What happens when your ace is dealing and your lineup is clicking on all cylinders?
Answer: Only good things.
A very encouraging win for the Sox tonight, soundly defeating the Oakland A's 8-3 at Fenway.
Athletics vs Red Sox boxscore
Josh Beckett went 7 plus, allowing 8 hits, 1 walk, and striking out 10 A's hitters. Daniel Bard followed, allowing one inherited runner to score (Scott Hairston, who had tripled with no outs) but escaping any further damage while racking up 2 Ks of his own. MDC cleaned it all up with a clean 9th on 11 pitches.
The runs came aplenty, and these kinds of games have been rare for the Sox lately. New addition Adam LaRoche started at 1B and doubled twice, DP went 2-4 with a HR, while Jacoby Ellsbury went 3-5 from the top spot with a triple. Only David Ortiz and Jed Lowrie failed to reach twice, and everyone in the lineup had a hit.
Can't worry about what the MFYs did tonight; it's great to get a win after a very disappointing loss.
Sox and A's again tomorrow. Clay Buchholz gets another shot to prove his value to the Sox, whether here or elsewhere. He'll be opposed by Vin Mazzaro, who hasn't had a win since June 7th. No reason for such an excellent streak to end tomorrow.