Hardball Heaven

So much for a classic pitching duel. Josh Beckett came to play, but the Big Ugly - Randy Johnson - got booed off the mound in the third inning. Randy gave up seven runs, only two earned - with the key play in the game being a botched grounder by A-Fraud in the fateful third inning. To set the scene: Sox were trailing 2-zip and had men on second and third with two outs. Papi hit a seemingly harmless ground ball to third that ate up Rodriguez. One run in, Papi safe at first by a step. Then Randall uncorked a wild pitch - his control was way off - for the Sox' second run, with Ortiz moving up to second base. Manny then lined a single to left, and the huffing and puffing Papi scored with a nice hook slide for a 3-2 Sox lead. They never looked back.

It was batting practice for the rest of the night, as the boys hammered the likes of Aaron Small and Worcester's own Tanyon Sturtze. Beckett settled down after a shaky start and pitched well -- he had the blazing fastball working. Manny and Alex Gonzalez (!) smacked home runs, Mike Lowell continued to rack up the doubles... hell, even J.T. Snow got into this one and chipped in with a hit. It was one of those nights, sort of like what Cleveland did to us a couple weeks back. Sox win 14-3 in a laugher. Nice to be on the good side of one of these.

Schilling vs. Mussina tonight in Game 2. Both guys are 5-1 - should be a doozy.