Interesting Turn of Events

I’m not sure who all watched the ending to the Red Sox-Yankees game last night. I, myself, wasn’t planning on watching it after Albers gave up the run in the 7th (credited to Doubront). I really wasn’t planning on watching the game after Miller gave up the tying run. I’ve seen how these sorts of events have gone in the past, and I wasn’t ready to watch the train wreck unfold in front of me.

However, I continued to watch. Aceves pitched a perfect bottom of the 9th, and the game headed into the 10th inning. Salty walked. Middlebrooks squared for a bunt (why he was bunting, I do not know), and was hit on the wrist/forearm area. He crumpled to the ground in pain, and the umpire turned away in pain as well since the ball had hit him in the shin.

During all the commotion, my brother, his girlfriend, and I watched replays to make sure that Middlebrooks was hit on the wrist/forearm area and not the hand, as the hand is part of the bat. It appeared the ball hit the wrist/forearm area, but the homeplate umpire called that the ball hit the bat. How the homeplate umpire could see that when he turned AWAY from the plate when the ball hit him, I do not know.

So, a hit by pitch became a strike in a matter of seconds. Tempers flared, and Valentine was ejected. Truthfully, I think Valentine needed to get ejected from a Yankees-Red Sox game. He’s been going about this season all-too-calm for my liking. Why hasn’t he gotten so upset, especially when his team has straddled mediocrity all season?

After Valentine was ejected, the Red Sox bench erupted. It was very odd to see Adrian Gonazlez, Mr. Cool-and-Collected, going off on the umpires from the dugout. Cody Ross, who’s also seen as a positive influence on this team, was also yelling. Beckett was jawing at the third-base umpire as well, and he was eventually ejected.

Could the Sox response to the call be contributed with Pedroia calling out his teammates for their playing? Pedroia is the heart and soul of the Red Sox, no doubt about it. He’s the leader, even if he doesn’t want to be. He’s the guy the media goes to, even when he’s had a bad game. He’s the player the little kids want to grow up to be like, even if he has a vocabulary like a sailor. Pedroia is the fire, and he might have passed on part of the torch to the rest of the team (nice Olympic referenced, huh?).

The Red Sox eventually won when Middlebrooks hit a single, moving Salty to second. Sweeney hit into a fielder’s choice, moving Salty to third, and Pedro Ciriaco hit an RBI single. Sox win 3-2.

I see this game, and the series at that, as a turning point for the Sox. They are now at .500 again, still 9.5 games back in the Division and 4.0 games back in the Wild Card. However, there is still 2 months left of games. The Yankees are flailing, having lost 7 of the last 10.

In 2004, the turning point of the season seemed to coincide with the Varitek-ARod incident. The Sox reaching .500 against the Yankees in 2012 might be what the team needs at this time. They are still considered “sellers” with the trade deadline approaching tomorrow. Maybe the Sox needed to prove to themselves (and upper management) that they are winners.