Thanks Alex

Finally, the Red Sox catch a break.

Alex Cora hit a long fly ball to right in the seventh inning last night with the score tied 4-4 and two outs. Alex Rios ran back on it and the ball hit off his glove and as he tried to grab it with his bare hand, he wound up swatting it into the right field stands, 10 feet from where he was. It was Cora's first home run in a year as the Sox broke their six game losing streak, 6-4, over Toronto.

Rios' blunder will be repeated over and over again on those sports highlights shows, and will probably rank up there with the ball going off Jose Canseco's head in terms of outfield blunders that led to home runs. Thanks Alex.

The Sox flashed some nice leather last night, especially from Cora, Gabe Kapler and Dustin Pedroia. He continues to impress in the field, and I love the way he turns the double play. I think the Red Sox have a real diamond in the rough with Pedroia. (And can the Sox give him a lower number than 64? He's not a linebacker or a defensive tackle.)

This month-long disaster comes to merciful end, and the Red Sox ended up 9-21 for August, their worst month since August 1985. (I'll have more on it in an upcoming post.)

David Wells was traded to the San Diego Padres during last night's game, for a player-to-be-named-later, probably minor league catcher George Kottaras.

No word yet on the tests being conducted on Jon Lester and the enlarged lymph nodes he was discovered to have had. Hopefully everything will be OK with Jon, and it's a good bet his 2006 season has concluded.

Godspeed, Jon.