Pair of Aces

Sox: 6 Royals: 8
Sox: 1 Royals: 0
Sox: 15 Royals: 9
Sox: 6 Royals: 0

Sorry for no A's series blog. Just call it a little "blogging slump". Pretty bizarre series against the boys in blue, no? Two shutouts by the two Sox aces and two five-inning starts followed by some bullpen batting practice. On Thursday night, the bullpenitis was limited to the Sox side, with a 5-3 lead evaporating once Penny left the game after five and Delcarmen, Masterson, and Ramirez letting the Royals have too much fun in the later innings. Meanwhile, the Sox could not score enough runs to offset the bullpen damage and fell to the AL Central's fourth place team in the series opener.

Friday night marked Jon Lester's first start against the Royals since that night in May of last year when he no-hit them, becoming the first Red Sox lefty in over a half century to spin a no-no. While he didn't repeat the feat, he pitched a helluva game, throwing zeros on the board for eight innings and allowing only four hits. Pap completed the shutout with a nice, blood pressure-stabilizing 1-2-3 ninth.

Saturday night was right for slugging, in an outing reminiscent of another Saturday night game this season, the one in April against the Yanks in which the Sox outslugged the Bronx Boys 16-11. This time, without a storied rivalry serving as a backdrop, the home town team out-slugged the Blue Man Group 15-9. Lost in the slugfest was a solid, if a little shorter than desired, outing from John Smoltz, in which he gave up a lone run over five innings. Because his pitch count was closing in on 100 and it was only his fourth start back, Smoltzy was pulled for another ride on the bullpen-go-round. This time, both bullpens were out to lunch (or, given the game time, a late dinner) and the Sox bats and the Royals bats went to town. Fortunately for Smoltz and the Red Sox, they had built up a big enough lead that they never fell behind and ended up winning by a 6-run margin. After it was all over and the rain was falling in sheets from the sky above Fenway, Smoltz got his first victory as a Red Sox and rookie Daniel Bard proved to be the least affected by the bullpen bug.

Today's game featured Josh Beckett, a.k.a. Commander Kick-Ass on the mound for the Sox and for the Royals, a bunch of guys who got lost on their way to the strike zone. Journeyman Bruce Chen started out, going 3 innings, giving up 3 runs walking 3. From there on out, it was a parade of relievers and the Royals pitching staff gave up a grand total of 9 walks. Jason Bay went through an entire game without an official at-bat. He walked three times and got plunked twice. He saw maybe two strikes all afternoon. They just plain didn't give him anything to hit! Papi was neutralized for most of the game, whiffing three times for a hat trick, but doubled in the eighth to drive in the sixth run of the game. Meanwhile, Beckett needed only 94 pitches over a complete game to shut out the Kansas City nine for the second time in the series. He allowed 3 hits, walked no one, hit one batter, and fanned 7.

Due to the Angels giving the Sox and their fans a helping hand by sweeping the Yanks, the Sox head into the All-Star break with a 3-game lead. Despite some bumps, lumps, and slumps, the homestand ended up a successful 6-4. Dropping the first series to the Mariners hurt, but the Sox rebounded to take the next two series and end the first half on a high note.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Dustin Pedroia and his wife, Kelli. Kelli was hospitalized last Monday after going into premature labor. Their baby is not due until the end of August and the longer the labor can be held off, the better chance the baby has of being born healthy. Pedey has chosen to skip the All-Star game in order to be with Kelli, as she is still in the hospital. He credits Tito for helping him make this difficult decision and, in my book, he made the right one.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!