Hardball Heaven

Poor Fausto Carmona. The guy who sounds like a character from a Bill Shakespeare play was once again the victim of some Sox dramatics last night. Let's set the scene: bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, nobody on. Carmona began by whiffing Wily Mo and Coco, and then the proverbial wheels came off. He plunked Mirabelli and Gonzalez, and then walked Youkilis. Bases loaded (without a hit) for Mark Loretta. Loretta had been watching Carmona's meltdown from the on-deck circle, and knew he was going to get a couple of heaters near the plate - especially with Big Papi looming. Loretta got one he liked and slapped it off the Monster, giving the Sox an incredulous 6-5 comeback win over the Indians.

The fans at the game deserve a little bit of credit here too. There weren't many empty seats when there were 2 outs in the 9th, and the decibel level clearly rattled Mr. Carmona to the point where he couldn't find the plate. Fenway has become one of the greatest home-field advantages in baseball, and it's awfully damn nice to see.

Finale against Cleveland tonight at 7:05 has Josh Beckett going against Jake Westbrook. If the Sox take 3 of the 4 games, Eric Wedge is going to have nightmares. He may be using a new closer this evening.