Tigers Tamed, Sox Bats Go Bonkers

      I sure wish John Lackey had been on the mound for the kind of once-in-a-decade offensive explosion the Red Sox unleashed on Tigers pitching last night.   They put up three touchdowns worth of runs (minus an extra point).   They hit a dinger, then a long ball, then a tater, then a salami, a jack, a four-bagger, a round-tripper, and went bridge for good measure.   The last time the Red Sox touched 'em all eight times in one game, Big Papi was a year and a half old, Koji and new Red Sox John McDonald were two, last night's starter Ryan Dempster was two months old and David Ross was three months old.   The rest of the team wasn't even born yet.  

    The last time the Red Sox scored at least 20 runs in a game was in 2003, when they bludgeoned the Marlins for 25.    In the middle of all the run-scoring chaos, Papi reached a milestone 2000 career hits by sandwiching a double between two home runs for 1999 and 2001.   He was the only one to go yard twice last night, with Drew, Ells, Middlebrooks (grand slam), Lavarnway, Nava, and Napoli joining him.   That's seven guys hitting eight bombs!   The Red Sox are a team better known for their on-base percentage than their power, but when they do leave the yard, they do it in bunches (recall the 6-homer barrage in Toronto on April 7 of this year).   This time, they did it at Fenway in front of the home crowd.

  Last night's game was a whole lot of fun to watch, especially since they were doing it against their rivals for best team in the AL.   However, as the story often goes with all teams, after such a bountiful feast at the plate, there is often a famine the next night.   It's as if the batters are all exhausted from all that hitting and baserunning.  Fortunately for hard-luck starter Lackey, he won't be the one at the likely short end of the stick tonight, with Jake Peavy toeing the rubber for the series opener against the why-couldn't-they-just-stay-in-fourth-place Yankees.   In order to keep them and the Rays and O's at a distance, the Red Sox need to at least split the series, but it's always better to get the series win.   They made a statement by taking two of three from the Tigers and now it's time to keep the momentum going.