Sox creep closer to division title with wild win over Oakland

Sox 11, Oakland 6
WP: Timlin (2-1)
LP: Blevins (0-1)
HRs: BOS-Pedroia (8); OAK-Piazza (8), Murphy (6)

SUMMARY
Boston climbed one game closer to wrapping up the East title by completing a two-game sweep of the Oakland A's. Starter Jon Lester was unable to hold two leads, but the Boston offense, sparked by three hits from Manny and five ribbies by Lowell, smacked 17 hits and blew the game open with a four run sixth.

#1 STUNNER Boston offense 11 runs, 17 hits, 6 walks, 7 XBHs
It was a veritable pig pile of offense tonight as nine Sox had at least one hit, five guys scored runs (including 4 for Pedroia) and six different players drove in runs, led by RBI king Lowell's five.

GAGME Jerry Blevins 0IP, 3H, 4R, 3ER, 1BB, 0K, HR
The game was tied at five when Blevins entered to start the sixth. Three pitches later Pedroia untied it with a rocket into the Monster seats, and by the time he was gone Boston had scored three runs to turn a tight game into a rout.

RECAP
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Is it just me or is following the Sox these past few days like watching an episode of 24? You can't wait for the hour to end to see if Jack saves the day, or if the whole schmear blows up in his face.

Or he gets nailed for a fourth DUI.

Tonight the Sox came one game closer to saving the day--and the psyche of its Nation--by beating the As to reduce its "magic number" (is that a ridiculous phrase or what?, when was it invented, the Middle Ages?) to two games with four left to play; even though the Stanks punched their own playoff ticket by spanking the Rays to remain three games off the pace, it would take a monumental series of unfortunate events to alter the way things stand now.

Monumental but not impossible, hence the persistent silent ticking we all must put up with until the division crown is securely in the hands of the Sox for the first time since 1995.

And there were plenty of nervous moments for much of this game because Jon Lester (4.1IP, 7H, 4R, 3ER, 3BB, 9K) failed to hold leads of 3-1 and 5-4 when he allowed game-tying homers in back-to-back innings, yet he also fanned a career-high tying nine batters, including six of the first eight hitters he faced.

It was an odd start in what turned out to be a very strange night, which began in record 93 degree heat just after 5:00pm and ended with a spooky orange-yellow moon lurking behind the ballpark which entranced Remy so much he mused about wanting to live on the Earth's satellite one day.

As Carvey doing Carson would say, "weird, wild stuff."

I mentioned earlier that I wasn't going to watch the game because the 5:00 start conflicted with my son's LL game, but thanks to the ever-popular Southern Florida late summer storm, his game was rained out and I got to watch this one in all its see-sawing glory.

I'm not even going to begin to recap all the scoring and details of this one; as I said yesterday, it's not about the how at this point, it's just about getting there, so as long as the Sox win it doesn't really matter if it's by blowout, shutout or shootout as long as the end result is a 'W'.

Let's put tonight's game in the newly formed shootout/blowout category.

Oakland jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third, but Boston answered back with three in the bottom of the inning, the runs scoring on a 2-run single by Lowell (3-5, R, 5RBI) and a sac fly by the reignited J.D. Drew. Then Lester surrendered a three-run bomb to someone named Donnie Murphy (hey, didn't we all go to school with a Donnie Murphy, or was that his brother, Murph?) to give Oakland a 4-3 lead in the top of the fourth.

The Sox answered right back with a couple of runs in the bottom of the inning, highlighted by an RBI single by Manny (3-3, 2R, BI, BB), which followed Pedroia's first of two doubles on the game, and Lowell's second RBI single of the contest.

Handed a 5-4 lead Lester immediately gave it back in the next inning when Mike Piazza deposited a 1-2 pitch into the back row of the Monster seats to tie the game at five, and after the young lefty followed that blunder with a four pitch walk to Jack Cust, Lester's night that had started so well was done with him on the hook for the loss.

Luckily Boston's offense was just getting cranked up, and after Oakland starter Joe Blanton (5IP, 11H, 5R, 4ER, 3BB, 4K) exited after five, rookie lefty Jerry Blevins came in and felt the wrath of an offesne that is finally starting to click on all cylinders for the first time since early June.

Pedroia (3-5, 4R, BI) set the tempo for the onslaught when he led off the sixth with a laser into the Monster seats to break the five-all deadlock, and after Manny walked and Ortiz doubled off the wall to set up runners at first and third with no outs, the As foolishly decided to pitch to Boston's team MVP with first base open.

Professional Hitting/RBI Machine Lowell needed just four pitches to rap a ball into the gap in left to easily score both runners and provide the bully some much-appreciated wiggle room for the rest of the game.

Boston tacked on another in the inning when the incredible Jacoby Ellsbury, who had extended his new hitting streak to eight games with a single in the fifth, plated Lowell with an RBI ground out, and the nailbiter became a blowout when Brandon Moss, who ran for Manny in the sixth, recorded his first career RBI with a single following Pedroia's second double in the seventh, and to cap off the freaky evening, a run scored when Eric Hinske struck out with the bases loaded.

It was that kind of night, but like I said, doesn't matter what happened on the field as long as they slice a game off that number.

Hopefully the ticking will stop tomorrow.