Red Sox Roast Birds Once Again...Boston 11 Baltimore 5...Wakefield To Go Monday

For the fifteenth time in seventeen 2009 meetings, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 11-5. The two teams will play for the last time (boo-hoo) this afternoon at Friendly Fenway. They will be missed. Sorely.

Jon Lester started for the home club but was not at his best. He had to grind and battle for six innings and the game was knotted at three when he departed. That's when Boston showed why it is the vastly superior team. They scored three runs in the seventh inning and five more crooked ones in the eighth to take complete control of this one, much to the delight of the Fenway Faithful and for all of us watching on NESN and NESN HD. Coupled with a rare Texas Rangers win, the AL Wild Card lead remains at seven for the Sox and their magic number is reduced to nine. Lester summed up his team's recent efforts...

“More than anything, we’re starting to play good baseball,’’ Lester said. “We’re starting to get results. I guess you could say we’ve had a lot of ups and downs. We’ve had a ton of injuries. But it seems like now, balls that need to fall are falling and guys are driving the ball out of the ballpark when we need it. Hopefully we can keep going in this direction."

Jon is right. This Red Sox team is putting it all together at the exact right time. The Boston bullpen took over to pitch the seventh, eighth and ninth innings and only Little Manny Delcarmen was ineffective. With the huge lead, however, the Orioles never had a chance, not after the eighth. No way, no how, not in this life, not with this pitching staff. JD Drew had another productive night and he gave this personal assessment...

"I feel good. I've had ups and downs this year and went through some stuff right after the All-Star Break and kind of worked my way out of it, just trying to be consistent, take some good quality at-bats and regardless of the result, try to erase it and start over again the next day. So I think as long as you can finish out the year like that and carry it into the post season, we'll see what happens."

Oh yes, he's been great most of the time. Today, the finale, the last battle between the little orange team and the huge red one. Daisuke Matsuzaka, straight off an exhilarating start, will face the 5-11 Berken. Let's end the season series with a bang, a BIG one, and continue to reduce that magic number. The sooner it reaches zero, the better. Then Tito can selectively rest players before October play commences. It's all good!

Oh, one more Red Sox item. Tim Wakefield underwent strength tests yesterday and was deemed good to go for a Monday start, following Matsuzaka. He might not be able to scoot over to first base to cover the bag as he used to, but his arm is fine...better than Byrd, that's for darn sure.

Click on this post's title for more coverage of the Red Sox, Boston Globe style. Enjoy your Sunday and as always, BE WELL. Thanks for stopping in and your comments are always welcome and always answered. See ya. GO SOX.