Sweep (and a wild one at that)

Today, once the Sox game got delayed to a 9 PM start, I pursued my favorite rainy-night pastime: dashing down to Fenway to poach a cheap ticket off of someone ditching due to the rain delay. Mission accomplished - I was in the 2nd row next to the Sox dugout by the end of the night and got some good pictures, all for $20. Unfortunately, it was a frustrating as $@!#! game.

But in Worcester, the news was much better for our Spirit, as they swept the Tornadoes to maintain 1st place in the 2nd half standings at 4-0.

It was a wild one at Hanover Insurance Park as the Spirit beat Worcester, 10-8. Vic Davilla and Tom Donahue were both tossed during the game for arguing with the umps, and Mike Torres left the game in the first inning with an injury. (The Spirit indicated that it was precautionary, however, and that Torres would be OK.) The Spirit overcame all of that to get the win.

Gary Galvez, making his Spirit debut, was chased in the 5th inning. He tossed 4 1/3 innings and gave up 5 runs - not a very glittering debut. It was 5-4 Spirit with 1 out and the bases loaded when Galvez gave way to Sean McNamara, who gave up a bases-clearing triple to Dom Ramos which gave the Tornadoes a 7-5 lead. A sac fly by Josh Bureaugard increased Worcester's lead to 8-5.

In the top of the 6th, North Shore struck right back against Worcester's Matt Desalvo. BJ Weed chased Desalvo with an RBI single that plated Josue Lopez. Chris Shank came in for the Worcesterians and provided little relief. With 2 runners on base and 2 out, Joe Hough popped up to the catcher Yohanny Valera in fair territory. Valera dropped the ball, and an errant snap throw to 3rd gave Valera 2 errors on the play and allowed both runners to scamper home and tie the game.

P.J. Bevis gave up the decisive blow in the top of the 8th as Carlos Rodriguez smashed an opposite field solo home run to give North Shore the 9-8 lead. They would add another in the inning to make it 10-8.

The big story was Derek Drage, who pitched four shutout innings of relief from the sixth 'til the ninth to get the win.

Now, the Spirit get a few hours of sleep before taking the bus up to Quebec at 7 AM.

Hey Miles:

...IT'S ON, MOTHAF**KA