I swear that you probably have a better chance of winning the lottery than you do when Daisuke Matsuzaka takes the mound for the Boston Red Sox. Seriously, it’s gotten to that point and last night was a perfect example.
After picking up two straight no decisions after a few great outings, Dice-K once again showed us a flash of what he can be. You know the pitcher who likes to attack and pound the strike zone with fastballs while mixing in his secondary pitches to keep the hitters at bay.
When he challenges hitters like he did last night against the Cleveland Indians, good things happen. The only bad pitch he really made was put into the center field seats by Shin-Soo Choo in the first inning. Usually Dice-K gets a little unnerved when he allows runs in the first inning but that wasn’t the case last night.
He ended up picking his 8th win of 2010 while striking out six, walking two and allowing five hits. But more importantly, he helped the Red Sox to a win that they do desperately needed.
If Matsuzaka can continue to pitch like this every five days and Jon Lester can return to form, the Red Sox won’t go quietly down the stretch.
They will have to play down the stretch run though without the services of Kevin Youkilis. It was learned on Thursday that Youk will miss the rest of the season after he undergoes surgery on thumb today in Cleveland.
Youk’s been one of the constant catalysts of the Red Sox offense and defense all season long so it won’t be easy to replace him. Mike Lowell and Jed Lowrie should fill in for him over at first but the Red Sox are working out Carlos Delgado who’s been out all season after undergoing two hip surgeries.
Delgado last played in the big leagues in 2010 with the New York Mets where he appeared in 28 games. He had one surgery during the season and returned to play ball in the Puerto Rican winter league but ended up needing another surgery. Delgado’s agent said if he does sign with a team, he’ll probably need two weeks in the minors to get his timing back.
While Youk’s been a driving force behind the Red Sox offense all season where would they be without Adrian Beltre. Sure Beltre was signed somewhat for his defense, which hasn’t been all that great considering he’s won two Gold Gloves, but he’s playing himself into a nice contract for the coming years.
Coming into last night’s game, Beltre had been up with the bases loaded 22 times and had only two hits and driven in five runs. He came up in the 4th inning with the bases full and put those numbers behind him as he cleared the bases to put the Red Sox out front.
All Beltre has done this season is hit a team-leading .336 with 19 home runs and a team-leading 75 RBIs. His OBP is .372 and he’s slugging a robust .570. Not too shabby for the man they signed for his glove.
Now the Red Sox are in New York to take on the Yankees who they are chasing in the AL East and the AL Wild Card standings. While a sweep of the Evil Empire would be ideal, if they could go 3-1 that would allow them to pick up two games on the Yanks and trail them by four games. And if you’re doing the math, a sweep would put them two games behind.
It won’t be easy and this four-game series can easily define whether or not the Red Sox are contenders, pretenders or spoilers the rest of the way out.
We’ll be back later with tonight’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups, any news and links from the day but for now enjoy the overnight links after the jump.
To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click
Video: Red Sox Teammates Gang Up To Touch Beltre’s Head [SOX & Dawgs]
Red Sox convert the split [Boston Globe]
Youkilis is lost for the season [Boston Globe]
Yankees not very bossy [Boston Globe]
Lowell will get the first look at first base [Boston Globe]
Matsuzaka gets revenge, victory [Boston Globe]
A full plate of talent at the catcher position [Boston Globe]
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal and WEEI websites.
And if you must read the enemy papers, check out the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Akron Beacon Journal websites.
Photo credit: Getty Images
