So that was fun, huh?
If you're just joining us, Tim Wakefield gave everything he had and more in an effort to rest a depleted bullpen today. After some poor starting pitching on this trip, Wake stepped up with a gem: he was 5 outs away from finishing the game before he gave up his first hit. The end result was a complete game 4-hitter. The knuckler was dancing, Kottaras was solid in catching it, and Wake got some strong defense behind him in support (aside from Lowell's rare error in the 6th).
The lineup also did some serious damage to the A's. Lowell got the fun started with a 2-run HR, knocking in Jason Bay, in the 2nd inning. The Sox then got a 6-run 8th inning, fueled primarily by J.D. Drew's 3-run HR, which brought home David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis. Also want to mention Kottaras (1-3, 2B, BB) and Nick Green (1-3, R, RBI, BB). I doubt anyone expected much out of them offensively today, but they certainly held up their end. Papi got his first XBH of the season with a 2B against Jerry Blevins. Oakland's bullpen did them in in this one, with Blevins and Sean Gallagher combining to give up the runs in the Boston half of the 8th. Brett Anderson just ran into some bad luck going against Wake today, as he pitched pretty well.
But the credit for today has to go to Tim. I have no doubt that he watched last night's game and stepped out onto the field today expecting himself to go at least 8. Not that most starters aren't like this, but that's the kind of guy Wakefield has always been in Boston. He's a team guy (cliche, yeah, so the f. what), and today his team needed him to go deep into the game and keep the A's from scoring. I'd say he was pretty successful in that, and it's a great note on which to close out the road trip.
Off-day tomorrow.