David Wells made what is likely his last start before serving his suspension, throwing 5 decent innings and getting the win in the Sox 5-2 victory over the Royals. Wells final line of 5 IP/5 H/5 K/2 BB/0 ER looks pretty solid, but he definitely scuffled a bit against an anemic Royals’ lineup. Wells worked out of trouble in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd–thanks to a couple of strikeouts, some ridiculous Royals’ baserunning, and a well-timed double play. Jeremi Gonzalez came in and gave the Sox 3 near perfect innings of relief, allowing just a single walk. Game 1 of the “Mike Timlin as closer” era ended a bit scarily as Timlin allowed 2 runs in the 9th before finally getting former PawSox OF Chip Ambres to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

Zack Greinke pitched for the Royals and didn’t do nearly as poorly as his final line looked. He retired the first 7 hitters before giving up a double to Bill Mueller. Mueller would score on a Damon double with 2 outs, leading to what was probably the pivotal play of the game. Edgar Renteria (3 for 5) singled to left. Terrence Long, possibly one of the worst players in MLB, charged and picked up the ball on a bounce and fired to home as Dale Sveum was sending Damon. The throw beat Damon by 3 steps. Unfortunately for the Royals, it was about 10 feet up the 3rd base line, allowing Damon to slide to the inside of home plate and score the second run of the game.

As usual, Johnny Damon had something interesting to say about that:

The throw was off a bit, but I know there’s no way in heck I can run into John Buck. I mean, the guy’s big and strong, and he’s able to put me in the hospital.

The Sox would add another run in that 3rd inning on a David Ortiz double (one of 5 Sox doubles on the night), a run in the 4th on a Jason Varitek solo shot, and another in the 5th when the returning Trot Nixon doubled home Edgar Renteria.

Nixon’s return spelled the end of Lenny DiNardo’s short run in Boston, as he was optioned back to Pawtucket. This means that Sox will likely have a short pen for tonight’s Matt Clement start — Schilling is scheduled to go tomorrow, likely with Jonathan Papelbon as the scheduled long reliever should Schilling’s start go awry. Gonzalez went 3 innings tonight, probably removing him from likely duty tonight. That leaves your bullpen looking like: Mike Remlinger, Mike Myers, Chad Bradford, Mike Timlin. Bradford and Myers are specialists, and Timlin the “closer.”

Yes, folks, a sub 7-inning Matt Clement outing likely means we’ll be getting to see episode 5 of The Mike Remlinger Show. I’m giddy.