See what happens when you have good starting pitching? And a catcher who can hit and drive in runs? V-Mart must have brought some winning mojo with him when he returned to the lineup Monday night--he drove in a run in his first at-bat. Without him or Tek the past 3 weeks, the catcher spot had been nothing but a black hole in the lineup. It was so bad that it looked like even the pitchers would have better luck at the plate than Kevin Cash, Dusty Brown, or Gustavo Molina. Not a single RBI among the three of them and some abysmal, sub-.200 averages. Bring back an All-Star in V-Mart, thumbguard rigged for his glove, and the lineup looks that much better.
The other part of the equation: solid starting pitching that can go deep into games. Clay Buchholz started on Monday night and gave up one run over 7 innings. He struggled a bit at the beginning, but he was much improved over his first post-DL start. Last night, Lackey faced his old team for the second time this season, going 7.1 and giving up 2 runs. This afternoon, it was Beckett's turn to shine, with a 7-inning 3 run start. All three starters going at least 7 innings made it easy on the bullpen (and Tito's blood pressure!) and it's an encouraging sign that the rotation the Sox thought they'd have at the beginning of the season is finally coming together.
Going into this 10-game West Coast road trip, the Sox were hoping not to fall too much farther behind the Yanks and Rays. With a 6-4 outcome, the best in 12 years, they remain 6.5 games out of first and 4.5 games out of second, pretty much where they were when the trip started. As key players made their way back from the DL, the Sox seemed to get stronger as the trip went on. They won 1 game in their first series (against the A's), 2 games against Mariners, and 3 against the Angels.
Saturday is the non-waiver trade deadline and the Sox, like many teams in buying mode, will be shopping for bullpen help. Competition for the few more reliable relievers will be stiff and asking prices will be high. However, the Sox really need an arm they can count on to take some of the burden off of Bard and Pap. Atchison has been good for the most part, but MDC, RamRam, and Oki require a strong stomach, to say the least. (To be fair, MDC and RamRam both pitched scoreless innings today). As far as bats go, Ells and Pedey will be coming off the DL in the next couple of weeks (hopefully in time for the 4-gamer in Yankee Stadium starting August 6). JD Drew's hamstring issue doesn't sound too DL-ish and Cameron's managing to play several games back-to-back. Scoots (he who knocked an 8th inning grand salami today to break a 3-3 tie) has been playing through some pain as well. I tip my Red Sox cap to Cameron, Drew, and Scoots for playing through nagging aches and pains and keeping the lineup from being made up of almost entirely AAA players.
Having ended their long trek out west on a high note, the Sox are headed back to the Fens. They have an off-day tomorrow to recover from the jet lag and then they face the Tigers. Friday night's matchup: Lester vs. Armando Galarraga. (He who was a controversial call away from a perfecto last month).
LET'S GO RED SOX!!!! CONGRATS ON YOUR WINNING ROAD TRIP AND SWEEP OF THE ANGELS!!!
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