via www.fangraphs.com

Summary:

Well, it wasn't vintage Becks, no matter how much the numbers might tell us otherwise. There was some iffiness, and an injury-scare. He certainly did get the job done though, and I'm not going to say he didn't earn the win. He absolutely did. And the iffiness could be chalked up to the raininess, I suppose.

Following Becks was three strong innings of relief from MDC, Oki, and Hansen in that order. MDC, in particular, looked pretty strong, striking out the side in the 7th. We need one (ideally two) of those three to start looking like a lockdown setup man. 

Our new (hopefully he remains so) #3 hitter was the top performer on the night, 2-3, 2 R, BB, SB. This is what they envisioned from Drew, and to say that this'll be the norm from now on probably isn't fair. But the fact remains, he's a very talented hitter who works the count and gets on base at an excellent rate. He should be higher in the lineup with Papi out, so that "Being" and Lowell can knock him in, rather than standing on 1B while Lugo and Coco fail to do so. As far as Coco goes? I haven't seen a good angle replay of either of his SB attempts, so I couldn't hazard a guess as to whether anyone is right at all in that mess. 

Eric Hinske stealing 3B? 'Tek and Becks should be embarrassed. 

Player of the Game:

via d.yimg.com

Could be that Becks is that statistically better choice for this game, but Drew hit well in this one and deserves some recognition for his play of late. Is this like the NBA giving the MVP to Kobe rather than KG or Chris Paul? *Shrugs* Also, no. 

Rant-o-licious:

So Papi is out? So what? Or, I just want to weigh in. Like FJM does, twice. But honestly. If he's out for longer than a month, or for the rest of the season, we might have to explore outside options. I've seen many bandied about, but one has been conspicuously absent, probably because his GM is bluffing that he's not on the block. But why wouldn't he be? This player is: 1) Hitting well, 2) Might be too old to be part of the "next great X team", 3) Talented OF who can play all 3 spots while also being potent enough offensively to DH, 4) Patient at the plate, 5) Seems to have matured since his early years in the Majors. This is the kind of player, when you should be in somewhat of a rebuilding mode, that can bring you back a good return to help your team in the future. And who is our mystery guest?

Milton Bradley. Let the virtual-flogging begin. (I am, of course, aware of his ridiculous BABIP and some other issues that come along with him. I still think he'd be a better option (tradewise, that is) than many of the other names brought up thusfar.)