Another fantastic win for the Sox as they put up a 9-spot on the Orioles while limiting a pretty good offense to just three runs. Tim Wakefield was good, going six solid innings while Julian Tavarez, Mike Timlin and Rudy Seanez combined for some quality, albeit low-leverage work to close out the game.

This victory was Boston’s fifth in its last seven games, a span over which they have averaged more than seven runs per contest. Not coincidentally, Wily Mo Pena has started in each and every one of these games. Pena went two-for-four last night with a couple of singles, runs and RBI. Pena is currently hitting .328/.365/.537. He had plenty of help. Manny Ramirez notched his first “holy shit” home run of the year, a moonshot he launched off the tops of his shoes and well into a delightful Boston dusk. Don’t look now but Ramirez is now at .302/.443/.485. Even though he went hitless, Mike Lowell chipped in three bases on balls and now is at .343/.407/.552. Remember how I told you Boston had all those candidates to improve? Well in Kevin Youkilis, Pena and Lowell, they now have some regression candidates too. And that’s fine, it’s how the ebb and flow of a baseball season works. What was great for the Sox was that they were able to store away some wins early without playing good baseball. Now they’re hitting their stride a bit, and have done so without a ton of help from David Ortiz, who has hit at a .208/.296/.500 clip over the lase seven games. The nonsense you hear about the Red Sox somehow compromising offense for the sake of pitching and defense was incorrect for those who trotted it out during the off-season and now just revisionist coming from those saying it now. This Red Sox offense is tremendous, it just hasn’t been thus far.

This afternoon, Lenny DiNardo and Kris Benson square off at Fenway for Boston’s last tilt before they head to the Bronx. And in case you haven’t noticed, the Bombers are rolling these days.

I too will be in NYC for a couple of weeks, and hopefully at the Stadium for one of these Sox games. I will not be posting often, if at all, but Jeff and Mullet will be chiming in with their thoughts. Enjoy!