After hitting four home runs yesterday in the bandbox that is known as Great American Ballpark, the Boston Red Sox pitchers, namely Bartolo Colon, gave up 3 home runs in the bandbox known as Citizens Bank Park as the Philadelphia Phillies routed the Red Sox 8-2.

Ryan Howard led the charge for the Phillies with 2 home runs, a triple and 4 RBIs. Jimmy Rollins added a solo home run and 3 RBIs in front of 45,026 fans.

Bartolo Colon had a rough night on the mound and ended up leaving after 4 innings with back stiffness. He gave up 4 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4. Javier Lopez took over for him and allowed a hit while striking out 2 in an inning of work.

The up-and-down pitching of Mike Timlin continued as he was just brutal tonight. He was charged with 4 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks in just 2/3 of an inning. David Aardsma bailed him out throwing 1 1/3 innings allowing just a hit. Hideki Okajima mopped up in the 8th striking out 2.

Dustin Pedroia seems to be coming out of his slump as he was 3-for-4 with a home run and RBI. Sean Casey, a last minute replacement for Kevin Youkilis, went 2-for-4 while J.D. Drew went 1-for-3 with a home run and RBI.

After Cole Hamels worked around a Pedroia double in the top half of the 1st, his hitters got him out to a 3-0 lead.

Rollins led off the 1st with a home run and the “Flying Hawaiian” Shane Victorino followed that with a double to deep center field. He came around to score when Howard went the other way into the left field seats for a 2-run homer and a 3-0 Phillies lead.

Howard struck again for another opposite field home run when he led off in the 3rd inning. Pat Burrell followed that up with a single but Colon was able to work out of the rest of the inning unscathed.

The Red Sox had a good opportunity to put runs on the board in the 4th but unfortunately for them, it came with 2-outs and Colon at the plate. Hamels had gotten the first two outs before a Casey single and Julio Lugo double. Colon then strolled to the plate and proceeded to strikeout on some of the ugliest swings known to mankind.

The visiting nine finally broke through in the 5th inning off of Hamels. After a Jacoby Ellsbury ground out, Pedroia took Hamels deep and Drew followed that with a home run as the Red Sox went back-to-back to cut the lead to 4-2.

The Red Sox only got two base runners the rest of the game on a Drew walk in the 8th and a Brandon Moss double in the 9th as Hamels and reliever J.D. Durbin threw the ball well.

The Phillies made Timlin look like a Mexican piñata in the 6th inning when he took over for Lopez.

Timlin started with a walk to Pedro Feliz and Carlos Ruiz followed that with a single. Hamels helped his own cause as he sacrificed the runners over a base. Both baserunners came around to score on a Rollins single to make it 6-2. The Flying Hawaiian moved Rollins over to third with a single and Rollins came around to score on a Chase Utley fielder’s choice. Howard brought in Utley with a rare triple to put the game out of reach at 8-2. Timlin’s night ended with a walk to Burrell and Aardsma threw one pitch in the inning to get Geoff Jenkins to ground out.

Jon Lester will take the ball for the Red Sox tomorrow night as he takes on the ageless wonder Jaime Moyer. Lester will look to continue his recent success in search of his 6th win on the season.

Notes and musings:

Red Sox @ Phillies 6.16.08 boxscore

J.D. Drew is not well-liked in Philadelphia. He was a 1997 1st round draft choice (2nd overall pick) of the Phillies out of Florida State and was demanding a $10 million signing bonus (Scott Boras is his agent). The Phillies offered him $3 million and Drew didn’t sign. Instead he spent the summer playing for the independent Northern League St. Paul Saints where he hit .318 with 18 home runs and 50 RBIs in 44 games earning the leagues Rookie of the Year honors. He went back into the draft in 1998 and was taken by the Cardinals in the first round (5th overall). He signed a 4-year deal worth $8.5 million and was assigned to the minors in Double-A. He progressed to Triple-A before receiving a call-up to the big leagues on September 8, 1998. That day also happens to be the day Mark McGwire hit his record-breaking 62nd home run. In 1999 when facing the Phillies for the first time at Veterans Stadium, Curt Schilling said that he might go head-hunting (by the way Terry Francona was the manager of the Phillies then) on Drew. There ended up being 8 arrests that night and he had two D-cell batteries thrown at him while he was playing right field.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was on the mound for the PawSox tonight. His start was delayed due to the rain in the Allentown, PA area.

Drew has hit safely in 13 of his 14 games in June at .447 (21-for-47) with 7 homers and 16 RBI and has a .387 (29-75) average with 8 homers and 20 RBI in last 24 games to go from .281 to .321, 5th in the AL.

The Red Sox tied their season high with 4 homers on Sunday at Cincinnati. That included long balls from each of the top 3 hitters in the batting order, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, and J.D. Drew. It was the 1st time the Red Sox had accomplished that feat since July 10, 1997 vs. Toronto, when Nomar Garciaparra, John Valentin, and Mo Vaughn all homered from the top of the order.

Sunday was the Red Sox’ 6th shutout of 2008, tied for 4th most in the American League.

Jacoby Ellsbury has the most steals for a major league rookie since Florida’s Hanley Ramirez had 51 in 2006, the most in the A.L. since 2001 (Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki, 56 and the Yankees Alfonso Soriano,43).