Today Red Sox Nation Daily begins the playoff stretch run, and the playoff’s with a series of guest bloggers.  Hopefully we will provide many different angles and perspectives.

  It had been 87 days since we last saw the train wreck that is Dice K, and for the most part, we did not hear much from him either.  Sure there was the drama between him and the Sox, the he said, he said, but overall most of Red Sox Nation assumed that Dice was on the shelf for the rest of the season.  Last night, we found out otherwise, and it was about a shocking performance as the shutout that Paul Byrd hurled at the Jays a few weeks back.

  Dice was brilliant last night, holding what was a potent Angel offense for six complete innings.  Instead of his normal array of breaking balls, Dice dazzled the Angels with hard fastballs and cutters that kept them off balance for six innings.  There were few wasted pitches, and even fewer walks, for the night he had five k’s and only three walks.  It was a quality start, for a guy who has precious few on his resume, and none this season.  Time will tell if this was a mirage from Dice, or maybe just maybe, this may be what we can expect from him during the stretch drive.

  Thanks to an ill-timed throw by John Lackey, the Sox were able to take advantage of a rare sloppy inning, and put some runs on the board.  Lackey is a tough pitcher, and has had the Sox number recently.  Also the Sox were without the Youk-ster, and mega clutch hitter Victor Martinez.  On paper it seemed like it would be a long night, however the remaining Sox hitters had other idea’s as they posted three runs against John Lackey, and one run against the Angels bullpen.

The Sox win was perfectly timed, as the Rangers dropped thier third game in a row.  It may be a tad early, but with 19 games remaining, the Sox magic number is now 13 games. 

                                                       GHOST WRITER

 Okay does this guy get too much credit or what….how bout some blame….in his tenure as the Red Sox pitching coach, ….he has given up on JC Romero…set up man for the current World Champs…..Joel Pienero….starter on the St Louis Cardinals….David Aardsma….Seattle Closer…and John Smotlz-currently 2-0 with his new team….and now Brad Penny…first start all year of 8 inning or more….worse yet he never seems to have clue with fixxing the guys he keeps….ie Dice K and Josh Beckett

 Despite what you have read in the globe….Big Papi…is indeed…not back….in his last 35 plate appearances…he has seven hits…for a ******** .200 average…you are what your average says you are….so Papi is a .227 hitter….

 The last time this 14 million dollar enigma hit .300 in back-to-back months for the Red Sox….was Never….so look for more of the same from Drew….Drew is the anti-clutch white meat…he has a .200 average with runners in scoring position…and a .229 average in later innings….to make matters worse…in “BIG” games versus the Yanks and Rays this year he has hit….231 and .239….

 Though he may be Mr. October…he has to be consistant on helping his teams get there….in four seasons with the Sox….Beckett has only been part of the solution once in September…the other three seasons…he has been the problem….if Beckett does not right the ship asap…the Sox dreams of an ALCS match-up versus the Yanks will disappear ..

For a team built on pitching….they seem to be woefully short in this the last month of the season….but I guess Theo has not gotten the memo…as the Dodgers and Angels both picked up good starters off the waiver wire for basically nothing…..both guys (Kazmir & Garland) have playoff and World Series experience….I guess we will have keep our fingers crossed and our eyes closed when watching these games in september…you know…the ones that really count….