Another cliff hanger!

Winslow Townson
Another night, another cliffhanger ending for the Sox and Blue Jays. Tuesday night, it was Kevin Youkilis who drove in David Ortiz for the game winning run. Last night, it was the Captain - Jason Varitek - who hit a single and scored Manny Ramirez. Both happened in the bottom of the ninth - and it's the 8th last-at-bat win for the Sox this season. [And I'm sorry, Tek, that I doubted you. When you stepped to the plate, I had a K ready to put on your batting line! Oops]

The bats have been pretty dead during the past weeks, but our pitching? Outstanding. Even in our losses, we've seen some gems - both from the Red Sox and the opposition. Can we keep it up?

From Gordon Edes:

How about the pressure facing Tim Wakefield, who takes the mound tonight against the Blue Jays after a bedazzling conga line of high-stepping Sox starters?

The last four pitchers to start for the Sox have taken a one-hitter into the eighth (Clay Buchholz), struck out a career-high 13 (Josh Beckett), pitched eight scoreless innings of one-hit ball (Jon Lester), and pitched seven shutout innings of two-hit ball (Daisuke Matsuzaka last night). You have to go back 11 years to find the last time four consecutive Sox starters went seven or more innings and allowed two or fewer runs.

[PS - Please don't leave us alone with CHB, Gordo]

So tonight, we face the Jays with a chance to sweep them. Sweet payback for their sweep of us in Toronto earlier this season? I hope so! And let's hope to see some dramatics a little earlier in the game - the late heroics make it very difficult to settle down to sleep!