Red Sox 10, White Sox 1: The Cody Ross Show

The Red Sox got Cody Ross to hit lefties, and tonight, Cody Ross hit lefties.

There are no bad two-homer nights, of that there's no question. Any time you personally provide your team with at least two homers, you've earned that game check and then some. Still, there are better two-homer games and worse two-homer games, this one was one of the better ones.

It's not just that Cody Ross added a double in the sixth that looked like it might be a third shot off the bat, or that he did it with two runners on each time, driving in six runs and scoring three himself. It's certainly not about who he hit the homers off of--Pedro Hernandez has quite the name for a pitcher, but he allowed the homers in his third and fourth major league innings.

No, what makes Cody's night so great is the homers themselves. I mean, just look at these things. I feel sorry for Hernandez, sorry for the balls, sorry for the poor folks whose cars just got dented in that parking lot. Those are gone in 30 parks. Those are no doubters in 30 parks. When Cody Ross gets into a ball, he really gets into a ball.

Of course, though Cody could have beaten the White Sox single-handedly, at least offensively speaking, he did not. There were men on each time, and he had support behind him twice as well. Jacoby Ellsbury picked up a trio of hits, while Carl Crawford reached base twice (though once on a HBP).

And Adrian? He was the best of the rest, because he finally did what we've all really been waiting to see: hit a homer that was not a slump-buster. It's his second in three nights, once again to the opposite field, this time on a low fastball he just dug out an put a good jolt into. He added RBI hits in the first and sixth as well, with the latter coming at the end of a very strong battle at the plate. Don't look now, but he's got Gonzo-like numbers in July.

If there's nitpicking to be done, it's with Felix Doubront. While he allowed just the one run in six innings of work, he once again surrendered a first-inning run, and was either struggling with control or, as it seemed to me, pitching a little frightened of the zone early on. A little fear is a good thing in Fenway park, but it wasn't until he got the big lead that he started really pitching effectively, in my mind, and if Ross hadn't been there to provide it, who knows what trouble he could have ended up in?

The Sox are now 4-2 in the second half, and just showing more and more positive signs from the most important part of the lineup. With Dustin Pedroia nearly set to make his return, it's hopefully just uphill from here.