Monday, May 31, 2010

Boston's Jon Lester Battles Through An Off Day To Win

The Boston Red Sox and the KC Royals played their series finale Sunday and Boston made it a split 2-2 series with an 8-1 trashing. Big Papi David Ortiz completed his May turnaround with his 10th (!) tater of the month. I think it's safe to say he's back, and back in a big way. He caught so much flak in April but now he's confident once again. He said this about that...

“People start talking trash too early, man. That’s what I blame it on."

The bottom three of the Sox lineup, Varitek, Hall and Cameron, were spectacular, going 6 for 11 and scoring 7 of the team's eight runs. Here's Mr. Hall...

“If we can get the bottom of the lineup going like we did today, it takes a little pressure off the guys in the middle of the lineup,’’ Hall said. “We know those guys can’t win games for us every day, so if we can produce at the bottom of the lineup and score a lot of runs, it’s going to help this team win a lot more games.’’

Boston finished the month of May with an AL best record of 18-9 and they did it without Beckett and a consistent John Lackey. And speaking of Beckett, he's still grounded until, well, he'll tell you himself...

“It’s ‘Groundhog Day’ right now,” Beckett said. “Just trying to get things better. . . . It’s just like the movie. You come in and do the same thing every day. From what I’m hearing, I basically have to come in and say I’m 100 percent tomorrow before I can even pick a ball up. I’m past the frustrating part and trying to figure things out. It is what it is. Everyone has to answer to somebody, and right now they’re telling me what to do.”

I know Josh must be chomping at the bits to take that mound and own the opposing team's hitters. And he will, too. Today, Monday, will be a rare holiday day off before the Sox take on the Oakland A's at the Fens Tuesday. Here are the pitching match-ups...

6/1/2010 Oak 7:10 PM ET CSCA/NES *** Lackey (5-3) vs.Gonzalez (5-3)
6/2/2010 Oak 7:10 PM ET CSCA/NESN *** Matsuzaka (3-2) vs.Sheets (2-3)
6/3/2010 Oak 1:35 PM ET CSCA/NESN *** Wakefield (1-3) Anderson (2-1)

I hope every one of you has a great Memorial Day Monday, a day without Red Sox baseball. Odd but true. But the team is playing well and I hope they continue to do so. In fact, I'm confident that they will, especially when Beckett gets back to his normal dominantly devastating self. And there are rumors that Mike Lowell will be heading west to LA because the Angels lost the services of their first baseman Kendry Morales, who broke his leg when he was mobbed by his teammates at home plate after a grand slam tater. Idiotic, to say the least. That's all anyone knows about Mikey right now but I'll monitor the situation carefully. Count on it.

Don't forget to click on this post's title for more Sox coverage. Have a happy and healthy holiday and as always, BE WELL. See ya.

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