Walking, Texas Ranger style

In the art of racing (not the fakey NASCAR stuff), there are many ways to get from point A to point B. In sprints, the fast twitch lightning reflexes are key. In the marathon, stamina is of primary importance. In either form or anything type of race in between, the ability to respond to your opponent(s) and changes in circumstances is vital.

The sport of baseball is the artistic mixture of all of these qualities and in this past weekend series with the Texas Rangers, the Red Sox painted a masterpiece the likes of which has not happened for the Beantowners since 1973: a sweep of 3 or more games at the Ballpark at Arlington. And they did it with a curious but deadly mixture of patience and aggressiveness.

Walking - Texas Ranger style. In a matchup between the team that draws the most walks (Boston) and the team that issues the most per 9 innings, something had to give. And the Rangers pitching staff gave generously. To the tune of 17 walks in the series of which 8 came around to score. That's 8 out of 23 runs Boston scored this weekend. When the Rangers finally found the strike zone in game 3, our beloved Red Sox still found a way to slug their way to another comeback win. Leading 3-0 on a Jason Varitek 3-run homer, Boston starter Julian Tavarez gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in an abyssmal 6th inning (he'd only given up a leadoff single in the 1st inning prior to that).

Now I have to admit that when this happened I was horribly less than thrilled since the one dependable strength that Texas could hang its cowboy hat on (besides leading the league in homeruns AND strikeouts) was it's lethal setup and closer combination of Akinori Otsuka and Eric Gagne. Their stats were absolutely dominant: Otsuka had given up only 2 runs all season while opponents were batting under .115. Gagne had given up ZERO runs and opponents were batting .133. In the eighth inning, Boston scored runs #3 and #4 of the season off Otsuka to take a thin 5-4 lead into the ninth where light-hitting Dustin Pedrioa hit the 12th (yes, 10 plus 2 = 12) pitch of an incredible at-bat into the left-field seats for his second homer and a 2-run lead.

Enter the Otsuka counterpart for the Red Sox, Hideki Okajima and two hits, one run, and three outs later the Red Sox had their first 3-game sweep in Texas since the year I was born.

Up next is a three game series with the AL Central leading Cleveland Indians who are fresh off a sweep of their own in Detroit against the Tigers - an impressive feat since the Tigers hadn't been swept all year and started the series a half game ahead of the Indians in the division. This will mark the second time this season Boston has faced the leader of this division.

Go Sox!!