Improved starting pitching, and a sufficient offense continue to keep the Red Sox in the hunt.
Tomo Ohka's strong outing last night at rainy Fenway marked the fourth consecutive 6-inning outing by a Sox starter. And the offense, jumped all over Rangers lefty Kenny Rogers in the first for four runs. With the offensive struggles the Sox have had against no-name pitchers all season, to score four in the first of a prominent lefty was key. The biggest hit of the inning came off the bat of a struggling lefty, Troyo, who roped a triple into the right-field corner and scored two runs. The Sox only managed two more runs off Rogers the rest of the night, but dinked and dunked out eleven hits. Carl Everett had four hits batting right-handed, and Troyo and the red-hot Louis W. Merloni collected two hits apiece. Power throughout the Sox lineup however remains dormant, as Troyo's triple was the only extra-base hit of the night for Boston.
For the rest of the night, Ohka made Sox fans forget about Bret Saberhagen's rehab odyssey. Ohka was effective, sending down the last fourteen Rangers he faced after giving up a run-scoring double to Ranger leftfielder Rusty Greer in the third. His final line, one run on four hits over seven strong innings, was arguably one of the best non-Pedro starts of the year. Four six-inning starts in a row, and depending on how Pedro REALLY feels, tomorrow should be five.
After Ohka left, the evil half of the Sox bullpen provided some drama. As highly scrutinized as the Sox are, one man on the team has somewhat avoided criticism all year -- Rheal Cormier. Again, Cormier proved ineffective in shutting down lefties as in the ninth, he allowed hits to Ranger lefties Rafael Palmeiro and Ricky Ledee and forced Jimy Williams to bring in Lowe in a save situation in the ninth. Lowe made it even more interesting, giving up a double to Mike Lamb, but struck out Ex-Sock Bill Hassleman and Royce Clayton to end the game. Some consideration must be taken into place for Korean leftyfireballer Sang Lee in Pawtucket being on the major league roster.
Ironically, the biggest hit of the night didn't occur in Fenway. 240 miles to the south, Sox psuedo-legend Mo Vaughn connected for a three-run home run off Mariano Rivera to power the Anaheim Angels to an impropable comeback against the Yankees, narrowing the margin to 3 games. The A's continued their prolonged slump, putting the Sox only 1 games out of the wild card position for the third season in a row.
When the Sox can win big games without huge contributions from a certain unmentioned shortstop, life is good.