Youkilis had two hits in the inning, scored twice and is now batting .417 with 7 doubles, 4 HR, 13 RBI and 11 runs since Manny left... wonder if Youk misses him...
Jed Lowrie also had two hits in the inning and drove in a run - he finished the night with 3 hits, raising his average to .310.And, in an interesting twist, the Rangers chose to picth to David Ortiz, despite having first base open, presumably because Youk is so hot... Big Papi thanked them with his third 3-run ding-dong of the series.
Pedroia had just one hit in the inning (what!?) but did have three on the night... he's now hit safely in 40 of his last 40 games and lead the AL with a .323 BA.
Strangely, that would be alomost all of the offense in the game, thanks to more magic from Matsuzaka (7.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 BB, 6 H). As Remy put it last night, it wouldn't feel right if Matsuzaka didn;t pull at least one Houdini act during the start... and Dice-K didn't disappoint, loading teh bases on two walks and a hit in the 2nd inning, but got out of the jam by fanning Vazquez ona full count.
After that he settled down, but ever the perfectrionist, Matsuzaka wanted a better performance:
"We got all those runs near the beginning of the game, soI should have been able to go out there and get outs at a better pace, but I wasn’t able to,” Matsuzaka said through a translator. “I felt like I was struggling to get into a good groove all game.”
Bottom Line: The Rays squeezed out another victory in the 12th inning, and the Twins had the night off, so the standing remain the same, but if the offense keeps clicking like this and the big three (Bckett, Lester and Dice-K) keep mowing 'em down, the Sox will be atop the AL East come September.
ps. Manny Delcarmen is the most frustrating pitcher since Joe Borowski was closing games in Cleveland... After giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 4 hits on Tuesday, he looked like closer last night, fanning 2 of the 3 in the 8th... I just don't get it.
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