Sox 10 Tiggers 7

In the 9th inning of Tuesday night’s game in Detroit, with the Tiggers protecting a slim 3-2 margin over the Sox, manager Alan Trammell decided to pull his lefty starter Nate Robertson—who up to that point had held the Sox bats at bay giving up only 2 hits (one a first inning dinger by Tek) on 90 pitches—in favor of new closer Fernando Rodney. It’s possible that Trammell knew nothing of Rodney’s history playing in the Dominican league with David Ortiz. Or that Trammell simply thought his closer could continue Robertson’s dominence over the best offense in the league and the Tiggers could hold on to win the pitchers duel. In either case, the former All-Star shortstop proved himself to be far less slick in managing a pitching staff than he was turning double plays with Sweet Lou Whitaker in the Tigger’s glory years in the mid-80s as Rodney gave up a game-tying dinger to former teammate Ortiz with one out in the 9th, sending the game into extra innings after submariner Chad Bradford set the Tiggers down in the bottom of the 9th.

But it was in the 10th inning that the Sox bats really made Trammell’s questionable decision hurt the hometown team, striking for 7 runs on back-to-back singles by Tony G and Yook, an RBI ground out by pinch hitter Billy Mueller, and two mammoth homers—the first by Papi, a 3-run blast to rightfield, the second a 2-run homer by Tek to center—that gave the Sox a commanding 10-3 lead. It was the second dinger of the night for both men and their combined feats seemed to put the game out of reach in the first extra frame. Until…

Tito sensed that what had been a scintillating game up to this point had gotten out of hand and took a page from Trammell’s book, inserting a reliever that he knew would add intrigue to the blowout. That man was Mike Remlinger—who, in accordance with his name, has Lingered far too long in the Sox pen—and Tito was immediately rewarded with a Linger loading the bases and surrendering a Granny to that menacing masher Craig Monroe to pull the Tiggers back within 3.

Sound the alarms! Stop the presses! Get Schill warming up in the bullpen! The Linger’s done it again! It was a small miracle that Linger was able to record the final out to preserve the dramatic win for the Sox, but all too telling to look at Linger’s line since he’s joined the Sox: 1 IP 6H 9R 6ER in 4 or 5 outings. That’s not bad. That’s Cla Merideth territory.

The commotion at the end of the game overshadowed a couple of excellent pitching performances by both teams. Robertson’s accomplishments were matched through five innings by promising rookie starter Jonathon “don’t call me Jon” Papelbon who allowed only 2 runs in his second major league start filling in for the shoulder-weary Wade Miller. J-Gone followed that performance with a sparkling two innings of hitless relief before giving way to Timmy (who allowed the go ahead run on a Maggie Ordonez sac fly in the 8th) and Bradford’s mastery in the 9th. Papelbon pitched very well, varying speeds and striking out 6 (including the side in the 3rd) and walking only 2 to go along with 6 hits in showing glimpses of why he is considered by many in the know to be the Sox ace of the future.

But the real story of the day was again Papi’s late inning home run heroics, a habit that has kept this up-and-down team afloat through much of this post-championship series. The Boston Nine wrap up their series against the Tiggers on Wednesday with an early start before heading to Anaheim (yip yip!) to face the first place Angels in front of a rowdy away crowd that could feature quite a few gray #34 jerseys and chants of “Papi, Papi!” drowning out the pitter-patter of rally monkey feet.

Record: 69-48
Streak: W1
Standing: 1st in the AL East, 4.5 games ahead of MFY
Next Game: Wednesday 8.17.05 @ 1:05pm ET @ Detroit
BOS – David Wells (9-5, 4.43) vs. DET – Jeremy Bonderman (13-9, 3.93)