As the Red Sox climb their way out of the dungeon, the starting pitchers are leading the way. They've gone from looking absolutely abysmal to lights-out spectacular as the Sox win 7 of their last 8 games with a 1.01 ERA. This 180 degree turnaround has been key to the Sox fighting their way back to respectability and continuing their climb to .500. They still have two more wins to go without a loss before they get there, but they are heading in the right direction.
Dice-K has pitched back-to-back gems and a total of 15 scoreless innings, allowing only 3 hits and striking out 13. Watching him pitch like this, we know his potential and we wish he could pitch more like he did tonight and on Monday at Fenway against the Jays. It's unrealistic to expect him to continue to pitch scoreless one-hitters, but attacking the strike zone and keeping walks to a minimum is not too much to ask. I tip my Red Sox cap to Dice-K for stepping up and giving the team the kind of pitching they need to put their atrocious start behind them.
A few other good things came out of tonight's game:
1. Improved hitting with RISP.
2. Ells and Crawford with 2-hit games
3. Tek remembers how to hit and almost hits one out, but settles for a double.
4. Youk made it back into the lineup and went yard, tying him with Ells for the team home run lead. That kinda makes up for him whiffing 3 times.
Tomorrow they go for a sweep of the Halos. Lackey is on the mound for the Sox in a bid to make back-to-back quality starts, pitching to his former team. Fortunately, it's an afternoon game. I've had enough of the late-nighters.
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