...just kidding. Please come back. ADRIAN! ADRIAN! ADRIAAAAN!!
Amidst all the uncertainty surrounding the Gonzalez/Crawford/Beckett trade to the Dodgers the Sox played a pretty solid game of baseball, beating the Royals 4-3.
Lester won his third straight game, and dropped his ERA below 5 in the process. So, hooray for that. It was another night where he wasn't in total control, but did enough to get through the Kansas City lineup. He left the game in the 8th with what I'm assuming is a hamstring injury. He grabbed the back of his leg after throwing a pretty poor pitch, so it doesn't look good. At least we don't have to worry about him being out for any time of playoff push. He ended the night with 6 K's, 4 walks and surrendered the 3 Royals runs.
Once Lester was pulled, Valentine wanted to make sure he didn't leave any reliever in too long so Padilla, Miller and Bailey were each responsible for an out in the 8th. Bailey stayed in and finished off the 9th, getting his first save as a member of the Boston Red Sox. And if you squint just right as he's on the mound, he almost looks like Papelbon.
Sox batters left a bunch of guys on base, but you probably already guessed that would happen. The big story of the night - other than, you know, the Sox trading away the best player to come to Boston in quite some time just so they could dump some salaries - was the return of David Ortiz. Papi didn't disappoint, hitting a two-run single in the first, and following that up with a double in the third. Ciriaco had himself a two-hit, two RBI night as well, with the two RBI's coming on a nifty little double where he popped a ball well out of the strike zone right over 3rd base. He then stole third just because he's Pedro Ciriaco and he can seemingly steal bases at will. Ellsbury also had a two-hit night, but struck out instead of driving Ciriaco home. Ryan Lavarnway even got a hit!
Regardless of everything else swirling around Fenway right now, winning ballgames is fun. Let's do that more often.
