First came Buchholz, who went 8 plus innings in Wednesday night's 3-2 victory, saving a bullpen that had been burnt at both ends in Detroit and the Bronx. Then, Lester spun a complete game gem, allowing one earned run and striking out nine as the Sox KO'ed the Twins 6-2 (the second run was the result of a rare error by Pedey). It was the first complete game by a Red Sox pitcher of the 2010 season. For seven of those nine innings, Lester blanked the AL Central-leading Twins (they were leading before they dropped the two games to the Sox. Now they're tied with the Tigers). Lester commanded all his pitches, worked quickly, and got ahead in counts more often than not.
The pace of the game kept the defense sharp, with Pedey making two spectacular plays: a leaping grab of a line drive off the bat of Delmon Young in the 5th and a diving stab of a ball hit by Nick Punto, getting the ball to Youk for the out. Replacement shortstop Angel Sanchez, summoned from Pawtucket while Scoots rests his tennis elbow, showed off his defensive prowess turning a pair of double plays--"Twin" killings, if you will.
At the plate, the Sox roughed up Twins' lefty stud Francisco Liriano, taking him yard for the first and second time this season. Beltre knocked one into the bullpen in the second and Youk, who is raking this month, crushed a 3-run bomb to center. V-Mart hit a trio of doubles. It's good to see the Sox put the hurting on some of the better pitchers of the league, such as Liriano, Phil Hughes, CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, and Zach Greinke. The offense, although it does get stymied from time to time, especially by certain pitchers (Matt Garza, for one), has been pulling its weight for the most part this season, coming back from five, six run holes as it did at Yankee Stadium this week, and scoring runs via the long ball (2nd in the majors behind Toronto). It's not like one or two guys are hitting most of the dingers--they're coming from pretty much everyone in the lineup. Youk, Pedey, and Papi have 8. Drew and Tek have 6, V-Mart has 5, Hermida has 4, Hall, Beltre, and McDonald have 3, Scoots has 2, and Lowell and Van Every have 1.
If the bats can keep hitting consistently and the rest of the starters follow the examples of Lester and Buchholz, then there may be hope for this season after all. Lackey, Dice-K and Beckett (when he gets healthy) need to pitch to their ability. This weekend, Lackey, Dice-K and Wake (filling in for a DL-ed Beckett) take on the Phils in their hitter's dream of a ballpark. The Phillies' lineup is an AL lineup in the NL, with heavy-hitters such as Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jayson Werth. If they could take two of three, that would be great. After Philly, it's on to the Trop for the formidable challenge of facing the unstoppable (unless your name is Dallas Braden) Tampa Bay Rays. With Lester and Buchholz both pitching in that series, the Sox have a decent chance of taking at least one of three. Two would be awesome, but the Rays are so scary good that the Sox winning a series on their turf doesn't seem like a reasonable expectation. But who knows, maybe they'll surprise us.
LET'S GO RED SOX!!!! CONGRATS ON THE SWEEP!!!
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