Red Sox 6
Tampa Bay 0

As Scott Kazmir prepared to face the Red Sox for the 4,241,836th time this season, he carried with him a microscopic post All-Star break ERA of 1.01, and an ERA of 1.50 against Boston. Much to the relief of everyone, the Sox offense was aggressive out of the gate, and jumped out to an early lead off of the young lefty. Tim Wakefield would only need one run, as he continued his utter dominance of the Devil Rays, winning his 15th game of the year in grand fashion.

The manner of this victory made me consider a few of the big surprises on the 2007 Boston Red Sox. Let’s ignore the obvious Hideki Okajima for a moment, since he did not pitch last night, and I’ll ignore DUstin Pedroia for a moment (because we all are aware of his amazing season). Three other very pleasant surprises, if not as heralded as Oki and Pedroia, include the following:

Mike Lowell: The offensive hero from last night is hitting .311/.366/.498 and now leads the team in RBI, an impressive feat considering the two perennial superstars in the middle of the lineup. He has also played excellent defense after recovering from his odd early season glove-farts.

Tim Wakefield: Now tied with the league lead in victories (John Lackey and teammate Josh Beckett also have 15), and is two victories away from his personal best of 17. At age 41 and now with 166 wins in his career, it is not out of the realm of possibilities that he walks away from the came ~age 45 after reaching the 200 milestone.

Mike Timlin: The Deer Hunter has been an enigma wrapped in a mystery this season, as his K-rate is extremely low (19 in 41 innings). At the beginning of the year (and the end of last season) it appeared that Mike was in need of a retirement party, but his season can now be divided into 2 sections: April-June (18.1 IP, 23 hits, 5.89 ERA) and July-August (21.2 IP, 10 hits, 0.83 ERA).

Tonight, Jon Lester (1-0, 5.14) looks to build off of his terrific start last week, and will take on a rookie who gave the Sox a bit of trouble the last time they locked horns, Andy Sonnanstine (2-8, 6.17).