This is getting good. The temperature last night plunged almost as dramatically as Boomer's sweeping curve, but the Sox' stock soared with a third straight commanding win where everything seemed to click. Onward!
David Wells is a fascinating figure. (And a tubby one.) When he is good, he is very, very good, and when he is bad ... well,
you know. Last night, he was very, very good. In fact, he was hitless through five and two thirds, and the one loping line drive he surrendered was the hapless Reds' only hit of the game. After his seven dominating innings, Mike Timlin and Keith Foulke -- err, watch your back there,
Foulkie -- tag-teamed to preserve the shutout. And all was right with the world. (More or less.)
As Nick Cafardo points out, three Red Sox starters have combined for a razor-sharp 1.64 ERA in the three games since Theo Epstein's Saturday-night pronouncement that this team would play better, by hook or by crook. "In 22 innings, they've allowed only 11 hits, 4 earned runs, and 3 walks, with 17 strikeouts. That includes starts by Tim Wakefield, Matt Clement, and Wells, who last night extended his scoreless-innings streak to 17...."
That's what we like to see. Now if only
Bronson Arroyo -- whose ERA is a towering 11.37 in his last three starts -- can get his head together, figure out what's going wrong, and make it four quality starts in a row. "Arroyo thinks it comes down to a few things," Cafardo writes. "He hasn't felt well physically, he thinks hitters have begun to figure him out, and a six-game suspension (May 17-24) broke his rhythm." If anyone can find a way to fix himself, it's the guy Schilling says has "
nuts the size of Saturn."
Speaking of Schilling: Don't look now, but he
pitched yesterday and is due in Fenway for a reevaluation today. Fingers-crossed, one step at a time, etc., etc.
Of course, as
Roseanne Rosannadanna was wont to say, "It's always something." Just as it looks like Schilling might finally be on the mend, it's revealed that Johnny Damon tried on a boot of his own yesterday to help heal his
bruised heel. He seems unfazed by the injury so far, at least, going one for four last night, hitting .377 in his past 15 games, and leading the AL with 88 hits. Not only that, but, according to Jeff Horrigan's calculations, he's hitting .455 with the bases loaded. (Edgar Renteria is hitting .462 and Kevin Millar .500, with the team as a whole batting .354 with three men on.)
Bill Mueller, meanwhile, is a whopping .600 with the bases jacked, hitting safely in two such situations last night. He and Millar also notched a couple milestones of their own, recording their 1,100th and 800th hits, respectively as they continued their six- and eight-game streaks. In Sox Blog's humble opionion, anyone who's seriously advocating trading the Pro in favor of Kevin Youkilis should really think twice about it. (In other news, Mark Bellhorn went hitless again Tuesday, but struck out for his 72nd time and still leads the majors.)
But the most gratifying thing about last night was the continuing power surge of
Manny Ramirez. He homered for the third straight game, muscling a near-miraculous long ball through the wind and over the wall in center. If he really is getting his mechanics in order and starting to heat up, Schilling can take his time getting back. We'll be fine. Sure, big questions about injury and efficacy remain for a lot of guys. And, yes, these last two wins were against the woeful Reds. But good teams are supposed to beat bad teams -- and other good teams, too. Let's take this one game at a time and enjoy the good ones when we get 'em.