Manny Ramirez had 4 hits and Tim Wakefield pitched seven strong innings as the Red Sox defeated the Texas Rangers 7-4 on Saturday night.

Once again, the Texas Rangers bullpen was awful as they issued 6 walks on top of starter Vincente Padilla’s 3 walks. The Rangers pitching as a whole is just terrible.

The Rangers got on the board first in the 2nd inning. Slammin’ Sammy Sosa led off the inning with a double. Wakefield then got his nemesis Frank Catalanotto to strike out. Marlon Byrd, just called up from Triple-A, hit a single to bring Sosa home, putting the Rangers up 1-0.

Padilla had cruised through the first 3 innings for the Rangers, only allowing a single to Manny in the 2nd inning. But he came a bit unglued in the 4th inning.

Kevin Youkilis led off with a double and then Padilla issued walks to David “Big Papi” Ortiz and Manny loading the bases for the slumping J.D. Drew. Padilla got Drew to ground into a fielder’s choice that scored Youkilis. Rangers shortstop Michael Young threw the ball over Padilla’s head at first that went into the dugout allowing Big Papi to score. This gave the Sox the lead at 2-1. Padilla got out of the inning by retiring Mike Lowell and Coco Crisp.

The lead lasted until the bottom of the 5th inning for the Sox.

Catalanotto led off the 5th inning for the Rangers and was hit by a Wakefield fast knuckleball. After a Byrd out, Ian Kinsler singled moving Catalanotto over to second. Both of them came around to score on a Gerald Laird double. Ramon Vazquez then singled but the slow footed Laird didn’t have any chance of scoring. Kenny Lofton then brought Laird in on a sacrifice fly and Young ended the inning by grounding into a fielder’s choice. The lead for the Rangers was 4-2 at this point.

However, the lead was shortlived as the Red Sox batted for what seemed like an eternity. Youk led off with a single then Big Papi flew out to Lofton in center. Manny then laced a triple to right field bringing in Youk cutting the lead to one. With Drew at the plate, Padilla uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Manny to score, tying the game at 4. Drew then drew a walk. Lowell singled, moving Drew to second and that hit chased Padilla from the game.

Joaquin Benoit came in and shit the bed for the Rangers. Coco was the first batter Benoit faced and he [Coco] hit a single that scored Drew as Lowell went to third. Crisp advanced to second because the throw went home. That hit made the score 5-4. Benoit then walked Doug Mirabelli to load up the bases for Alex Cora. Cora hit a sacrifice fly scoring Lowell putting the Sox up 6-4. He then walked Lugo to reload the bases up. “The Greek God of Walks” Youkilis lived up to his old nickname and drew a walk that scored Coco, making it 7-4.

That was all the runs the Red Sox would need

Wakefield meanwhile had settled down and pitched a flawless 6th and 7th innings. He then gave way to the bullpen. Wake went 7 innings, allowing 5 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk and struck out 4 Rangers. His counterpart for the Rangers, Padilla, went 5 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 6 runs (5 earned), walked 3 and struck out 4.

After Javier Lopez walked Vazquez to lead off the 8th, Brendan Donnelly came in and retired the next 3 batters he faced, giving way to Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th.

Sosa led off the 9th and reached on a Lugo throwing error. Papelboner then got Catalanotto and Byrd to fly out. Kinsler hit a single that advanced Sosa to second. With the count 0-2, Laird took a Papelboner fastball to deep centerfield that Crisp caught just short of the wall finishing off the Rangers. The save was Papelboner’s 12th in 13 chances this season.

The win tonight evened Wake’s record at 5-5. Julian Tavarez will be on the hill tomorrow as the Sox look to get out of rainy Arlington, TX with a sweep.

Notes and Musings:

Red Sox are now 11 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees.

The Rangers’ pitchers have issued 16 walks in 2 games so far.

The Sox are 9-4 in their last 13 games in Arlington, TX.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was feeling much better today and is actually in the dugout tonight. They reported on the pregame show that he brings his own mattress pad with him and actually sleeps on the floor. Difference is, here in America we walk everywhere with our on while in Japan, they take them off. This could be one reason why he got sick with god knows what in the hotel carpet.

Josh Beckett felt no ill effects on the avulsion on his pitching finger and is on course to start on Tuesday vs the Indians.

Mike Timlin will throw another inning for Pawtucket on Sunday.

If your interested, the Red Sox Double-A affiliate, the Portland SeaDogs will be on NESN, Monday at 1 pm. Top pitching prospect Clay Buchholz will be on the mound for the SeaDogs.

Don’t bring a cell phone to a Terry Francona press conference. He hates that. Don and Jerry were talking about bringing a cell phone to a meeting with Francona just to drive him nuts.

Kevin Youkilis extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a double in the fourth inning. He is batting .409 in May.

Julio Lugo’s 29 RBI is tops among all leadoff hitters in MLB.

The fan of the game on NESN was a kid in a Red Sox shirt that said “Rem Dawg, I am the fan of the game.”

Tina Cervasio reported that the latest fashion craze in the Boston clubhouse is 5 toed socks. They are a big thing with Japanese pitchers. Dice-K passed them out to some of his teammates and now Doug Mirabelli, Mike Lowell, Kyle Synder, and Alex Cora are wearing them. Hideki “Darkman” Okajima also wears them. The one pictured to the left is not the ones they wear. God I really hope they aren’t.

J.D. Drew’s rbi in the 4th inning was his first since May 15th.

Youk leads the league with 22 multi-hit games. Ichiro is one behind at 21.

Manny’s triple in the 6th inning was his first since April 20, 2006.

The Red Sox sent 11 batters to the plate in a 5 run sixth inning. The half inning lasted 38 minutes.

Manny was a homer away from the cycle. He had 2 singles, a double and a triple. He has .476 avg on the road trip.

Tonight’s start was the 6th time this season, Wakefield has gone 7 innings.

The save tonight was the first for Papelbon since May 17th.

It seemed to me while Wakefield was being interviewed in the clubhouse after the game that the guys in the clubhouse were watching the UFC PPV.

Wakefield’s last win in Texas came on July 5th, 2005.

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