[Aerich]

Part of the reason for "wild" pitches and balls was the strike zone, though. That umpire is notorious for calling a tiny zone. I noticed a few on the corners that I was SURE were strikes, as well as a few between the belt and the letters; I could have sworn that those were supposed to be called strikes.

That said, it didn't hurt Lowe much. How about him? He pitched the deciding games in the ALCS and the Series, never mind game 4 of the ALCS... and was great in each of them. He looks wild because his sinker has so much movement - I can only recall one pitch of his that got away from Varitek, and that was because they got their signals crossed - he was expecting a curve and got a high fastball. All of Lowe's movement is down in the zone, so Varitek sure got a workout back there tonight - although not as much as when he caught Wakefield for a couple innings in the ALCS - 3 passed balls in ONE inning!!

Marquis wasn't that bad for the Cards - he only gave up 3 runs in six innings, although he was in trouble for much of the night. A lot of blame goes to the Cardinal bats (or credit to BoSox pitching) - a pitcher can't win a game if his team doesn't score any runs.