Atlanta 3
Boston 6

First off, let’s just get one thing straight: that 14-0 loss in the rain-soaked double-header nightcap on Saturday?  It, like, totally didn’t count.  It was just an exhibition game, sort of like when Boston plays the Pawsox every summer. So, you can go ahead and forget about that game, and not include that score in any Pythagorean W-L estimate.  The game didn’t happen.  Got it?  Good.

On to the Sunday afternoon rubber match, which turned out to be a tad more dramatic than I would have liked.

A tip of the cap goes to both the starting pitcher Kason Gabbard and the offense, which jumped out early on Atlanta’s ace, Tim Hudson.  Gabbard was extremely impressive, baffling the Braves with his curveball, and painting the outside corner very effectively.  Recently called up from Pawtucket to fill in for Josh Beckett and his pepperoni-finger (that’s the scientific term, you can look it up), the 25-year-old lefty went 5+ innings, notching 7 Ks, most of which came on a beautiful, sweeping curveball. 

Gabbard ran into a little trouble in the 5th, and was relieved by a bullpen which made things slightly more interesting than we have been used to this year.  Brendan Donnelly, Javier Lopez, Kyle Snyder, Hideki “Scott Proctor-san” Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon combined for 4 innings, 7 hits, 2 walks, but luckily only 1 run (off of Papelbon, oddly enough).  Papelbon actually gave up 3 hits in the 9th, and faced Andruw Jones representing the tying run with 2 outs, but he struck out the Dutch Islander superstar to end the game. 

The offensive star of the game is El Capitan himself, Jason Varitek.  Tek delivered the killing blow in the first inning, clearing the bases with a 2-out three-run triple, his first three-bagger of the season.  Eric “Greek Life” Hinske added an RBI single, and immediately went into the clubhouse for a celebratory Milwaukee’s Best ice-luge with Doug Mirabelli.  That was all the offense the Sox would need, as they take 2 out of 3 from their National League “rivals”, before heading to the lovely, picturesque Bronx tonight.

The Yankees, coming off of a victory on a nice performance by rookie Tyler Clippard in his MLB debut, will send ground ball expert Chien-Ming Wang (2-3, 4.54) against Tim Wakefield (4-4, 2.41).

Widen the gap, gentlemen. 

One roster move to note: Gabbard was sent down after last night’s game, and reliever Manny Delcarmen was recalled from Pawtucket.  The 25-year-old has seen mixed results in AAA this year, with some impressive K numbers (13.13 K/9), but quite a few runs allowed (5.03).