Extra Crispy, Baby!

Sox: 3 Rays: 0

Has Pedey passed the fire baton to Coco Crisp? Sure seems like it, with Coco's average soaring to near .300 (.291 to be exact) and his hitting streak in the double digits (10 games, thank you very much). There were no haymakers thrown in this edition of Coco vs. The Rays, just the ball off his bat sailing past the infield an finding the gap at each of his three at bats. Coco hadn't faced the Rays since that "fightful" game in early June, having served his suspension while the Sox were at the Trop in July. After the first inning, he and Jason Bay were the only Sox batters giving Edwin Jackson any trouble. Jackson, who appears to have gotten over his Fenway allergy a la John Lackey, gave up three runs in the first, including a Bay homer, but settled down big-time for the remaining six innings he pitched.

Now we've gotta talk about Jon Lester. Another title for this blog could have been "Lest is Best!" Just when you thought his innings load is catching up to him, Lester blanked the Rays for 7 2/3 innings, with 6 hits and 9 Ks, and Paps completed the shutout. As of now, the lead the Rays have over the Red Sox stands at a miniscule half game. Lester's record is now 14-5 with a 3.23 ERA tying him for fifth in the league.

The Angels just clobbered the Yanks 12-1, but this isn't the cause for celebration we'd like it to be, seeing that the Halos have the best record in the league and home field advantage in October. The Sox are presently two games back from that record. 'Nuff said there.

Tomorrow night, it's Dice-K vs. Kazmir. Dice ought to pretend the Rays are the White Sox since his best outings this season have come against that AL Central-leading team from the Windy City.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!!!