Feel better now?
Josh Beckett came back to the rotation last night and pitched six strong innings. Daniel Bard got back on the horse and struck out the side in the eighth. Mike Aviles tore a hole in the Sports Authority sign with a game-winning homer and the Red Sox stopped the bleeding with a 4-3 victory over the surging Rays.
In the race for the American League wild card, the Sox hold a four-game lead with 12 to play - seven against the Baltimore Zer-O’s.
So there. Terry Francona is not Don Zimmer. Kevin Youkilis is not Butch Hobson. Jacoby Ellsbury is not Fred Lynn, and Don Orsillo is not Ned Martin.
We are not in the Way Back Machine. It is not 1978.
“It’s gonna happen,’’ said Beckett, who had not pitched since Sept. 5 because of right ankle sprain. “We’re in a bad stretch at a bad time, but one thing that’s not lacking is effort. We’re a good team.’’
Reassuring words, for sure. Beckett talked in spring training about this team being capable of winning 100 games. The Sox led the Rays by 11 games in August and by seven games in early September, but saw that lead whittled to three games entering last night.
Today’s game had a chance to be a complete circus. But now there is calm in the Nation. Even among the veterans of the crash of ’78.
“I still think they’re going to make the playoffs,’’ Jerry Remy said. “I didn’t think it would come to this. I think it would be stunning if they didn’t especially after the way they played all summer.’’
Another member of the boys of ’78 concurred.
“It ain’t gonna happen to them,’’ said hard-luck reliever Bob Stanley, who was also stalking the grounds last night. “They’ll be all right.’’
No team in baseball history ever failed to make the playoffs after holding a nine-game lead in September.
“There’s a weight,’’ said Tampa manager Joe Maddon, who has an honorary doctorate from Lafayette. “That’s the best way to describe it. It’s weighty. You walk into the clubhouse and it just feels heavy. I’ve lived it.’’ Maddon was a coach on the ’95 Angels who folded in famous fashion.
The weight was on Maddon last night. He was ejected for arguing balls and strikes with plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt, who had a terrible night.
“It was an egregiously bad strike zone,’’ said Maddon. “One-sided. I hope somebody takes a look at it.’’
No carping on the Sox side. It was all balloons and flowers, except for Beckett spitting an occasional nail as he labored through his mandatory media session.
“This is a pressure-cooker town,’’ acknowledged Tampa’s Johnny Damon, who knows a thing or two about playing in Boston. “Only tough players can play here. I know they have a lot of tough guys. This game [last night] is huge for them.’’
