Sweeeeeep!

We have just swept the Baltimore Orioles and the Yankees have taken the first 2 games against the Rays. We are now just 3 games in back of the the Rays and if the Yanks take care of business tonight, we will be just 2.5 games back going into our series with the Rangers.

Game 1 against the Orioles we won 7-4. Pedroia again had 2 hits and 2 rbi's and scored a run. I still think Pedroia should be MVP. Byrd pitched well by keeping us in the game until we could take the lead in the 6th. Byrd allowed 4 runs (3 off of solo home runs) in 7 innings and got the win.

Game 2 we won 14-2. Lester pitched like... well, John Lester and got the win going 5 innings and allowing just 1 run. Offensively, Papi and Pedroia led the pack. Papi came up twice with the bases loaded and each time delivered a 2 rbi double. Pedroia hit a 3 run home run in the 4th and ended the night with 5 rbi's. Pedroia batted clean up again tonight and he is now hitting .330 !

Game 3 was a day game and luckily for me, I was home to pick up my son from school. When I left to pick him up we were down 4-0. When I came back we were down 4-2 going into the 8th inning. Kotsay then came up with a big 2 run triple to tie it up and I thought for sure he would score from 3rd, but we left him stranded at 3rd to end the inning. In the ninth, Alex Cora led off with a single, then Coco bunted a ball that looked like it would end up foul, but the ball hit a pebble and bounced back into fair territory and he wound up with an infield single moving Cora to second. Then Jacoby bunted a ball back to the pitcher and he threw wildly to third and Cora scored the game winning run on the throwing error. We were running around the house jumping up and down. It seems like whenever we play the Orioles, something like this always happens. Tampa lost later that night to the Yanks so we are just 3 games in back of Tampa, but probably even more important is we are 5 UP in the wildcard standings now.

We now have an off day and then off to Texas for a 3 game series. We will be travelling down to Texas to watch our team hopefully sweep up the Rangers. It would be nice if we could came back home in first place. Beckett is set to pitch Friday and it also looks like Lowell will be back too. Wake is set to pitch Saturday and Byrd on Sunday. We are looking forward to a fun trip down to Texas to watch our team. I will put pics up when I get back...

Go Sox!

Playoff Preview?

We took 2 of 3 from the White Sox over the weekend. At the beginning of the game on Friday, the interviewed Ozzie, the head coach of the White Sox, and he said that he is expecting them to come in here and win some games against he Red Sox because the Red Sox had just left Yankee Stadium and they are going to be soft after the Yankee series and all the hype that follows that. It was nice to see his words shoved back into his mouth. I hope the Twins win the division and the White Sox miss the playoffs entirely. I never have liked the White Sox much. Probably has to do with seeing Fisk wearing that jersey for so long...

Game 1 we won 8-0 on the 2 hitter of DiceK. Dice was almost unhittable and we scored our runs on the performance of our #2-4 hitters, Pedroia, Papi and Youk. Combined they went 9 for 12 with 6 runs and 4 rbi's. Pedroia had a 4 hit game and Youk and Bay each had 3 rbi's. I am really starting to think that Pedroia could be a strong candidate for MVP this year. Everyone has been talking Youk, but my vote would go to Pedroia. I just love watching him play.

Game 2 we won 8-2. I couldn't believe the lineup when I first saw it - it had Pedroia batting clean up! And he got another 4 hits tonight. The last 2 games he is 8 for 8! Ellsbury set the table for Pedroia by getting 3 hits and scoring 3 times and Kotsay came up big with 3 hits and 3 rbi's himself. Bowden made his major league debut by going 5 inning and giving up just 2 runs and getting the win. We are really starting to come together now - if only Tampa would start losing!

Game 3 we lost 4-2. Ellsbury had another 3 hits, but with Lowrie going 0-5 after him Ellsbury was left stranded many times. Wake took the loss going 6 innings and giving up 3 earned runs. We are now 5.5 back of Tampa who won again today and extended their winning streak to 5 games. Tampa now has the Yankees coming up and we have the Orioles. I hate to say it, but I will be rooting for the Yankees this week to get a sweep of Tampa. I hope lightning doesn't strike me down for saying that, but we really need Tampa to start losing. Go Yankees !?!?