A historical win for the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night at Fenway Park. Led by the bat of Mike Lowell and the pitching of Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Boston Red Sox gave manager Terry Francona an awesome 48th birthday present by beating the Yankees 7-6 and sweeping the three game set from them.

Historical you ask? The Boston Red Sox became the first American League team since 1964 and only the 5th team ever to hit back to back to back to back home runs in an inning. Now mind you, all of this came with two outs in the 3rd inning. Manny Ramirez get the home run barrage started with a bomb over the Green Monster. J.D Drew then placed one in the bleachers and Mike Lowell, not to be outdone, also hit one over the Green Monster. Jason Varitek then followed Lowell’s cue and hit one to the top of the Green Monster where they serve the food. These four consecutive home runs erased a 3-0 deficit.

Yankees pitcher Chase Wright was the victim of all four long balls. There was only other pitcher, Paul Foytack, who had allowed the four home runs. A big hat tip to Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe for that tidbit. One other tidbit she points out is that when Foytack gave up the four gopher balls, one of those was to Tito Francona, manager Terry Francona’s father. Another interesting fact that I came up with was that J.D Drew was involved for a second time in a four consecutive home run situation. Last season, he was part of the Dodgers four home run barrage against the San Diego Padres.

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As for Matsuzaka, I wouldn’t say he was spectacular but rather effective. He was able to get the Red Sox 7 plus innings. He gave up 6 runs on 8 hits. He walked one and struck out seven Yankees. He even plunked two of them as well. He hit AROD in the first inning trying to establish the inside part of the plate and then hit Jeter in the third inning.

Lowell’s second home run was the big blow. At the time, the Sox were trailing 5-4. He came to the plate with Manny on third and Drew on second and took a Scott Proctor pitch just over the Green Monster. He actually hit the ledge before the seats start but the umpires were on top of it and signaled it a home run.

I was actually shocked to see Hideki “Darkman” Okajima come in for the third game in a row. He was able to get the Giambino to pop out but he allowed a single to Robinson Cano and then he walked Jorge Posada. Brendan Donnelly then came in and got Melky Cabrera to ground into a fielder’s choice, which allowed a run to score and then got Josh Phelps to line out on a heck of a diving catch by Dustin Pedroia.

Jonathan Papelbon came in and finished the Yankees off in the top of the 9th. Using the “Papelglare”, he got Johnny Damon to line out to Manny in left, then he blew fastballs by Derek Jeter. He proceeded to walk Bobby Abreu but he got AROD to ground into a game ending fielder’s choice.

Here is a funny video that the Sports Babes did about Dice-K and the Red Sox and Yankees. Hat tip to Fenway Blogger for the find.

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Here is a new weekly feature for SOX & Dawgs. As you can tell from the picture above, it is called Down on the Farm. In this feature, you will be able to read about how the Red Sox minor leaguers are doing.

Pawtucket Red Sox:

Devern Hansack has been pitching pretty well for the PawSox. In his 3 starts, he is 1-1, with 1.69 ERA. He has struck out 23 batters in 16 innings of work.

Craig Hansen picked up his second save for the PawSox on Saturday night.

Here is a link to the up-to-date stats for the Pawsox.

Portland Sea Dogs:

Jacoby Ellsbury has been on fire to start the season for the Sea Dogs. Before Saturday’s game, his batting average stood at .500.

Top pitching prospect Clay Buchholz has struck out 10 batters so far in 9 innings of work. He is 0-1 in his two games started.

Here is a link to the up-to-date stats for the Sea Dogs.

Lancaster JetHawks:

OF Bubba Bell has 6 home runs so far in 15 games.

One of last year’s top draft picks, Daniel Bard is struggling right now in Lancaster. In his 3 starts, he has lasted only 8 1/3 innings and his ERA stands at 8.64.

Here is a link to the up-to-date stats for the JetHawks.

Greenville Drive:

Jon Lester made four starts for the Drive and is currently in Boston getting evaluated.

1B prospect Lars Anderson is off to a hot start for Gabe Kapler’s Greenville Drive.

Here is a link to the up-to-date stats for the Drive.

Lowell Spinners:

Gary DiSarcina was named manager for the Spinners for the 2007 season.

I also came across something very interesting. You can now listen to your favorite minor league team anytime you want. Head on over MiLB.com and check it out.

I had seen this video earlier in the week and thought it was pretty funny. Then I came across this article about it possibly being an exploitation of a young child. Given the language that the child uses, I can see what they mean.

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The Landlord
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I would like to introduce everyone to SOX & Dawgs, formerly known as Random Thoughts. The name change may be confusing at first but the URL will not change. Just the name of the blog. I also made sure to include random thoughts in the tagline and it will also be in the meta part of the name.

It has been something I have been thinking about for a long while and finally decided it was the time to do it. I’ve tried to incorporate the color schemes of my favorite two teams, the Boston Red Sox and UCONN Huskies.

I hope you like the new name and the new look.