Hinske Plays Nijinsky And The Sox Win A Pair

Eric Hinske made a diving catch and hit a home run in the nightcap and Julian Tavarez threw a gem in the opener to give the Red Sox a doubleheader sweep of the Tigers. With a runner on and the Tigers up 2-1 in the fifth, Mike Rabelo drove a ball to the gap that Hinske, not exactly Maysian in the field, caught up with and held onto despite driving his face into the warning track. His two-run homer broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh and gave the Sox a 4-2 win hours after Tavarez held the Motor City Kitties to one run in a 2-1 afternoon matinee victory. Tavarez was in the spirit before the game as well, espousing his love for doubleheaders even while pleading ignorance about Ernie Banks, eternal paramour of the twinbill.

• Somewhere on the short ride from Shea Stadium to the airport for a flight back to Chicago, Lou Piniella likely sat down with Ryan Dempster to continue their discussion from the mound in the bottom of the ninth. The two men yelled at each other at that time, with Sweet Lou imploring Dempster to throw strikes and Dempster saying god knows what in his own defense. Dempster couldn't or wouldn't follow through on Skip's advice, though, and the Mets rallied from 5-1 down to a 6-5 win thanks to three hits and two walks off Dempster and a game-winning single by Carlos Delgado against Scott Eyre. Whatever Piniella said in the latter conversation, it wasn't "Loooooooooooou!"
• Bartolo Colon improved to 5-0 and Vladimir Guerrero blasted a home run somewhere in the general direction of Bainbridge Island as the Angels closed their series in Seattle with a 7-3 victory. Vlad now has eight homers and 29 RBIs in the 24 Angel wins on the season. Ichiro was thrown out stealing, snapping his streak at 45 straight successful attempts on a day when little went right for the Mariners.
• Break up the Nationals! The Nats won for the sixth time in seven games, 4-3 over the Braves, and once again their pitching was to thank. Matt Chico allowed three runs in six innings and the bullpen was perfect from there to help the Nats draw closer to the rest of the NL East. They are still three games behind the Marlins but with strong outings like Chico's it may not be beyond them to fight their way out of the cellar.

Comments

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This game was incredible! My personal favorite from last week. Hinske's bomb was so unexpected, and really the type of thing that ridiculously charmed teams seem to pull off...