Red Sox Home Run Attack Too Much For Orioles

Message to Baltimore - be careful with the walks, they can be costly. In the fifth inning last night, JD Drew continued his hot hitting with a double that moved Jacoby Ellsbury to 3rd base with one out. Manny Ramirez was on deck. Baltimore made the logical move and intentionally walked Manny to set up a possible double play, only to have Mike Lowell step up and launch his second grand slam of the season. His other grand slam was also the result of Manny being intentionally walked in front of him to load the bases. Somehow, intentionally walking Manny always seems like a good idea, but rarely seems to work.

Coming in to the game, Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis, and JD Drew were all tied with 9 home runs this season. The grand slam put Lowell in the lead with 10. But, not for long. In the 7th inning, Manny Ramirez walked (not intentionally), Lowell struck out, and Kevin Youkilis blasted a two run home run - tying Lowell at 10 home runs. Well, JD Drew was only waiting for someone to walk in front of him before joining in the fun. He only had to wait one inning. With two outs in the 8th, Dustin Pedroia walked, and JD Drew said, "finally, now it is my turn". JD turned on a pitch and sent it into the right field box seats to pull even with Lowell and Youk. See the pattern? Walk - Home Run, Walk - Home Run, etc.

All the home run fun allowed Red Sox starter, Jon Lester, to settle in to a solid game, knowing he had runs to work with. No shutout would be required, but Lester chased a shutout into the 6th inning anyway, just to be safe. In the 6th, the Orioles marched double time. Brian Roberts lead off with a double, but Lester got the next two batters out. With two outs, it looked like Roberts would get stranded, until Oscar Salazar roped a double to deep center field, just out of the reach of Coco Crisp, to put the Orioles on the scoreboard. Then, Aubrey Huff, always trouble for the Sox, pulled a shot down the right field line that bounced one and was struck by a fan for a ground rule double. Ramon Hernandez followed with a single, and it looked like Lester might not get out of the inning after all. But, thankfully, he managed to induce Adam Jones to pop out to end the only inning the Orioles would score in.

Terry Francona showed confidence in Lester by sending him back out for the 7th inning. Fans were wondering if the 7th would end up looking like the 6th. But, that was not to be the case, as Lester set the Orioles down 1-2-3. Manny Delcarmen was recruited to handle the 8th inning, and continued his improved pitching with a scoreless inning. With a 9-2 lead at this point, there was no need to tap Jonathan Papelbon, so Francona gave Mike Timlin a shot to show he still has a few good innings left in him. Timlin did not disappoint, only needing 7 pitches to end the game.

The Sox have had a great home stand, winning 7 out of 9 games, and reclaiming their hold on first place. Tonight, the Sox begin a stretch of Inter-League games, kicking off the first of three games in Cincinnati. There will be no DH in Ohio, so Red Sox fans are praying that Manny Ramirez has recovered from his strained hamstring to head back out to left field, and keep that big bat in the lineup. Inter-league play is certainly different. The Red Sox have not been to Cincinnati sine the 1975 world series! Sox fans will get to see future hall of famer, Ken Griffey, Jr., possibly for the last time. We'll also get to see old friend, Bronson Arroyo. Bronson just pitched for the Reds last night, so unfortunately, we won't get to see him play in these next 3 games.

Justin Masterson will be the Sox starter tonight. With Daisuke Matsuzaka getting close to a return from the DL, this could be Justin's last start for the Sox before heading back to Pawtucket until needed again. Justin will be shooting for an impressive 4th win in 5 spot starts, and will be doing it in front of a few acquaintances! Justin went to high school in Beavercreek, OH, not too far from Cincinnati, and will surely have a few ticket requests sent his way. While Masterson went to high school in Ohio, do you know where he was born? I'll give you a hint, Kingston is the name of the town. No, not Kingston, MA, but that was a good guess. He was actually born in Kingston, Jamaica! Kevin Youkilis also has ties to Ohio. Youk was a star player at the University of Cincinnati. So, see, while the inter-league games seem foreign, they can be more familiar than you thought.

Finally, a huge cheer goes out to the Boston Celtics who kept me up late, just hoping they'd turn a blow out into a close game. They did more than that, executing an historic comeback in defeating the Lakers 97-91 after having been down by 18 points at half time. The Celtics now hold a 3-1 game lead in the best of 7 series. Let's not jinx it with a prediction, but the team from the west coast is just about out of time! Game 5 is on Father's Day (although rather late for some crazy reason). Get ready, get green!

(Photos Courtesy of ESPN)

Slam Blam Thank You Maam!

The Red Sox rode the good fortunes of not one, but two grand slams en route to a, not as close as it sounds, 11-8 victory to complete a four game sweep of the Kansas City Royals. The sweep of Kansas City comes on the heels of a three game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers, leaving the Sox perfect on their latest home stand as they take off for the west coast to meet the Oakland A's.

Red Sox starter, Daisuke Matsuzaka, earned the win to improve his already impressive record to 8-0 on the season. Dice-K had a good game, but not a great game. He, once again, tried dancing around the strike zone with mixed success. While refusing to give in to batters, he also ran his pitch count up to 118 pitches, throwing 67 for strikes. He struck out 7, but walked 6. He gave up 6 hits, but held the Royals to only 3 runs, going 5 2/3 innings before handing the ball over to Javier Lopez, holding on to a 5-3 lead. Lopez did his job, striking out the only batter he would face to end the 6th inning.

The big story of the day was the offense, specifically from JD Drew and Mike Lowell, both the authors of devastating grand slams. JD Drew's was an opposite field shot into the Green Monster seats that gave the Sox a 4-1 lead in the 2nd inning. Mike Lowell's came in the 6th inning after the Sox had already plated two runs and lifted the lead to an insurmountable 11-3 advantage for the home team.

The Red Sox bullpen, however, decided that a blowout was not exciting enough for the fans at Fenway Park. Fearful that fans would start streaming out of Fenway too soon, Terry Francona sent Craig Hansen in to level things out in the 7th inning. Hansen got to work early allowing a lead off home run to stop any early exiters in their tracks. That seemed to slow some fans from leaving, but many fans were still feeling a bit too confident. So, a walk and a double later put another run on the board narrowing the score to 11-5. Hansen finished up the inning without further damage, but fans returned to their seats, afraid that Hansen might come back out for the 8th inning. When Francona opted to send in David Aardsma, fans breathed a sigh of relief and began packing again. Well, Aardsma did what he could to hold the audience, so with two on and two outs, wisely surrendered a powerful three run home run to narrow the score to 11-8.

At this point the bullpen had done their job. They had returned excitement to the game and left the outcome in doubt. Fans would be foolish to leave now. Holding on to a three run lead, the Red Sox now had a save situation, and we all know what that means - this is a job for ... Jonathan Papelbon! Papelbon started the 9th inning off with two quick ground outs, but when he noticed a few people starting for the exits, he quickly allowed back to back singles to draw them back in. Not that all eyes were riveted, and the stage was set, Papelbon wrapped it up with a fly out to Jacoby Ellsbury to seal the win.

So, has Manny Ramirez been saving his 499th and 500th home runs for the west coast fans? If so, today might be the day! Manny is 3 for 8 in his career against today's starter, Rich Harden. Those three hits? All home runs!

(Photos Courtesy of Yahoo Sports)