Win number 53 on the season couldn't have been any bigger, as we were able to topple the best team in the Major Leagues by the score of 6-5.
Let us thank three men on this glorious morning. The first man, Joe Crede, for if it wasn't for him dropping the ball in the 9th inning, then Manny Ramirez never would have hit the go-ahead home run. For that, we thank Ramirez, also. And lastly, let's thank Curt Schilling for pitching two innings, with his 9th being just what we needed. He may have given up the tieing run in the 8th, but he was solid from that run out.
We needed this win to really show we can compete with the best teams in the league. We may win the AL East this year, but we won't be going to the World Series if we can't beat teams like Chicago and Anaheim. To put the icing on the cake, we battered the best pitcher in the league in Mark Buehrle. We had 10 hits off of him, worked three walks, and he only struck out one Boston player yesterday.
Edgar Renteria was huge in this game. He went 3-4 with a walk and scored two runs on the night. Renteria is hitting .318 in July, and .385 over the past seven days. He has also bumped his average up to .280 on the season, so it looks like Renteria is improving his game in the second half.
Matt Clement wasn't pitching like an All-Star. He wasn't hitting his spots, and was serving up home runs like pancakes - three exactly. He had a decent strikeout game, with 5, but giving up four runs is a little too many against the best team in the league.
Mike Timlin continues to keep teams scoreless. Timlin hit a little snag in the 7th inning, but was able to get out of it without allowing a run. He has allowed only three earned runs since June 5th, improving his ERA steadily. He also earned his 17th hold of the season, which puts him fifth in the major leagues in that category.
Boston has another tough challenge tonight at Chicago's Jon Garland. Luckily, Johnny Damon, David Ortiz, and Ramirez have all had great success against Garland. But then again, Garland has never been this good before this season.