prime time

It was a great Mississippi moment from a great MLB game on Friday night: Ninth inning, Boston up 4-3 on Tampa Bay, Jonathan Papelbon facing Desmond Jennings. The former Mississippi State star struck out the Itawamba Community College alumnus (who was 3-for-3 with a walk to that point) for the second out, then nailed down the save (his 30th) with yet another K after yielding a base hit. The Red Sox had lost six straight games against the Rays and held just a 3-game edge in the American League wild card battle, so they needed this one. And Papelbon answered the bell, throwing 12 strikes among his 13 pitches, every one touching the mid-90s. Hard to believe it was Papelbon’s first save opportunity since Aug. 18. Game 3 of this compelling four-game series is today at Fenway Park.
P.S. Philadelphia will send Weir’s Roy Oswalt to the bump tonight against St. Louis in a potential bid to clinch its fifth straight National League East title; the Phillies have already sewn up a playoff spot. Oswalt (7-9, 3.88 ERA), who has been a little shaky over his last four starts (15 earned runs in 26 innings), could use a strong outing. Of course, if scuffling Atlanta loses to the New York Mets earlier in the day, Philly will already have clinched the title — and the game becomes that much more important for the Cardinals, who stand 3 1/2 games back in the NL wild card race entering play today. … Ex-Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz (1-0, 0.00) makes his second major league start tonight for Colorado against a streaking San Francisco team (six straight wins) that isn’t out of the playoff hunt just yet.