As
the battered Red Sox (fresh off losing 3 out of 4 at home to Texas)
go on a 10 game odyssey they needed a much appreciated lift from
someone.In
game 1 of the road trip against the Oakland A's, that lift came from
Daisuke Matsuzaka and a 2-1 win. Dice K fresh off a win in his last
outing against Toronto silenced the A's for 6 1/3 innings allowing
only 4 baserunners and a single run off a Rajai Davis longball. Other
than that minor hiccup he was brilliant, avoiding his self-named
"Dice K Disease" and giving the starting rotation a shot in
the arm. Daniel Bard allowed a hit and a walk but preserved the one
run lead which Jonathan Papelbon finished off for his 21st save.
Offensively
the Sox weren't much better, however an Eric Patterson triple in the
4th led to a sac fly by David Ortiz to tie the game up. 2 batters
later Adrian Beltre swatted his 15th homer to put the Sox up for
good. Oakland starter Ben Sheets was the hard luck loser allowing
only 2 runs in his 6 2/3 innings of work.
Final Thoughts:
With
Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz (one former 20 game winner, one soon
to be 20 game winner) returning to the rotation to join the red-hot
Cy Young candidate Jon Lester and inning eater John Lackey...Dice K
finding himself could be the key for the Sox to have the most
devastating rotation in all of baseball. The bullpen needs much
needed work, however with Tim Wakefield giving up his spot to
Buchholz it will give the bullpen another long arm to work with.
Getting Manny Delcarmen back and picking up a reliever either through
waiver or trade would give the Sox not only the best rotation in the
game, but a feared bullpen as well. Papelbon has struggled this year
but has been getting the job done lately and Daniel Bard has been
virtually unhittable. A possible trade chip is lefty Felix Dubront
who has pitched admirably in Buchholz' spot. Tonight
could be Wakefield's last start of the season (we hope, no more
injuries please) against Oakland hero of the year Dallas Braden
(yells at A-Rod, throws a perfect game his next start). Hopefully he
can pitch one last good start to keep the Sox in good shape before
their All-Star starters return. As for now, Dice K has delivered
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