Twice this season, I've been gotten so completely fed up seeing A.J. Pierzynski come up with runners in scoring position only to quickly make an out that I sarcastically made comments about his clutchness. Twice, AJ has come through with game winning HRs later that same game. I suppose I should really lay on the sarcasm more often.
Late in Saturday's game, I remarked at how poorly the Sox had to play to lose to the Cubs. They had failed to get a runner in from third with less than two outs twice by grounding into double plays(Uribe & Anderson). They failed twice to get down bunts (Iguchi & Anderson). They grounded into another inning ending DP with a runner in scoring position (Konerko), and committed what could have been a costly error in the field (Uribe). If this was against any other team in baseball, the Sox would not have been in a position to comeback. But it was the Cubs, the pathetic, lovable Cubs.
Of course, I have to point out that Javier Vazquez allowed 5 runs to one of the worst offenses in baseball. Since June 6th, the Cubs have scored 5 runs off an opposing starter just one other time, when they scored 9 off of C.C. Sabathia, who later admitted he quit on his team. Even with the wind blowing out, giving up 5 runs to the Cubs is a head hanging performance. As Keith said in the gamethread, he should have earned a loss today.
He would have if it weren't for the heroics of AJ Pierzynski. With the Sox down to their last out, AJ showed Cubs fans what hit worthy of being commemorated on a T-Shirt looks like. And now Cubs fans finally have a legitimate reason for hating AJ, aside from hitting Michael Barrett's fist with his jaw.
And I'm lagging, I guess this is it.