Although the Red Sox have dominated the Yanks thus far, many have pointed out that the first two series against the Bombers were “a different Yankees team.” They did not have A-rod and we have yet to see Sabathia pitch against us. While we still have yet to see Sabathia, we sure proved that we can beat the Yanks with or without A-rod last night – although it sure helps when AJ Burnett is on the mound and can’t get out of the third inning.
But it was none other than Big Papi who started it off for the Sox last night, crushing his third homer of the year to dead away center. This was his most promising homer of the year: It didn’t just clear the wall and it wasn’t to a shallow part of the ballpark. It was a bomb to center field. His other at bats didn’t look as good last evening, but I think if Ortiz calms down and doesn’t try to hit homers every at bat then we’ve got our Papi back. Oh, and for all of you who still think Papi isn’t going to come back, go ahead and politely ignore his 7 game hitting streak he has right now.
One of the other heroes of the game was Nick Green, who went 2-4 (double, homer) with 2 runs and 2 RBIs. Clearly this guy is the one to have in the infield over Lugo right now, and it’s evident that Francona thinks so too. Let’s hope that we still see more of Nick Green when Lowrie returns. I’ll get back to Lowrie.
You can’t even talk about heroes of the game without mentioning the one and only Josh Beckett, who once again dominated through 6 innings of work (6.0 IP, H, 2 BB, 8 K). He has now throwing 18.2 shutout innings. Me, having always wanted to see a no hitter, was very much aware that Beckett didn’t allow a hit until late in the fourth (although the 4th is too early to be thinking about no hitters). Pedroia almost recorded the final out of the inning with an amazing grab off of Robinson Cano, but was unable to complete the play. However, after looking at his numbers, Beckett would have been unable to complete the game regardless if he was throwing a no-no. Although he was striking out batters left and right, he was throwing a lot of pitches. After just six innings of work, he was already up to 90. He would have had a hard time completing the game, and I don’t think Tito would have let him. This was also why Beckett was taken out after just six innings of work.
Speaking of pitching, the Sox bullpen continued to excel by pitching three shutout innings (H, 2 BB, K). Daniel Bard took the mound in the 9th for a 1-2-3 inning, but what was perhaps more impressive was how he was able to hit 100 mph on the gun - twice. I still won’t be surprised if he gets sent down to Pawtuckett for a month just to work on control, but he’ll definitely be up for the last month or two.
All in all, last night was a great game for the Sox as they creamed the Yanks 7-0.
Now back to Lowrie. The beautiful Heidi Watney reported last night that Lowrie might be starting his rehab for the team as early as next week. I can’t wait to see the this guy back in the shortstop role, but Dennis Eckersley made a good point last night at the beginning of the game: Lowrie is a good shortstop, but he’s not a superstar (at least not yet). Having him back on the team isn’t going to mean that he’ll hit .300 with 20 HRs. He’s still young and has a lot to prove. That being said I look forward to watching him grow as a player. Get well soon, Lowrie!
Tonight – 7:10PM EST. Wakefield vs. Wang. Can’t wait.
Keep the Faith.
