Last night’s game was a bit of a nailbiter considering we were down by 2 going into the bottom of the 8th against the wimpy Devil Rays. Of course this wasn’t as bad as having to chip away at a five run deficit after only two innings. It’s safe to say Curt Schilling is not 100% back and that he’s going to have to use the next few outtings to work out all the little kinks that are bothering him before we get to the playoffs. A good sign was seeing him settle down over the next four innings to hold the Rays scoreless and strikeout four guys, allowing our bats enough time to come alive and bail us out. I know that he’ll come around though, he’s far too good of a pitcher to not so we just have to bear with it for now.

But once again, we showed why we are the defending champs and came through to tie things up off thanks to a few clutch hits and some great defense a la Trot Nixon.

After Nixon helped gun down Toby Hall at home, well it can be argued that a tag was not clearly applied by Varitek but bottom line it was ruled an out that kept the score 6-4 Tampa.

Enter Trot in the bottom of the 8th and he launches a linedrive to left field to set up Bill Mueller to bat with no outs and two men in scoring position. After Mueller’s groundout drove in Damon, John Olerud’s pinch-hit RBi single tied it up for the ninth.

Bottom of the ninth: Nixon again, with the bases loaded smoked one far in front of Aubrey Huff in right field allowing Big Papi to stroll in with the winning run.

So thank you Trot. For always being there for us to count on! September’s here-it’s gametime!!

Yesterday afternoon I had the wonderful privilege of attending the rubber game with the Tigers at Fenway. I still haven’t decided which was better: seeing one of my personal favorites, Bill Mueller blast one over the Green Monster or seeing Big Papi launch one to the farthest part of the field over the bullpens!

Maybe it was staying late after the game to catch the guys leaving in their snazzy cars…of course nothing tops Trot Nixon waving at me from his Mini Cooper

All in all it was a good win. Wells had a strong outing despite running up his pitch count very early in the game. The bats really came alive in the sixth inning and from there it was smooth sailing for reliever Chad Bradford and youngster Abe Alvarez, who came in and closed out the ninth.

Only negative of the day: the Yankees won so we’re still only a game and half ahead…hold on guys because September’s here and things are gonna get really good!!

Forget the fact that we somehow dropped two of three to the lowely Detriot Tigers, I’d rather get it out of my system against a team that’s insignificant and use the Angels to get back on track against.

With the Angels at 69-50 and us at 69-49, it looks like last yer’s ALDS matchup will be a repeat come this October. Wakefield against Bartolo Colon is also a matchup that we’ll likely see again if we do face the Angels in the postseason. What should be intresting to see is how Boston’s offense fare’s against Colon since you never really know which Colon you’re going to see: the good one or hte bad one that you can rock around.

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see, a few more weeks left in August, things are getting good…tonight’s prediction: a win of course

Picking up where I left off, we really can’t expect Schilling to come out and be the starter that he was right off the bat, so serving a real role in the bullpen not only benefits him but also boosts the struggling bullpen. Yes he’s gotten rocked his last three times out but the previous eight were classic Schilling gems…no one would say a thing if he was 8-3 as a starter, they’d say "He’s on his way to a 15 win season." but when he blows a few leads, everyone’s in a state of panic.

Relax, because don’t expect Foulke to come back and be the same dominator that he was last year. It will be a while before we see him come out as the closer on a regular basis and we’re not biting our nails until the last out is recorded. Foulke needs to take it slow in September so he can build up to where we need him to be in October.

Another move we should make is to switch Schilling and Timlin. I like the idea of having Schill come in for middle relief and letting TImlin wear the closer hat till Foulke is back. This way Curt gets more playing time and gets his arm stronger for when he is moved back into the starting rotation.

Once Schilling is back in the rotation,  I say we move Wade Miller to the bullpen as a long reliever since he’s been on and off with his injuries as of late and there’s no one else in the rotation I would want out.

I know it’s been a while since we’ve talked SoX but I’ve been a little busy watching my team’s winning ways as of late! Now it’s crunch time, the second week of August when things really begin to matter-so no messing around, it’s time to get my blogging into gear and see where this ride takes us.

Too bad I decide to blog after a disappointing-correction, DISAPPOINTING-loss last night to the Detroit Tigers (great, we just lost to the Little League Champions!). Since Schilling as the closer has been a topic of much debate, why not weigh in? I say that with the way Foulke was throwing all season, having Schill is one of the best moves we could’ve made.

more to come later…