Youkilis Powers the Red Sox To A 6-4 Win

The Boston Red Sox extended their modest winning streak to three games with Saturday night's 6-4 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles. The stars of the game were Kevin Youkilis, who had a monster game with four hits and four runs batted in, and the bullpen, which has allowed only one earned run the the last 19 2/3 innings. Manager Terry Francona talked about that effectiveness and mentioned he didn't think anybody in the 'pen has been overused. That bodes well for the near future, especially when John Smoltz is activated. It's simple...Boston is just going to get better. After the game, leftfielder Jason Bay said this of the anchor of the offense, Mr. Youkilis...

"He’s been our MVP, no question,” Bay said. "With the struggles of some guys early, he’s kind of been our rock in the middle of the lineup as far as getting on base and doing everything, day in and day out. Without him, I don’t know where we’d be.”

Big Papi David Ortiz showed signs that he might be emerging from his offensive funk with two hits. As for Beckett, he was able to go six innings and only faltered in the fifth, when he gave up four runs, all with no outs. He settled down, got the last three outs of that inning and breezed through the sixth. And then the bullpen, one of the best in all of baseball, had a chance to show their stuff, and that's exactly what they did...Okajima, Saito and Papelbon each threw a scoreless inning. Okie's was 1-2-3, Saito stuggled a bit but got the job done and Paps had a one hit frame. The Red Sox bullpen is going to carry this team into October...I just know it.

I hope your Sunday will be a good one. The Sox play the Birdies at 1:05pm EDT in Boston. It'll be Koji Uehara versus Jon Lester, who really hasn't gotten going...yet. You can click on this post's title for more on last night's victory and as always, BE WELL. I'll be seeing you...soon.