Potboiler
| Game 129: August 24, 2007 | |||
 Red Sox |
10 | W: Curt Schilling (8-5) | 78-51, 2 game winning streak 26-11-5 series record |
| White Sox | 1 | L: John Danks (6-12) | 56-72, 3 game losing streak 16-21-3 series record |
| Highlights: The lineup continued their barrage in the night game. David Ortiz led the charge with two homers. Kevin Youkilis also homered, showing reinvigorated prowess after a few weeks of futility. | |||
The second game featured a December-May pitching match-up of crusty veteran against the much-lauded but still unproven rookie.
The number one song when Curt Schilling was born on November 14, 1966 was “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by the Supremes and The Secret of Santa Vittoria by Robert Crichton was flying off the shelves. When John Danks was born on April 15, 1985? “One More Night” by Phil Collins. That week the New York Times fiction bestseller was Family Album by Danielle Steel while Lee Iacocca’s autobiography headed the nonfiction list.
Danks was three years old when Schilling made his major league debut on September 7, 1988. The top song of the time, appropriately enough, was “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns ’n Roses, Tom Clancy’s The Cardinal of the Kremlin was the top fiction book, and Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time headed nonfiction works, just edging out Trump’s autobiography. On Danks’s debut, AKON’s “Don’t Matter” topped the charts; an appropriate theme song for the White Sox this season.
Age came before beauty, if youth of its own virtue is considered comely. Schilling lasted his requisite six innings, giving up just a solo shot to Juan Uribe in the second inning while walking one and striking out three. The Grinders lineup did nothing of the sort, mustering just three hits total. Neither side seemed to get the better of the other, the contest was as bland as bologna on white bread despite the deployment of fireworks for the home team’s circuit shot.
As a minor leaguer Danks’s name is well-known on top prospect lists. Major league reality is has proved harsh on the tender lefty. His ERA is verging on six (5.51) and he half as many wins as losses (6-12). He has had eight quality starts, but three of them were losses and two ended in no decisions.
In addition to the three four-baggers, four Boston hitters notched doubles, including backup catcher Kevin Cash. He profited on the host’s poor pitching in the fourth by knocking in a single and his first run as a Red Sox player; Cash also doubled in the eighth.
Games against a team like the White Sox should always be this dull. These are the potboilers that pad the division lead, just in time for another foray to Stade Fasciste.
