Big Wins Come in 8s

For the past two days, they've come in the eighth inning. Not just that, they've come via the bat of Manny Ramirez, who -- after a .225 start to July in Tampa Bay and Yankee Stadium -- has done a pretty good job making up for a poor start to the month. Monday it came via an eighth inning single that scored the game's only run. Tuesday, it came in a much larger and stronger package, with a two-run blast pulling the Sox into a 5-5 tie, a deadlock which was broken two batters later after a Kevin Youkilis double on a single by Brandon Moss, a player who continues to pick his spots admirably.

In fact, Moss may be picking his spots so admirably that he might be prime trade bait over the next couple of weeks.

That's a story for the future, not one for a deceptively important night after a second-straight Red Sox win over a Twins team that entered as hot as anyone in the major leagues. They'll exit with a lost series, and will have to beat Josh Beckett to get a win out of a three-game set.

As the case turned out, they should have beaten Jon Lester on Tuesday, a day in which he toggled between brilliance and the kind of scuffles that pockmarked his previous tenures in the major leagues. Occasionally, when listening to a play-by-play team on the radio or TV, one of the announcers will just get it right. That was the case Tuesday, when Dave O'Brien, one half of the WEEI radio crew and a weekly ESPN TV play-by-play man, said that Lester was, "just a little off tonight." It's true. While Lester was absolutely dominant over the first three innings, he was lucky to get out of the fourth allowing just three runs. He got things back under control in the fifth and sixth, but found himself struggling again in both the seventh and eighth before being relieved and bailed out by David Aardsma, who earned the win in relief.

Was the performance a bit schizophrenic? Sure, but it was hardly Lester's worst. In fact, by going deep into the game, the second consecutive night a Sox starter has lasted long enough to avoid using more than one reliever as a bridge to closer Jonathan Papelbon, Lester ensured that the Boston bullpen would be all but completely fresh for Wednesday's series finale, Papelbon aside.


Still, Ramirez was the story again, as the outfielder-come-DH showed that he can get himself re-tracked as quickly as he slips off the rails. After the win, Terry Francona reflected on Ramirez's bomb the way he's reflected on missing Big Papi from the lineup, with a proverbial, "sometimes you just need a home run."

On Tuesday, the Red Sox needed a home run. They got one, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

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