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Thank you, Jon Lester and Jason Bay.

The Red Sox got back in the win column with a 6-3 victory over Orioles. Lester went seven innings and allowed just one run. Bay provided the offense by hitting two home runs, knocking in four RBIs and finishing 3 for 5 with two runs.

All is right in Red Sox Nation.

Even though it was against the Orioles, this was a very important win because it was our ace matched up against thier ace. The Sox have struggled against some of the better pitchers in baseball, so touching up Jeremy Guthrie is nice.

Lester gave up four hits and one run, an Aubrey Huff dinger. Manny Delcarmen allowed two runs in relief, while Jonathan Papelbon finished the last 1.1 innings to earn the save.

A sweep of the O's would be very nice. After letting the Jays walk all over us, the Sox need to make up some ground on the Rays. I'm actually at the point where I think I'm starting to get nervous. Some may already be at that point and some may never get there, but I think I'm there. The Sox need to play their best ball because it doesn't look like the Rays are going to fall off the map now.

Speaking of those Rays, today they use six pitchers and still come out with a 6-4 win. That's not dominant baseball right there. Will that come back to bite them in the butt? Let's hope so.

Tomorrow it's Daisuke Matsuzaka facing off against Daniel Cabrera. Can you say, 'Walkapalooza'?

via www.fangraphs.com

Summary:

.993 OPS. David Ortiz J.D. Drew. He's been a monster, and while I acknowledge the point that he might be seeing better pitches ahead of Manny than he was ahead of 'Tek and others, anyone watching can tell he's locked in, and wouldn't be missing the one good pitch he'd get in the 6th or 7th spot the way he is right now. He absolutely cannot be dropped lower than 5th when Papi comes back. I know one of the two (Manuel or Papi) is very comfortable with the way they bat in the order, but I started to think tonight that Drew should be the #2, with Manny 3rd and Papi 4th and Lowell or Youks to follow. Then you don't have the three LHHs in a row, but still get Drew to the plate the secondmost times in a game. Who would have thought a year ago that we'd be working this hard to find more PAs for Drew.

None of that was a summary at all. Anyway. Jon Lester continued to improve as a pitcher, pounding the zone tonight. And the way you know he's convincing Tito/Theo? He had a bit of a rough stretch in the 6th (perhaps set up, as suggested in the thread, by too much down time in-between innings) and was still sent out for the 7th and finished the game strong. MDC came on in the 8th and looked...money, while Timlin finished the game with a solidly-pitched 1-2-3 9th. 

On offense? Sox had it goin. The first run scored on a anybody but Julio Lugo Julio Lugo RBI 1B. Then the Sox started the 5th inning with an Ells single, a Dustin "One-Pitch" Pedroia flyout, then a beautiful JD Drew 2B to CF. That set up an IBB to "Being" and finally a Mike Lowell over the monster grand slam. Youks and Drew would add a 2-run HR apiece to make the final score 9-2. (the 2 O's runs scoring in the aforementioned rough 6th for Jon Lester. Shout-out to Aubrey Huff and Oscar WHO? Salazar for having good offensive games for Baltimore)

Player of the Game:

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Ladies and gentlemen? Jon Lester.

Comment of the Game:

"Ells is on, c'mon Pedroia, take a pitch, I dare you, just take a pitch... -sydneysox