Sox Score Important Win; Random Thoughts (July 27, 2010)

The importance of the Red Sox current 10-game/10-day road trip through Oakland, Seattle, and Anaheim has been stated several times. With the Yankees and Rays starting to pull away from the banged up BoSox, they had little room for error on the Left Coast. Entering the eighth game of the trip last night, the Sox were 3-4 and facing an Angels team that they always seem to struggle with away from Fenway Park. Prior to last night, the Red Sox were 3-9 against the Angels in games played in Orange County in the regular season. The hopes for salvaging the road trip - and the season - did not look all that good. Those chances looked even worse through the first two innings. Clay Buchholz allowed a first inning homerun to Bobby Abreu and then did his best Daisuke Matsuzaka impression in the second, loading the bases with no outs before escaping without allowing a run. Buchholz bounced back from his rough start and went seven strong innings, showing that he is maturing as a pitcher and proving to the team that he is a reliable option even when things are not going his way. On the season the 25-year-old righty is 11-5 with a 2.71 ERA. The offense got a boost from the return of Victor Martinez, who came back after missing several weeks with a broken thumb. Martinez went 1-for-4 with a single, Kevin Youkilis added three hits (including a single off the arm of newly acquired Angles starter Dan Haren who was knocked out of the game) and David Ortiz clubbed two homeruns to give the Red Sox a very important victory. A split with the Angels would give the Red Sox a 5-5 record on the trip and would allow them to return to Fenway with a fighting chance to at least catch the Rays for the A.L. Wild Card. Luckily for the Sox, they have their two wealthiest starters going tonight and tomorrow. John Lackey (9-5, 4.36) makes his first start against the Angels in Anaheim (after eight years as a member of the organization) tonight while Josh Beckett (1-1, 6.66) takes the mound tomorrow. Lackey and Beckett are both coming off excellent outings in Seattle and if the playoffs are to be a reality this year, the Red Sox need both of them to pitch to their potential... While I was waiting for the Sox game to start last night, I tuned into ESPN's broadcast of the Rays-Tigers game while working on two papers for myy graduate school class. What a great decision that turned out to be as there was a double no-hitter into the sixth inning. Detroit's Max Scherzer lost his bid with two outs in the sixth innings, surrendering a grand slam to Matt Joyce following walks to Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria sandwiched around Carl Crawford reaching first base on catcher's interference. After that, the night belonged to Tampa's Matt Garza. With a little help from home plate umpire Ed Hickox, Garza became the first pitcher in franchise history to toss a no-hitter and watching the Rays celebrate like a Little League team made me forget that I want them to fall apart in benefit to the Red Sox for just a moment... Count me in as a supporter of Danny Ainge packaging the contract of Rasheed Wallace and a future first round draft pick and sending them to Cleveland for the Big Aristotle, Shaquille O'Neal. Yes, Shaq is well past his prime but in Boston he will be joining a championship filled with veterans that will allow him to flourish in a reserve role that will require he play no more than 20-25 minutes a game. Having the 7-1, 350-pounder in the middle will give the C's another big body to throw up againt the Lakers, Heat, and Magic. Teaming with Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O'Neal, Glen Davis, and (when he returns from knee surgery) Kendrick Perkins, Shaq would be the player who puts the Celtics over the hump in the Eastern Conference and who makes the difference against the Lakers in the Finals. Imagine having Shaq motivated to beat Dwight Howard in the Eastern Finals as revenge for Howard "stealing" his Superman nickname before giving everything that he has left in the tank to stop Kobe Bryant and the Lakers from winning a third straight title? Those thoughts are enough to convince me that the Celtics need to bring Shaq aboard... Enjoy John Lackey tonight...