The Yankees were pounding the lifeless Orioles. The Indians were beating up on old friend Casey Fossum. And the Red Sox were losing 4-1.

And I’m sitting in the local eatery, eating a sub and getting updates from the guy behind the counter because my power went out.

Sully mentions liking metaphors. Maybe the power going out is a nice metaphor for what’s happened to the Sox lately. Lifeless. No energy. A distinct lack of power.

In the top of the 6th, the power arrived to my home.

In the bottom of the 6th, the power came back on in the Sox. You just can’t help but feel optimistic.

Three men have seemingly come through time and time again for the Sox, as they barrel down the home stretch of the 2005 season. Two of those players are guys you’d expect. One is 24 and was pitching in Portland just a couple of months ago. All three were instrumental in recharging the batteries of the wilting, lifeless Red Sox last night.

In the bottom of the 6th inning, the Sox trailed 4-1. Matt Clement had pitched one of his alright, but completely inefficient games, throwing 96 pitches through 5 innings, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks. The Sox trailed 4-1 and looked like they would sleepwalk to a 2-game deficit in the AL East (and a 1-game deficit in the Wild Card). But David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez would not comply. Ortiz singles to lead off the inning. Manny Ramirez strides to the plate, goes to an 0-1 count, and then promptly is Manny being Manny–he rips a pitch to right that lands in the Jays’ bullpen.

4-3.

With 1 out in the top of the 7th, Jonathan Papelbon comes into the game. He sandwiches a couple of outs around a double to get the Sox through the inning. When the Sox go scoreless in the bottom of the inning, Papelbon comes back out in the 8th and needs just 7 pitches to get the Jays in order and keep the Sox within striking distance.

Still, the Sox trailed by a run. So David Ortiz decided to add to his resume. On the 3rd pitch of the bottom of the 8th, Papi deposited a pitch into the Monster seats, sending Fenway into bedlam and started people around the country chanting “M-V-P.” Manny followed with a walk and then hustled to 3rd with a head first slide on a Varitek single. The power outage still affected the bottom of the order though. John Olerud, Bill Mueller, and Trot Nixon were unable to get the run home from 3rd with 0 outs.

Francona wisely stuck with Papelbon. Papelbon got a couple of groundouts, the second on a nifty play by Bill Mueller that had Papelbon off the back of the mound pointing and yelling excitedly. Maybe it’s his youthful exuberance. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t “been there before.” But it sure was nice to see someone on the Red Sox recognizing the importance of the moment. With 2 outs, he missed his spot a tiny bit, allowing Eric Hinske to line a double down the left field line. But, Papelbon is a battler. He came right back and got Gregg Zaun to pop out to keep the game tied heading into the bottom of the 9th.

All you needed to know at that moment was if a single batter reached, David Ortiz would come to the plate.

Johnny Damon singled with 1 out. Edgar Renteria walked. David Ortiz came to bat with gargantuan MVP chants ringing out. Toronto closer Miguel Batista worked around Papi a bit, with Ortiz taking a couple of suspect hacks. With the count 3-2, Ortiz lined a pitch into CF, right around the overshift. Damon raced around and was greeted by a throng of teammates at home plate.

5-4.

The power’s back on at Fenway.

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Tonight’s pitching matchups:
Yankees @ Sox: Wang vs. Wells
White Sox @ Cleveland: Buehrle vs. Millwood