What is it about the Angels’ proximity to Disneyland that makes Jason Bay so clutch with the long ball? Back on October 1, 2008 the Sox were down 1-0 to the Angels in Anaheim when Bay went deep to left to give the Sox a 2-1 lead they wouldn’t give up (oh, and they won the series). Today, the Sox are down 3-2 in the 7th when Bay takes Saunders out to left to give the Sox a 4-3 lead the wouldn’t give up. Oh, he also added a VERY important insurance run in the 9th with a solo shot. Clearly, he wants Southern California to be renamed the Bay Area (don’t forget to tip your waiters, the 6 o’clock show is completely different from the 9 o’clock show), so I can’t wait to see what happens when he’s in Oakland next week.

Jason Bay ballwashing aside, wtf Paps? The most annoying pitcher to watch is what I call an oh-and-freaking-two pitcher. An 0-freaking-2 pitcher is one who gets a batter to 0-2 and lets him off the hook (either with a hit or a walk). The classic 0-freaking-2 pitcher is Dice-K. So when he went 0-2 to Torii Hunter to lead off the 9th, I figured, one down. Nope, Hunter goes deep. When he then goes 0-2 to Morales, I figured, well, no way Paps loses two hitters after an 0-2 count. Wrong, double down the line.

Now, in fairness to Paps, he did bear down and close out the game with only a 1 run lead, a runner on 2nd and no outs, but holy hell Paps, Red Sox Nation doesn’t need any heart attacks in freaking April!

Oh yeah, and that Penny guy was pretty good. Let’s hope we see more of that.