2.5 Hour Rain Delay Doesn't Hurt Brandon Moss (or the Sox) - Jenn

There's a new kid in right and his name is Brandon Moss. He showed up last season to fill in for JD Drew when he was out injured, and he's doing it again this year - with the same results. We saw Moss in Japan when JD had a bad back and watched as he got his first home run of the season. Last night he got his second.

But before we get to Moss' hitting, let's talk about about that laser he threw to Varitek to keep the Rays from getting on the board. It's the second inning and Buchholz walked the first two batters he faced - Evan Longoria and Eric Hinske. Then Navarro struck out and Gross flied out to deep right. So with two men on and two out, it looked like Buchholz could get out of the inning unscathed. Unfortunately Jason Bartlett stepped to the plate and lined the ball into right for a base hit. But that didn't fase Moss. He grabbed that ball and lasered it to Varitek so he could tag Longoria for the final out of the inning and prevent the Rays from scoring first. I want to thank Michael Vaccaro for passing on that Moss actually started his baseball career as a pitcher in high school who consistently threw around 93 mph. So catching that ball and striking out Longoria was a walk in the park for the 25 year-old. But that assist wasn't the end of the amazing night Moss had, not by a long shot.

In the fourth inning with two men out, Moss took his place in the batters box. Jackson threw the ball and Moss crushed it to straight away center field for the only home run of the night. That homer got the ball rolling on what would be a five run inning for the Sox and give Buchholz the win. That home run also made Moss the first Sox rookie to get a home run and an outfield assist in the same game since Trot Nixon did it against the Detroit Tigers on June 1, 1999.

Then in the 8th, Moss got his second hit of the night when he sent a line drive to right that landed him on 1st with nobody out. Varitek was next, and his double off the green monster was high enough to get Moss home all the way from first for the seventh and final run of the game.

So with two hits and an RBI for the evening, Moss bumped his batting average from .235 to .286. That's higher than JD's current average of .269. And after those hits as well as that awesome assist, I for one am glad Moss is hanging out in right. Just another young kid helping the Sox stay in first place.