I don't know how many noticed this, but the entire NY series the Sox did not hit one home run or steal one base. Then in the first inning no less yesterday we do both, and for the rest of the game the balls kept flying out of the park.

Some credit does have to be given to the Y----- staff, they are after all a much better rotation than what the D-Rays have to offer. But it also underlines how overrated the home run is in baseball, and to a lesser extent the stolen base. Beating the world champs without the like of either says one thing: Pitching. Pitching. Pitching!

Last night Tomo Ohka continued the string of great starts by our staff, throwing seven shutout innings en route to a 10-0 Sox win. El Guapo pitched a perfect eighth and ninth to finish things up and extend the Sox winning streak to three games.

With a 10-0 score you can imagine the bats were pretty lively, and they were. As a team the Sox blasted four home runs, all of which you knew were gone once they left the bat. Manny Ramirez lead the brigade with two of the four (3 RBI) and Carl Everett and Brain Daubach each had one a piece with 3 and 2 RBIs respectively.

Something else to mention: Remember on Sunday how we had 14 hits off Andy Pettitte thru seven innings but only managed 5 runs out of it? Well yesterday after two innings we had 4 hits as a team and 7 runs. That's baseball for ya.

Another baseballism (as I will call it) to call to attention: Both Trot Nixon and Jason Varitek both are hovering at the Mendoza line in terms of batting average, and if you haven't been watching the games you'd probably take that number as both of them performing poorly. Nothing could be further from the truth. Both guys are really hitting the ball hard, but every time it's right at someone. Three times last night between the two of them, hot smashes were sent down the firstbase line, and three times crafty vet Fredd McGriff snared each one. I'm getting more frustrated for Trot than Tek, as it seems to be happening to him more often. I felt the need to bring that up, too many times fans rely soley on numbers and don't look between occasionaly.

Final note, I was surprised not to see Derek Lowe out there last night playing a little mop-up. It's already known he's not the closer for the immediate future and Jimy has said he would get him into some games early to take the pressure off and get the confidence back. I thought last night was a perfect scenario, Lowe didn't pitch on Sunday so he was rested. Maybe Jimy thought it was too big a lead, too little to concentrate on. Remember, Lowe seemed to go into this funk when he came into a couple of non-save situations in Baltimore.

Paxton Crawford takes the hill tonight in game two of this three game set with the D-Rays. If he can hurl half as well as he did against NY last week, we should be able to extend the streak to four.

paul@redsox2000.com