via www.fangraphs.com

Summary:

Jennings v. Lester

Woohoo and whatnot. Jon Lester threw 6 innings. I threw a little party for him last night, on behalf of that. Good work by the 'pen as well, with J-Lo, MDC, Timlin and Paps combining for three scoreless innings after Lester left. Hitting-wise, Dustin, Papi, and especially "Being" threw down the other night. Manny just keeps on hitting for us in big moments, answering the question we all wondered about just what might've happened 2003-2006 if Papi didn't come through every single time.

Millwood v. Wake

First of all, Wake was ridiculously efficient. Averaging about 2.7 pitches per inning, several innings were over before the infielders and outfielders were actually through warming up. The Rangers were jumping on pitches, exhibiting no patience, and actually were fairly successful doing so. They were able to get their 7 hits in bunches, and combined with two of those hits being HRs, scored 5 off of Wake by the 6th inning. If you caught the game thread, you know a lot of us were pretty despondent. In retrospect, I suppose I'm not sure why. I think it's that the runs scored off of HRs, which always seem like more than they really are. Nevertheless.

...so what happened? 2 runs in the 7th, run-scoring singles by Papi and Drew brought us to within 3. We entered the 8th inning, and the magic really began. All with 2 outs: Tacoby 1B, Jed Lowrie 2B (5-3), Papi 1B (5-4), DP PH 2B (5-5), Youks IBB, Drew BB, Casey BB (5-6). Kevin Cash, who made the first out of the inning, also made the third, and Paps came on for the save, though it wasn't the most relaxed save he's ever given us.

Players of the Gamez:

Jennings v. Lester

via d.yimg.com

Who else, really?

Millwood v. Wake

via d.yimg.com

Thank you, Yahoo! Images. This way I don't have to choose. Also, good job Jed Lowrie.

Comment-mania:

GIDP - Now Papi is trying to make Lugo look good. There’s a lot of love going on in this team. :) - MerryGoByeBye

There's no element of surprise. I'm just watching our inexorable march towards yet another amazing win.Tedious is hardly the word. - britsoxfan (Proper context: We were still down 5-2, and there were 2 outs in the 8th inning with only one runner on.)