Sunday, May 27, 2012

Thanks Sox and Celts for an hour well spent

Having spent yesterday at a family celebration and running errands with Shel, which included my first banana split in quite some time, we settled in for a quiet evening and a movie.  During the commercials I'd take a peek at the Red Sox/Rays game, since my bro was at the game and it was a 2-1 score, and game 7 of the Celtics/Sixers game.  Also, since we're going sightseeing today, I didn't know how much sports I would get to watch this weekend, so a little fix was in order.
So following the end of the movie at 10pm, I started bouncing back and forth between the Celtics and Sox games, mostly focused on the Celtics game since it was a game 7, ergo an elimination game.  The Celtics seemingly had things under control, as they had so often in this series, only to allow the pesky Sixers to hang around.  Doug Collins deserves much credit for the tenacious way that young team plays, a team that talent-wise had no business hanging around in this series or being there at all.  So with about 5 minutes remaining the Celtics have a 5 point lead, when Paul Pierce presses his luck on a drive to the lane with 5 fouls and fouls out on a charging call.  From that point forward though the Celtics bare down, lead by Rajon Rondo, and finally put the Sixers away to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals to meet the Miami Heat.  This should be an interesting series, at least to start.  The Celts are getting old and tired and will be without Avery Bradley but play well against the more talented Heat; the Heat can be inconsistent and will be without Chris Bosh but are the better team.
So once the Celtic game is over, I tune back in to see the Sox are still down 2-1 starting the bottom of the 9th.  Daniel Nava leads off and works a much-needed walk to get a man on base, and he is immediately sacrificed to 2nd, leaving two opportunities for a single to tie the game.  Up next is Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who has been quietly having a productive offensive year for the Sox.  First pitch fastball, swing and miss.  It's sometimes hard to tell on TV whether, when a hitter swings and misses a first-pitch fastball, the hitter is overmatched or has it timed perfectly but just missed it.  Well, Salty obviously had it timed because the next pitch was another fastball (mistakenly knee high and inside to a lefthanded hitter) and he deposited it into the bullpen for a walk-off homer and a BoSox win.  So the Sox get back to .500, AGAIN, and I get to go to bed at a decent hour.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope the Celts beat the Heat. I can't stand Decembers NBA Champions.

Brent said...

Ditto.