Ho Hum. Another Day, Another Solid Win.

This time it was Jon Lester.

Seriously, has there been any other question during the Red Sox' weekend cruise of a three-game sweep of the Rays? First, Clay Buchholz stifled the Tampa Bay bats. Then Josh Beckett, whose outing was almost rough by his exemplary standards. Sunday? Must be Lester's turn. Well, for a second-straight outing, the youngster delivered. In a big way.


Sure, Terry Francona pulled him after six innings, a move that seems to be growing on Tito more and more. Maybe it's residual blowback from leaving Daisuke Matsuzaka in far too long in far too many games last year. The same could be said for at least one of Lester's losses already this year. Whatever the reason, Tito sent Lester to the showers after the sixth, bringing on Manny Delcarmen, whose personal disaster reached code orange this afternoon with his two-run, 0.1 inning outing.

Luckily, Boston has immaculate fire extinguishers like Hideki Okajima in the bullpen. Luckily, Boston has Jonathan Papelbon behind him to close out wins. Luckily, Boston has Kevin Youkilis crushing the ball on cue, putting a little more space into a game that was a lot tighter than the final score made it look.

Luckily, the Red Sox have looked dominant at Fenway Park so far. Now, if they can find a way to keep that form in Detroit's Comerica Park the next few nights, that might be something.

STARTING PITCHING: √+
Six full innings, one run. Another big day for Jon Jon, who improved to 4-0 in day games during his career with the win. Sure, his control wasn't stupendous, but coming off a one-hitter, Lester kept his personal momentum going with a second-straight, efficient and effective win. That's exactly what Boston needs from him going forward, as the lefty gains confidence and more punch with each win.

MIDDLE RELIEF: -
Manny Delcarmen, we hardly know ye. Clearly, this is not the Delcarmen of 2007, a shut-down middle reliever who used a fastball down in the zone to overpower and handcuff hitters. That  become more certain than ever with Delcarmen's brutal one-third of an inning Sunday. The only question remaining now is how to fix Little Manny. A brief respite in the minors doesn't seem like a fix at the moment, and could easily be more deflating than anything else for the MDC. Mop up duty? That's a possibility. But that would require Mike Timlin looking more like the Timlin of '05 than his current "yet to be fully fit" vintage. Still, we'll see if that's what eventually happens. Certainly wouldn't be a shock at this point.

SET-UP RELIEF: √+
Okie comes in, takes care of Delcarmen's mess and then goes into the eighth. If Hinske's dribbler goes foul, he probably gets out of that inning, too, helping the Sox avoid an eighth inning call to Paps. Still, another predictably terrific outing from one of WMYM's true savior-sans.

CLOSER: √+
A two-inning save? For most pitchers, that would be a serious labor of some 30-odd pitches. At least. Not Paps. Four outs? Try 15 pitches. His efficiency gets more and more stunning each outing, and can only bode very, very well for things going forward.

LINEUP: √
The last two nights have been about Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Julio Lugo. Well, those guys created trouble again today, but Sunday afternoon was a Youkilis star turn. The first baseman tied a career-high with 4 RBIs, three of them late (including that seventh inning jimmy jack into the center field bleachers). It looks a lot like Youk needed a Fenway stint to break out of a mini-slump, and it seems hard to argue that he's still mired in one after the later stages of that victory. Now he'll get a chance to try and replicate the results in Detroit and Minnesota, both very different ballparks and atmospheres than the Fens. Should be an interesting trend to monitor.

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