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Honestly, after watching the Red Sox drop three of four to the White Sox and half-ass their way through their recent homestand, my expectations for this road series hung lower than a dog’s balls. And after David Price coughed up 12 hits and 6 runs to the Rangers in just 2.1 innings, I figured it was as good a night as any to turn off the game and work on my collection of Mike Timlin wood carvings.

But I hung in, mostly being too drunk to reach the remote, and faith was rewarded. Slowly but surely, the Red Sox kept chipping away at the lead. A Hanley home run in the fourth and a JBJ shot in the seventh made it 7-4. Meanwhile, the bullpen actually prevented the Rangers from scoring. This led to the ninth inning when the Sox, inexplicably, hung a four spot on Texas with a two-out rally sparked by–wait for it–Sandy Leon. After The Greatest Catcher Who Ever Lived knocked in JBJ to make it 7-5, Mookie Betts stepped to the plate and did this:

Needless to say, his teammates were fine with it.

One Pedroia walk, Xander hit and passed ball later, the Sox had an improbable 8-7 lead. But we still had to wheel out Koji for the bottom of the ninth, which is a risky proposition these days, to say the least. But Koji responded by striking out the side and promptly losing his shit, along with the rest of us.

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It was the most bizarre, unlikely and uplifting win of the year — the polar opposite of last Monday’s crushing squanderfest loss to Chicago. More importantly, it was the kind of win that could spark a streak. I know I’m thinking good thoughts. And so is she: