1, 2, 3, 4, 5....how you like them apples?

So, the Red Sox might have sucked it this last weekend against Tampa. That might have happened. However...they came back up the coast and once again reminded the Yankees of their suck by taking a 2 game series. That's 5 games in a row aganist them. That's sweet.

We can beat the Yankees....but can't seem to do the same to the Rays. Are the Rays a better team than the Yankees? Possibly. And looking at the two teams payrolls...that idea makes me giggle like a little school girl. I have a theory on our domination (so far) of the Yanks and the Rays domination (so far) of us. You see, the Yankees are our rivalry. Games with the Yankees are important. We come to those games bringing our A+ game and being all jazzed up. We want to win every game...but we really and I mean REALLY want to beat the Yankees. I feel that the Rays feel the same about us. We are their rivalry. We are the team that they get all jazzed up to play. They bring their A+ game...and REALLY want to beat us. The Rays have a one sided rivalry though....they rival us, but for the Sox...the Rays are our sloppy seconds rival. We like beating them....but a loss doesn't beat us down to our core...except of course that Game 7, but let's not dwell.

But back to our rivals...the Yankees. We came into their stadium and continued to remind them of all of their flaws. We took advantage.

On Monday night is was one of our best Jon Lester against the young Phil Hughes. The game started almost 2 hours late because of rain and didn't end until well past 1am. I was surprised the game did not get postponed, but with the result...glad it wasn't. The Sox won 6-4, but not without a little drama. Lester has been struggling this season with his command and probably his confidence. He pitched on Friday like Jonny Les is supposed to pitch. He struck out 10 batters...and brought us the win. He did allow 2 back to back homers...but limited the damage to that. Of course, we never make it easy on ourselves. Papelbon came in for a 5 out save and got himself into a wee bit of trouble. He loaded the bases in the 9th...and then got out of the inning for the WIN with a hefty fist pump and a FUCK YEAH. It was a thing of beauty.

Last night the game started on time. Rain was coming....but there looking like there would be time for at least most of a game. We didn't have Kevin Youkilis in the lineup, so we were going to need production from other places. It was the Sox's ace Josh Beckett against Joba Chamberlain. Josh has also been struggling this season and not had great outings. Joba has been either good or not so much. Joba had a rough 1st inning...give up 5 hits in a row including Jason Bay's 3 run homer. Sox were up 4-0 by the middle of the 1st. Josh was throwing well. He wasn't dominant but it was good enough. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Beckett gave up a 3 run homer to Johnny "The Traitor" Damon. Momentum seemed to be swinging towards NY. Joba Chamberlain forgot about his bad first inning and started pitching like a MONSTER. He struck out 12 batters by the time he left the game. Josh was looking...dare I say it...human. However, Becks impressed me. He allowed the Yanks back into the game, but he held on. He didn't allow any more runs to score than the homer. And he pitched two innings in horrible conditions in the filthy pouring rain. That's the kind of Beckett I like to see. He didn't let the Yankees pounce....and for that, he got the win. Once Joba and Becks were out of the game, it became a battle of the bullpen. Ours, of course...won. Oki GOT IT DONE and then Saito game in for the save. And...our favorite Canadian...JayBay...made some great defensive catches late in the game. And let's not forget Mikey Lowell...who put on a defensive clinical behind Josh Beckett saving his arse on numerous occasions. The Sox ended up winning 7-3. Beckett didn't pitch with domination and intimidation, but I think he really deserved that win. He didn't do it the easy way...but he made pitches when it counted.

Oh yeah...Joba hit Jason Bay in the back with a pitch during the game. People...many people...are all upset and saying it was intentional. Retaliation for the HR Bay hit. I know Joba has a history of headhunting, so he doesn't get any kind of benefit of the doubt. However, I don't buy that it was intentional. One, at that point Joba was pitching the game he wanted to pitch. We already had a runner on base...and hitting Bay puts Papi into scoring position. I think it was a mistake and that's it.

Nice job Sox....let's keep this winning roll going. We have two games against the Tribe and then it is time to give a little bit of hell back to those pesky Tampa Bay Devil Rays.