Lowering the Boom!

(September 2)

Short take:  Laughing at Cleveland

Isn't it great, Sox Fans?  Has there ever been a team to pull your chain harder than this 2001 Sox team?  Just a day after rolling over and playing dead for the pathetic excuse of a division champ Indians, the Sox take the field again against the championship pretenders, take the Tribe's best shot, then deliver a knock out blow of their own.  The Cuyahoga Chokes might win the division, but they won't soon forget what the defending champions did to them in early-September.  Our Sox beat the living crap out of Cleveland 19-10.  

More "what if's", eh Sox Fans!

It was so ugly at first.  Rocky Biddle has never been lit up worst than he was Sunday.  Cleveland looked to put this game away early with a six-run eruption in the second inning.  Not content to give the Tribe three outs, Carlos Lee obliged them with a fielding error for extra at-bats.  All seemed lost until bonehead Roberto Alomar attempted to stretch a one-base advance into two, rounding second and heading for third with two outs.

Big mistake.  While Sox Fans wring their hands about their team's misadventures at third base with two out, Alomar is just dumb enough not to learn the lesson taught Jose Valentin just yesterday.   Making the third out at third base is stupid because you can score nearly as easily from second without risking ending the inning.  Some ballplayers today are morons.

So the Sox nail the idiot Alomar and shut the door on any further damage after six runs.  The real payback for that mistake would come in the next half-inning.  Dave Burba served up batting practice for the Sox and never made it through the inning.  The Sox sent eleven hitters to the plate and leveled everything in their path in the process of scoring eight runs on five hits helped along by two Tribe errors.

Oh sure, and I suppose the Sox aren't winning the division because of our lousy defense.  Jerry Manuel, take a look at first-place Cleveland.

It gets better.  Biddle settled in and retired the Tribe with just one hit allowed in the third inning.  Now with a two-run lead, the Sox bats erupt again crushing Cleveland pitching for another five runs on four hits, plus yet another Tribe error.

Gee, maybe we can trade them a defensive specialist from our team.  Any suggestions?

Cleveland tried tip-toeing back into this game with homers in the sixth and seventh, but the Sox seventh put that silly plan to waste.  Jose Canseco and Chris Singleton each homered as the Sox drilled Cleveland for six more runs.

Hahahahahaha!  That's a season's worth of frustration we're working off Sox Fans!

Cleveland barely made a whimper after that.  The pigs they are, rookie Josh Fogg made them look silly in 1.1 innings work, striking out four.  Six Sox players had multi-hit days.  Paul Konerko and Magglio Ordonez combined for nine runs batted in.  

The big four-game series ends Monday evening, Labor Day.  Time to send the Cuyahoga Chokes another message:  we own you.