Happy Fourth! Sox Win!

Sox: 6 Yanks: 4

As I said last night, nothing says "Happy Birthday, America!" like a Red Sox win and win they did. It wasn't a shutout like last night, but a win is a win. The Yanks struck first, touching Beckett for three in the first inning, but the Sox answered in the third, stringing three runs together. The last two came on what has to be one of the most unusual triples in the long history of the game. A ball off the bat of Youk landed briefly in Johnny Damon's glove, then bounced out of the glove and came to rest on the top of the left field wall for a moment before bouncing back onto the field. Damon, former Sox hero who went to the dark side in '06, sprained his shoulder trying to make the grab. Only in a Red Sox-Yankees game!
Beckett had a solid, but not dominating outing, picking up win #8 by holding the Yanks to three runs as his team scored six. Mikey came up big in the fifth when he took Yanks starter Darrell (not Darren, as I wrote yesterday) Rasner deep with with two on, doubling the Sox score from 3 and pulling them ahead of the Yanks. Jake went 3 for 5 and is rediscovering the art of bunting. Tek got TWO hits today! Pedey's keeping his hot streak going. Manny and JD are both on a quest for long ball #17 of the season. The 'pen, having to wait out a rain delay, had a few scary moments, but didn't allow a run until the bottom of the 9th, when a two-out fly ball that Coco dove and thought he caught was ruled a trap instead of a catch, allowing Brett Gardner to score. The next fly ball was a sure out and the Sox are now assured of at least a split of the series.
Tomorrow, it's young Masterson on the mound against The Moose. Tomorrow would be a good chance for Manny to pick up that 17th homer, seeing how he eats up Mussina's pitching.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!