Worst. Loss. Ever. (of 2007 atleast)

Wow.

Just... wow.

I don't know what to say or where to begin. Why don't we just start with...

...getting rid of JD Drew. Buy out the rest of his contract. I don't care. I will never EVER root for him as long as he wears a Red Sox uniform. This is long overdue: I'll never forgive the Red Sox front-office for letting go Trot Nixon and signing JD Drew to a 5yr/$70 million contract. There's no way Trot would have let that ball by him and all the way to the fence in the 8th with 2 runners on with a 3 run lead. Pathetic. That play was in slow motion as JD Drew came in to field that liner from Huff. I think every Little Leaguer knows not to sprint at a line drive one hopper in right field no matter the circumstances--much less in a close game in the 8th. You either let up and field it safely or you go for it. Enraging. Just makes me want to punt kittens.

For fun, let's compare Trot vs JD stats for the 2007.

-------------BA /OBP/SLG---------------
Trot Nixon .255/.347/.347
JD Drew .254/.358/.382

There probably aren't two rightfielders in the majors who have more similar batting stats and yet Trot is getting paid $11 million less than JD Drew this season. They're both injury riddled, left-handed, and wear number 7. Not to mention that Trot was a Boston fan favorite who should spent his entire career at Fenway and JD Drew has the enthusiasm and charisma of a cardboard box. I went to Trot's return to Fenway with my brother's and can tell you that it was one of the most giving-me-chills moment of my life when he came up to bat. Watch this or this and tell me it doesn't give you chills. As close to tragedy for a Sox fan as you can get.

I want a refund on Eric Gagne. Coco Crisp's game-losing throw that was supposed to be a play-at-the-plate but he hit the CUT OFF MAN. He makes Johnny Damon look like Tom Brady out there. Where was Papelbon in the 9th?

What a horrible loss. I started writing this entry after the Wily Mo Pena game-tying hit because it was the most improbable occurrence that I've seen in a long time. Probably the most feel-good moment of the 2007 Red Sox season all to be thrown away by Eric The Clown Gagne and OkiChoki. In the words of Billy Madison, "YA BLEWWWWWWW IIIIT!!!"

The pitching duel between Dice-K and Erik Bedard was ruined. Daisuke Matsuzaka had ridiculous movement on all his pitches tonight (7in 4H 1ER 4BB 7K 112 pitches) and O's lefty Erik Bedard proved once again why he's the most underrated pitcher in the majors (7.2 in 4 H 2 ER 2 BB 7 K) and arguably is the BEST pitcher in the league.

28 year old Erik Bedard is a lefty who leads the majors in strikeouts by a wide margin and has a 3.09 ERA, 1.10 WHIP. His K/9 ratio is 11.18 which is really really good, like best in baseball good. He dishes out more K's than anyone in baseball. He had racked up 7 K's in the game already and was facing the most dreadful hitter on the Red Sox roster. K's. K's. K's.

Wily Mo Pena is a strike-out machine. 56 K's in 151 AB with only 14 walks. Can't hit a breaking ball. Can't get around quick enough on a fast-ball. He's batting .219/.293/.391 which are all well below is his career #s and has a mighty 16 RBI this season. My dad hates him. My mom thinks he's the biggest waste of space she's ever seen. He's looked completely overwhelmed in every at-bat this season and had Bill Simmons demanding he be traded for a cheeseburger in his ESPN column today. Earlier this week, WMP himself demanded a trade out of Boston only to have his agent, who knows that there's no market for him whatsoever, tells the press 48 hours later, "His preference would be to stay in Boston and to help the team win a World Series this year." Nice. Does anyone realize that this guy hit 26 HR's in only 110 games a few years ago and he was just 22 years old??? Different guy.

On a 2-2 pitch with men on 1st and 2nd in the 8th inning down one run, just after 1b umpire Joe West bailed him out on a check swing call, Wily Mo Pena hits a 12-6 curve ball from Erik Bedard up the middle to tie the game. He goes nuts running down the first baseline, clapping his hands and yelling... easily the most emotion and enthusiasm I've seen outta WMP since he donned a Sox uniform. Not once in that at bat did I think that he wasn't going to strike out... much less hit a 2- strike breaking ball back up in the middle. Not in a million years. But he did. When Lugo bunt singles the go ahead run, the pinched-run Wily Mo was going NUTS and the Sox were going crazy in the dugout. We then hit 4 consecutive singles to take the lead to 5-1. Just an awesome awesome moment.

Then, Eric Gagne came in. Do we still have the receipt on this guy? Everyone in baseball thought this trade was a steal. Maybe he's just one of those closers who cannot pitch in a set-up role. What a miserable performance. He let up 4 runs on 3 hits and a walk and managed to get ONE (1) out. One. Eric Gagne.

I already mentioned the JD Drew debacle and I don't want to talk about it anymore but I'll say it again: Trot would have never let that ball by him. No way.

So, we lose the game after a great come back from the most unlikely of sources.

This one hurt.

Norm McDonald in Billy Madison, "Hey, you wanna go feed that donkey some beer? Get it all messed up?"

Yes. I'd like that.