Two Nailbiters, Sox Style

Dustin Hermanson came on to try and record the save in the 9th inning of yesterdays ballgame and promptly gave up a lead-off triple to Ivan Rodriguez. That shot would have gone out in any other ballpark in baseball, but in Comerica it bounced at the wall in right-center, about 420 feet from home plate. Hermanson went on to get the following batter to hit a IF pop-up, and retired the next two hitters on ground balls leaving I Rod on 3rd and earning himself the save.
Tonight was nearly the same story from a different book. Deadlocked at 3 runs apiece in the 13th inning, Frank Thomas hit a solo HR, his 8th of the year, to give the Sox a 4-3 lead. Shingo Takatsu had pitched in the 12th and stayed on for the 13th to close things out. In the 13th with one out and the tying and go-ahead runs on base, Shingo intentionally walked Nuke Logan to load'em up. That proved to be the right move, as Shingo retired next 2 hitters to end the game. In his last few outings Shingo has looked as if he has turned the corner.
McCarthy had his strongest outing since facing the Cubs in his first major league start, finishing the game with 6IP while surrendering 3ER. He had a shot at his first career ML win, but thanks to Pod being in CF, what would have been a routine flyball out for Rowand was turned into a triple. The kid was pulled after that play and Cotts ended up allowing that runner, the tying run, to score, although again it was more Pods fault than anyone else. With the tying run on 3rd, Cotts got the batter to pop up to short-mid center, the runner tagged and took off with the catch but Pods weak throw did not make it to the plate in time.
The Sox had ample opportunities in this game to give it away, but just refused to do so. In a tie game in the 8th Politte had the bases loaded with nobody out and managed to strike out Rodriguez before getting an inning ending double-play to end the scroing threat. Another great play came in the ninth with a man on 3rd and 2 out on a ground ball that was hit to the hole between short and third. Uribe came up with it and made a great throw from short left field to gun down the diving Polanco at 1st, saving the run and the game. Plays like that make one hope that if a big bat is brought in before the deadline, they had better have one hell of a glove to go with it.
With the W the Sox moved to 22-8 in 1 run games this season and also gained back a game on the Twins, moving to 10 games up.