Red Sox wrap up homestand with another series win
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by Dicekmania
The Red Sox wrapped up a very brief three game home stand with the visiting Baltimore Orioles in a rare Thursday afternoon matinee at Fenway with a 7-3 victory and a 2-1 series win. The Sox are off to the West coast for series against the Seattle Mariners (2nd in the wild card standings), and the AL West leading Los Angeles Angels (the team with the 2nd best record in MLB behind the Red Sox) before coming back east to play the Orioles at Fenway East (otherwise now as Camden Yards). This is an important stretch of games for the Sox, who hold an 8 game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East.
Today, Tim Wakefield won his 13th game of the season, now tying him with Josh Beckett (13-5) for the most wins on the Sox. In all 23 games he has started this year, Wake has gotten a decision. In his last 7 games, he is 6-1 overall, not bad for a guy some people thought should be removed from the starting five once Jon Lester returned. One thing is for sure, Wake deserves to be in the starting 5 and has done nothing but prove that this season.
Today's offense came from some unlikely sources as Wakefield's personal catcher Doug Mirabelli led the charge with a 3-3 performance, as he drove in 2 runs and scored 2, delivering his 4th homerun as well. It was his single in the 7th that provided the winning run for the Red Sox as they scored 4 runs in the 7th to secure victory number 66 of the season. In the 9th newly acquired set-up man Eric Gagne, had his first Fenway appearance, as he entered to a rousing standing ovation. In a 7-3 game, he quickly got the first two outs via the strikeout (Kevin Millar and Miguel Tejada), then in what appeared to be the final out of the inning, he got Aubrey Huff to pop up down the third base line, Mike Lowell appeared to have a play on the ball but it blew back into fair territory and landed for a ground rule double, Jay Payton followed with an end of the bat bloop single into right field and Huff scored. Gagne finished the game off by retiring Jay Gibbons on a fly out to left.
Although Gagne allowed a run but pitched very effectively, I like the setup of our pen now. I think Gagne serves two purposes, one he gives us three lights out guy in the pen (Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon) being the other two. This shortens the game for the Sox, who tend to get their starters pitching into the 6th on most nights. He also is insurance if something happens to Okajima or Papelbon, he will be able to fill both roles, nothing like having a two proven closer in your pen. J.D. Drew although a late scratch from the lineup did pinch run in the 7th for Eric Hinske, Drew had been away for two days as his 17 month old son had surgery. He had one at bat in the 8th and flew out to left.
The Sox did nothing at the deadline to improve their bench which is their weak point right now. All the talk about moving Wily Mo proved to be fruitless. I think the Red Sox will be ok with the bench they have, and then get a boost with the September call ups, most notably Jacoby Ellsbury- who gives them speed and defense off the bench. Also there will be players clearing through the waiver wire all month, it is a popular belief that Bobby Kielty is someone the Sox would be interested in. When the Sox return home after this nine game road trip, the AL East could be well in hand or the race could be heating up.
