Gabbard's Simply Superb

Red Sox rookie lefty Kason Gabbard pitched a three-hitter last night as Dustin Pedroia, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz all belted home runs to give the Sox a 4-0 win at Fenway over the Royals last night.

Gabbard was in complete control all night. He had an incredibly sharp curve ball, and he struck out eight. He pitched a complete game shutout, the first lefty Red Sox rookie to do so since 1972.

He pitched 4 1/3 innings of no-hit ball until giving up a clean single to Emil Brown. Gabbard got into his only trouble of the night in that inning, as Kansas City had the bases loaded with two outs, but he got out of it unscathed.

KC pitcher Brian Bannister was sharp the first three innings, and Julio Lugo was the first man to reach base for either team in the third on an infield hit. Replays showed he was out, but the Red Sox got the call. (Lugo was eventually picked off. Justice, I suppose.)

Pedroia and Ramirez both banged balls into the Monster seats in the fourth to give the Red Sox all the runs they needed. But the star of the night was Gabbard, who continues to improve with each outing. He figures to be in the rotation the next couple of weeks at least, as Curt Schilling won't be back until early August.

The Red Sox lead continues to be 9 games, as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays as well. I love the fact that BOTH New York tabloids were trumpeting the fact that on Sunday the Yankees had cut the Red Sox lead to "single digits."

I guess they have to try look at the bright side of this whole thing from their perspective, right?