Evereyone Hits and Lackey Looks Good!

Well, today's game, back at the confines of the Fens, was one I was half looking forward to and half a bit worried about. It was against the Seattle Mariners, who came to the Hub riding a 12 game losing streak. When it began, they were at .500. Now, well you can see where they're going. My happiness was that we were getting an opponent in full free fall. My worries were that they have to end the streak sometime and I didn't want them to regain their abilities during their visit to Beantown. Part of the last is the fact that one of the worst hitters in MLB in the past five years is now playing for the M's and he always seems to get something against the Hose. Some guys are just like that. They can be the worst in the history of the game, but against a certain pitcher or specific team, they hit like a cross of Ty Cobb and The Babe. Such is Jack Cust. As events were to demonstrate, he did go 2-4, with a double, but wasn't involved in any way with any of the runs the M's managed to score.
Now, the story head--Lackey looked about as good as he has all season at the Fens. He went seven innings, gave up eight hits and a single run, lowering his ERA to 6.28. Throw in four K's and no freebies and you have a pretty respectable evening. He left ahead 7-1. Morales came on in the 8th and gave up three quick runs on a couple of base hits followed by a homer. Suddenly, the walkover was looking at least a bit interesting for Seattle. "Enough", said Terry (at least, it's reasonable he said something to that effect) and Morales was gone, replaced by Bard. He faced one hitter, sent him back to the bench with nothing to show for his efforts and the inning was over. Bard's consecutive scoreless innings streak got a third of an inning longer. For the 9th, The Laser took the mound and it was vintage Pap--ground out, K, pop out--inning and game over. Door slammed. Time for a steak at Locke's.
Offensively, things were just as good. Every Sox starter had at least one hit, with The Dustman getting three in a 3-3 evening that extended his career long hitting streak to 19 games. In keeping with that number, he also purloined (fancy lawyer's word for stole) his 19th base of the year. Gonzo added a pair of ribbies to his league leading total, while Yoouuukk matched the pair. Jake, continuing his show of power of recent times, placed his 16th shot in the cheaps as one of his pair of hits on the evening. With Papi's RBI single, the Sox now have four players with at least 55 ribbies for the season apiece, led of course by the league leader, Gonzo, at 80.
As I write this, it looks like the Sox won't add any space to their lead over the Stripes tonight, as the guys in the jail suits are leading the A's 17-7 late in that game. But, at least the lead is at two.