terrorize as many human beings as possible. Once again, Boston was put into lock-down as governor Deval Patrick enacted a "shelter in place" order that encompassed 10 communities and effectively shut down all of Boston for the entire day. For all of 18 hours the entire nation stood still waiting for the hourly updates made by the Boston Police department and the eventual capture of the one brother who had escaped the shootout (Tamerlan Tsarnaev was suspected to have been run over by his brother and killed during the escape). Police enveloped Watertown in an unprecedented manhunt and yet we went on without any more information than the footage of the shootout, the names of the brothers and the desperate pleas of Tsarnaev family members.

"Give up. Give up." Djokhar's uncle said and yet, within hours of that plea being made public police finally found their man surrounding a blood stained boat in which the bomber was supposedly hiding. For the third time in less than a week, America stood tense as television broadcasts picked up the sounds of gunfire and sights of flash grenades being detonated in an attempt to stun Djokhar. They knew that taking their suspect alive was optimal but at the same time understood the imminent possibility that this man was armed and ready to go down with one final massacre. Luckily things would not have to come to that and at 8:42PM, the drama and fear turned to celebration. 

One bomber was dead and as for the other, he will likely be behind bars for the rest of his time on this planet. 

- This is our city

The imminent danger of death had passed as there was no longer a violent duo of psychopaths rampaging through our 90 square mile metropolis and yet while the sight of Djokhar being carted away from that blood stained boat caused us a brief time of relief as the stories, pictures and memories flooded back we began to grasp what had truly happened. 

Perhaps the strongest maytr like figure that came out of this all was deceased 8 year old boy, Martin Richards. He was just 8 years old and yet in the blink of an eye, he and his family who were standing just a few feet away from the second bomb blast were mutilated as his sister Jane lost a leg, his mother lost sight in her eye via the damage of a ball bearing while his father has lost most of his hearing. However to this day, the family is grieving not for their lost limbs or human senses but for their family member. Martin loved the Bruins to an obsession and frequently attended games with his father mainly for the reason that he loved sports altogether. 

In the wake of his death, those sports teams that he loved, loved him back grieving as much as anyone else while also speaking in their mind and reminding Bostonians of the true unifying power that sport can have on a people no matter how devastated they may be. That fandom was combined with yet another strong form of modern culture in the first major sporting event after the bombing. On April 17th the Watertown shootout had not even occurred but nevertheless, when legendary anthem singer, Rene Rancourt came onto the ice to sing the Star Spangled banner prior to the Bruins game against the Buffalo Sabers the 17,565 fans present that night cut him off. For 3 minutes they sang the long, drawling words of the United States' signature song and for all present and all watching the game on TV, it was beautiful. The aucapella anthem was a tradition that was carried on for 3 more home games before on the last day of the year, Rancourt took over again. But regardless of that, the magic had already sunk in and those few days in April were the beginning of the healing process for Bostonians.   

However, the Bruins were not the only team to save their city in the wake of the attacks. 

What the Boston Red Sox did this season was in a way far more magical than anything the Bruins did. When you watched games at Fenway there was this inherent feeling of will to succeed that radiated from every corner of the age old stadium. There was the 617 jersey that hung in the Boston dugout for the entire duration of the season after the bombing and yet that was not the most lasting aspect of the Red Sox leadership in tragedy.  

"This jersey that we're wearing today it doesn't say 'Red Sox.' It says, 'Boston.' We want to thank you for you, Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, the whole police department, for the great job that they did this past week," Ortiz said during his now fabled pregame speech prior to the Sox first game after the Watertown Shootout "This is our f******city. And nobody is going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong" 

Less than 2 hours after that cry that I point out was responded to by the FCC as "a speech that was said from the heard" and "what all Bostoinans are thinking today", NESN play by play man, Don Orsillo made one of the signature calls of this 2013 season. As Stephan Drew belted a long home run into the Sox bullpen, the lovable voice echoed across the airwaves screaming "Boston! This one's for YOU!" 

-Triumph 

The World Series was fitting. 

A long, 6 game series that had both it's ups and downs resembled greatly 2013 as a whole as game 3's terrible ending on terms of an obstruction call seemed to be a low while the very next game involved the greatest hit of Johnny Gomes' career and ended with a bizarre, walk off pick off play at first base. Koji Uehara condensed a season of success into one final pitch that won it all while David Ortiz put up one of the greatest performances ever by a DH batting .760 in 16 World Series at bats.  

As Koji hurled that final pitch of that final out in that final game of this year's World Series, the celebration was for more than the trophy they had won. They were relieved, and genuinely proud of what they had brought their city. As captured by a home video in the Red Sox commemorative video "Band of Bearded Brothers," there was excitement in the air as people appreciated what the Red Sox had done. 

As David Ortiz grabbed his teammate, Koji Uehara and held him above his head he was raising not just 1 person but an entire city. David Ortiz eased the pain of what happened on April 15th and while we will never forget what happened that day the same can be said for the leadership that Boston sports have exhibited in this year of sports. 



Visual Accompaniment click here

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This is for you Boston: Part 1 - The Team

"This is for you Boston, you've been through a lot, this one's for you!" ~David Ortiz after winning the World Series MVP 

There are times in each of our lives when the happiness we feel cannot be described. But in this case the thing is in most cases what makes that kind of happiness so indescribably memorable is the negativity and horror that preceded it. Not a single person in Massachusetts escaped last April without bearing the newly opened scars solicited by the brutality of the Boston Marathon Bombings of April 15th 2013.

What happened that day killed 3 people and mutilated the bodies and minds of hundreds and even millions across this city and nation. You didn't have to be there in Copley Square, we all felt it, we all panicked and sat glued to our TV screens as Boston was shut down and the Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics cancelled all their games for the week.

"They killed an 8 year old, my son is 8 years old." David Ortiz was reported as saying in the dugout prior to his now famed "This if our f*****g city" speech.

But while the days separating us and that dreadful day turned into weeks and then months we never forgot but we did move forward turning instead to focus on a team that symbolized the spirit of this town. You can knock the Red Sox down but you will never take them out.

They were the only team in baseball without a losing streak longer than 3 games and never went almost 3 months without losing back to back home games. They came back in 27 games. They nabbed 13 walk-offs and above all lost just 65 games. When you look back, so many facets of this, longest season in Red Sox history made it memorable.

You had the beards which were spearheaded by a Mike Napoli who, despite his struggled clocked 23 home runs in 2013. You cheered as David Ortiz recorded his 7th career 30 home run season and you watched with glee as he began his near 10 game playoff tear following his Game Two ALCS grand slam. We watched Johnny Gomes who spent all year magically making something out of nothing en route to a spectacular 5 pinch hit home runs. His Red Sox were 8-1 in games he started in this playoff run.

And then there was the defense.

Boston sported 2 gold glove award winners in 2013 as Dustin Pedroia played what seemed to be a career year in the field committing just 5 errors in 160 games played. That translates out to about to just .031 errors per game. But in a similar fashion to David Ortiz, Peady lead by more than just example. He was a driving force in the clubhouse and knew from day one the potential that the Red Sox had cultivated in the offseason.

"He had faith in the team even in spring training. In mid-March, Pedroia went to dinner with his agents, Cherington and the team’s owners. They were discussing his eventual contract extension, but he made it clear, even then, that he expected the Red Sox to win – and win big." Fox writer, Ken Rosenthal said in an article the day after the Sox victory. 

As for Boston's other gold glove winner: Shane Victorino, he was as good if not better than Pedroia. But in in a different way.  

Shane notched 122 starts in 2013 and batted just 6 points shy of 300. He belted 61 RBI's in 2013 providing quite a security policy for leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury. As for the defense that got him recognized in the postseason gold glove voting, he made a name for himself by plying right field the same way one would play center. That more often than not translated into running headlong into walls as if the simply were not there.  

Yet the Flyin Hawaiian always came up smiling. Apparently, he likes the feeling of broken ribs. He committed just 3 errors while being responsible for 264 of the near 1,700 that the Red Sox recorded in 2013. That is approximately 15% of team outs all recorded by a man who played just 110 games and spent that time in the outfield.  

He represented his city as well joining the ranks of supporting Bostonians with his post-game comments following Game Six. 

"We are affected in the tragedy, Boston strong" Shane Victorino screamed extending his fist high into the air thereby saluting his town. "That's all I'm gonna say!"

Yet while all the additions that the Red Sox made in preparation for what would be their 3rd Championship run in the past 10 years it was the subtractions that may have went the farthest towards bettering this team for the long run. Fact is, most Sox fans expected the run we saw this year...2 years before it happened. Between Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzolez and the expected excellence of the entire Sox pitching staff, the Red Sox were the overwhelming favorites to win it all in 2011. But as we know things did not work out that way. The 2011 Red Sox surrendered a 9 game September lead in the wildcard to miss the playoffs all together. As Bobby Valentine guided the Sox to a 69 win season in 2012, Kevin Youkolis was dished away to Chicago and nearly 200 million dollars’ worth of contracts were unloaded on LA via the famed Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzolez and Carl Crawford trade.

Beckett and Gozolez in particular were the polar opposite of the surprisingly compatible clubhouse that existed this season. Fact is they would have scoffed in disgust if you asked them to grow a beard and as they did in 2011 they might have even killed the healthy team building themes that brought this 2013 club together.  

By completely erasing the bad names assembled on that so called 2011 "dream team" it made room for the actuall dream team of 2013. Sure there were the additions: Mike Napoli, Johnny Gomes, Koji Uehara, Shane Victorino, David Ross and even Mike Carp but as you look at the numbers it would be safe to say that what made this team so great was the resurgence of the talent they had already cultivated.  

That fact is highlighted best when you look at the gleaming numbers of the Red Sox starting pitching. 

The only difference in starting pitching personnel between 2011 and 2013 was the presence of Josh Beckett. Lester played in 2011, Buchholz and Lackey too. They all were there yet in 2013, those 3 Sox went a combined 33 and 24 through  73 starts in 2011 while flipping it all around 2 years later with 37 wins and just 22 losses. Not only were the 2013 Red Sox putting up wins but they were doing it in every single sort of situation that was put before them. They never quit and when they needed to any Boston starter could realistically be asked to play 8 innings and they would do just that. Much like the framework that guided the LA Dodgers to their spectacular mid-season turnaround over in the NL, the Red Sox relied on the relentless work of a whole host of aces to bring home the wins.

The 2013 Red Sox season was just 15 days old when the bombs went off but even then, even with just over 2 weeks of real game action under their belt, the Red Sox knew one another like family and were ready to take their city on their shoulders and do whatever was necessary to give their fans something to cheer for. 

They hit 178 home runs, came to bat 5651 times and won a total of 108 games over 7 months of near game per day action.  

Yet when future generations look back on this, the greatest statistical, team turnaround in the history of American sports, it will be that last win those last 6 runs and that Koji Uehara strikeout that is remembered. 

The Boston Red Sox are the World Champions but for the hundreds of human beings throughout this organization that has now won 3 titles in 10 years it cannot be stressed how much more occurred this year than could be summed up by those few words. 

"This is our F*****G CITY!" ~ David Ortiz following the Marathon Attacks

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Red Sox take a trip to Hogwarts with magical 6 run 9th inning: Danial Nava and the Sox walk off 8-7 over Seattle

And it's heart attack time from Fenway Park.

21 hours and 38 minutes after Stephan Drew belted the Sox to victory after 15 innings, Daniel Nava did the same smacking a walk-off of his own and capping off one of the greatest 9th innings in Red Sox history. It is impossible to fully capture in words what happened last night but nevertheless, the numbers generated from Boston's second walk-off win in 24 hours might suffice enough to bring forth a gasp, shake of the head or even a smile from baseball fans across the globe.

At one point, only a inning and a third before Nava's miracle clincher, the few Sox fans who had stuck around at Fenway Park watched in horror as Felix Hernandez pinned their team down to just 1 run through 7 innings. With just two chances to bat remaining in the game, the Red Sox were down 7-1 and things did not look all that great.

But as with all that we have seen this season, those tides were almost guaranteed to turn as Boston rode into the end of this mighty ball game. "We somehow find some energy late in the game; It's been many different guys that have been the reason for the walk-off. I can tell you, the conversation each time we're at the plate in the extra innings; we're looking for something to draw energy from to make one last push. We were able to do that here again tonight." Manager John Farrall said after his team snagged its first of two walk-offs yesterday when Stephan Drew ended the game a 1 AM.... and last night that was no different.

Staring down the barrel of an emptying stadium and a deficit of absurd proportions, right fielder: Shane Victorino came to bat in the top of the 8th inning with one intention: hit the baseball. Well, he did just that and he did it on only the second pitch he faced in that at bat. With Seattle middle reliever: Chris Furbush on the hill, Victorino turned a 0-1 pitch and crushed it hard into the monster seats to cut the lead to 5 runs.

Now while the Red Sox would go down in the 8th without doing any more damage, as a Boston sports fan who gleefully watched Patrice Bergeron's game seven miracle back in May, as things transitions into the 9th inning, one could not help but wonder: what if?

Nevertheless, not to be overlooked was another additional task that further complicated Boston's hopes at a comeback. They had to keep the Mariners off the board in the top of the 9th, there was no question about that. Unfortunately, Seattle was not so willing to oblige as they soon moved a runner to 1st base via a Kendrys Morales single on a line drive to left fielder Johnny Gomes. But it was during the ensuing at bat that things really got interesting. With Morales on 1st, Michael Saunders turned on a David Wright pitch by Boston and lined the single off the left field Green Monster. Morales had already been running and upon seeing the ball bounce fiercely off the wall, he continued towards 3rd base.

Yet left fielder Johnny Gomes saw this too and soon played the bounce into his glove, turned and without hesitated fired to 3rd to gun down a slowing Morales. Justin Smoak would then strike out but Boston was not out of trouble yet as even with 2 outs in the 9th, they still had to pay attention to a runner on second and a then a fearful pop up to guess who: Johnny Gomes. But Gomes was not done with the antics as 1 game after turning the unassisted double play and 1 third of an inning after that epic throw to 3rd, he went crashing into the monster but held onto the baseball to end the inning.

The defensive work had been done, and now it was time for some offence...and a lot of it.

The "miracle" began with a 0 out walk to Daniel Nava. One batter later, Ryan Lavarnway drove one up the middle to move Nava to second and put himself on 1st base. But still, no runs had scored...until. In his 4th at bat of the day, 3rd basemen: Brock Holt, broke up a hit-less night via an RBI double.  With Seattle now flushed with a hint of trouble, out came the coach trying to remind his pitcher that Boston was STILL out of it. But unfortunately for Seattle, over the next 3 batters, a reacquiring bases loaded situation would soon turn this into a real ball game. It was 7-6 Seattle still in control but they were by then frantically clawing at the floorboards as they tried to hold onto this dwindling lead.

Out came the coach again, and with him came the bullpen's help in this game. Yet for a storming Red Sox team, they would not quit, and, with a runner on second base, he smacked the hit that had been building all night.

"I don't know that you ever really know it," said John Farrell. "But any time you get a leadoff walk it kind of breathes a little life in you. I think after Victorino's base hit to right that brought us within two, that seemed to be not only further momentum but it was getting closer."  

"I don't know that you ever really know it" but nevertheless, weather you saw IT or not, IT happened and in the blink of an eye, Johnny Gomes had tied the game and Daniel Nava was up to bat with the bases loaded.

"Is it magical? It's a lot of fun. Is it magical? I'll leave that up to you to decide," Nava said. "I don't think anyone saw that happening tonight." 

Well he settled the deal on whether or not last night was magic with one swing of the bat. 

The Boston Red Sox won 8-7 last night with their largest 9th inning comeback since 1940 and only their second since 1911. Our Red Sox are a full game clear of the Rays for the division lead and have begun to beg a giddy question. From across the world of sports, we watch in awe at those movies and documentaries where the team wins with a perfect game or a walk off grand slam but in the end, we snort in derision, and say 'that will never happen'. That happened last night and in a season of enlightening comebacks and breaths of fight and refusal to quit, we have come to a point where this fact is true: this is magic, and this Boston Red Sox team is a team of 40 wizards fresh out of Hogwarts School of Magic. 

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Drew not done: Stephan Drew ends 15 inning game in a 5-4 Red Sox win

All season long, Stephan Drew has been a name constantly ridiculed by Boston media members all because of a sub-par past he cannot leave behind.

But nevertheless, through all the adversity, Drew has come back this season and has been a pretty dominant force...especially in this second half of the season. Through 11 games he has smacked in 7 RBI's on 7 hits and 2 home runs (both of which came in a 7-3 win over Baltimore) yet even with the distant magnitude of those two long balls no one of Drew's 7 second half hits carried more greatness than his most recent one: a 15 inning walk-off early this morning.

"It's just huge to get a win out of that game," Drew said. "Back and forth, their bullpen's doing well, our bullpen's doing well. We made some key plays that kept us in it."

After beginning the night with John Lackey on the bump, the Sox and Mariners made it to the 4th tired at 0-0 before a quick rally by Seattle broke up Lackey's perfect game and also his shutout as they managed to patch together a 1-0 lead and hold it through the bottom of the 5th. It was in the 5th that Dustin Pedroia crushed a 2 run homer over the Green Monster to not only tie the contest but hand Boston a 2-1 lead. The Sox would add two more runs in a 8th inning surge but the Mariners were not stifled as they managed to break through against Junichi Tazawa and tie the game with a center field home run of their own.  

But nevertheless, these teams got to extra innings and for the fans devoted towards sticking around were in for one LONG game. Yet no matter how long the game was, it was all but dormant up until that stunning 15th inning. 

"We somehow find some energy late in the game; It's been many different guys that have been the reason for the walk-off. I can tell you, the conversation each time we're at the plate in the extra innings; we're looking for something to draw energy from to make one last push. We were able to do that here again tonight." Said Red Sox Manager John Farrell as it was in those final innings that Boston was delivered the news that a win for their team would put them BACK into 1st place in the AL east. 

Starving to exercise that opportunity, Dustin Pedroia once again kicked off a scouring rally in the 15th when he worked a crucial 1 out walk. 1 batter later, David Ortiz would use the ground out to advance Pedroia onto 2nd. But the Mariners were not done with their threatening collapse, as back to back walks to Mike Napoli and Johhny Gomes would load the bases and give Stephan Drew all the opportunity he needed to end this game. 

"I knew I hit it more hands, not pulling it, not yanking it too much," said Drew after hitting that eventual walk-off single. "Kind of seeing the angle off the bat, I knew it would stay fair. I knew it was close, but I knew it would stay fair."

Fact is, it’s a rare event when one baseball game can start and end in 2 different months but as crazy as it is, the Boston Red Sox played their longest game of the season and that was just the case. 

5-4 your final from Fenway and for what seems like the umpteenth time since the start of the second half, the AL East lead has changed hands and this time, the hands it has fallen into are those of our Red Sox. 

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