Winning in Spite of It All

Here's the latest victim count of the Voodoo Injury Curse that has been inflicted on the Red Sox:

Jacoby Ellsbury (ribs, DL twice)
Mike Cameron (abdominal tear, playing through after some time on DL)
Josh Beckett (back, DL)
Jeremy Hermida (ribs, DL)
Daisuke Matsuzaka (neck, forearm, DL twice)
Kevin Youkilis (arm, hit by pitch, missed a few days)
Marco Scutaro (pinched nerve, missed one or two games)
JD Drew (hamstring, missed 1 week)
Dustin Pedroia (broken foot, DL)
Clay Buchholz (leg, may make his next start)
Victor Martinez (bruised toe, broken finger)


Contributions by Daniel Nava, Darnell McDonald and Scott Atchison, among others, have kept the Sox in the hunt so far. The loss of Pedey will be a tough one to weather. Getting JD Drew back today helped and getting other injured players back during Pedey's recovery time, like Hermida, Beckett, and hopefully Ellsbury would also give them a boost. However, one has to wonder how many more injuries the Sox will suffer in the meantime.

Lester threw a complete game gem against the Giants, leaving Lincecum and his 3 innings of work in the dust. Lester allowed a run in the first on an infield hit, two stolen bases, and a groundout. That was the only run he would allow as he baffled the Giants, fanning 9. He had a decent day at the plate too, hitting a long (as in almost got out) sac fly in his first at-bat, with the bases loaded and putting on a tough at-bat and drawing a walk later in the game. The Sox scored 4 runs early on (a Papi homer, hits by Scoots and Hall, and the Lester sac fly) and then added one on in the 9th with a Beltre blast. Beltre got most of the game off, coming in as a defensive replacement in the later innings.

V-Mart was the Red Sox casualty du jour when he had two foul tips hit his thumb, the first of which also hit his toe. The toe is fine, but the thumb's broken. It's unreal how the injuries are piling up for the Sox, especially this past weekend in San Francisco. They must be the favorite team of orthopedic surgeons everywhere!

In winning today's game while the Rays lost, the Sox are now in sole possession of second place in the AL East and the wild card spot. However, the Rays are coming to Fenway for a 2-gamer on Tuesday and Wednesday. It will be an interesting series, as the Rays and Red Sox are both in a different place than they were the last time the Tampa Bay team visited The Fens. The Rays got chewed up by (and no-hit in) interleague play while the Sox stole the NL's lunch money. However, Sox fans can never afford to take the Rays for granted, no matter how much they've struggled lately. The Sox will have to keep playing well despite their stars dropping like flies. The guys like Nava, McDonald, Hall, Cameron, etc. will have to keep stepping up, as will Tek in resuming a full-time catching role, at least until it's determined how long V-Mart will be out. No more injuries, PLEASE!!!

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!