Mr. May

David Ortiz continued his incredibly hot hitting in the month of May on Sunday, and I'm sure he's sad to see this month come to a close.

Papi blasted his 11th home run of the season in leading the Sox to an 8-1 romp over Kansas City. (By the way, in the picture above, my cousin is right behind the "Poland Spring" sign in the front row. I'll have to ask him how he scored such big time ducats.) He's hit 10 of them this month, has 27 RBI in May and he's hitting .363 for the month as well. Overall he has hit in eight straight games, and it's the second time in his storied career he has 10 HRs, 25 RBI and hit .350 in a month.

Not bad for a guy who many critics were figuring would be released by June 1st.

Jon Lester won his 6th game of the season and continued his terrific pitching. He got off to a shaky start, allowing KC a run in the second and his command was a bit off. He wound up walking four in seven innings, but he was sharp from the third inning on.

The Sox had trouble with vagabond hurler Bruce Chen, an emergency starter for the Royals in place of the injured Gil Meche. He pitched four good innings, allowing just two hits and one run. But the Sox beat up on the KC pen, scoring three in the fifth and three more in the sixth. Jason Varitek concluded the scoring with a blast out of Fenway in the eighth.

The Red Sox gained a game on Tampa Bay, who lost to the White Sox. The Sox are now 5 1/2 games back. They get a rare memorial Day off before taking on Oakland at Fenway on Tuesday night.