YankeesRedSox.com

A night of outstanding pitching for the Red Sox.  Curt Schilling was able to get his creaky joints working enough to get him through 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K.  Schilling admitted after the game that he wasn't able to get loose in the top of the 6th, hence the quick hook at only 82 pitches.  A solid game for him..

As good as Schilling was last night, I was most impressed with Hideki Okajima.  Time after time this year, he has stepped up.  Last night he gave the Red Sox 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K.  That is amazing middle relief and allowed Terry Francona to go right to Jonathan Papelbon in the 8th.  Great job.  Where would the Red Sox be without Okajima this year?  Probably playing golf.

Papelbon also deserves credit.  After giving up a single to Matt Holliday (Holliday had 4 of the 5 Rockies hits last night), Papelbon noticed Holliday's 89 foot lead off first and easily picked him off.  Holliday after the game said he knew he needed to get to 2nd to get himself into scoring position, but he gave away his intentions with his ridiculously large lead.  Hat's off to Holliday though, he was basically all Colorado had in game 2.

The bats took the night off (for both teams).  Game 3 Saturday night in Colorado.  Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Lynn native Josh Fogg.  A 2-0 World Series lead is nice, but no guarantee.  You remember 1986, don't you?

Notes:

 - For all the calls for Jacoby Ellsbury to replace Coco Crisp, he is hitting .188/.316/.188 (yes, a .504 OPS) in the postseason and .143/.333/.143/.476 in the World Series.  Despite his lack of production, he still seems to be far more productive than did Crisp (.156/.182/.188/.370).  Ellsbury is popular right now and even if he isn't hitting, people are happier to have him in there right now.  Perception is an interesting thing.  Let me know your thoughts on whether Ellsbury or Crisp is the better option right now.  I say Ellsbury as they have won all games he has started.  That doesn't mean Ellsbury had a ton to do with those wins, but why mess with it, right?

 - I was lucky to be at Fenway last night courtesy of my bro (thanks bro).  We had standing room only tickets, but we had little luck finding room to stand.  Fenway was packed dangerously full last night.  There was one moment just prior to the game when were negotiation traffic at the top of the firstbase grandstands where the mass of people basically stopped.  There was no Fenway security to help and panic/anger almost boiled over.  One father was with his young son and even asked me for help keeping an eye on the poor kid.  The crazy part was I was shoulder to shoulder with a Boston Fire official who had little to say about the issue.  I'm not sure if he was working or just taking in the game.  Fenway just doesn't have the real estate to allow for such crowds.  They need to either limit capacity (best idea) or expand.  Expanding is probably limited to vertical expansion, but whatever they need to do to make the place safe, they ought to do it.  Until they do expand, they seem content to put up temporary seats anywhere possible to pack 'em in.