I was fortunate enough to sit in the very first row of Fenway Park’s Green Monster seats last night to watch Boston dismantle Tim Hudson and the Oakland A’s. It was a thorough beating, commencing in the first inning and subsiding only when the game was well out of hand in the eighth inning.

Curt Schilling was not his typical overpowering self but he was his typical very good self. He struck out just 5 all night but only began to lose his command a bit when medicine he took to relieve pain in his ankle wore off after the fifth inning or so. Still, he finished the seventh inning and his outing with an impressive strikeout of righty killer Eric Chavez. Lenny Dinardo and Jamie Brown finished the Athletics off.

It was a remarkably upbeat game to attend. The Sox attack was methodical and consistent. Every player in the lineup contributed, except Kevin Millar of course, who stranded 9 men on base thanks to his 0-for-4 effort. Johnny Damon led the game off with a sharp single. Mark Bellhorn hit a 2-run home run off Pesky’s pole and finished with a career high 5 RBI’s. Manny hit a double fifteen feet to my left off the top of the Monster and a home run fifteen feet to my right – both wicked shots. David Ortiz smoked two doubles, Brian Daubach was on base three times, Jason Varitek had three hits, Youkilis a double and two walks and even Pokey chipped in with two hits. The Fenway faithful embraced Kevin Youkilis with chants of “Yooooouuuukkk”, almost as if to let the kid know that they were all perfectly comfortable with him playing everyday as a result of Bill Mueller’s bad news. “You’re our guy for the next six weeks,” the crowd seemed to say. “Let’s see what you got.”

Another warm moment came in the bottom of the eighth inning when Andy Dominique came to bat for the first time in a big league game. The crowd, cognizant of the fact that it was Dominique’s debut, simultaneously rose to its feet with a raucous ovation despite the game’s result being well in hand. Even feint chants of “Andy, Andy, Andy” could be heard from various Fenway sections. Dominique struck out but I still have to imagine that having 25,000 Sox fans cheering wildly for him has to rank as one of his life’s highlights.

I know it would be one of mine.

Redman and Lowe tonight. Hopefully Derek can turn things around a bit.