Boston's longball barrage buries B-more

Sox 9, Orioles 2
WP: Lester (5-3)
LP: Guthrie (3-7)
SV: None
HRs: BOS-Lowell (10), Drew (10), Youk (10); BAL-None

*Note: sorry I was late posting this but after I started it I watched the Celtics game, and after witnessing one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the NBA playoffs I was in no condition to blog about baseball! GO CELTS!

SUMMARY:
A trio of 10th home runs sent the Orioles out of Beantown on a sour note as Boston used a pair of two-run shots, from Youk and J.D. Drew, a grand slam by Mike Lowell and a solid start by Jon Lester to defeat the O's and take 2 of 3 in the series.

#1 STUNNER: Drew 2-4, 2R, 2BI, BB, 2B, HR
The torrid streak continues as Drew reached base three more times and smacked another two extra base hits, including his 6th homer in his last 11 games. He is now batting .500 in June (18-36) and is creeping up on Milton Bradley for the league lead in on base percentage.

This is the J.D. Drew the Sox expected to see when they laid out $70 mil for him a year and a half ago.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Dennis Sarfate 1IP, 1H, 2ER, 1BB, 1K, 1HR
Starter Jeremy Guthrie didn't pitch well, but he left with a deficit of just 5-1. Chad Bradford chipped in with 1 1/3 innings of hitless relief, but then Sarfate let the game get away when he surrendered Youk's two-run homer in the seventh.

RECAP:
Whadda ya know, the game started at six and was over by nine!

Plus the Sox won and there were no fisticuffs or blown saves.

Now that's what I call a sweet win.

Boston dispatched the pesky Birds with a decisive seven-run victory that gave the Sox five wins in their last seven games against Baltimore, a team they (thankfully) won't see again until after the All Star break.

Like the game yesterday the Sox jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but this time instead of the Boston bullpen suddenly letting Baltimore creep back in the game the Boston batters kept adding to the lead to make sure there would be no Bird comeback or blown save tonight.

The Sox got on the board in the second inning against O's starter Jeremy Guthrie (4.2IP, 7H, 5ER, 5BB, K, HR, 107P) when Youk singled sharply to center with one out, moved to second on a groundout by Coco Crisp and came around to score on a single underneath the glove of first baseman Oscar Salazar for a 1-0 Sox lead.

The funny thing about that play is that normally Kevin Millar would have been over there and might have made the play, but he had to come out of the game after fouling a ball off his knee in the top of the second.

Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you, Kevin.

The game stayed at 1-0 for a few innings as Guthrie continued to struggle, but caught a few breaks like when Youk got tagged out at home in the fourth and Kevin Cash, playing in place of Tek who has strep throat, couldn't capitalize with two men in scoring position

Jon Lester, meanwhile, was mowing through the Baltimore lineup, showing no ill effects of having his start pushed back a day due to his Raysbrawl suspension.

Lester (7IP, 7H, 2ER, 1BB, 3K, 101P) retired 13 of the first 17 Baltimore batters
before running into his only trouble of the night in the sixth inning. But by then the Sox lead had grown to 5-0, and it was another case of deja vu that brought them to that point.

Jacoby Ellsbury (1-5, R) started the fifth inning off with a single to right, then one out later moved to third base on a double to the base of the Wall by white-hot J.D. Drew. And then O's manager Dave Trembley did something that he can't really be blamed for, but it came back to bite him in the nads anyway:

he intentionally walked Manny Ramirez to get to Mike Lowell.

Granted most managers would make the same decision in his situation, what with Manny being a member of the 500 homer club and one of the most feared right handed hitters of all time, but sometimes playing the percentages doesn't always work out.

Just ask Jimmy Gobble.

On My 22nd at Fenway the Royals reliever was also instructed to walk Manny to load the bases and pitch to Lowell, and Lowell responded by taking him over the Monster for what wound up being the game-winning grand slam in an 11-8 Boston win.

Fast forward to tonight and it was deja vu all over again as Lowell (1-4, R, 4BI) took an 0-1 offering from Guthrie and golfed it over the Monster for a back-breaking granny, and from there it was all over but the piling on.

As I said Lester did hit a rough patch when he surrendered three doubles in the sixth inning to cut the Sox lead to 5-2, but when Audrey Huff (2-4, BI) inexplicably failed to score from second on a two-out single by Ramon Hernandez that would have sliced the Boston lead to two runs, the game was all but over.

The Sox put this one away against a pair of Baltimore relievers when Youk (2-2, 2R, 2BI, 2BB) drove the first pitch he saw from Dennis Sarfate over the wall for a two run homer after Manny had walked again, and in the 8th Drew added to his incredible June numbers and put a cap on this game and series when he blasted a two-run shot off Jamie Walker for the final margin of 9-2.

So a lot of things went right for Boston and the Nation tonight. Drew continued to make people forget Papi has been out of the lineup. Youk showed signs of coming out of his month-long slump. Boston blasted three homers for the first time in a couple of weeks. Jon Lester looked great after an unexpected extra day of rest.

And the game ended in less than three hours, allowing all of us to catch a miraculous Celtics comeback to take a 3-1 Finals lead over the hated Fakers.

A good night at the old ballyard indeed.

NOTES:
-Going Streakin': Manny had his 15 game hitting streak stopped with his pair of walks, while Drew extended his to 11 games; he has now hit safely in every game since Ortiz went on the DL

-Lugo-no: the Sox shortstop committed his league-leading 13th error on a routine grounder in the 8th inning. Is he a remake of Rentanerror or what?


RECORD: 42-27
AL EAST: Up 2.5 gms
STREAK: W2
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Fri @ CIN 7:10 Masterson vs. Harang