Sports Redux: "We Pretty Much Imploded"

So said Jonathan Papelbon afterwards. And if you're one of the millions who figured that (hour-long rain delay) + (10-1 lead) = (bedtime), we understand. Unfortunately, among the snoozing millions were the Sox bullpen, who turned a 10-1 lead into a devastating 11-10 loss in no time. This was ugly.

It was shaping up to be such a good night, too. John Smoltz shook off the rust of his first start and mesmerized the Orioles for four innings, giving up three hits and one run. Meanwhile, homers by Youk and Ellsbury, and a parade of hits by everyone else, gave the Sox a 10-1 lead going into the seventh inning stretch. The Baltimore fans were filing out to see if maybe Hamsterdam was still open. But the O's were just getting started.

And the Sox pitching line started to read like a casualty list from Antietam. Justin Masterson, who had cruised through two innings, gave up an RBI double to Luke Scott and a three-run homer to Oscar Salazar. Manny Delcarmen gave up an RBI single to Felix Pie, who has the best name in baseball this side of Coco Crisp. Okajima got out of the seventh, but loaded the bases and surrendered an RBI hit to Matt Wieters to start the eighth. Enter Saito, who gave up a sac fly and another RBI hit. Papelbon came in, struck out Pie, then gave up a 2-run double to Nick Markakis. If you lost count, that's 10 runs in two innings. And a Baltimore win.

"We just had no answer. We went through just about everybody. There were balls everywhere," said Terry Francona. "That was as bad as we’ve seen." It was the biggest comeback in Baltimore history, the biggest Sox collapse since they yakked up a 10-0 lead to the Blue Jays in 1989, and a measure of revenge for the Mother's Day Miracle of 2007. "The good thing is the group of guys we have down there in the bullpen all can take this pretty well," rationalized Papelbon. They'll get their chance for redemption this afternoon. But if Beckett wants to throw a complete game, we're OK with that too.

If there's a bright side of the collapse, it meant that the time when the entire team forgot how many outs there were (mainly Youk, to be honest) was only the second-most embarassing moment of the night. Yeesh.

Free agent season began last night in the NBA, and the Celtics quickly settled one of their two biggest question marks. Eddie House decided not to test the market, and will be back at the Garden flinging 3's for at least one more year. "There are not a lot of times in life where you find a place that feels like home and you have a chance to win the championship, and he’s got that," said Eddie's agent. He should fax that to Glen Davis' people; Big Baby is testing the waters, but the C's can match any offer anybody makes him. So we'll see. CelticsBlog says one name that's coming up in a lot of Celtics rumors is Rasheed Wallace; the Globe has a list of many other names to watch.

The Revolution, still reeling with injuries, lost to the Harrisburg City Islanders in an Open Cup match. To put this in terms easier for us to understand, picture a big tournament where AAA baseball teams can play the big leaguers; this is the equivalent of the Sox getting beat by Pawtucket. With half their roster missing.

Image from Wikipedia.