"The Four Leaf Clover"

 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