Nava's Bloop Lifts Sox To Victory

The Boston Red Sox, after another day off yesterday, came into play tonight against the Baltimore Orioles with a chance to move within a half-game of the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. Easy win against the Orioles, they're terrible... right? Not so fast.

The Sox found themselves in a 2-2 game in the bottom of the eighth inning, in danger of becoming just the seventh opponent this season to score less than three runs on Baltimore. Tim Wakefield was still the pitcher of record, having hurled 8 innings giving up just 2 runs. After a Marco Scutaro wall-ball double off the monster, Daniel Nava was called upon to pinch hit for left fielder Eric Patterson. It wasn't exactly a laser show, but Nava's bloop to right field got the job done. The perfectly placed, shallow fly fell between a trio of Orioles and plated the eventual winning run. Boston 3, Baltimore 2.

JD Drew was the sole spark of offense prior to Nava's pinch-hit single in the eighth inning. Drew blasted solo home runs in the 2nd and 5th innings off Baltimore starter Brad Bergesen to keep the Sox knotted up on the scoreboard. Bergesen actually pitched a good game, going 7.2 strong innings. Nava's bloop single, though, delivered him his third earned run and the subsequent loss.

Boston is now just 0.5 games behind New York for the division lead. Will the Red Sox overtake the Yankees by the All-Star break? With the Sox facing Baltimore and the Yankees facing Toronto, I wouldn't bet against it.

PS -- Have any of Nava's heroics earned him a date with Erin Andrews yet? For the love of God, just give the kid what he wants!