Lackey Rolls To His First Boston Victory (With A Little Help From His Friends)

It wasn't easy but John Lackey gutted his way through 6 2/3 innings and earned his first victory as a member of the Boston Red Sox. The final score was Boston 6 Minnesota 3. Hideki Okajima came in with a couple guys on base and recorded the final out of the seventh. It still was a one run lead but Jeremy Hermida came through bigtime in the eighth inning as he stroked a three run gap double that gave his team their three run lead. He's had a hit every game he's been in there and his playing time has increased because of the injuries to Ellsbury and JD Drew. Quite simply, he's been amazing! He said this after the game's conclusion...

“It’s been nice for a couple of days to get your timing back a little bit. It's nice to go out there and see some pitching consistently for a few days.”

Pedey Pedroia slammed his fourth tater of the year (already!) in support of John Lackey. Lackey struggled with his control and threw a whopping 107 pitches...that's why Red Sox manager Terry Francona had to come out and get the ball. Hey, it's mid-April and there was no sense in risking any type of injury. Heeeere's Johnny...

“My command wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be. It could have been a little of that time off. I don’t know,” Lackey said. “I felt pretty strong early on, but my command wasn’t quite where I needed it to be. I’m looking forward to being on five days and getting into a normal routine, for sure.”

Bard and Papelbon, who earned the save, provided some nail-biting moments but in the end, the Red Sox won to even their record at four. They play once again in Minnesota at 1:10pm EDT and then come home to Fenway for a series with the aways tough Tampa Bay Rays. Timmy Wakefield will, I hope, flutter his way to victory. The weather forecast is not that good here in north central Connecticut, including Boston, for Friday and Saturday with intermittent and scattered showers but they should be able to get the games in. Let's just win this game today and we'll think about tomorrow after that. Of course, the game will be televised by NESN and NESN HD and broadcast on all the usual radio station suspects. GO SOX.

That's it from here now. I'll be back later today with a game update. I'm lucky enough to be able to come home by 1pm EDT and I'll fire up the Hi Def television, choose a beverage of choice and enjoy the game. Hermida will again be in the starting lineup primarily because Jacoby Ellsbury is not yet ready to return. He'll be feeling much better in two or three, maybe four days. We wish him well.

You can click on this post's title for all the latest Red Sox news. I thank you for stopping in once again and as always, BE WELL. I mean that! Your comments are always welcome and always answered or replied to. See ya.