Snakes Bite, but Sox Bite Back

    After Thursday night's sequel to the 2007 Mother's Day Miracle, there was no 9th inning magic Friday night against the Diamondbacks, where Cody Ross made his discontent with his offseason negotiations with the Red Sox known with his bat (going 4 for 5 with a dinger that turned out to be the difference in the game).   Lester, who was Jekyll against the division rival Rays and Orioles, returned to Hyde form against the D-Backs.  

    The night in the loss column would be followed by a return to the Land of Winning on Saturday night, with Jake Peavy's Red Sox debut.   Peavy was impressive and, while I missed most of the game because of work, I caught his exit from the mound in the top of the 8th, when he raised his cap to the fans giving him a rousing standing ovation.   Peavy pitched 7 innings and allowed 2 runs (one was painted on by Tazawa, via Breslow, who couldn't record an out and advanced the runner to third).  Gomes had Peavy's back and preserved the W for his new teammate by throwing a bullet to Salty to keep the second, game-tying run from scoring.   Salty added a 2-run shot into the Red Sox bullpen (caught by Koji!) to make the score 5-2.   Koji did his thing and the Sox evened the series.   Peavy was impressive in his debut and endeared himself to Red Sox Nation via not only his performance, but some touching tweets thanking the fans for helping him through a difficult day (his recently-deceased grandmother's birthday).  

   Sunday's game had Felix Doubront continuing his run of quality pitching by shutting out Arizona for 7 innings.   Doubront now sports a very respectable 3.56 ERA on the season and is second in ERA behind Lackey in the starting rotation.   The offense was stymied early in the game, but broke through in the fifth on a sac fly by Ellsbury.   Pedey's RBI double later in the inning made it 2-0.   Ells and Victorino knocked in runs in the sixth to double the lead.   A nice Sunday afternoon shutout win (the second such in a row after Lester blanked the O's a week ago) capped off a 5-2 homestand, with the Sox preparing for a 10-game roadie that will take them to Houston, Kansas City, and Toronto.