The Original Game » t day of Test cricket ever, he laughed, when ask

BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox trailed by five runs when Daniel Nava walked to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning, and the hopes of a second consecutive walkoff win were too remote to consider. Nike Air Max Zero Essential White . "I dont think anybody saw that coming," Nava said, describing the "tempered excitement" in the dugout as the bases filled and emptied during a six-run ninth inning that gave Boston an 8-7 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night. "You could see it happening, but it was still too far off." By the time the Red Sox batted around the order, and Nava came up again, the score was tied, the bases were loaded and there was still only one out. Nava lined a long single over the centre fielder to bring the Boston players out of the dugout for the increasingly familiar celebration. One night after winning in 15 innings for their major league-leading 10th walkoff victory, the Red Sox did it again to sweep Seattle and open a one-game lead in the AL East over the idle Tampa Bay Rays. "We dont quit. Ever," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "We truly believe we have a chance to do something special on a given night or given year. And that happens to be this year." Henry Blanco hit a grand slam, and Felix Hernandez allowed six hits before leaving after seven innings with a 7-1 lead. Kendrys Morales had four hits and a pair of walks, and Kyle Seager and Brad Miller tripled for the Mariners, who have lost 17 games in the opponents final at-bat -- including eight walkoff losses. "Weve been through this before," first baseman Justin Smoak said, "too many times." Hernandez seemed to be cruising to his seventh consecutive victory, but the Red Sox scored one in the eighth against Charlie Furbush and then cut it to 7-3 against closer Tom Wilhelmsen in the ninth. Perez (2-3) came on with the bases loaded and nobody out, giving up Shane Victorinos two-run single and an RBI base hit to Dustin Pedroia that made it 7-6. David Ortiz struck out, then Jonny Gomes singled off Yoervis Medina to tie it. Stephen Drew, who provided the decisive hit on Wednesday night, walked to load the bases before Nava hit a ball off the garage door in centre field as the Red Sox celebrated. "We were trying to forget what happened yesterday," said Perez, who blew a seventh-inning lead on Wednesday night and took the loss on Thursday even though he was the only one of the three relievers who pitched in the ninth to record an out. "We just couldnt complete three outs. Everything went their way in the ninth." Steven Wright (2-0) pitched three scoreless innings in relief of Ryan Dempster. Victorino homered for Boston, which was in danger of falling out of first place, percentage points behind the Rays, in the AL East. On the day that Jake Peavy arrived in the dugout to bolster the Boston pitching staff for the stretch run, Dempster, a native of Gibsons, B.C., made a case to lose his spot in the rotation. He gave up seven runs on nine hits and five walks, striking out six in six innings. It was 2-1 after Jacoby Ellsbury doubled and scored in the third, but Dempster ran into trouble against Blanco -- a .189 hitter -- in the fifth. With Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk watching from the luxury boxes, the Mariners catcher hit a line drive over the Green Monster just inside the left-field foul pole to give Seattle a 7-1 lead. Hernandez, who had yet to record a 1-2-3 inning, then set down the Red Sox in order in the fifth and sixth innings. Notes: Hernandez allowed one run and walked two and struck out eight. He hasnt lost since May 25 and has allowed more than two earned runs just twice in 12 starts since then. ... Blancos only other homer this season was also a grand slam, against Oakland on June 15. It was the third grand slam of his career. ... Gomes received a standing ovation when he came off the field in the middle of the ninth after throwing one runner out at third and making a catch while crashing into the Green Monster. ... Seattles Endy Chavez stranded seven runners in his first three at-bats and eight in all. ... The Red Sox have won nine straight home games against the Mariners. ... The Red Sox havent scored first in their last nine home games. ... The previous nine homers Dempster had allowed were solo shots. ... Hernandez allowed one or fewer runs for the 97th time in his career -- the most in the majors since 2005. ... Boston added Peavy to the 40-man roster on Thursday and recalled right-hander Wright from Triple-A Pawtucket. The club also optioned righty Jose De La Torre to Pawtucket. Brandon Workman was optioned to Pawtucket after Wednesday nights game. Nike Air Max Zero Essential Grey .com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward James Neal on injured reserve Tuesday. Nike Air Max Zero Mens Sale . -- Matt Kuchar and Harris English ran away with the Franklin Templeton Shootout, shooting a 14-under 58 on Sunday in the final-round scramble to break the tournament course record. http://www.airmaxzerosale.com/ . -- Canadian Andrew Wiggins got the ball on the wing, made a nifty spin move and then let go with a soft floater from about 10 feet that swished through the net in Allen Fieldhouse. South Africa are not ready to head home just yet, despite having just a lead of 70 with four wickets in hand going into the fourth day of the Adelaide Test. Weve got two big days left and tomorrow (Sunday) is one of the biggest ones. Theres a lot of fight. Were not on the plane yet, Neil McKenzie, South Africas batting coach, said.Those words may be dismissed as fanciful, but Australia would do well to look back to four years ago, when Russell Domingo, South Africas assistant coach then, vowed similar and was proved similar right. On that occasion, South Africa were staring at defeat on the final day, having stumbled to 77 for 4 chasing 430. They batted out a draw.Now, they will need to bat with resolve if they are to set Australia a challenging target. Hopefully Stephen Cook converts, which is what his track record shows he can do, he said. And then if Quinton de Kock can produce the Quinton de Kock knock that everyone knows he can do and has been doing, that would push us up past 180 and 200. If we can get there, we know weve done it to Australia before, where weve knocked them over so that will give us a lot of confidence.McKenzie was particularly happy for Cook, his former Highveld Lions team-mate, with whom hes worked closely on footwork throughout this tour. Cookie is just one of those hard-working cricketers; sort of old-school, he said. He does it his way. It doesnt always look pretty but has a method that has worked for him. He has got nearly 40 first-class hundreds so you cant messs with technique. Nike Air Max Zero Essential Mens. Mentally he is right up there in terms of one of the toughest guys playing cricket at this stage. He has endured a lot of noise about his technique but normally what Cook does well is capitalises on starts and he has a good conversion rate. We hope that follow suit tomorrow.Even if Cook continues, he has only the tail to keep him company, but Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada and Tabraiz Shamsi have all showed they can contribute. Since its them that will have to do the defending, McKenzie believes they have enough motivation.Weve got a couple of guys who can do damage at the back end and we have a bowling unit who are ready to go, he said. Well leave everything out there, whether we get bowled out early or whether we battle into the evening.He even joked South Africa could get enough runs to declare again. That will be the best day of Test cricket ever, he laughed, when asked about Faf du Plessis surprise declaration on the opening day. McKenzie explained the decision was based on what South Africa saw in the Sheffield Shield, when teams declared in order to make use of the ball under lights.Its our first Test with the pink ball. We can only look at stats. We watched when the state sides played and both declared. You take a lead from what you see, he said. Commentators and ex-players were all applauding the decision and we stand by it. 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