Boston Completes A Sweep Of The Lowly A's...Red Sox 5 A's 2

The Boston Red Sox had a great weekend in the three games after the Manny era ended. Before he was jettisoned, manager Tito Francona spoke to his players and they were unanimously in agreement with his dismissal. And Jason Bay
has made it an easy process with his stellar play in the field and at the plate. Sunday, the Sox completed their sweep with a 5-2 thumping of the A's, but could gain no ground on the once again surging Tampa Bay Rays. One game at a time - that's what Tito said...

"One of the things we talked about was not looking back or looking forward and just attacking what's at hand," said manager Terry Francona. "We did that very well. Daisuke came out and threw his fastball, stayed in his delivery, and the ball came out of his hand real well. He looked like he was pitching with confidence. We played with energy. It was a good day."

Daisuke Matsuzaka ran his record to 12-2 after going six strong innings, allowing two runs on four hits and walking just two, which is phenominal for him. Okajima, Delcarmen and Papelbon, who recorded his 31st save, provided three innings of scoreless relief, my favorite kind. Since July 20th, the 'pen's ERA is a very stingy 1.82. And David Aardsma will be back soon to bolster the corp. The offense was powered by a Jed Lowrie two run triple that plated two and multiple hit games from the ever hot Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay. Do we miss Julio Lugo with Lowrie in there? I sure don't. He is a future Red Sox staple, a born-to-be star. On the OTHER coast, in the three games since Manny went left coasting, he's been tearing the cover off the ball, batting over .600 and even hustling all the way to first base on ground outs (now it's clearly evident that he was hurting the Sox when you see something like that. What an as*hole!!) Jason Varitek had this to say about the makeup and cohesiveness of his post-Ramirez team...

"This is our team now," said Varitek after the victory and before the Sox embarked on a seven-game swing to Kansas City and Chicago. "The guys we have in this room are the guys we're going to be playing with from here on out. We feel good about that. We have to continue to compete. Get quality at-bats. Pitch quality games. I think everyone in here likes where we're heading. It’s good,” captain Jason Varitek said. “We’re playing with some energy now.”

It's road trip time for the world champions, with the first stop being Kansas City, where the Royals have actually been playing good ball. Here are your pitching matchups...

Clay Buchholz (2-6, 5.94 ERA) vs. Gil Meche (9-9, 4.22) tonight
Josh Beckett (9-8, 4.25) vs. Brian Bannister (7-9, 5.33) Tuesday
Tim Wakefield (6-8, 3.77) vs. Luke Hochevar (6-9, 5.42) Wednesday

I see two wins...do you? I'd love to read and respond to your comments, which have been dwindling. But I know you're there, and I appreciate that SO VERY much. Well, that's a wrap for this Monday, August 4th, 2008, as the summer slides by like a speed boat on a mirror-like smooth lake, seemingly defying gravity, wind blowing through your hair as you push the throttle forward and go faster and faster and... gee, for a minute there, the mental picture was GREAT! Back to reality now (BOO). I wish you the best, and you can click on the title of this post for more Sox stuff. As always, BE WELL.