Dusty for MVP & Papi & Coco Also Get Three--Peter

Tonight was a great night all around! The most important thing, of course, was the game; and the Sox took care of that early. They led four zip after three; 10-1 after four, and, barring any sudden collapse of everything, the outcome was more than settled. Final was 14-2, Sox. Lester picked up his 13th win against five losses, although he wasn't as sharp as he has been on other occasions. Nevertheless, he gave up six hits while picking up 5 K's in five innings. His one game only WHIP was 2 due to an unusual number of free passes added to his hits allowed. He had four BB's, but when he needed to, he pitched and managed to stay out of danger. He was followed by Delcarmen and Smith, who, between them, allowed just a single baserunner. Pauley finished up, allowing the O's final run.

But the big news for the evening was the play of Pedroia, Ortiz and Crisp. Each of them had three hits, with Dusty driving in five, three of them on a 4th inning shot into the cheaps, Papi four and Coco picking up a steal to go along with his three runs scored. Dusty added a run to his league leading runs scored leading total, while equaling his career high in ribbies at 75, and counting. He also upped his AL-leading BA at .330. His leading hits total also climbed, now at 187. The suggestions that he'll be a solid choice for MVP are growing louder by the day. No arguments here! One of the best sights of the evening was Big Papi bearhugging Dusty in the dugout after the second baseman's homer. It looked like Dusty was in serious danger of getting suffocated, so all-enveloping was the big man's embrace. Careful, Papi--we need every bat we can use--yours and Dusty's for the rest of the season and the post as well!

Tek continued his resurgence at the plate of late, going 2-4, and the only player not to get at least one hit was Ross, who replaced Tek at catcher after coming in an inning earlier as a pinch runner. Overall, the Sox totalled 20 hits, six of which were for extra bases.

As if all of this weren't enough, Jake picked up his 44th steal of the season, padding his lead in that category, and Coco's steal was his 18th this year. Depending on circumstances, he's got an outside shot at 30 for the season, while Jake could very well hit the half century mark.

Once all of this was done, we could indulge in scoreboard watching. With some help from the Stripes, we picked up a game on the Rays, with 24 left, as they lost to Mr. Hankie's Yankees. Also extended the wild card lead over both the Twinkies and Pale Hose to a full four games, as they both lost.