Hardball Heaven

Every time Tim Wakefield takes the mound against the Devil Rays, logic says Murphy's Law is bound to kick in and he'll eventually have a bad outing. Last night seemed like a possibility, with Wake going against Sox nemesis, fireballing lefty Scott Kazmir. Shame on us for allowing the thought to enter our minds.

The Sox pounced early - Dustin Pedroia set the tone with a hard lead-off single to left off Kazmir - and Wake continued his incredible mastery over the D-Rays, especially in the climate-controlled confines of Tropicana Field. The Sox cruised to a rocking-chair easy 6-0 win, and combined with a most pleasurable Yankee extra-innings loss last night in Anaheim, the lead this morning stands at 5.

Best of all, they won with Bobby Kielty and Kevin Cash in the lineup, and David Ortiz on the bench. Kielty has shown some good stuff in his first few games - he hits well against lefties and he can run. Cash to his credit, also has filled in admirably. He's light with the stick but runners beware - he threw out 46% of runners attempting to steal on him in the minors. The one disappointment continues to be the enigma that is J.D. Drew. It's pretty bad when you can remember all of Drew's six home runs - four have come on the road, including a 2-homer game in Arizona, and of course, he was a part of the 4-straight homer game against the Yankees. He has been an unmitigated disaster.

But we won't end this on a sour note. The Sox need to sweep Tampa and hope that Kelvim Escobar and John Lackey can handle the Yanks' lineup. Tonight, the boys try to exact a little revenge against Andy Sonnanstine, who beat them soundly at Fenway last week. Jon Lester goes for the good guys, and hopefully can pick up where left off.