Like the monkey that hits random letters on the keyboard and ends up typing the Gettysburg Address, Ozzie has concocted an alchemy that has turned Houston strength into weakness, and Sox weakness into strength. To wit:
No bench pop - Ozzie double switches Blum, who hit .143 in September, for the Gooch in the 14th inning, setting off creative and unique profanity from me and fellow Blum-hater ToddH. How do you put Blum in for the steadiest player outside of Konerko? And if you're going to double-switch, why insert Blum instead of Ozuna, who's a better glove and a offensive threat with his speed? Whatever, Blum delivers a 2-0 fastball into right field and a stomach punch to the Astros fans.
The return of Everyday Damaso Marte - Ozzie had even gotten to the point where he doesn't use Marte at home because the fans boo when he starts to warm up. For the second night in a row the bullpen gave up the lead, with Ozzie burning through every arm until only Marte was left. And the undeiably worst reliever on the staff slams the door for one and two-thirds by re-finding mid-90s cheese and a humpback slider.
Clemens and Oswalt will both finish in the top 5 in Cy Young Voting, and Lidge is the best closer in the National League, but all three got knocked about by the vaunted(?) Sox offense, which displayed a patience and a knack for fouling off pitches that extended pitch counts and crumbled away at morale.
Freddy to close it out?!
