One If By Land, Two if by Sea & I'll Hit Off the Wall for Three!-Peter

Apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, but what else can I say about Papi's performance on a game celebrated in honor of Patriot's Day (even though the 'real' P.Day is the eighteenth). I become more convinced every day that Papi's back, or getting damn near to it. Today, as the Sox removed any doubt of the outcome early, Papi got two doubles, the last a ringing shot off the Monster, and drove in three of the team's eight runs.
After former Sox future pitching star, Kason Gabbard, traded to Texas last year in the Gagne fiasco, left with a stiff back, having pitched two shutout innings, the Bosox started to light things up. Staring with five runs in the fourth, capped by Papi's sun-hidden double, they continued the onslaught with another three in the fifth, again capped by Papi's double, this one the wallbanger. The Sox mopup crew gave up the three Texas runs deep into the game, the first two coming off Aardsma in the seventh on a pair of RBI doubles. The final run crossed the plate in the ninth off Delcarmen. Buchholz had a fairly good start, pitching six shutout innings and striking one batter in each inning.
Manny had the day off after yesterday's ejection, and Casey, also got the day off as he's a lefty swinger going against Gabbard, also a lefty. Both Ellsbury and Pedroia had a pair of hits, Lugo had four, and Lugo and Jake stole bases, Jake getting his 7th and 8th of the season.

Sox have now won five in a row, and 9 of 10, and have scored at least five runs in 9 consecutive games. Let's hope this continues for awhile, and that Papi continues to get that stroke back.

Personal comment: when I was a kid in Boston, there wasn't a Patriots Day game--it was a double header, first game starting at 10 a.m. and 2d beginning at 1:05. This allowed the fans to come to Fenway and see the first game, leave to catch the end of the Boston Marathon at nearby Kenmore Square and then return to Fenway for the 2d game. Today no-one plays twin-bills unless one is a makeup game. That's a real loss, but what can you do?