RED SOX HOTTER THAN THE WEATHER

It got up to 100 degrees up here in south suburban Boston, but down I-95 in Philly, the Red Sox are about 1,000 degrees right now.

They rolled into Philadelphia 1/2 game behind Baltimore for the lead in the AL East. They come back to Fenway 2 1/2 up on the O's.

Saturday's game was a bit of a joke as I predicted it would be. The Sox got ahead early and Clement was able to combine with Mantei, Myers, and Foulke to keep the Phillies offense down. I have some more in depth stuff on Saturday's game, mainly criticisms of Tim McCarver and Joe Buck, but these will come in the next post. Plus some random thoughts

Saturday's Man of the Game is Matt the Missile Clement who went 7 innings allowing 1 earned run off 7 hits and 0 walks. He struck out 4 and had a walk at the plate.

Sunday was a more interesting game. There are two people on this team that do not belong, in my mind. They are Ramon Vazquez and Allan Embree. Vazquez brings nothing to this team. He isn't fast, isn't a good hitter, and defensively he is average at best. I'd rather see Bellhorn playing short and Youkilis at 2nd than Vazquez at short. Theo needs to go out and get a good middle infielder though.

Embree is just a waste. Why is he coming into a 3 run game? Why does he come into any game? It seems like every other time he pitches, the complexity of the game somehow changes. That isn't a good thing. We can beat teams like Cleveland and Philly with a struggling Embree. But we might not be able to win in a short series in October against great teams.

The bats were able to save the bullpen though. The top of the 8th was a perfect demonstration of the danger the Red Sox present to opponent's pitching. Damon bunts a single, Bellhorn hits a double to knock Damon in, Ortiz with an infield single moving Bellhorn to 3rd, Manny with a SAC Fly to center, Nixon beats out a double play, Tek homers. Two infield singles, a sac fly, a double, and a homer.

The Man of the Game is Mark Bellhorn. He stepped it up in the #2 spot and went 3 for 4. He had a solo HR, an RBI single, and an RBI double. He also walked once. He had 3 RBI and scored 4 times.

The Orioles lost Saturday and Sunday. The Yankees split their last two with the Mets.