Friday, August 21, 2009

Left of the Dial

Game 120 - Red Sox

Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 1
Record: 69-51

Sweeps are neat.

Brad Penny and Junichi Tazawa facing the Yankees tonight and tomorrow: less neat.

Still, beggars can't be choosers. The Sox improved to 7-3 post-Bronx beatdown with yet another convincing win up North. J.D. Drew went 4-for-4 with a pair of homers and Jon Lester dropped yet another dominant performance, going 8 innings for his 10th win. Dustin Pedroia returned from paternity leave to record a pair of base hits and annoy the everlovin' heck out of his teammates with baby pictures.

Lester started the season 2-4 with a 6.51 ERA in his first 8 starts. In the 17 starts since that rough patch, he's posted an 8-3 record with a 2.05 ERA. His 181 Ks are third in the AL. If he's not the best lefthanded starter in the league (especially since Cliff Lee's gone to torment the other circuit), he's on the short list. His only weakness: like Josh Beckett, he can't pitch every other day.

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