Red Sox Game 37 Recap: Two in the pink

Highest WPA: John Lackey, .195 (7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 9 K, 0 BB, HR)
Lowest WPA: Jonny Gomes, -.077 (1-4, K, 3 LOB)

No, self. Bad. Just because we took two in the series, and today is Mother’s Day so there were pink bats and accessories, doesn’t give you the right to make a dirty joke in the post title. Try again.

Red Sox Game 37 Recap: John Lackey Being Great Is Confusing And Makes Me Uncomfortable

Well, that’s…accurate, I suppose. It isn’t new, by any means, but ever since his Tommy John surgery, John Lackey has been really good. And given that it’s been almost a year and a quarter now, I think we can say that it might just be for real. It makes you wonder how long his elbow has hurting him–maybe not just in the Godawful 2011 campaign, but back to the years before that, the years that made me think his contract was a ridiculous mistake.

That same contract, now, looks like a bargain. The Red Sox have shown that they care more about saving money than winning ballgames, so it’s nice to look at a Lackey’s league-minimum option for 2015 and realize that can actually do both. Maybe that’s why Jon Lester isn’t pitching here next year: He didn’t concede to the “if your arm explodes we get you for a year at the minimum” clause.

Today is not a day for complaining about our penny-pinching billionaire owner, though. It’s a day for celebrating mothers (mine’s great), celebrating victories (like this one), and celebrating that penny-pinching billionaire owner’s soccer team not winning the league. Hooray for mothers! Hooray for victory! Hooray for Manchester City!