Red Sox 11, Nationals 3
As dominating of a performance by an offense as you will see (actually that’s a bit of hyperbole as it was just the 2nd most dominating by a Sox club on this night), the Sox put up a .436/.500/.615 line tonight against the Nats. The usual suspects chipped in, as Kevin Youkilis, Manny Ramirez and Trot Nixon each had very good games but what I found most encouraging were the two productive nights that a couple of guys who have struggled of late contributed. Coco Crisp had two hits including his first Fenway Park home run as a Red Sox while Mark Loretta had three hits and three RBI. Also encouraging was the rock-solid performance turned in by Tim Wakefield. The only unfortunate take-away from the evening was that Terry Francona is no closer to having answers to the questions he faces regarding his bullpen. Craig Hansen, despite flashing some electric stuff, really wasn’t very good.
Still, it all added up to a cakewalk victory and the Sox were able to notch their fifth straight triumph. It will be Shawn Hill and Jon Lester tomorrow evening at Fenway.