Devil Rays vs Red Sox (9/10-9/12)

Game 1: The Red Sox continued their struggles against Scott Kazmir on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Kazmir pitched 7 shutout innings and struck out 10. Although Boston's lineup was makeshift (David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and JD Drew on the bench), Kazmir still deserves credit for a great pitching performance.

Curt Schilling pitched pretty well for the Red Sox as well. He went 6 innings and allowed 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 5. It was Schilling's 3rd consecutive quality start without a win.

Alex Cora got the start at shortstop for the Red Sox and I'm starting to think he has no place on the ballclub. He's contributed nothing to the team in what seems like months and they might have been better off with Jed Lowrie (who was not called up) or Royce Clayton (who sat on the bench).

The loss brings the idle Yankees to within 5 games of the division lead.

Game 2: Tim Wakefield normally has great success against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays but such was not the case on Tuesday night as he was roughed up. Wakefield ended up allowing 7 runs and 10 in 3+ innings. After a 3-run homer by Carlos Pena, the chances for a victory looked incredibly bleak for the Red Sox. Making matters worse, the Yankees had a big early lead against the Blue Jays. A Red Sox loss and a Yankee win would have drawn the Yankees to within 4 games, but suddenly the Red Sox bats woke up and overcame the adversity.

Trailing 8-1, their fortunes turned with a 4-run 4th inning and a 3-run 5th inning. The Devil Rays scored a run in the top of the 5th as well, which meant the Red Sox were trailing 9-8 with 4 frames to play. In the 6th, Dustin Pedroia started a big inning with a solo homerun. The Sox would end up scoring 5 more runs in the inning to take a 14-9 lead. The Red Sox added even more runs in the 7th inning with solo homers from David Ortiz and JD Drew (yes, that JD Drew).

Every Red Sox starter with exception to Kevin Cash collected at least 2 hits in the victory, but Cash come up with some clutch hits of his own including a 2-rbi single and a sacrifice fly. Mike Lowell had 4 hits. Ellsbury, Crisp, Pedroia, and Lugo collected 3-rbis apiece while Kevin Youkilis had 3 of his own.

Kyle Snyder continued where Wakefield left off, but once Snyder was lifted the Red Sox received a very solid effort out of their bullpen. Javier Lopez, Manny Delcarmen, Bryan Corey, Mike Timlin, and Eric Gagne pitched in relief. They combined for 4.1 innings pitched and 1 earned run. Bryan Corey collected the win and has now pitched 3 scoreless inning since being called up.

The win keeps the Red Sox 5 games ahead of the New York Yankees with 1 game remaining before the two teams begin a 3-game series from Fenway Park. The Yankees have 2 games remaining until then. They will play Toronto on Wednesday and Thursday.

Game 3: Wednesday night's game against the Devil Rays was similar to that of Tuesday night's in that the Red Sox had to rally in order to win. On this night, the Rays jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on some cheap hits by the Devil Rays including a 2-run homer off Pesky's pole from BJ Upton.

A 3-run homer in the 3rd inning by David Ortiz brought the Red Sox to within a run. Jon Lester was able to settle down, but unfortunately, he had to leave before he had finished 4 innings due to a high pitch count. Julian Tavarez relieved him and tossed 3 hitless innings, his only mistake was a walk. Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon also pitched well in relief, none of them allowed the run and they kept the Red Sox in the game. Good relief pitching set up a very exciting bottom of the 9th inning.

Julio Lugo led off the bottom of the 9th with a walk against Al Reyes. Reyes then retired Pedroia for the 1st out of the inning, the Red Sox still trailing 4-3. David Ortiz, who had not hit a walkoff homerun all year long, came to the plate for the Red Sox. Ortiz found a pitch that he liked from Reyes and took a swing for the fences. Originally, the ball appeared to be heading foul, but the wind played with the ball and turned Tampa Bay RF Delmon Young around. Before Young could regain sight of the ball, it was in the stands and Ortiz was rounding the bases.

The win was huge for Boston who stays 5 games ahead of the Yankees. The Yankees lost to Toronto on Thursday night which pushes the lead to 5.5 games entering the head-to-head series.

On Deck: The Yankees and the Red Sox will begin a pivotal 3-game series from Fenway Park. If the Red Sox win any of the games, it will be very difficult for the Yankees to win the division. However, the potential of a sweep by the Yankees means that the division is not yet over. If Boston wins the series, either 2-1 or 3-0, the AL East is likely all but over. The Yankees likely need a series win just to have a chance. The struggling Daisuke Matsuzaka will face Andy Pettitte in the opener.