Road Warriors

If there's one thing the Sox have improved on this year from 2008 and 2009 it's their performance away from The Fens. This has come at the cost of some of their dominance at home, but, in a way, has made them a more balanced team--a team that can win both at home and away. Getting players like Beltre with good road numbers helps. Buchholz is even more dominant on the road than at home, with 9 straight road wins (second behind Roger Clemens: Red Sox edition) The Sox road record now stands at 15-10, with their home record at 18-14. They're tied with the Jays for the second-best road record in baseball, with the Rays' 21-8 far and away the best. Road record, of course, is not the be-all-end-all (that would be overall record, of course) but seeing how much they'd struggled away from home in the past few years, it's refreshing to see them improve outside of friendly Fenway.

Tonight, the Sox kept the pressure on the O's, with Lester and Bard combining for 8 shutout innings. Lester dominated through six, but ran into some trouble in the 7th as the stifling heat caught up to him, toasting his command of the strike zone. After walking three straight batters to fill the sacks with one out in a one-run game, he was lifted for Bard, who had his teammate's back. He made some huge pitches and the O's left 'em loaded with nothing to show for it.

The bats showed up a little later for tonight's game than they did last night. Guthrie pitched a great game, but, thanks to Lester and Bard, lacked the offensive support to win. He gave up the dinger to Youk in the sixth, then a triple to Reddick (called up today), and Scoots for a second run. In the ninth, with Pap warming in the Sox 'pen, the bats put the hurtin' on the O's 'pen. Six runs scored that inning, thanks to a trio of 2-run knocks by Youk, McDonald (who came in to pinch-hit for Reddick against lefty Will Ohman) and Hall.

The big inning in the ninth meant Pap was no longer needed. Joe Nelson came on instead and the O's finally had someone they could jump on. He got only one out, loaded the bases, and gave up a 2-run single to O's second baseman Scott Moore. Uh Oh!!!! Here come the O's!!! Nelson got the hook and RamRam came in. As Red Sox Nation held their collective breath, RamRam snuffed out the threat and the Sox won 8-2.

Tomorrow afternoon, Lackey will once again try to get himself on track and the Sox will try for the revenge sweep. As they're taking care of the O's, the Sox' AL East rivals have been racking up some L's. Both the Yanks and the Rays dropped their last two games (to the Jays and the Rangers respectively). The Sox remain joined at the hip with the Jays, but as long as the Jays are beating the Yanks, the Sox won't be kicking them out of bed for eating crackers. Once they're done playing the Yanks, then the Sox'll be looking to cut 'em loose and send them southbound in the standings.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!!