The near-two-hour rain delay caused me to miss much of the early action from KC. I was busy flipping between the Gilmore Girls and the Bulls game. As a result, this recap will be brief.
As has become the norm, with the Sox coming from behind in 9 of their 11 victories, they were down 4-1 by the time I tuned in.
Earlier in the day, I was listening to the Oakland game, and was amazed to hear that the A's have not allowed a first inning run all season, a major league record span of 20 straight games. By contrast, the Sox staff is averaging about a run in every first inning. The Oakland factoid has no bearing on the Sox, but I thought it was interesting how two division leading clubs are taking completely different routes to the top.
The two wins in Kansas City come at a cost. Jim Thome was out of the lineup Tuesday with an oblique injury, which sounds like it could be something that flares up all season long. Before the game on Monday, I pointed out that Thome was the one hitter the Sox could least afford to lose. Oops!
With Thome out of the lineup, Ozzie turned to Darrin Erstad to fill the spot of DH. TIMO! Erstad will probably see more time at DH if Thome is due to miss any more action, as he reinforced Ozzie's love with two doubles. He now has more extra-base hits in his one start at DH than he did in the previous 17 games.
Although Hawk and DJ didn't acknowledge it, Jermaine Dye disappeared late in the game, replaced in the lineup with Pablo Ozuna. Dye fouled a pitch off his shin a couple of days ago, so it could have been bothering him again; or Ozzie got cautious with the playing conditions being less than ideal.
Ozuna, of course, would drive in the winning run in the 9th. On and infield hit, of course. That was after recording an error in the outfield, of course. Such is the life of the Secret Weapon.
I know it will sound cliche when I say it was an ugly game, but it was just as ugly as the weather that delayed the game for an hour and forty-six minutes. There were five wild pitches, five errors, a blown save, and even a catcher's interference. In other words, it was your typical game against the Royals, and I've already spent too much time writing about it. Time for bed.