Well, That Was Fun

I bet you didn't think it could happen. I know twitter didn't seem to think it could happen. Once the Sox went down, it was over. After all, this team is gutless. Heartless. Outmatched. Out managed. They just can't win close games. They have no drive. It's blowout or shutout. Nothing in-between. 

Then the Sox scored five runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game. Three straight hits with two outs. It was everything they weren't supposed to be able to do.

But, here's the funny thing. It didn't help their record in one-run games. Because they won by two runs. 

Which is where sometimes stats can fall flat on their face. So, was this another all-or-nothing game? When it got tough, and they needed to be clutch, were they? Apparently not. After all, they won by more than a run. Pummeled a weaker team once again. It works to nicely illustrated the absurdity of punishing a team for scoring runs. Imagine if Hanley had hit a walk-off grand slam. It would have been the least clutch thing he's ever done.

Take it a step further. What if Hanley grounds out? The Red Sox would have scored two runs on back to back two-out singles in the bottom of the ninth. Was Papi's hit then not clutch? Did Mookie then not come through? They were only clutch because Hanley hit his home run? Otherwise it would have been another one run loss. Just what the Sox always do. Is that fair? Once again we would have punished the team for getting lots of people on base. We would have punished them for losing by one instead of three. 

Does that seem odd to anyone else?

But that's all, thankfully, a moot point. Hanley did hit the home run. The Sox did come back in the win of the year. They won a game they absolutely needed to win in exciting fashion. They cut the magic number to 15 on a night where it looked like they were only going to drop it by one. They ignited the team. It was an enormous victory. i slept great last night enjoying the victory.

Even if it wasn't a one run game.