Two for the Road....

With the Sox facing Mariners ace  Felix Hernandez today , and countering with rookie crapshoot Clay Buchholtz, you have to figure last nights win will be it for this road trip.  If last nights game was the swan song to this road trip, then it was a beauty.  Dice-K pitched very well, and was very effective with his pitch count.  Most of Dice-K's starts can be a little bit of a roller coaster ride, however last night was pretty much smooth sailing.

  Dice-K was able to go 7 1/3 innings last night before tiring in the 8th, and being chased out by s flurry of Seattle hits.  For the game, Dice threw 99 pitches, and only walked three batters.  Dice-K had his outpitch working very well last night as he recorded six strike-outs.  The Mariners were able to scatter five hits, with most of the damage was done in the 8th inning, where they got to Dice for two runs.  With the win last night, Dice-K has now run his record to 11-1 for the season.

  The Boston hitters last night got a taste of life with a knuckleball, as they faced R.A. Dickey.  Dickey's knuckler is not as effective as Wakefields, and Dickey throws with more velocity, as well as few fastballs that topped out at around 85 mph or so.  Seven of the Red Sox hitters recorded hits last night, including Jason Varitek, who has now hit in two games in a row.  Jacoby Ellsbury continues to scuffle some as he again had a less than great night, going 1-5, not good numbers considering he is the lead-off man.  Manny Rameriz and Dustin Pedoria stayed hot, as they both kept thier hit streaks alive.  Mike Lowell had a multi-hit night as well, and hopefully he is coming out of his mini-slump.

  The road trip concludes today, and the Sox then get an off day sorta-off, since they are on the west coast, most of it will be spent adjusting back to the Eastern Time Zone.  The Sox now have a nine game home stand, where they will face the Yanks, the Angels, and the Oakland A's.  In the Yanks and Angels, the Sox face two teams with post season designs, so lets hope the Sox can keep it going at Fenway.