Yet another ho-hum 7 inning performance from the Byrdman with a W. It’s amazing to think that this is a guy we got off the waiver and replaced a pitcher who couldn’t get out of the 3rd inning. To be perfectly honest, I was shocked that Byrd managed to go this long tonight. Around the 2nd inning I started noticing that during his windup, he would tap his glove with the ball if he was throwing anything but a curve. If he was throwing the curve, he kept the ball snugly in the glove as his knee came up. Sure, I’m no John Farrell, but that seems like the definition of tipping pitches to me.

As for the the offense, Tek decided to be the opening act for Pedroia’s laser show, tying the game at one with a frozen rope that just barely hit the Pesky Pole in the 2nd. But the opening act couldn’t upstage the headliner, as Pedroia turned out to be the difference with a 6th inning two-out bases-loaded single. Maybe managers will soon learn to just walk Pedey with the bases loaded rather than pitch to him. As Ozzie Guiellen said a few days ago, “I never thought I was going to walk a goddamn jockey.”