A Dozen Early Runs Power Red Sox Over Phillies...Ellsbury Back By All Star Break?

Friday evening at Fenway Park in Boston, the Boston Red Sox scored early and often and bumped off the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 12-2. John Lackey went 7 strong and by the fourth inning, this one was ovah! It got to the point that many Phillies regulars were pulled after that frame. Red Sox manager Terry Francona had the best vantage point of just about anyone and he said this after the game's conclusion...

“We started early,’’ manager Terry Francona said, after the Sox’ 12-2 win over the Phillies at Fenway Park. “It’s a good way to play. We had a real good approach to Moyer. He didn’t see a lot of balls foul. Squared up balls in the middle of the field, and then when we scored five, we came back in the next inning, kept at it."

Boy, they kept at it. Three hits from both Marco Scutaro, who's feeling better than ever, and Big Papi David Ortiz (with 4 RBIs) anchored the torrid attack. Even Boof Bonser was tolerable. He pitched the 8th and the 9th and gave up 4 hits but NO runs. Right now his role is more of a "in case of emergency" type of bullpen pitcher, brought in when the Sox lead is insurmountable or the team is hopelessly doomed. Last night, the former ruled.

In other Red Sox news, Jacoby Ellsbury and the team found out that his new rib fracture, located in his back near the spine, was not missed by team doctors. It's a recent injury. Here with a deeper description is team docter Thomas Gill...

"These are quote-unquote ‘fractures’ you can’t see on an X-ray. They’re very stable injuries. They happen all the time in football and all the time in hockey, and we have a huge wealth of knowledge and experience treating these types of injuries. Having taken care of a lot of these types of athletes, we’ve been extraordinarily conservative with Jacoby and our progression with him.”

Let's hope that he'll be fit to play by the All Star break. That would be a tremendous shot in the arm for Boston to start the second half of the season. Jacoby, we miss you. Heal.

Lastly, a new Quinnipiac University poll showed that the Connecticut fan base for the NY Yankees and the Boston Red Sox was a virtual dead heat with Southern Connecticut favoring the pinstripers and the central, eastern and northern counties going with the Good Guys. Statewide it was NYY 39% and Red Sox 38%. Given the margin of error, it's a tie. Only in 2008 did Boston come out on top. 11% said they favored the Metsies. In Connecticut, the state I love, you'll see people walking down the street wearing BOTH team's hats. Oh! Sox fan. Boo! Yankee fan. Take a walk around the Hartford streets and backstreets and that's exactly what you'll see. That's the way it is with New York, Boston and baseball in Connecticut. A friendly rivalry is what I would call it.

It's Saturday! Yesss. I hope your weekend will be a good one, safe and happy. You can click on this post's title for more on Friday night's Sox win and as always, BE WELL. I'll see you soon.