Welcome Back Lowell!--Peter

Well, tonight marked the return of Mike Lowell from the DL. What a return it was! In his first at bat, he rifled a shot into the cheap seats for a one zip Sox lead. Two innings later, in the 4th, he hit a crisp single into the Texas outfield, plating two recent arrivals to Fenway, Kotsay and Bay, and upping the lead to four zip.

Meanwhile, Beckett, also just back from a brief stint on the DL, was rolling along, eventually earning his twelfth victory. He pitched an economical five innings, giving up just four hits and walking no-one, while K'ing seven. Terry, taking no chances as we approach the post-season, pulled him after five even though he'd only thrown eighty pitches, 49 of which were strikes.

Meanwhile, back to Lowell. The Sox third sacker, in his final at bat for the evening, came up in the 9th and drove a ball deep to center and bringing home Bay to up the score to eight zip, Sox. So, overall Lowell was 3-5 for the evening with a pair of extra base hits and four ribbies. Not bad for a return from the DL! Not bad at all! Between his second hit and this one, the Sox had added runs on back-to-back trips by Coco and Jake in the 6th.

As far as the Sox pitching , post-JB, went, it was exemplary, at least until the 9th, when Oki surrendered the Rangers' only run. Up to that point, however, a succession of Sox relievers gave up no hits and only a pair of free passes while striking out three over three innings.

Looked like a good evening, with a well balanced attack, and solid pitching--just what is needed to get to the post-season. Speaking of which, the Twinkies won, remaining 5 1/2 to our rear, while the Rays lost another, their lead over the Hose dropping to 2 1/2 with twentytwo to play. As for Mr. Hankie's Yankees,as I write this, it's three zip, Seattle, in the top of the 5th. Be great if the M's can hang on and win--that'd drop the Stripes to 7 1/2 behind the Sox.