Crawford. Must. Bat. 6th.

If the last two games haven't answered the question of where Carl Crawford should bat in the Red Sox lineup, I don't know what will. Small sample size aside, Crawford is 8 for 9 in the 6-hole and the Sox have scored 14 runs in each game. Nooooo-brainer, right? Suffice it to say, I hope to see Crawford batting 6th again tonight, no matter how much they have to jigger the lineup to make it happen.

If Crawford's the star of the Red Sox' 4-touchdown, 2-game performance, it's worthwhile noting that, aside from his major-league teammates, two PawSox joined the run-scoring bonanza in Drew Sutton and Josh Reddick. Reddick was called up when D-Mac hit the DL yesterday and Sutton's been up since earlier this week, when the Sox swapped him out with Jose Iglesias to get the kid more consistent playing time. As various infielders have been dealing with short-term injuries (Youk and Pedey) or getting planned days off (Lowrie), Sutton has been filling in at second, third and short. He is responsible for 5 of the team's collective 36 hits over the twin slugfests and 3 RBI Reddick, who played in yesterday's game, went 3-for 5 with 3 RBI of his own. Crawford, by the way, knocked in 5 runs over the two games, to go with his 8 hits, and was a home run shy of a double cycle. Lacking the triple he needed for the cycle on Wednesday, he hit 2 of them yesterday. The breakdown of his 8 hits: 3 singles, 2 doubles, 2 triples, and a home run.

Here's how the rest of the team did:

Ellsbury: 5 for 7, 1 HR 4 RBI
Pedroia: 3 for 11, 1 HR 4 RBI
Gonzalez: 3 for 11, 2 RBI
Youkilis: 1 for 5 (only played in yesterday's game)
Ortiz: 4 for 9, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Lowrie: 0 for 5 (only played in Wednesday's game)
Cameron: 2 for 4, 1 RBI (only played in Wednesday's game)
Varitek: 1 for 5 (only played in yesterday's game)
Saltalamacchia: 2 for 4, 1 HR, 3 RBI (only played in Wednesday's game)

After back-to-back offensive explosions, however, it wouldn't surprise me if they struggled to score runs tonight. It also wouldn't surprise me if they continued raking. For Wake's sake, I hope the latter is true, so he can pick up another W. As of today, the Red Sox are in a virtual tie with the Yankees for first place in the division, with the Rays a game and a half behind. The division is still very tight and one win or loss by any of the 5 teams can give the standings a little shake-up.