Sports Redux: Whacking Day

All right, it wasn't exactly "Our hallowed snake-skull-cracking day", but there aren't too many opportunities to play the Diamondbacks and break out all the old snake jokes. What it was, was a tough game against a young pitcher pitching way above his head, and the Red Sox were fortunate to get out of it with a 10-inning, 4-3 win.

Julian Tavarez pitched well, with a couple of mistakes, including giving Arizona's Stephen Drew a chance to rip a home run over his big brother's head, and it was 3-0 Snakes heading into the sixth. Cue Samuel L. Jackson! Or, since he wasn't available, Jason Varitek. J.D. Drew singled (just the fifth hit off of surprising starter Micah Owens), then 'Tek parked one for a 2-run homer. Jason then tied it up, doubling off of old friend Brandon Lyon in the eighth.

Varitek had a chance to blow things open in the tenth, with the bases loaded and nobody out. But reliever Juan Cruz struck him out, bringing up pinch-hitter Mike Lowell. Lowell flied to right, but it was deep enough to score the blazing-fast David Ortiz (even if Arizona thought he didn't tag up correctly). Papelbon gutted out a tough bottom of the 10th, and got the save.

Watching on TV, it seemed like a fun, festive atmosphere in the desert. It was the largest crowd ever at Chase Field (we're purists; we still think of it as old Bank One Ballpark), and there were a lot of dueling "Let's Go Red Sox/Let's Go D-Backs" chants throughout the night.

This afternoon, Daisuke Matsuzaka gets a rough introduction to playing in NL parks, as he goes up against Randy Johnson. Randy, of course, is famous for terrifying John Kruk, vaporizing a bird (we never get tired of that one), and being a colossal flop for the Yankees.

And speaking of the Yankees, we have no colossal flops to report yet. Roger Clemens deigned to show up and throw six innings against the Pirates (way to pick your spots, Roger), and the Bronx Bombers are now only two games under .500.

We'd like to report an NBA Finals score, but the league has decided that a three-day wait between Games One and Two was the way to go. They wanted to avoid the poor TV-watching crowds of Friday and Saturday night, so instead, they're going tonight, when anyone with any sense is watching the last "Sopranos". It's a wonder the league is still in business.

Whacking Day screenshot from The DVD Times.