Drew Does It Again

J.D. Drew is starting to make people forget about David Ortiz. Last year's whipping boy - until the huge grand slam against Cleveland - is this year's stud.

Drew had 4 more hits Wednesday afternoon, including a 3-run bomb in the 1st to set the tone, as the Sox won the rubber game of the 3-game series in Philly and finished the brief road trip 4-2.

His hot streak has gotten ridiculous. Since Big Papi was injured on May 31, Drew is batting .441 (26-for-59) with nine homers and 21 RBIs in June. He's raised his average to .327, second in the AL, and his slugging percentage is a Barry Bonds-like .601. Those are MVP numbers.

BOX SCORE: Red Sox 7, Phillies 4

The most impressive thing about Drew's tear is that he's done it when the team needed it most with Ortiz out and Manny Ramirez missing a lot of time too. He's stepped into the No. 3 slot in the lineup and the offense hasn't missed a beat.

Mike Lowell, batting cleanup with Manny out, homered right after Drew to make it 4-0 and the Sox never looked back from there.

Dustin Pedroia continued to break out of his slump with three more hits and Sean Casey, filling in again for Kevin Youkilis, got his usual two hits. Casey is just a professional hitter, raising his average to .373.

Justin Masterson has been a huge boost to the rotation, picking up his fourth win in five decisions despite not having his best stuff.

Manny Delcarmen had a big role in the victory as well, coming on in the 7th when the Phillies had cut the lead to 7-4 and had a runner on base. Delcarmen shut the door with 2 scoreless innings setting up Jonathan Papelbon for his 21st save.

The Sox have always done well in Interleague play and this year is no exception as they are now 7-2.

Lester Keeps Rolling

Jon Lester is turning into this season's most consistent starter. Another dominating performance Tuesday night against a great-hitting Phillies lineup improved Lester's record to 6-3 with a 3.18 ERA, including 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA in his last 3 starts.

He wasn't in much trouble all night, and when the Phillies did get some base runners on, Mike Lowell was there to start two inning-ending double plays.

Lester struck out Ryan Howard all three times he faced him and made him look bad in the process. He's not walking guys -- only one walk last night and two in his last 20 1/3 innings -- and he's keeping the ball down which is always a winning combination.

BOX SCORE: Red Sox 3, Phillies 0

The offense was once again led by new slugger Coco Crisp. Coco slammed his 5th home run of the season, a 2-run shot in the 2nd inning to give the Sox the early lead. It was his third homer in four games on this road trip.

Coco also singled, stole second, and scored on Julio Lugo's double in the 6th for the Sox' other run.

The Red Sox had six stolen bases Tuesday, as even Sean Casey swiped a bag. This team continues to do anything it has to do to win.

Pounded in Philly

For the first time in my life, and most likely the last, I actually agree with something that Stank Steinbrenner said -- the National League rules regarding the use of a DH suck.

The Red Sox had two golden opportunities to score early in Monday night's game, but both times Bartolo Colon, a .120 lifetime hitter who hasn't even had an at-bat in three years, struck out to end the rallies.

BOX SCORE: Phillies 8, Red Sox 2

Watching Big Bart taking his hacks was pretty comical, but it's time both leagues have the same rules. For every Micah Owings' and Carlos Zambrano's there are 50 Brett Myers' and Tim Hudson's. At least none of the Sox pitchers got hurt running the bases!

The NL purists need to face the facts - it's much easier to find a player to DH than find a pitcher who can hit. Plus, having nine legitimate hitters in a lineup makes the game more exciting and makes pitchers earn their way to quality starts.

As for the game, Big Bart got shelled early by the Phillies' big hitters. Jimmy Rollins led off the 1st with a bomb to right, then three batters later Ryan Howard hit an opposite-field 2-run homer. Howard hit another one out to left in the 3rd. Both shots probably would have been singles off the Wall in Fenway.

The lone bright spot on offense for the Sox was Dustin Pedroia who busted out of his lump falling a triple short of the cycle. Dustin blasted a solo shot in the 5th and J.D. Drew followed that with another bomb to cut the lead to 4-2. It was the 8th time this year the Sox have hit back-to-back homers.

One inning later the game was essentially over as Mike Timlin was pounded for 4 runs in 2/3 of an inning. Even after the Phillies scored two runs, Francona left Timlin in to face Howard who hit a blast to center off Ellsbury's glove for a triple and two more runs.

Hideki Okajima pitched a perfect 8th inning. Hopefully this will get him back on track.

Strong Finish to the Weekend

No Manny. No Papi. No problem.

After dropping the series opener to the Reds Friday night, the Sox bounced back in a big way with a dramatic 10-inning victory on Saturday and a dominating rout on Sunday.

Manny Ramirez rested his sore hamstring both days, but the Sox got big contributions from just about everybody, especially Kevin Youkilis, Coco Crisp, J.D. Drew and Jacoby Ellsbury.

Coco homered in both games, as he's gotten hot just at the right time. This seems to be a running theme with this year's team -- whenever somebody goes out or struggles, someone else comes in and picks up the team. This is exactly what championship tams do, and is very reminiscent of the 2004 team.

BOX SCORE: Red Sox 6, Reds 4 (10 innings)
BOX SCORE: Red Sox 9, Reds 0

Ellsbury on first base has to be one of the scariest sights any catcher can see these days. The guy is just stealing bases at will. The Sox have never had a guy that can dominate a game on the bases like this. He is going to shatter Tommy Harper's Red Sox record for steals in a season, the AL rookie record for steals in a season, and is on his way to leading the Majors in steals.

J.D. Drew keeps hammering the ball and is the team MVP to this point in the season. He is doing everything -- a lot like Mike Lowell did a year ago.

And then there's Youk. He had to be nervous and pressing coming into the series with the Reds. Playing in front of hundreds of friends and family in his home town against the team he grew up rooting for, all he did was go 3-for-5 with the game-winning home run in the 10th on Saturday. I think he was even more excited when Coco followed with a back-to-back shot to give the Sox a 2-run cushion.

The pitching was solid both days with the exception of the usually reliable Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon on Saturday. Okajima is definitely not the pitcher he was last season. Francona might want to rest him a bit and use him more against just lefties until he works his way out of this slump.

Paps got tagged with a game-tying homer in the 9th on Saturday for his third blown save of the season. Those things will happen to closers and he will undoubtedly bounce right back.

The good news out of the bullpen is the rest of the guys seem to be back on track. Manny Delcarmen has looked good for a couple of weeks now, Craig Hansen has been better and even Mike Timlin has had a couple of good appearances in a row.

Tim Wakefield had another solid start on Saturday and Josh Beckett was lights out on Sunday. He has been dominant against the National League since coming to the Sox, so hopefully he'll get a on a roll these next couple of weeks.

Boston heads to Philadelphia now where some are calling it a World Series preview. I wouldn't go that far just yet, but the Phillies have a really good team with some big hitters so the Red Sox will have their work cut out for them.

Road Trip Starts With a Dud

The Red Sox offense could never get untracked against Cincinnati Reds right-hander Aaron Harang Friday night as the Sox dropped another road game in the Interleague opener.

The futility on the road has officially become a major concern as Boston is now 14-21 away from Fenway, the worst road record in the division.

It's hard to understand because this team is so well-rounded and is able to play different styles depending on the circumstances of the game, so being in a different ballpark shouldn't affect them. With two more games in Cincinnati followed by three in Philadelphia the Sox will be lucky to split the road trip.

BOX SCORE: Red 3, Red Sox 1

The lack of offense spoiled another solid outing from Justin Masterson. This kid has been huge for the staff. He gave up a couple of solo homers, but pitched well enough for the win.

Manny Ramirez provided the Sox with their only run with a single off the wall in the 4th inning that scored Jacoby Ellsbury who had doubled earlier, but the offense managed just three other hits besides those two.

Manny's hit tied it 1-1, but Masterson gave the lead right back to the Reds allowing two runs in the bottom of the inning. It's always a key for a pitcher to shut down the opposing team's offense after your team scores, but he couldn't do it.

The Cincinnati crowd gave Sean Casey a standing ovation during his first at-bat. Casey broke in with the Reds and played seven seasons with them. They have some classy fans there in the Queen city.

Kevin Youkilis should be back in the lineup tomorrow. It's a huge series for him as well. Youk grew up a Reds fan in Cincinnati and will have many friends and family at the game.

Boston's Tenth Homer Club

Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis and J.D. drew each belted their 10th home run of the season as the Sox took the rubber game of the 3-game series with the Orioles.

The big blast was Lowell's second grand slam of the season which gave the Sox a commanding 5-0 lead in the 5th. The Monster shot came after the Orioles intentionally walked Manny Ramirez to load the bases. This is just what Lowell did last year and exactly what the Sox need to continue to cover up for the absence of Big Papi.

Jon Lester had a great start going 7 strong innings for his 5th win of the season.

BOX SCORE: Red Sox 9, Orioles 2

Drew continued his ridiculous hot streak, going 2-for-4 with the 2-run homer. He is now 18-for-36 with six homers and 15 RBIs since Ortiz got injured. Drew has raised his average to .324 - 2nd in the American League.

Manny Delcarmen pitched a perfect 8th inning with 2 strikeouts and Mike Timlin had a perfect 9th with 1 K. I like that Francona went back to Timlin a night after he was lit up. The bullpen has really picked it up of late after a slow start.

Big First Inning Leads to Win for Big Bart

After jumping out to a 5-0 first-inning lead, it looked like it was going to be a laugher Wednesday night, but the offense didn't do much after that and the bullpen almost blew it the 9th as the Sox held on for a 6-3 win over the Orioles.

Bartolo Colon bounced back from his worst outing of the year to improve to 4-1. The big man looked good all night, going 6 strong innings allowing just 1 run on 5 hits and striking out 7.

The victory evened the season series with the pesky Birds at 4 games apiece.

BOX SCORE: Red Sox 6, Orioles 3

J.D. Drew had another big hit, doubling down the line to score Ellsbury with the first run of the game. A few batters later, Jason Varitek capped the inning with a 3-run shot over the Monster to make it 5-0. It was Tek's 7th homer of the season and first hitting right-handed.

Reports after the game said Tek isn't feeling well and most likely will get the day off on Thursday.

Mike Lowell also homered in the 6th to make it 6-1.

It got a little dicey in the 9th. Mike Timlin started the inning with a 5-run lead, but was tagged for 3 hits and a couple of runs, forcing Jonathan Papelbon to have to come in and get the final out for his 19th save of the season and making his fantasy owners very happy.

In Timlin's defense, he should have gotten out of the game after allowing just one run, but Dustin Pedroia couldn't handle a hot shot by Adam Jones that would have ended the game.

Despite getting a couple of hits Tuesday night, Dustin went 0-for-4 again and is still scuffling at the plate. His struggles have carried over into the field too as he has committed a couple of errors in the last few weeks. Being the pro that he is, it's just a matter of time until he breaks out of it.