Jake Peavy dominates in first game since trade: Red Sox win 5-2 over Diamond Backs

Deep, back and GONE!

The Boston Red Sox smacked 2 home runs last night en route to a dominant 5-2 win over the Diamond Backs. Victorino homered, Saltalamaccia blasted one, but after 9 innings of baseball, it was the performance of a man who recently changed his Sox that really stood out.

After he was traded to the Sox back on July 30th, Peavy came to Boston and watched in awe as Boston's first game after the trade ended with a 6 run ninth inning. 2 games later he was doing more than just cheering from the dugout, he was pitching.

"Truly from the bottom of my heart, something I'll never forget," he said after Fenway welcomed him with a aucapella signing of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". 

But for Peavy, he would soon give Sox fans reason to stop the singing and start cheering. Through 7 full innings, Jake was spectacular. He allowed just 3 hits in those 7 innings and saw just 1 run scored on his watch (although he would get charged with another via an inherited runner). He fanned seven batters and in the end would earn the win for Boston. 

"Winning is what it's about," Peavy said. "I don't care where you win. I don't care if you win at ping-pong in the clubhouse. It's fun to win, and that's why we all show up to the ballpark every day is to find a way for your team to win. I can't tell you how excited I was tonight. I told a few guys I had some nerves. Obviously around 300 starts, I felt like it was one of my first."

But there was some more to this story that goes beyond those 7 K's and 3 hits against. In the legal book, Jake Peavy is blind and while he can see enough to throw a baseball, even with the hard core contact lenses that he owns, catcher Jarrod Saltilamaccia had to go to some great lengths to accommodate the needs of his pitcher. According to NESN's Don Orsillo, Saltalamaccia painted his finger nails with neon green paint to allow Peavy to read his signs. 

In my book...well, that worked. 

But all of Saltilamaccia's work last night was not done BEHIND the plate. In the very inning that Peavy left the game, "Salty" came to bat in the 8th with one man on and the Sox leading 3-2. On the first pitch thrown to him, the Boston catcher got all of his swing and smacked his 10th home run of the season deep into his team's bull pens. 

 "In the seventh inning, Patrick ran out of gas a little bit. He made some pitches where he didn't want them," said Arizona manager Kirk Gibson when speaking about his starting pitcher who allowed Saltilammaccia's homer. "Boston, what they do is they see a lot pitches and they foul a lot of pitches off. They got his pitch count up."

Last night was a night of the long ball, it was a night of baseball players painting their fingers green and a night of a man named Jake Peavy, possibly giving you reason to believe that this Red Sox team is no longer simply a contender to get to the playoffs but is now a possible FAVORITE to win baseballs ultimate title: a World Series.

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The Not so Big Three: How Matt Bartowski, Dougie Hamilton, and Torey Krug will be huge role players in 2013-2014

Not all perfect trifectas need to keep with them with them future hall of famers. Not all super heroes need to weigh 250 pounds an look like steroid users. In fact, not all super heroes or big three’s even need their names to be known among their city of Boston, Gothum or Krypton. 

No, sometimes, those groups of heroes can include guys who are 5 foot 9 and like to blast little chunks rubber into twine backed squares of iron.  

Before this Bruin season, that would not have been the case but with the departure of the big three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Piece and Ray Allen over the past few seasons, in has come a new batch of super hero athletes. And those three men have names: Torey Krug, Dougie Hamilton, and Matt Bartowski. 

Torey Krug: a 22 year old left handed defender came to the Bruins on March 25th 2012.

At that point Krug had never played a professional game yet in 3 years with Michigan, he had already made a name for himself as a high scoring defense man. Torey Krug never missed a single one of the 114 games his Spartans team played from 2009-2010 to 2011-2012 and in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 at least, he was a huge factor in each and every one of the games he took part in. In just those 2 seasons alone, a total of 76 games, Krug scored 23 times. (11 in 10'-11' and 12 in 11'-12')  

In those final two seasons of NCAA excellence, it seemed that Krug was going to be a perennial role player on that Spartans team for at least one more year. But in the blink of an eye, that all changed. 

"Torey has had an outstanding collegiate career at Michigan State," Boston General Manager Peter Chiarelli said after signing Krug. "He is a very intelligent player who is a terrific skater and shooter. But what stands out the most with Torey is his character. He is a two-time captain and a tremendous competitor. We are thrilled to have signed him and look forward to a seeing him contribute to the Bruins." 

"I would also like to thank the Boston Bruins organization for this tremendous opportunity." Krug then said 2 days after the signing. "Every hockey player has the dream to play in the National Hockey League, and I am excited about my chance to prove myself at the next level." 

Fact is Krug was an amazingly gifted offensive defense man in college averaging nearly .75 points per game. But once he came to the Bruins organization, those Bobby Orr esque skills did not immediately follow him. In the 2 games Krug played with Boston in that 2011-2012 season, the Bruins went 1 and 1 with Krug logging just over 34 minutes of ice time, mustering 3 shots on net and putting through 1 assist for his first NHL point. He was not good, but he was not all that bad. 

Nonetheless, the Bruins were determined to develop this kid and even if the fans did not see it immediately, Peter Charalli did, so, instead of dropping him or dishing him back to NCAA hockey, Krug was soon moved down to the AHL. He would spend the majority of this past season down in Providence and in the 63 games he played, his scoring touch soon returned. Through those few months of play, he shot up 45 points on 13 goals all while seeing his Providence Bruins skate to their first division title in over 5 years. 

Yet as Providence collapsed in the second round of the AHL playoffs, they were no more than a side story as the big Bruins captured the minds of the world with a late May tilt with the storied Toronto Maple Leafs. In the blink of an eye, Boston erased a 4-2 Toronto lead to beat the Leafs in OT and march into the second round.  But amidst all the celebration, there was a problem in Boston. Dennis Sidenberg had been hurt on the very play that won Boston into the semifinals, and, going into that crucial series with New York, the Bruins were one D-man short. 

So along came Torey Krug. 

Its seems like one of those go lucky sports movies when you talk, write about or watch the highlights from that series. Over the span of just over a week and a half, everything went right for Boston and in turn for little 5 foot 9 Torey Krug. He scored 4 times in those 5 games and added an assist to bring his points total to 5 in the series and 7 in his career. 

But Krug was not the only bright light that looked shine in that series. No there was another... and his name was, Dougie Hamilton

Dougie Hamilton: picked up as the final piece of the trade that sent Phil Kessel to Toronto, the Bruins exercised their 2011, 9th overall pick in the draft by selecting a Toronto born D-man with some serious promise. 

Unlike his now teammate Krug, Hamilton: a Canadian with hockey woven into his veins never played in the US's NCAA hockey leagues. In fact he spent 4 years not even going to college and playing OHL hockey for his home town Niagara Ice Dogs. When playing in Canada, he sure didn't have the perfect attendance record of Tory Krug but still was even more productive in the 213 games he did play. He averaged .88 points per game and scored 12 or more goals twice in his career as he led his Ice Dogs to a Memorial Cup championship in the spring of 2012. 

He sure caught eyes and in truth that was why the Bruins drafted him. Like Krug he was a offensive defense men, and with Zdeno Chara regularly patching in 10 goals a year it is all but obvious that defense is not all that a Bruin defender needs to worry about doing. 

"He's a big strong kid with a good offencive skill set." GM Peter Charelli said about his new pick.  "Honestly, we didn't think he would fall this far." 

"We didn't think he would fall this far." Charelli said but nevertheless, he did, 8 teams passed up on Hamilton all for different reasons, and while in the end Boston would get their hands on him, he still was not NHL ready. So back to juniors he went. 

But unlike the 3 years of OHL hockey he had already partook in, in that final season, Hamilton had a goal, and that goal would be achieved on Saturday, January 19th 2013 when he made his NHL debut. On that day, Hamilton was the only rookie on the ice and all the attention was on him, and he did not disappoint. While he may have got off to a relatively goalless start, Hamilton finished the month of January with 4 NHL points and a professional contract with the Boston Bruins.

So, with goal one was crossed off the list on he went to his next major pursuit: actually scoring a goal. Now in the end, the pursuit of THAT particular piece of glory would not take long as on February 15th he finally broke through with a tally against one of the best goaltenders in hockey: Ryan Miller. 

Over the next few months, Hamilton would add 4 more regular season goals along with a point total of 16. Now he, like Krug saw his team into the playoffs but that is where the similarities end. Once Hamilton got to the postseason any hint of his offensive skills dried up in a shriveled mess of nerves and shining performances by mighty Krug. 

Hamilton still had the skills, he still had the future but after 7 playoff games over 2 different series, his postseason was done long before those of his teammates were. 

But still there is more. 

 Matt Bartowski. After coming to the Bruins alongside now star D-man Dennis Sidenberg, Bartowski signed with Boston on April 29th 2010.

As for semi pro hockey, well, Bartowski followed a path similar to that of Tory Krug all be it with some less frequent burst of goal scoring and instant glory.

Fact is, Matt Bartowski is a D-Man of far more intangible skills, meaning that the illustrious facets of his game are all that more difficult to illustrate. In 20 games over 3 seasons with Boston, Bartowski was yet to put one in offensively, until an almost forgotten play in a game that is all but forgotten. Just under 5 minutes and 35 seconds into Game Seven of the Toronto series, Bartowski took a weak pass off the stick of Phill Kessell before moving into the center of the ice and blasting the shot past James Reimer to give Boston the 1-0 lead. 

Matt Bartowski was never the super star that many believed him to be but in the end, he could easily become a key role player in years to come. 

The not so big three: between the 3 of them, their average age is just 22 years 4 months but they have all done so much. Between the three of them, only 34 points have been scored but they have all done so much more that runs up a list far longer than that one of just 34 tics. Fact is, in just a matter of years, Zdeno Chara will be done, and so will Dennis Seidenberg. Andrew Ferance has already gone and with Adem McQuiad beginning to show singes of a concussion problem, his days of play but begin to become numbered as well. 

Long story short, even while the Bruins list of veterans begins to shorten, their list of prime 1st and second year players is beginning to grow handing their club a hope for a future almost as bright as the one Chara, Seidenberg, and company have already given them. 

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With two months left, why is this Boston team any different than the one what blew a 9 game lead in the wild card 2 seasons ago

On September 3rd 2011, the Boston Red Sox were 9 games secure of the Rays for the AL wild card win. At that point in time, they had a 99.6 percent chance of making the playoffs but over the next 25 days, the Red Sox won just 6 games and saw their once impenetrable playoff lead evaporate before their very eyes.

Over the ensuing months of disgrace and confusion over what had just happened, Terry Francona was fired, Theo Epsteen departed, and Red Sox fans threatened to give up on the team that broke their hearts....but they didn't. After 2011, those enraged Red Sox fans stuck around willing to give their town one more chance... and Boston blew it. During the off-season, they signed Bobby Valentine as their manager but by the second half of the season they were not better and just 1 year after 2011, they dismantled the team shipping Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Adrian Gonzalez out of Boston for good. From then on, the team went into an off-season of rebuilding but nevertheless, by that point in time, the fans were gone.

Until well, April.

On April 15th, 2013, Shane Victorino blasted an unthinkable walk-off double to hand Boston the win on the day. Mere hours later, that city that had given up on their Red Sox was torn apart by a twin bombing that shocked the nation. From then on they used the Sox and Bruins as a rallying point as both teams went on torrent runs that took the Bruins to the cup finals and the Red Sox to a constant position as one of the best teams in baseball.

As it stands, the Red Sox are amidst a crushing pennant race and about 5 games up in the wild card race. They have a 92 percent chance of making the playoffs and realistically only need to go 23 and 29 down the stretch to gain a playoff spot but nevertheless, with even more games left than in 2011 and a smaller lead in the wild card race, what is preventing Boston from falling down to a similar fate to that suffered two years ago?

Realistically speaking well nothing as in 2011 the Red Sox proved to us all that so long as the playoff probability percentage is not 100% anything can happen.

But nevertheless, there is one thing that is working in Boston's favor: their refusal to give up. Through 110 games, the Boston Red Sox are 66 and 44, a wonderful record in it of itself never-mind the fashion that 11 of those 66 victories have been completed. With 11 walk-offs on the season, the Red Sox find themselves just 2 shy of the franchise record that stands at 13. No other baseball team has more walk-offs than Boston and that huge number reflects Boston's brilliance when caught in close games. In September of 2011, Boston lost 11 games by a margin of less than 3 runs. 2 years later, and in the wake of Boston's historic 8-7 comeback win, only 43% of Boston's losses have come in 1 or 2 run games while in September 2011, 55% of their losses came in such a way. 

They are an unthinkably resilient ball club and when you compare this team to the one two years before today, the 2011 Red Sox season ended with a heart breaking 4-3 walk off loss to Baltimore, in a game that, coming into the 9th inning they had a chance to seal the deal on. 1 year later, while yeah Boston's bull pen is well, awful, they might allow a game to be tied late but they would not let it go so far as to allow the opposing team to just win it all in come from behind fashion. If this 2013 team was the one that faced the Orioles in the final game of the year, they would not have lost 4-3 in 9 innings. 

It’s hard to explain and in fact, it may be impossible, but the aura emanating from this Boston ball club is one far different than that of losing proportions that grew in September of 2011. It’s hard to explain and in fact it may be impossible but the aura emanating from this ball club speaks volumes of words, all repeating one simple phrase. 

"This team is going to the playoffs." 

"This team is going to the playoffs."

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Xander Bogarts racing towards his MLB debut: Why Boston needs to get Stephan out of the way

Mid July. Rain has ceased to fall but as 30 or so of Baseball's top prospects play it out before scouts and media alike, the matted dirt and clumping grass are widely evident as these players put everything on the line in the annual event that is the MLB futures game.

Now throughout this storied game that took place back in mid-July, a wide array of stunning young talent was showcased as guys like Archie Bradley and Christian Yelich caught eyes with their prime performances. But nevertheless one name among this game’s wonderful ranks stood out in both Boston and the world of baseball. 

Born in October of 1992, Aruban shortstop: Xander Bogarts was signed to the Red Sox minor league team: Portland back in 2009 before being promoted to AAA Paw Sox during the off-season. In AAA baseball, he soon found a spot in baseball’s world of excellence and by July he was handed the chance to head to New York to compete in the 2013 futures game. 

Bogarts went 2-3 in the game with his only at bat that did not result in a hit ending with a 4 pitch walk. Yet it was while base-running that Bogarts opened the most eyes. Late in the 7th inning of the game, Bogarts sat on 3rd and upon contact, he was off and running. Yet with the ball fielded in right field Bogarts soon found himself racing to beat a stunning throw. 

"I saw the catcher lean so I came in on the back of the plate." Said Bogarts completely exemplifying the tag he would eventually beat. By the time, catcher Austin Hedges snagged the throw, Bogarts was already behind him meaning that after just barely sneaking away from a diving tag attempt Bogarts was in with a crucial run for his team. 

“How’d I look at short?” Bogarts asked reporters after the game. “Good?” 

Fact is, Bogarts IS good at shortstop and even at his young age, his debut in the MLB might be approaching, faster than anyone ever expected.

After the trade that shipped Jose Iglacias out of Boston, the Red Sox are in for an interesting few months of a right side of the infield saga that could easily provide us fans with some real interesting stuff to talk about. As it stands, Boston has 3 prime 3rd basemen, 1 being Will Middlebrooks, another being Brandon Snyder and the current starter being Brock Holt. Now when you think about it, none of those 3 starters can really threaten to take a hold of the short stop spot leaving the door open for Bogarts... sort of. 

Now among fans, Boston's current short stop: Stephan Drew is as bad as anyone could possibly imagine. But nevertheless, the Sox and John Farrall seem deeply intertwined with their 30 year old off-season signing and despite his lack of constant production, Stephan Drew HAS been a clutch guy in clutch times with 2 walk offs on the year and 38 RBI's. 

So if Bogarts is such a good prospect, with such a great future ahead of him, can the Red Sox really afford to continue to keep him off the big league roster? So if Bogarts is such a good prospect with such a great future, is Stephan Drew really a better ball player than him? 

Long story short, no and no.

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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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A lesson in the Realignment: Off-season preview of the NEW eastern confrence

Midway through the month of March, the National Hockey League announced a groundbreaking realignment plan.

During the lead-up to the 2013-2014 NHL season, the Eastern Conference's Southeast division would be terminated as the Lightning and Panthers would move to the northeast while the Caps and Hurricanes would join the Atlantic and the Jets would move out of the east and join the Western Conference's Central Division. On the western conference side of things, the Blue Jackets and Redwings would both make the move to the east with Detroit joining the northeast division and the Blue Jackets joining the newly named "Metropolitan division"

The NHL saw its previous total of 6 divisions shrink to just 4 but as it did so, in came a brand new playoff format. 

As it stands, each conference will still put forward 8 teams to play in the postseason but the way they select those teams will be far different. In each of the two divisions per conference, the top three teams will make the playoffs with no further question. But for the remaining 2 spots, the winners will be decided not by their positioning in the division but by their finish in the conference. In 2014, the NHL will adopt an MLB/NFL esque wild card system where the two highest seeded teams, not already positioned in the top three seeds in their respective divisions, will then make the playoffs.

At that point, the highest seeded division winner will play the lowest seeded wild card winner while the other division winner will play the other wild card winner. From there, the 2nd and 3rd place teams in each division will play each other and out will come the semifinals where the league will then go back to following their previous playoff format.  

Confusing.

But nevertheless, with so many division shakeups, one of the most intriguing stories coming into next season is going to be: how those division changes and additions of the Wings and Jackets will affect the playoff picture.

Fact is, when you really look at it, over the past few years, the top teams in the east have been pretty clear: Pittsburgh, Montreal, Boston, and well one annual surprise. But nevertheless, in this upcoming 2013-2014 season those given finishes are bound to change and it will not be the fault of Columbus. With the shakeups of this mega off-season, two teams now in the Eastern Conference have made some huge additions, meaning that as it stands, those two teams could easily contend to go 1 and 2 in their Atlantic division. Those teams are the Bruins and Redwings.

After the Bruins lost that cutting game six of the Cup they immediately tore it up eliminating any distractions by resigning goaltender Tuukka Rask and center Patrice Bergeron and trading away Tyler Seguin. Yet that is only the least of it as in addition to dishing way Seguin, the Bruins managed to snag 30 goal scorer Loui Eriksson in return. They would add Jarome Iginla and continue to develop their big three of young defenseman, all to give them a reasonable shot at winning their Penguin-less Atlantic division.

As for the Redwings well simply the lone name of their star acquisition this off-season stands begs to pay its dividends: Daniel Alfredson.

For nearly the entire off-season, Detroit played the role of veteran stealer as they snagged both Alfrendson and Panthers veteran Stephen Weiss. 

Long story short, the Bruins and Redwings will likely be fighting it out all season long but there is one city that remains a pivotal factor in the Atlantic division title race...and that team is the team that nearly won the conference last year: Montreal.

As Bruins fans, you need no introduction to the team we have learned to hate but regardless of that even after making close to no new additions in the off-season, the Canadians won the northeast last year and all be it the only reason they did that was because of Boston’s subpar month of April, they will remain a crucial threat in the coming years.

Change can always be fun and fact is the one that now sits mere months away from this August 1st will likely not disappoint. The long awaited day when the Bruins and Redwings will be in the same division has finally been named and as a fan of the game, I cannot wait.

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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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