SIX Straight For Josh Baseball

*****Hideki "The Darkman" Okajima named AL Rookie of the Month*****

Josh Beckett has won his first six starts of the season and is tied with Roger Clemens and Ike Delock at that mark. The Sox record is 8 straight and is held by 3 players, one of whom is none other than Babe Ruth. Last night at Fenway he went 7 strong innings, allowing 6 hits and 3 runs. Hideki Okajima, our Darkman, pitched an uneventful 8th, his 4th appearance in 5 games. He was named AL Rookie of the month yesterday, and I have to wonder where we'd be without him. A shaky Timlin pitched the 9th for his 1st save. Timlin in a 1 run game would scare me. IMMENSELY.
The batting heroes? Julio Lugo and Alex Cora had multiple RBI games and Papi and Manny had 2 hits apiece. Manny seems to be getting warmer at the plate. If he gets molten, he could carry the club, but the 2007 Boston Red Sox have too many good players to be carried by just one guy. And that bodes well for the future.
Coco Crisp made his 2nd spectacular diving catch in 2 days, this time in the 9th inning, saving possible runs for Timlin. He was on base all night, too.
The Red Sox play a make-up game with the Mariners tonight before jetting to Minnesota and then Toronto. Let's grab a win for the getaway game. Daisuke Matsuzaka will face the Mariner's Horatio Ramirez at 7pm. And I linked an article about the Darkman, taken from the Hartford Courant. Just click on this post's title. The more we learn about our left-handed hero of the bullpen, the more we love him. Our hero of the dark. In the spotlight once again. And as Michael Silverman wrote in the Herald....

" The Red Sox sit atop the American League in wins, Beckett sits atop the major league in wins, and all is good."

Peter here, and I couldn't have said it any better!

Oh, and for my Japanese readers, I've added a link that should translate my blog into Japanese....I hope...let me know! I added the link, and it's on top of my link list. The link list is on your right. Look! And click on it whenever you wish. It says "Peter's Red Sox Forever in Japanese." Let me know if it works for you, Superbowl-san. And all your friends, too.