We saw them both last night. In the first inning, the Bad Dice-K was on the mound, giving up 3 runs, including a 2-run homer to Kurt Suzuki. However, in Dice-K's defense, Hermida botched a play in the outfield that would have saved one of those runs. Fortunately for the Red Sox, Good Dice-K took over from the second inning through most of the seventh. Those 3 first inning runs were all the A's would manage off of Dice, who fanned 7 and walked no one (quite a 180 from his walk-the-ballpark debacle last time out). He was a strike-throwing machine, getting ahead 0-2 in count after count. When he ran into a little trouble with 2 outs in the seventh, Bard came in and finished off the inning by fanning the first batter he faced.
Big Papi, fresh off his AL Player of the Month win (Lester got the nod for AL Pitcher of the Month), didn't let the magic of his May fade when the calendar flipped to June. After the Sox put up 2 runs in the first to come within one run of the A's, Papi put the Sox on top with a 2-run shot to right field. Pedey ended his longtime RBI drought with a double in the seventh, plating Scoots. Scoots then knocked in a run of his own in the next inning. The Sox would need the insurance, as Pap gave up a solo dinger to pinch-hitter Kevin Kouzmanoff in the ninth.
This is somewhat off-topic, but props to Tigers starter Armando Galarraga for being a class act. After umpire Jim Joyce blew a call at first base with 2 outs in the ninth to break up his perfect game, Galarraga saw how upset Joyce was and offered him a hug and words of encouragement. That's sportsmanship at its finest!
Wake on the hill today, trying to get win # 2.
LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!
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