Can You Say, "Locked In"?

You could sense something big was coming.

The Bruins had just come from behind to beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-4, and the Fenway faithful erupted when the final score went up on the scoreboard. The Red Sox had been behind most of the night, 3-2, after taking a 2-1 lead in the first inning. Jon Lester looked for sure he was going to get blasted out of the game by the third, as the Texas Rangers had a 3-2 lead with two on and one out, and the Sox had Julian Tavarez warming up.

But Lester got out of it, and shut the Rangers down until the 7th, when he departed. Texas was leaving runners everywhere, so the Red Sox were still in the game. With one out in the 8th, and the Bruins win fresh in everyone's minds, Dustin Pedroia doubled, and David Ortiz hit a hard grounder that went off Ian Kinsler's glove for an RBI single.

And that brought up the hottest hitter on the planet: Manny Ramirez. He hit a pitch off Joaquin Benoit that hit the left field light tower and kept going, across Lansdowne Street. It was home run number 496 for ManRam, and put the Red Sox up to stay, and a 5-3 comeback win.

Manny Ramirez is a man on a mission. He's in great shape, focused, and taking no prisoners right now. Four to go until 500.