David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
It’s official Boston: you’ve got a baseball team.
The Boston Red Sox won their sixth game in a row Thursday night to complete back-to-back sweeps of the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Indians. The highlights of the game were a synopsis of the season.
Jon Lester was dominant, allowing only four hits and one earned run in seven innings of work to improve his record to 3-0. Andrew Miller continued to be the lone healthy member of the bullpen to struggle, allowing a walk and a single, and was charged with an earned run when Koji Uehara couldn’t put out the fire he started. Andrew Bailey continued to dominate out of the bullpen, picking up his second save of the season by retiring the side in order in the ninth inning.
Daniel Nava and Mike Napoli continued to produce in the middle of the lineup. Nava knocked in two runs while Napoli scored a pair and drove in his team leading 17th RBI. Jacoby Ellsbury continued his renaissance season by collecting two hits, stealing a base, and scoring two runs. Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia connected for his third home run, and Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia continued to produce at the top of the lineup.
All is not well in Red Sox nation, though. Most Red Sox fans anxiously await Stephen Drew’s next injury so that Jose Iglesias can be called up from Pawtucket. Drew continues to be completely useless, going 0-7 with three strikeouts in the Cleveland series. The highlight of his week was a walk he had on Wednesday that led to a run. His batting average sits at a dismal .087. Jonny Gomes likewise continues to make Red Sox fans say to themselves, “Why did we sign this guy again?” Today’s designated hitter once again went 0-3 with a strikeout, and is hitting a pedestrian .167.
When your biggest problems are your six and eight hitters, and you have a player with over 400 home runs soon to join your team, you know you’ve got a winning baseball team. Enjoy it Boston. You’ve been through a lot and you deserve it.
Is this Red Sox team for real or are they just going through a hot streak? Feel free to share your comments below to keep the conversation going.
Aidan Kearney also writes for his own blog aidanfromworcester.com. Follow him on Twitter @aidanfromworc
