Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Hunting Game on Lansdowne; Manny Leads Comeback Party, Bags Twins 6-5 (cont'd)

A good win feels good.

That's my profound statement of the day.

Winning is awesome.

That's my second profound statement (and why I get paid the big philosophy bucks.)

After dropping 6 straight one-run games, you'd figure the coin would flip the other way (i.e. theyze was dueze), and now the Sox have won 2 straight by the smallest of margins.

But these can be the biggest of victories, and citing the law of averages just doesn't capture how fun it is to come back and win.

Winning is fun. (Now I'm a Pedroia-esque 3-3)

And with Manny taking charge with go-ahead and tying RBIs in the 8th inning of consecutive games, he's finally shoving back against the bullying slump that comped him a great seat from which to watch his teammates try to do his job.

With morale high after cutting the deficit to 5-3 in the 8th, and with Pedroia on 2nd, Manny tagged the first pitch from Guerrier like he wanted to study its behavior.

But I don't think this one's coming back.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I feel that I can tell when Manny is looking to hit the ball the other way because his front foot seems slightly more even with that of his back foot. And of course Manny is at his best when he looks to hit the ball to right field. But this is another mental thing I think with him, because he goes through spurts when he is pull happy. I don't know though maybe it is all in my head as I don't watch film.


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Soxlosophy said...

Huh, interesting idea Joe. I'll have to look for that in the future.

As a very amateur pitcher myself, I know that sometimes I try to land in a different spot with my front leg to throw the ball inside or outside.

But there's always the danger of tipping one's hand (or foot), and Manny wouldn't want to give anything away. But that doesn't mean he's not doing it.

Eric said...

At last! The home run metaphor I've been looking for as a writer for years! Pity I didn't come up with it myself. I'm going to enjoy the image of Manny tracking the ball, shooting it with a tranquilizer, sticking a plastic tag on its non-existent ear, and then looking at it very carefully and noting any defects in his notebook.

Soxlosophy said...

ha! manny as a careful, astute, meticulous observer. thanks for drawing out the implication... now i'm imagining him with a lab coat. with a clipboard. and applying for grants.