The slam was given up by the usually reliable Yhency Brazoban. It was the last pitch of his longest outing of the year, and everyone could see he was struggling, except perhaps Jim Tracy. Tracy had Carrera ready in the bullpen, but didn't bring him in, despite Brazoban having just walked the bases loaded. For this lack of cluefulness, Jim Tracy gets a shiny new Grady Little memorial second guess award, the very same award Terry Francona got for leaving Pedro in too long Friday night. Actually, I cut Little and Francona a little more slack than I do Tracy, because Pedro Martinez is supposed to be your star, your number one, so you do go with him a little longer than you would otherwise. Brazoban has been great this year, but he's still a rookie, and Carrera has been great, too.
I fell asleep on the couch with the Sox-Yanks tied at 1-1. I woke up to a final score of 12-5. The Sox scored 7 runs in the eighth off of Paul Quantrill and two guys from Columbus. Quantrill is having a tough year. Last year, when he was with the Dodgers, his ERA was 1.75, with only 61 hits given up in 77 innings. This year he's at 4.73, with 120 hits in 93 innings.
The back continues to hurt, despite the drugs and Thermacare wraps. It is bearable when the drugs are working, but the times when the drugs' effectiveness has worn out but the next dose hasn't taken effect yet? Yeowtch!
