20-20

They had me on pins and needles for almost 4 hours, but they got the job done. For the first time in almost a decade the Red Sox swept a 3-game series at Yankee Stadium and this sweep brought them to the previously-unattainable .500 mark. In the early going of tonight's rumble in the Bronx, it wasn't looking good for the Sox. Lester was looking too much like he did last Tuesday in Toronto. For the first time in the series, the Yanks beat the Sox to the scoreboard, plating a run in the bottom of the 1st. The Sox answered with a Jed Lowrie sac fly in the top of the 2nd, but Lester got even more generous in the bottom of the frame, serving up gopher balls to Curtis Granderson (2 runs) and Andruw Jones.

Fortunately for the Red Sox, Garcia was feeling just as generous as Lester. In the top of the 4th, with Ells and Gonzo on, Youk belted a 3-run jack to left and the game was tied. As Lester settled down, his teammates added on, little by little. In the 5th, Papi took Garcia yard and cracked his bat in the process. The 7th inning saw A-Rod doing his very best Bill Buckner impression on a grounder by Youk, plating Pedey, who walked and swiped a bag. After Crawford matched A-Rod error-for-error in the bottom of the inning, the Yanks pulled within a run. An unlikely hero added back an insurance run in the 8th: Salty knocked his first 4-bagger of the year to make the score 7-5. After a white-knuckle bottom of the 8th with Bard walking this weekend's Drama King Jorge Posada, a non-save appearance by Mo Rivera and a 1-2-3 save by Pap, the game was in the books. The Red Sox pulled off a sweep of the Yankees at Yankee Stadium and got that .500 monkey off their back.

After all they went through this season to get there, arriving at .500 for the first time is an accomplishment worthy of celebrating. However, there's a lot more to be done. First order of business: keeping some high-flying orange birds in their cages. The O's are coming off a series win over the first-place Rays and they're going to be feeling all bad-ass coming into Fenway. Dice-K takes the mound tomorrow night and Tuesday, Lackey is scheduled to pitch. The offense is going to need to put up some heavy-duty run support this series, so it's incumbent on guys like Ells and Gonzo to stay hot and other guys to start getting hot. I love that Pedey's a Yankee-killer, but he needs to start putting the hurting on other teams too. Youk's been warming up, but the K's are still a concern. Papi's been pretty steady, as is Lowrie (despite the latter going hitless tonight) Salty's showing signs of improvement at the dish. Crawford has looked more like himself this month and would have had at least one hit had it not been for the excellent glove of Brett Gardner. JD's still battling the strike zone and should probably be moved down to 7th in the lineup.

When all is said and done, it was a very satisfying weekend for the Red Sox. They moved within a game of the Yankees and made up some ground on the Rays as well. Keep rolling, Red Sox!