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The Final Month Begins
September 2, 2008
We're almost there. One game down and 26 more games to go in the most exciting month of the regular season. Prepare to go cross-eyed as you attempt to watch the Red Sox and three other games with playoff implications at the same exact time. The races are getting tighter, the competition is getting more intense and the margin for error decreases smaller and smaller by the second. October is right around the corner and with the final month of the season under way, not one ticket for October has yet been punched.
The Red Sox have their eyes on the prize in the AL East looking to defend their division crown yet hold a three game lead on both the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox. Every win from this point forward is crucial, every run scored and every run taken away could be the difference maker in your hunt for October.
With a 7-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night, the Boston Red Sox picked up a half game on the Tampa Bay Rays who had the night off. Being able to gain ground on the Rays has been seemingly impossible lately but with a night off there was nothing the red hot Rays could do to stop Boston from picking up half a game.
Behind the sizzling bat of Dustin Pedroia, the Red Sox offense managed to work around three solo home runs given up by Boston starter, Paul Byrd. Adam Jones, Juan Castro and Kevin Millar all left the building off of Paul Byrd but with no men on in all three situations, the home runs were not enough to sink the Sox. Dustin Pedroia went 2-for-4 on the night with 2 RBI to go along with his league leading 54th multi-hit game. In the last ten games Pedroia is hitting at a .439 clip and in the past 30 days he's banged out an average of .385.
The Red Sox got their offense started off on the right foot in the second inning when the captain, Jason Varitek, hit a laser shot into the front row of the Green Monster seats and Jeff Bailey followed up his home run with a blast to clear everything in left as the two went back-to-back. Jed Lowrie chipped in with a solid night at the plate going 1-for-2 with 2 RBI and three walks. The two runs batted in for Lowrie came on his eighteenth double of the season.
With a 7-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, the bullpen gate opened for Jonathan Papelbon. Not exactly the most clean outing we've ever seen from Pap as he gave up two hits but none scored. The Sox closer racked up two K's in his lone inning of work as he closed the door on the O's earning save number 35 on the season.
The middle game of the series will feature a pitching match up of Radhames Liz and Jon Lester. The Red Sox have faced Liz once this season and that was one ugly start for the right-handed pitcher. Liz lasted just two and a third innings allowing eight earned runs on six hits and walked three. Meanwhile, Jon Lester has enjoyed some success against the Orioles this season going 2-0 with an ERA of 2.88.
-Jared Carrabis
-Jared Carrabis
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