Hardball Heaven

So if I had told you before Game 6 that Curt Schilling would have average stuff and that the Sox' 3-4-5 hitters - Papi, Manny and Lowell - would be a combined 0 for 5 in the fifth inning, you'd be thinking about 2008, right? And if I had predicted that season-long whipping boys J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo would each deliver huge hits you'd think I was going insane. Well, the Sox aren't ready to call it a season just yet. And you may as well call the white jackets in.

Things are going swimmingly in Boston tonight as the Sox and Indians battle at Fenway. The Sox are coming to bat in the home half of the fifth, Cleveland Ace 1B Fausto Carmona has hit the showers long ago, and Schilling can afford to miss on a few of his pitches now as his mates have supplied him with a tidy 10-1 lead.

That's not a misprint, nor is what I'm about to type next. The Sox jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first on a J.D. Drew grand slam to left-center. It was an especially big hit considering that the Sox nearly squandered another bases loaded/nobody out situation. Pedroia and Youkilis were both on with infield hits, and Papi walked. Manny then K'd and Lowell flied out to shallow right, and all of a sudden we were in danger of letting Carmona off the hook. You could hear the air coming out of the stands at Fenway. And then Drew came through in dramatic fashion. The Sox proceeded to blow it wide open in the third, with Lugo smacking a double down the third-base line to drive in a couple more. Mr. Carmona, meanwhile, went searching for some Irish Spring.

It doesn't get much better than this, but we're not going to jinx ourselves and start talking about a potentially epic sports Sunday here in Boston. Oh, and note to Terry Francona: I don't care if this thing gets up to 20-1, don't you dare hand the baseball over to the goateed French guy.

(Late-breaking update: It gets better. Not only do J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo come up with big, big hits, guess who comes on in the 9th and has a clean 1-2-3 inning? Yup, the goateed Frenchman. Talk about a momentum swing. Sox win 12-2. Game 7 tonight with Dice-K vs. Jake Westbrook.)