Red Sox Totally Demolish And Dismantle Rangers Again...Boston 10 Texas 0

I'm sorry to see the Rangers and their pitching staff leave Boston after the Red Sox completely demolished Texas, winning by a score of 10-0. The Sox scored nine runs in the second inning to put the game away. Daisuke Matsuzaka was the beneficiary of all those Sox runs. He got out of early inning troubles left and right, but he's good at that. Read what teammate Coco Crisp had to say about him after the game...

"He's the best in the game at getting into trouble and getting out of it," Coco Crisp said. "I don't know what it is. Keep on doing it, though, I guess. You've come to deal with it now. You've got to stay prepared for anything."

So true, Coco, so true. He's held his opponents to 0 for 12 when batting with the bases loaded, by the way, a perfect illustration of his ability to get himself into and out of deep doo doo. In all, he gave up six hits and walked five in those seven scoreless innings, and the bullpen did the job from there, with Delcarmen and Timlin pitching those last two frames. And how about holding the best (on paper) offense in the league scoreless? Nice job, pitchers. Daisuke has now won 14 games...I shudder to think of where we'd be without him. Oh, I'd say somewhere in Yankee territory in the standings, and that's NOT a place to be.

The offense once again brought smiles to all of Red Sox Nation and Red Sox International, although many eyes were on Michael Phelps and the 2008 Olympics. Big Papi David Ortiz had yet another three run home run, this one in the big second inning, but that ain't all...Dustin Pedroia took over first place in the American League batting race with another three hit game. Jed Lowrie also contributed three hits to the cause and Kevin Youkilis, who was playing first base last night, furthered his chances at being named AL MVP with a two hit game. He is right on the heels of Pedey and is in second place in that batting race. He has been so clutch all year long, and since the newly shorn Manny left town, he has batted an astounding .409 with four taters and 13 RBIs. Here's what the Red Sox hitting coach had to say about our Youuuuk...

"He's kept his emotions in check," Magadan said of Youkilis. "I don't think I would trade that in for anything, because I think that's part of what drives him. Youk, he plays like a lot of guys that aren't drafted in the first round, he plays with a little bit of an 'I'm going to show you what I can do' attitude. We love guys like that. He doesn't give away at-bats. He grinds out every at-bat, he wants a hit every time he hits the ball hard."

So all's well that ends well...this three game set started with a blowout that turned into a nailbiter that turned into a win and concluded with two very convincing wins over the armless Rangers. Now it's Toronto's turn to have a weekend stay in Boston. Here are the pitching matchups...

Roy Halladay (13-9, 2.72 ERA) vs. Paul Byrd (7-10, 4.53) tonight
Shaun Marcum (7-5, 3.42) vs. Josh Beckett (11-8, 3.92) Saturday
A.J. Burnett (15-9, 4.67) vs. Clay Buchholz (2-8, 6.32) Sunday

Those are tough matchups tonight AND on Sunday, but I'm hoping the hitting machine that the Red Sox have been can keep on keeping on. Have a great Friday and a tremendous weekend, and as always, BE WELL. Oh, you can click on the title of this post for more on the sweep that was. Thanks.