Jones Rounds Third as Sandoval Looks On (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Are we mailing it in less than halfway through the season? Well, no. Your pal Righty broke his left hand. If anything I’m taking this whole “Righty” thing too seriously. I broke it diving headfirst into first base. I was out. Kids, never ever slide headfirst.

My posts will be brief until I figure out a good system for blogging with one hand.

The good news about this game was that the offense scored a halfway respectable amount of runs (5!). They even had some timely hitting including this two-out two-run double by Panda in the top of the 4th, and this two-out RBI single by Xander in the top of the 6th. Papi homered in the top of the 8th (his first in 69 at-bats) and topped it off with a beautiful little bat toss. All three of the aforementioned plays brought the Sox to within one run at the time.

They also played good defense, with the play of the night coming from – who else – Dustin “Sunset” Pedroia. He made a full extension stop on a wicked one hopper from Crush Davis that was practically past him when he snagged it. Bogaerts would get in on the fun later in the game, making a diving stop on a grounder up the middle. I may or may not have predicted that this was coming from Xander (scroll to the notes).

The bad news was that Wade Miley was ineffective. He went just four innings, giving up 5 earned runs on 9 hits, including 3 home runs. Worse still, when Farrell told him between innings that he was done he threw a full-blown temper tantrum, ranting and raving and caterwauling all the way down the tunnel. As Orsillo said on the broadcast, if you’re Miley how can you complain after the outing you just had?

Steven Wright and Taz were effective in relief but the Red Sox could never fully climb out of the hole that Miley put them in.

Notes:

-I have to say, Siri is a pretty good secretary. Dictating this recap wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought it would be.

-Adam Jones is my favorite player in the AL East that’s not on the Red Sox. So good and so likable, a real treat to watch.