Not much is better in baseball than sweeping a day/night doubleheader.
Tim Wakefield was a hero -- again -- in the day game for the Sox. He earned the rain-shortened complete game victory, 10-1. He allowed one run, five hits, one walk and struck out four Twinkies on the day.
With a potential 18 innings on tap yesterday (worked out to 16, though), Wakefield needed to save the bullpen. He did just that and was effective. Sometimes we can run Wakefield out there, have him get smashed and he can still chew up innings, but not this time.
The offense was anchored by three two-run home runs in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd innings. Kevin Youkilis, Nick Green and Mike Lowell all went deep. Lowell and J.D. Drew each had three hits. (Green, while he knocked in three runs, did have two errors on the game.)
In the second game, Brad Penny wasn't horrible, which the Sox really need out of him. While the offense only managed five hits but knocked in seven, it was good enough to have the Sox win 7-3.
Penny went six innings and allowed six hits, three runs (two earned), one walk and struck out two. Penny's not really doing anything special this year, but he's getting the job done. He's not striking out a lot, but he's getting some ground balls and working out of jams.
Sox are off today, but the Yankees are in town Friday.