Winning in Fenway South is always nice, and having Lester throw another one of those “I’m the ace of this staff, damnit” starts is really encouraging to see, but when is Tito going to learn that Delcarmen is not the solution to the 8th inning problem? Every time he comes into a game with the Sox behind, he looks like the next Nolan Ryan. But if he enters the game trying to maintain a lead, he can’t throw two consecutive strikes. It’s almost like he’s the Sox version of Kyle Farnsworth. Since Delcarmen clearly isn’t working, can we try somebody else? Masterson perhaps? Maybe even Lopez? Shit, I’d even take Timlin…no, wait, I take that back. You see what Manny is doing to me? I almost recommended Timlin for the 8th inning!

Anybody who expected anything better than 7.1IP, 4ER from Paul Byrd had to be kidding themselves. Considering that we got him for a bag of balls, that’s a pretty damn good line. Sure, he still got the loss, but unlike our previous 5THH starter he didn’t collapse by the 4th and force Tito to use the entire bullpen possibly costing the Sox another game down the line.

Which makes me wonder, when did Buchholz tie up Beckett in the clubhouse, steal his jersey and try to get another start? Six runs in the first and another two in the third for a whopping 34+ ERA in his 2.1 innings of work. This is supposedly the same guy who shut down the White Sox lineup to one run in eight innings in his last start, but can’t make it out of the third this time? Sadly the Blue Jays have the best ERA in the league, so there were no 10 run comebacks in line for the Sox.

Now the Sox have to go on a grueling 3-city, 9-game road trip through Baltimore (who’s tearing the cover off the ball), Toronto (who’s only tearing the cover off the ball against the Sox), and the MFY. The Sox also managed to lose a game in the standings to the Devil Rays who played on the road, and two to the MFY. This road trip could very well define their season.

After last night’s game, I wasn’t content with the Sox getting a 2-0 lead in the 2nd. I wasn’t happy with the 6-0 lead the Sox had after 3. Even when the Sox made it 8-0 in the 5th I still wanted more runs. And even though Lester gave the Sox everything they needed (7.1IP, 3E/R, 7H, 6K, 1BB) following the crazy 19-17 game, Mike Timlin still had me upset that the Sox squandered a bases-loaded, nobody out chance in the 5th to really break the game open (hey, if 10-0 isn’t a safe lead, what makes you think that 8-0 is?). But somehow the bullpen managed to get five outs and give up fewer than seven runs today, so I guess any win where you only need to use 3 relievers is a plus. Right?

Just a few more quick Jayson Stark type notes about last night’s crazy 19-17 affair. First, may I present you with the Fangraphs representation of that game. It’s a pretty good description of my mental state during the football game:

Second, here is the line score:

Rangers - 0 20 085 101 - 17 20 2
Red Sox -10 02 010 14x - 19 17 2

And finally, for the craziest single line in the scoresheet:

Bottom 1st:
- K. Youkilis struck out swinging
- K. Youkilis struck out looking

Bottom 3rd:
- K. Youkilis walked

Bottom 5th:
- K. Youkilis homered to deep center, D. Ortiz scored

Top 6th:
- C. Davis safe at first on first baseman K. Youkilis’ fielding error, F. Catalanotto scored

Bottom 7th:
- K. Youkilis reached on fielder’s choice, D. Pedroia scored, D. Ortiz to second on pitcher J. Wright’s throwing error

Bottom 8th:
- K. Youkilis homered to deep left, D. Ortiz and D. Pedroia scored

Top 9th:
- M. Byrd safe at first on third baseman K. Youkilis’ fielding error

So, that’s two strikeouts in the 1st inning alone, two errors (one at 1B, one at 3B), and two home runs, the second being a 3-run go-ahead shot. I love this game.

That may have been the ugliest, most disgusting, pathetic performance I’ve ever seen from the Red Sox. They blow leads of 10-0 AND 12-2. Papi goes yard twice in the top of the 1st with 2-men on both times, and the bullpen collapses, as my father would say, like soft shit in the rain to put the Sox down by two in the 7th. But I should probably finish watching this atrocity, I’m in the middle of the eighth.

(Girl From Ipanema plays here.)

Everything I said above, you can forget it. That may have been one of the craziest momentum changing games I’ve every seen from the Red Sox. Sure, your bullpen blew a 10-run lead to put you down by two in the 7th. Yes, Charlie Zink is no Tim Wakefield. But similar to last night, this offense has no quit.

Still down by one in the 8th with two down and Ellsbury standing at first, Pedroia once again reminded us that the 10:30 laser show is completely different from the 7 o’clock laser show with a double off the Monster that to tie the game (don’t forget to tip your waitresses). After an intentional walk to Papi, Youk destroyed a 2-0 pitch over the Monster so the Sox could take the lead for good. I can’t read lips, and the camera angle wasn’t very good, but I almost thought I saw Youk scream at the dugout “Who needs Manny?” as he sprinted to first. You’d think it was a playoff game the way Papi was partying in the dugout after Youk’s 2nd homer of the game. Let’s hope this is one of those July 24th type games that sets the Sox off on a run for the division. It certainly feels that way right now.

All in all, just a regular night at Fenway…36 combined runs and a Sox win. Nothing special.

Generally, starting the game offensively by going 17-up and 17-down, and getting no-hit for the first 6 1/3 innings is not a good winning recipe. I know, this is a “bleeding edge” revelation. I’ve already blocked off December 10th on my calendar and booked a flight to Stockholm so I can collect my Nobel Baseball Prize in person.

Yet, somehow, the Sox of the Red variety managed to pull this one off. In years past, this wouldn’t be so surprising. But for a team that going into tonight was 27-35 on the road and averages 1.3 runs fewer per game away from Fenway, it was a complete shock to not see the Sox roll over and die like they’ve already done 35 times this season. Of course props go not only to Youk for breaking up the no-no in the 7th, and Nancy for doubling in the tying and go-ahead runs with two down later in the same inning, but especially to Beckett for possibly his best outing of the season. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to have only allowed one run through 6, and not have your offense even get a runner to first base.* But he kept on his game and ended up pitching 8 outstanding innings for the win.

So on August 11th, the Sox win their first road trip of the season more than 4 games (4-3). Mazel tov, it’s about freaking time.

* Now try putting yourself in Bob Henley’s shoes on September 9, 1965. He allowed one unearned run on a walk, sac bunt, and a SB of third where the catcher’s throw went into LF to allow the runner to score. He lost 1-0 because he was facing Sandy Koufax that day who pitched a perfect game. Ouch.

We all remember Clay’s second start fondly, and I remember last year wanting the Sox to keep him in the rotation because he was pitching better than 60% of the rotation. But right now, I think Clay’s best friend may be AAA. Let’s take a look at this quote from Buchholz after today’s game:

Tough to swallow, whenever you go out there and you have a game plan and execute it and it still doesn’t work out

If 3 IP, 5 ER is executing a game plan, imagine how painful it would be when he screws it up. And sure, the offense is partly to blame in this one…your big boppers can’t GIDP with the bases loaded, one out and the tying run at third, but clearly Buchholz is not a major league starter right now. Problem is, with Timmy now on the DL, I have no clue who else can start for him. Now it seems like seasons ago when the Sox had an excess of quality pitching (Lester, Beckett, Dice-K, Timmy, Colon, Buchholz, and Masterson) instead of struggling to fill out a rotation.

The XXIX Summer Olympics began today in Bejing, and I think I already deserve a gold medal. No, I have no chance of winning the (possibly) final Baseball medal awarded by the IOC. I deserve a gold medal for managing to listen to six innings of Ed Farmer announce baseball without killing someone. If you listened to the entire game, the IOC should present you with some kind of lifetime achievement award.

I’m still trying to figure out if anybody did something noteworthy in the game, since Ed’s monotone monologue wouldn’t alert you. To him, a foul ball is as exciting as a walk-off home run, and he would never dare tell you if a strike out came looking or swinging. To top it off, he is a “homer” in every sense of the word. I’m really surprised he didn’t try to tell us that Lester’s cancer wasn’t really that big of a deal and that Jose Contreras has overcome worse.

Of course the Sox still lost, Lester pitched OK, but the offense decided to stay on vacation for an additional day. And since Jacoby has finally gotten hot at the plate, Tito decided to use Coco instead…brilliant.

Back-to-back road series wins. Sure, it’s against the dregs of the American League (which means that they’d be battling for a wild card in the NL, and would have a 10-game lead in the NL West), but you’ve got to start somewhere!

Jacoby must have thought the Sox got to skip the last two months of the season and skip straight to the playoffs…against the Royals. The kid has been in a narsty slump of late, but last night reminded us of why we all thought he was going to be the “next big thing.” He went 3-4 with a 3-run homer to dead center. He also made a great tumbling grab in center while avoiding the obstacle known as Alex Cora to help minimize Wakefield’s only hiccup inning in the 5th. For once we should all be glad Cora has absolutely no range, otherwise that would have been one nasty collision. If Derek Jeter was playing SS instead of Cora, we’d get to say, “wow, what intangibles by Jeter, not being fast enough to come close to that popup that any normal SS should get and instead allow Ellsbury to have to make a ridiculous catch!”

Sox are off Thursday for the fifth Thursday in a row, so we get to root for the Rangers and the Mariners instead.

For the first time in awhile, Josh Beckett did not pitch down to his competition. In his past few starts, it seemed like Beckett would pitch good, but not good enough, against tough competition, and pitch like Sidney Ponson against weak competition. It was nice of him to finally realize that he was pitching against the Kansas City Royals and shut them down while giving the offense a chance to go to work without having to look over their shoulder every half inning. After all, this is the same team that Jon Lester no-hit earlier in the season.

I’d like to say that Jason Bay’s 7th inning “double” was the weirdest play of the season, but amazingly, he’s now the second Sox player to have a home run robbed by the top of a wall this season. But it is the first time I’ve ever seen the ball roll along the top of the wall long enough for a player to consciously use his arm to sweep the ball back into play. At least the Sox are 2-0 in games where a home run was stolen by the foam on the top of the outfield fence, so it isn’t all bad.