Double digit delight: Sox set record with 4th straight rout

Boston 11, Chicago 1
WP: Tavarezx (7-9)
LP: Vazquez (11-7)
HRs: BOS-Drew (7), Ortiz (24), Kielty (1); CHI-Dye (25)

SUMMARY
In another stunning display of timely and merciless hitting, the Boston Red Sox did something that hadn't been accomplished by an American League team since 1922: score 10 or more runs in all four games of a series.

#1 STUNNER Boston offense 11R, 9H
Although no one had a monster game like in the first three contests, any time you get a squad that sets modern day records and does something that no team has done in over a decade, well they are all heroes for that.

PAN's FAUN Javy Vazquez 6IP, 6H, 7ER, 3BB, 10K
Much like teammate Mark Buehrle the day before, Vazquez was cruising in the early going, allowing just 3 baserunners through the first four innings. Then the Bosox hung a 4-spot up in the 5th, and from that point on it was goodbye Javy, hello record books.

RECAP
In honor of ESPN's Greatest Home Runs of All Time gimmick, I think I'll quote the late, great Jack Buck in describing the finale of this fantastic series with Chicago:

"I don't belive what I just saw."

For the fourth consecutive game the Red Sox treated the host White Sox more rudely than Leona Helmsley at a tax audit, shredding the horrid Chicago pitching staff for another 11 runs en route to a record-setting series in which Boston outscored Chicago 46-7, outhit the Chisox 52-23, and outclassed the sorry-ass South Siders in every facet of the game.

Coupled with New York losing 2-of-3 to Detroit so far in their series Boston's East lead has swelled back to 7 1/2 games as they head to the Bronx for a three game set beginning Tuesday.

Suffice it to say that life is good in the Nation right now.

Nothing like four straight games of dragging a team through the mud to pick up one's spirits, ey?

The ironic thing about the series is how much damage Boston did to Chicago late in games, a byproduct of an absolutely horrendous White Sox bullpen.

The Bosox scored 35 of their 46 runs in the 5th inning or later, and an incredible 21 of those runs came in the 7th, 8th & 9th innings, the equivalent of a boxer going for the knockout blow in the latter rounds of a prize fight.

Just like yesterday's game this one was a pitchers duel for the first four innings, the only blemish for each starter coming on solo homers in the second inning.

Julian Tavarez (6IP, 2H, 1ER, 3BB, 7K), making his second spot start since returning to the pen, pitched his best game in over two months, allowing just two hits in six innings, his only mistake an opposite field home run by Jermaine Dye with one out in the 2nd inning that tied the game at one.

That shot offset a home run by J.D. Drew in the top of the inning, also an opposite field blast that was Drew's first longball in 51 games which was also, ironically, the last time Tavarez won a game, June 20th in Atlanta.

Other than that both starters were stingier than a wino with a bottle of Cristal as each hurler allowed a hit here or a walk there but never faced any serious scoring threats...

...until the 5th inning.

That fateful frame for Vazquez began with a strikeout of Jason Varitek but ended with Boston scoring four runs on four hits to effectively put the game out of reach.

Following the strikeout Bobby Kielty (2-4, 2R, 2BI), who has become a full-fledged Nation favorite this week, laid down a bunt that hugged the 3rd base line and shocked Vazquez so much he had no play on the slow roller.

Kinda reminiscent of Pedroia's innocuous infield hit that opened the floodgates in yesterday's game.

Coco Crisp then lined a single to right field, but when Julio Lugo forced Crisp out at second on a fielder's choice, it looked as if the rally was going to come to an end.

Not even close.

Lugo added his 28th stolen base of the season despite a couple of pickoff attempts by Vazquez, and then Pedroia (1-5, R, 2BI) laced a solid single to center that brought Kielty & Lugo home with the tie-breaking runs, and the rout was on with Ortiz coming up.

That's when One Pitch Papi launched the very next offering from Vazquez to nearly the identical spot he hit his second homer yesterday, over the wall in left center for a 2-run opposite-field shot that made the score 5-1 Sox and signaled the beginning of the end for Chicago's hopes of salvaging a game in this series.

Tavarez answered that output with his best inning of the day, striking out all three Chisox batters in the bottom of the inning on just 12 pitches, and before anyone knew what happened Boston was putting more runs on the board.

After Drew worked a leadoff walk to start the 6th, two outs later Kielty blasted a deep home run to right, his first as a member of the Sox and first since September 29th of last season when he was with the As.

7-1 now, and every Nation member was now on the edge of their seats hoping the Sox would do something most of us had never seen our team do before--hit the magic double-digit mark for the fourth straight game.

The chances of that happening looked slim for a bit as reliever Ryan Bukvich, who had been hammered in a couple games this series (then again, who hasn't in that pen?), tossed two shutout innings in the 7th & 8th to hold the scoring machine at bay and dampen the chances of us seeing history made.

But then came the 9th, an inning that has not featured a lot of Boston runs this season, until this series that is.

After the first two batters reached base on a single by Tek and an infield hit by Kielty, Ozzie removed Bukvich in favor of former Bosox Mike Myers, and it was like the plantes aligned and history was destined to be made.

A fielders chioce by Crisp forced Kielty at second, but Lugo followed with a sharp single to left to score Tek with run #8, and suddenly the Sox could smell the blood in the water.

Pedroia lined out to second for the second out of the inning, and then Papi lofted a high fly ball to left that Josh Fields camped under, then swerved, stabbed, and missed the ball as it fell harmlessly next to him for a two-run, two-base error, and Boston had the modern mark on, appropriately, another blunder by the South Siders.

Mike Lowell then added his obligatory RBI on a hard single to left, and when Drew popped out to end the inning, Boston had 11 runs on the board and had swept the reeling White Sox in an historic four-game fun fest.

And now Boston will enjoy a much-needed day off in the Big Apple as the Stanks battle the Tigers on Monday in Detroit, waiting patiently for a chance to unleash this new-found firepower on their hated archenemy.

Who's got the best offense between the two? Hard to say. But on the heels of this wild weekend in Chitown, I wouldn't bet against the boys from Benatown.

Bring on the Stanks!