How fitting a game today's was on the cusp of this morning's blog talking about the whole "run prevention" topic. The Sox, led by Jon Lester, held the bombers' offense at bay throughout in their 2-1 victory to earn the series split with New York. Boston's southpaw lasted 6.1 innings and yielded 4 hits without allowing a run. He exited with a bases loaded, 1-out jam in the 7th and handed the ball over to Daniel Bard. Bard ensued to strike out Jeter and Cano in a total of 6 pitches to escape the inning unscathed. Bard would run into trouble in the 8th, but Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon was on his game (wait... really?) for 1.1 innings of shutout ball to earn his 28th save of the season. Pap struck out the side in the 9th, although he did allow the tying run to get into scoring position.
JD Drew and Bill Hall drove in the only two Boston runs in the game, but neither was the biggest story from the offensive side of the game for the Red Sox. After starting 0-for-16 in his return from the disabled list, Jacoby Ellsbury was dropped to 9th in the batting order for today's game. Ellsbury went 1-for-2 with a walk, but more impressively, he stole a career-high 4 bases. His fourth steal even beat the Yankees' pitchout call.
It was an all-around positive game for the Red Sox, who remain 6 games behind the Yanks and can move within 3.5 of the Rays if the Tigers can knock them off tonight in Detroit. Even though a split was not what anyone was hoping for in this series with New York, you have to consider that things could be a lot worse. With still 49 games to play in the season, being 4 games out of the wild card and 6 out of the division isn't an impossible problem to solve (I still can't get over how absurd it was for anyone to say that the game on Saturday was do-or-die.... e.g. "El Pres"). The Sox will look to continue making a push tomorrow night when they visit a red-hot Toronto team that is fresh off a sweep of the Rays. Daisuke Matsuzaka will be on the mound for Boston.
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