JD Drew kills Arizona pitching. I listened to about half of this game on the Arizona radio station (XM Radio always uses the home team's feed), and they were simply in awe of him. He's got a career average over .350 against the D-Bax.
It's funny that after a week of struggling offense, we lose the DH, Youkilis doesn't start, and we score 10 runs. Funny how that works out.
Lugo led off the game with a homer. He's got 34 RBI, and a .217 average. Those just might be the weirdest stats for a leadoff hitter I've ever seen. Drew belted a 3 run blast in the 3rd to make it 4-0. Beckett got hit around a bit in the 3rd and allowed a run. Of Beckett's 8 innings, he only allowed baserunners in three of them, the other five were perfect. We kept piling on and put the game out of reach in the 6th with another Drew 3 run homer.
Beckett pitched even better than his line suggests. 8 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 1 HR. He easily could have gone the full 9, but with a 7 run lead, there was no need to. His spot also came up in the 8th, no sense in risking an injury there. He left the game having thrown 93 pitches.
A good indicator of how well the game went for the Sox was the fact that Josh Beckett went 0 for 4. That means he was pitching well enough to hit 4 times, and the lineup was hitting well enough to turn itself over 4 times.
There were a lot of pitches inside to Red Sox hitters. Manny got hit by one in the wrist, Lugo got buzzed. I wouldn't be shocked if there was an Arizona hitter beaned by Tavarez tonight.
The Man of the Game was JD Drew. He went 3 for 5 with a pair of 3 run homers and an RBI double. He had 7 total RBI, a career high for him.
Honorable Mentions:
Josh Beckett: 8 IP, 2 ER, 8 K
David Ortiz: 2/3, 2B, BB, Run
Manny Ramirez: 2/3, RBI, 2 Runs
Tavarez vs. Micah Owings tonight. I've got a bad feeling. Owings seems like one of those young, obscure guys who always seem to shut down the Sox. We'll see.
