SALT. Sox enter bottom 9th down by 1, Salty hits 2-run dong to end it off of the previously perfect Rodney. Madness at Fenway! "Come to your Papi," Ortiz said to Salty, supposedly, before tearing his jersey off.

Last December, once we knew Papelbon was gone, I wondered about the fate of "Shipping up to Boston":

"Here's my suggestion. You play it in the middle of the ninth inning. This way, it won't be played every night, only when we're tied or trailing after eight and a half. And those are the exact situations when a firing-up song should play. This fills in the late-inning rally song trilogy: Mid-7th: Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Mid-8th: Sweet Caroline, Mid-9th: Shipping Up to Boston (if applicable)."

I had yet to hear the song at Fenway in '12--until tonight! And they put it right where I said to. You could hear it playing at the ballpark as Fox was coming back from break to the bottom of the ninth. Now, of course, they could have played it before this year (if you heard it, let me know), but I haven't heard it, and I've been to games in which the home team trailed after 8.5. (It also could have been played but ended before the game came back from commercial.) Maybe they've just started to use it in this spot, or maybe they do it only when the team is tied or within a run or two. Either way, I'm obviously excited to hear it in that spot. If it were any other song I'd be happy to have it not be played ever again in honor of Pap, but it's like the most Boston-y song there is, so it needs to stay, and I'm glad it didn't go to another player. It needs to just be a Fenway song. And if tonight was the first night they played it in '12, it was a perfect debut!

Anyway, sweet win. Beckett was great, but after he finally gave up some runs, it became frustration fest for those last few innings, before Salty pinch-hit us to the promised proverbial land.