Hardball Heaven

The Sox are pretty good on holiday Sundays. Remember the improbable Mother's Day comeback against the Orioles? This time they took the lumber to the visiting San Francisco Giants on Father's Day, and in the process enjoyed their first series sweep in what seems like forever (May 25-27).

On paper, I was a little worried about the pitching matchup -- Morris for the Giants, Wake for us. Morris has gotten off to a nice start, showing glimpses of some of the stuff he had when he was with St. Louis. Wake, as usual, has been wildly unpredictable.

The Sox jumped on Morris in the first inning, spurred on by a leadoff J.D. Drew double. The switch to the top of the order seemed to wake him up a little this weekend. They put up 2 runs in the first, the Giants tied it in the 3rd, and then the Sox pulled away with 5 runs in the bottom of the third. The Giants closed the gap to 8-5 at one point, but it ended as a 9-5 win. Bonds hit a home run, as did Manny. Youk also got back into the hitting groove with a couple of knocks.

Looks like the lead over the Yanks will stay at 8 1/2 games. They're currently rolling over the Mets, 5-0, and Chien Ming Wang is looking strong. The Sox next head off to Atlanta for three (Schilling vs. James Monday; Beckett vs. Hudson Tuesday; and Tavarez vs. someone named Buddy Carlyle Wednesday.) After that, it's another long trip out West to play 3 games each against San Diego and Seattle. The Yanks are also heading out West to play Colorado and the Giants. At least there's a day off after the Braves' series so the boys can get some sleep for the long flight.

Happy Dad's day to all... one little moment from today I wanted to share. About 2 minutes after the Sox game ended today, my 17-month old came out of the toy room with a broom in her hands and started sweeping the floor. Perfect.