THE RAYS and A ONE WAY
TICKET TO "MANNY-WOOD" ...
Youk's walk-off hit finishes up
a great pitcher's duel

April 29, 2008 ... The bobble surely helped. But that's not to say that, even with a bum right knee, David Ortiz wouldn't have scored from second base on Kevin Youkilis's single into center field in the ninth inning to provide the Red Sox with an unlikely win tonight. Still, it probably was a welcome sight to have Vernon Wells box the ball around a bit as Ortiz came lumbering around the bases, the first run scored by the Red Sox in 21 innings. It gave the Sox a much-needed 1-0 win over the Blue Jays, lifting them from the ignominy of losing five straight.

It took a sensational play from Dustin Pedroia in the top half of the ninth to keep the Blue Jays off the board. He sprawled out on the dirt, on a ball that almost ripped off Jonathan Papelbon's head, to make the play on the Wells shot, just another of the fielding gems the pitching staff has come to rely on from its second baseman. When Pedroia threw out Wells at first to end the inning with a man on second, the game stayed scoreless, which was the case because of the stellar pitching performances from starters Jon Lester and Roy Halladay.

Not only did Lester start strong, going four innings before allowing a hit, he didn't seem to tire at the end. Entering the eighth having thrown only 87 pitches, Lester struck out the first two batters of the inning, both swinging. And then he ended it with yet another ground ball, this one by Gregg Zaun, to Mike Lowell at third. Halladay and Lester allowed four hits between them (one for Lester, three for Halladay) through the first eight innings, all singles. That's where it ended for Lester, though, with Papelbon coming on for the ninth.

With Halladay on the mound, a pitchers' duel is always a possibility, despite his having a record a bit below average for the former Cy Young award winner (2-3). But one wouldn't immediately think of Lester to hold down the other spot in such a duel. Though Lester has shown the ability to toss a gem, his inconsistency has been constant, with no explanation for the sort of stuff, or at least the command, he brings to the mound on a daily basis. Last night, it was certainly the good stuff.

That made two of them. It took until the final out of the fourth for a ball to be hit to the outfield by either team. Manny Ramirez got it done with a harmless fly to Wells in center. Halladay allowed his first hit to Youkilis in the second; Lester's didn't come until Lyle Overbay tipped one off the glove of the leaping Pedroia in the fifth. Overbay was immediately erased on a double play. When Youkilis stole second after his hit he became the only runner to reach second through the first six innings for either team.

Lester did continue one of his major faults, walking batters, even as he got nearly everyone else to ground out. Other than popups to first base by Scott Rolen and Aaron Hill (foul), Lester had just strikeouts and ground ball outs over the first six innings. He finally allowed his first fly ball for the third out of the seventh, when Overbay sent one to Brandon Moss in right field. But Lester did damage control well. None of the four walks issued in the first seven innings came around to score. But the lefty now has walked at least two batters in each of his starts this season. The eight innings by Jon Lester matched his career high, set July 18, 2006, against Kansas City, in which he also allowed only one hit

Still, it was almost amusing. Six-three. Six-three. Six-three. Over the first six innings, nine of the Red Sox' outs went to shortstop David Eckstein on the ground. On the other side, Lowell and Pedroia were similarly wearing out their arms, lobbing the ball over to first. Not a lot of action in the outfield. Even when Eckstein was positioned at second base, in the shift on Ortiz, the ball found him, making it four straight ground outs to short over the sixth and seventh.

Though Lowell was deemed recovered enough from strained ligaments in his left thumb to come off the DL yesterday, replacing Bryan Corey on the roster, he will continue to wear the molded plastic brace underneath his glove for the rest of the season.

The 1-0 walk-off win was the Sox' first since July 18, 1980, when they beat Minnesota on a Dave Stapleton solo homer.