| 04 September 2009
The Red Sox are clicking on all cylinders again.
Clay Buchholz pitched six solid innings last night against a very good offense and in a pressure situation... proving that he has the ability to be a No. 3 in the playoffs. It wasn't always pretty, but Buchhy got the job done, holdingb the Rays to three runs, fanning three batters and allowing just one free pass.
The bullpen closed out the game in style fanning five Rays over three innings. Billy Wagner punched out Bartlett and Crawford to end the 7th and has 7 Ks in three innings with the Sox. Daniel Bard fanned Longoria with a runner on to end the 8th. And Papelbon closed out the game with two Ks and a fly out, earning his 34th save and giving his 21 Ks in his last 13.3 innings of work.
The pitching was great, but it was also nice to see the offense kick it up a knotch with six runs courtesy of the heart of our lineup. Kevin Youkilis lead the charge with three hits, two runs scored and an RBI. Jason Bay had a key 2-run RBI double in the first inning and now has 96 RBI on the season. And Victor Martinez had two more hits out of the 3-hole, including an RBI single in the 7th that seemed to seal the victory. Rocco Baldelli added a solo shot in the second inning.
Since getting Youk back from a 5-game suspension in mid-August, the offense has been scoring 7+ runs per game in the last 16 contests. Martinez is now locked in behind Pedroia and that has lengthend the lineup with Youk and Bay in the middle and Lowell, Ortiz and Drew al hitting well on the back end. Even Alex Gonzalez has been dangerous in the 9-hole.
Bottom Line: Taking 2 of 3 in the Trop was huge! The Sox have won three of thier last four series and that's all you can ask for during a playoff push.
Now if someone could please beat knock the Yankees off their high horse... that would help.
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