I ♥ Wake

Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images (I love when a photographer captures how Wakefield holds the knuckler)

Every day, I've thought about posting. And every day, I've found a reason (work, tired, RS losing) to put it off. But today it's easy to write - especially about my favorite knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield.

Timmeh did it all for us yesterday. After Daisuke only went one inning on Tuesday night and the Sox had to use six pitchers during a 12 inning game, it looked like yesterday afternoon's game would be a disaster. But Wakefield stepped in. According to the Globe, he stepped into Terry Francona's office before the game. "I told him, I said, 'Listen, I understand the circumstances of the day, and I just want you to know whatever happens - don't take me out. Let me keep going,' said Wakefield."

And that's what he did. Not only eating up innings, but pitching a no-hitter into the 8th inning! After giving up a hit to Suzuki, Wake kept going, for a complete game victory, 8-2.

More importantly, our offense finally recovered from it's jet lag. This was the first game of the season where they scored more than 5 runs. Ortiz had a double - his first extra base hit of the season. Lowell and Drew both homered. Yeah!

So, they came home happy. As happy as you can be when you're record is 3-6. On the upside, they haven't been swept in a series yet. Friday night begins a 9 game home stand, including the Patriot's Day game on Monday at 11am.

In the meantime, an off-day today means an extra 24 hours to luxuriate in Wakefield's performance yesterday. If any member of Red Sox Nation had forgotten how valuable he is to our team, yesterday was a fantastic reminder.