Day 201: One More Win... And You Know What That Means!

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but damn, these ALCS games between the Red Sox and Tigers are going to give me an ulcer. While as a sports fan I love the competition when it's at its highest in the baseball postseason. As a human, I'm slightly tired of going to bed after midnight with a severe case of anxiety and some nasty heartburn. The things I do for love.

I thought after the Sox scored four early on Thursday night, I might be able to relax a bit through this one. Mike Napoli got the night started with a monstrous home run to dead center field that traveled some 460 feet. Some say the only other person to hit one that far and that was Tiger MVP Miguel Cabrera. That was a serious home run, a ball hit so perfectly they should use it as a teaching tool. Even the most ardent Napoli haters have to applaud and admire that round-tripper.

But when playing against the Tigers, you can never score too much. One run wasn't going to cut it. So they scored a couple more in the second inning on the heels of the Napoli dinger. Jonny Gomes reached on an error, Xander Bogaerts doubled, David Ross doubled to score Gomes, and Ellsbury rounded out the scoring with a single to drive in Bogaerts. The Sox scored a single run in the third but then the bats fell quiet.

Jon Lester, who wasn't nearly as sharp as he was in game one, left after 5.1 innings with a 4-2 lead. I'm not sure how he was feeling about being up by just two runs, but I can tell you that I was pretty friggin' nervous. I swear, it gets to a point, and in this game it was after the Tigers scored their third run in the sixth off of Junichi Tazawa, when I have to start watching the game through my fingers as if it's a scary movie. The final third of the game seems to take an eternity to play when the Sox hold such a slim lead.

And then comes Koji. For a guy whose stuff (or appearance) isn't that intimidating, he really sends opposing batters into fits. Maybe it's his flaily approach to pitching that confuses and mystifies the rival lineups. Whatever the reason, Koji kicks ass and never appears fazed by the situation, the count or the reputation of the batter he's facing. He throws strikes, he gets guys out, the end.