Four Back In The Loss Column

The Red Sox completed the demolition of the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday with a 9-3 win behind the continuing rebirth of Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Dice-K looked good once again, going 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs, striking out five and walked just one. His command was very good again, although he did throw a season-high 110 pitches. It was his third win of the year, and his second in two starts since returning from the DL.

The Red Sox offense scored early and often, and made it easy for Dice-K. Mike Lowell singled in two runs in a three-run first, and it was 7-0 by the fourth. Jason Bay hit his 35th home run, and Jacoby Ellsbury added another to ice the game late.

The Red Sox conclude their season series with Baltimore a stunning 16-2 record. The Red Sox are now 8 games up in the Wild Card race as Texas continues to plummet. They have now won 10 of 11, and are 27-11 since August 10, the best in MLB since then. That was also the day after the four-game sweep by the Yankees in the Bronx.

BTW, has anyone else noticed the New York lead is now down to 5 games, and 4 in the loss column. They had a supposedly ironclad 9-game lead with 23 to play, and dropped a series in Seattle this past weekend. It was a pleasure to see Chamberlain getting his head handed to him by Ken Griffey and his Mariner teammates yesterday. Chamberlain allowed seven runs in the first two innings, and his ERA is now approaching 5.00. It makes me laugh when Hank Steinbrenner (remember him?) said over the winter he was MLB's most dominating pitcher. Hardly.

New York now faces their longtime nemesis, the LA Angels, in Anaheim this week, as the Red Sox go to Kansas City to play the last-place Royals for four games. It's still a longshot, but the AL East may still be up for the taking. By Thursday night, we may have a better idea if that is a real possibility.