23 Skidoo And A Fenway Series Sweep Over Minnesota...Red Sox 18 Twins 5

The Red Sox offense exploded Wednesday afternoon at Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts, the hub of the universe. With the score relatively close at 7-5 Boston, the Red Sox overwhelmed the visiting team in the seventh and eighth innings, adding eleven runs to their already impressive total. The pivotal play was a Jason Varitek shallow fly ball to center with runners at second and third. The umpire ruled that Denard Span caught the ball, and when the ump signaled "catch," Denard threw to the infield in a triple play try, an apparently successful one. And that triple play would have stood, with Sean Casey and Mike Lowell running, but Tito Francona came out and asked for the entire officiating crew to consult with each other. As the numerous replays clearly showed, the ball was trapped--it wasn't even close. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire blew a fuse and most of the circut boards at Fenway when he charged out onto the field. He was promptly ejected and later, when he saw the replays, I'm sure he realized he was mistaken. But he wanted to do SOMETHING to get his team going. Guess what...it didn't work. Here's what he had to say after the game...

“This is a tough place to play,” said Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire, whose team had won 16-of-18 games before being swept in the three-game series. “You make mistakes and their hitters come alive here. We’ve seen that over the years and yesterday was a great example of that. Balls start flying around, balls in the corner, balls all over the place, the whole package. That team gets on a roll here and they’re hard to stop.”

Peter here, and that's what we like...our team on a roll. And with a day off today, Jason Varitek added this about the recent tough stretch of games for the BoSox, and the need for a rest, even a 24 hour reprieve...

"We've had a tough schedule ever since we got to Tampa," said catcher Jason Varitek, who broke out of a slump with two hits Wednesday. "You look at it, night game, day game, extra innings, get in at 5 a.m., night game, day game, get in at 5 a.m. Then we come home and it was like we were all swinging underwater on Monday. We need a day off. I need one."

Josh Beckett clearly had an off day, but his teammates bashed the ball, scoring eleven times in the seventh and eighth innings to usher the team from Minnesota out of town with their tails between their legs. And with the Yankee sweep of the first place Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays, the Sox are now only two games behind, with the pinstriped ones 4 1/2 games behind them. The Red Sox are now two games in front of the Twins in the wild card race, a race I disregard when we're in first place. We will be soon, again. Josh Beckett, who has seen better starts, said this after the game...

“That’s what you have to do to win a lot of games over the course of the year,” said Beckett, who surrendered three runs in the first inning, including Justin Morneau’s two-run home run. “Some days you don’t have it and your offense picks you up. I guarantee you, if you look at last year, there were four or five wins sprinkled in there like that.”

OK, that's about it from here. If you'd like, merely click on the title of this post for more about that glorious afternoon at beautiful Fenway Park on a Wednesday filled with delight, base hits and wonder. And a win. As always, please BE WELL. Enjoy your Thursday. Thank you SO much for stopping in, and any and all of your comments will be read and replied to. That's a promise, a promise from me to you, as the Beatles sang long ago..."If there's anything that you want, if there's anything I can do, just call on me and I'll send it along, with love from me to you." Well said, John and Paul. Well done SOX!