Duel

I’ll be brief today for sure, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the game that went down in Cleveland last night. It featured one of the best pitchers in the American League, and one of the emerging star pitchers in the American League.

In a game where you are rewarded for not making mistakes and being successful means getting three hits in every ten at bats illustrated that last night’s display of pitching prowess by the Indian’s C.C. Sabathia and Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka, that pitching duels are an exciting portion of all possible scenarios in baseball. Last nights game was played the way the game is meant to be played, or at least how most managers would like to see them played. Dice-K, in maybe his finest outing of his MLB career, pitched seven scoreless innings against a potent Indian’s lineup. He also only gave up four hits and threw only 98 pitches before handing the keys over to fellow Japanese pitcher, All-Star Hideki Okajima. Okajima pitched another perfect 8^th inning setting up closer Jonathan Papelbon en route to his 23^rd save on the season.

The game’s only mistake came when Indian’s rookie left fielder Ben Francisco misread a seemingly easy out when Sabathia got Red Sox 3B Mile Lowell to swing hard at a well placed pitch that should have been out number three. Francisco took a step back, the came forward and instead of catching the ball, ended up making a diving stop that allowed 1B Kevin Youkillis to score. A lot of things go on during a baseball game to contribute to a victory. It’s not that often in today’s game you see the one play that makes all the difference.

Tonight, Josh Beckett will face off against surprise 12 game winner Fausto Carmona. Last season Carmona won only one game in seven starts. He was used out of the bullpen as well losing a total of 10 games with an ERA of 5.42. David Ortiz should also be back in the lineup, and was available last night to pinch hit. If the Sox can take tonight’s game it will guarantee them the series victory. With the Yankees playing the cellar dwellers the past several days in the American League, Boston needs to capitalize on their five game winning streak and keep pace on the Yanks.