No worries, Javi, Steve has your back! (Photo courtesy of Kelly O’Connor – who also made the jersey!)

Oh Javier Lopez.  How I was rooting for you.  You were inches from going into extra innings and instead the game was given to the Indians.

That, sadly, is all folks will probably remember about this game but the truth is the Red Sox had the lead in this game three times and all three times they gave it up.  Javi had a brain cramp, sure, but that one gut-wrenching play isn’t the only thing that lost this game.  So if you’re here looking for me to bash Javi, it isn’t happening.  Three errors (one on Lowell and one on Lugo to add to Javi’s) gave the Indians enough runs to win this game.  Javi didn’t lose it alone.  And that’s all the energy I’m spending on rehashing that ugly, long-ass, painful game.  Nothing but positive vibes going Javier’s way (Heck, Lugo’s and Penny’s too).  He doesn’t need to get beat up about this; I’m sure he’s beating himself up enough right about now.

This is what I choose to focus on:  The team just won 11 games in a row and then lost one.  This isn’t earth-shattering by any means.  Sure adding on to a streak would have been nice, but so what?  So tomorrow they put Jon Lester out there and try to win the series.  They win the series and I’m more than happy.  It’s the end of April.  I’m not quite ready to start calling for the heads of any of the players just yet.

“We gave them extra outs tonight”

So Tito tells Heidi Watney after the game.  That says it all.

Yankees won, Blue Jays won and Rays lost.  That puts the Sox one game out of first place with a 13-7 record behind the Jays with the Yanks four games behind and the Rays in last by 6.5.  Not too shabby.  (The O’s are hanging on to fourth place for now!)

Special note of thanks to all of you kind folks who took the time to nominate me for the “New England Sports Blog Awards”.  Much to my surprise, “Toeing the Rubber” has been named one of the four nominees in the “Best Red Sox Blog” category.  At some point on Wednesday, information will be released on how you can vote for your favorite sports blogs and I’ll mention it here.  Honestly, it’s a real kick to be nominated and I truly appreciate all of you taking the time to do so.

In a response to a few requests for it, I’m going to attempt to live blog at least one game a week.  Last Wednesday’s marathon live blogs seemed to be a hit (although I won’t be marathoning it – hopefully!).  I’m looking at Wednesdays as the live blog day – which means I’ll be live blogging Jon Lester v Fausto Carmona tonight!   7pm I’ll be here with bells on.  Join me won’t you?

8 Comments for “My two feet haven’t met yet”

1. HorshamScouse Says:
   April 29th, 2009 at 1:35 am

   It was one game in twelve and they just got off losing six out of eight. Bugger it and move on.

   //7pm I’ll be here with bells on. Join me won’t you?//
   Love to but off to Auckland for the day. If I can restrain myself from finding the score, I might rerun the liveblog while watching the game archive in the evening.

2. Cruiser Says:
   April 29th, 2009 at 6:05 am

   Cyn you are the voice of reason. You can’t expect to win games when the team has so many costly errors. I was kind of hoping in the back of my mind that the Sox set a streak record but it isn’t about the records. It is as you say about winning series. People coming up to me about Papi is really getting on my nerves. It’s just the end of April for crying out loud. “Don’t Worry…Be Happy!”

3. KellyO Says:
   April 29th, 2009 at 8:41 am

   No matter what happens, every loss is going to be painful in the moment. You just shrug it off and get ‘em again the next day. IMO that’s part of the lesson of baseball in the first place!

   We had all kinds of things go wrong and still hung in until the bitter end.

   Steve always keeps the faith!

4. Don in VA Says:
   April 29th, 2009 at 8:42 am

   I was pretty ticked-off after last night’s game, particularily at Javier.

   Read your blog first thing this morning. Thanks for putting everything into perspective. Now I feel much better.

   I’ll be with the live blog tonight.

5. Cyn Donnelly Says:
   April 29th, 2009 at 10:04 am

   So here’s the deal for “new” folks to the blog. Vent all you want but homophobic slurs and multiple, random f-bombs aren’t going to be tolerated.

6. Brenken Says:
   April 29th, 2009 at 10:20 am

   Fenway fans feeling funky and forlorn but forever faithful.

   Is that what you mean by random f-bombs?

7. Cyn Donnelly Says:
   April 29th, 2009 at 10:23 am

   

   Let’s just say I received some colorful comments today that I sent to the spam bin.

8. Tru Says:
   April 29th, 2009 at 11:06 am

   There was a sense of foreboding I heard about yesterday from some people I spoke with; Julio was starting last night. I also got some emails this morning that basically stated that the Apocalypse is upon us, and his name is Julio Lugo.

   This kind of irrational placement of blame really underscores two things; instant gratification and a need to assign blame. It wasn’t enough that last night the Sox were playing messy ball. Penny’s woes were the tip of that iceberg, and the Titanic began foundering when Saito served up yet another tie in the game. Wedged in between was Julio, who erred, then redeemed himself. Cherries adorned the cake with Javy at the end.

   I don’t know how long the Sox could have sustained their streak, or when an opponent would rise up and take advantage. But considering the first road trip out west to where they are now, I’m not fully disheartened, nor dissuaded to think what we saw last night was and will be typical; these guys are simply much better than that.

   I’d like to suggest that Theo Epstein break stride with public posturing and ink Jason Bay to a long term deal. This guy is the real deal.

   Thank you… I feel better now.

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