The Red Sox cut into the Rays and Yankees shared AL East lead last night with a 3-1 victory over the Rays in Tampa. The victory was propelled by a strong outing from Lester ( 7 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 10 k's and 5 walks), as well as 2 homers from his battery mate Victor Martinez. The Sox played a solid 9 innings last night, highlighted by a nice put-out of the Speedy BJ Upton (McDonald to Martinez) to preserve what was then a 2-1 lead.
The Sox win, coupled with a Yankee loss at the hands of the White Sox, leaves Boston 4.5 games back of both NY and Tampa in the AL East and AL Wild Card. As August winds down, it appears the AL East and AL Wild Card will be another autumn dogfight. Us Boston fans can only hope our Sox can find a way to win big games down the stretch, starting with these next two games against Tampa Bay. For if the Red Sox were to miss the playoffs this year, you can be sure every talking head in Boston will be pointing to the major injuries which have riddled this team all year. But at some point you have to accept that injuries are part of the game. We currently are tied for the 4th best record in baseball this season, and own better records than a majority of the various division leaders. We've accomplished this even without the aid of Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis (as of late). So to blame it on injuries is to ignore the great baseball currently being played by unheralded no-names such as Darnell McDonald and Bill Hall. Let's just hope they can keep it going and up-end our AL East brethren...
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