The Red Sox looked pretty crappy coming off the All-Star Break last weekend and although there were some encouraging signs over the course of this week, I am not sure a series of close wins against the Royals and a sloppy victory against Texas did much to change that. The wins were nice but the Sox were not playing the sort of baseball that we would all like to see them playing.

Last night was different. The Red Sox got a decent outing from Kyle Snyder, some mostly solid bullpen work and banged out five home runs en route to a 9-4 victory that has to rank among the most complete efforts Boston has turned in all season long. I think I will take the opportunity to mention the five home run hitters and say a little piece about each one.

David Ortiz: After a brief slow-down in June, he is back locked and loaded and looking as damn fierce at the plate as any time I can remember as a Red Sox. His .309/.427/.809 July line is just absurd and with 33 home runs now on the season, one has to wonder what the end total might look like. Should be a fun side-story to keep an eye on down the stretch.

Alex Gonzalez: A punchline in April and May and an honest-to-goodness, bona fide superstar ever since. He has been one of the very best shortstops defensively all season long, and has posted a .896 and .910 OPS in June and July respectively. Let me say it again. For darn close to two months now, Alex Gonzalex has been playing like nothing short of a superstar.

Jason Varitek: He has been bad this year. Bad on a stand-alone basis, catastrophic when you start thinking about the additional $24 million or so the Red Sox owe this guy. We all knew this was coming - mid-30’s catchers regress after all - but I didn’t think it would happen this soon and I didn’t think it would happen this precipitously. Fortunately for the Red Sox, most other teams employ shitty catchers too so while Varitek has been bad, he is only marginally worse than the American League catchers not named Joe Mauer and Ramon Hernandez. I still have hopes for Varitek, however, and who knows - maybe his home run last night will be the start of something?

Kevin Youkilis: After leading the charge for three months, Youkilis has been the very worst regular on the team in July. The .950 on-base inflated OPS version of Youk may have been too much to ask all along but this .600 OPS business we have been witnessing is altogether temporary. Maybe fatigue has set in a bit - he hasn’t played this much baseball ever in his life - or maybe it was just inevitable mean reversion for a good but not great player. Whatever has been the cause, I look forward to Kevin regaining that solid stroke and tremendous approach that made him one of the AL’s very best players through June (he was 2-4 with a HR and a walk last night). To his credit, Youkilis has not altered his patient ways at the plate one bit. He still sees as many pitches as any other hitter in the AL, just as he had when the going wasn’t so tough.

Manny Ramirez: Having an MVP caliber season and nobody really feels like talking about it. I love David Ortiz and boy has he provided me with some happy moments as a Boston Red Sox fan but Manny has been significantly better than Papi this season.

Papi: .277/.388/.605
Manny: .312/.434/.617

Manny’s having one of the very best seasons of his career this year and it’s time some people took notice.

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Kason Gabbard makes his Major League debut later on this afternoon for the Red Sox. He will oppose Felix Hernandez. Gabbard has been tremendous in Portland this season and although he got a little roughed up in his five starts with Pawtucket, his peripherals remained solid. Safeco Field and a team going with Carl Everett as its Designated Hitter sounds like a nice way to dip your toe into the Major League waters.