Clay Can Clean: Sweeping the Dodgers Away

Oh, I know these post titles verge on ridiculous at times, but our little Dahmer managed to complete the sweep of the big, bad Dodgers. I'm allowed to be ridiculous. In all fairness, I'm sure I'd be more ridiculous if he had lost, but it wouldn't whimsical ridiculousness. It would be angry ridiculousness. So, Dahmer wasn't at his best. I know, seems like a stupid thing to say in a game where he managed to keep the Dodgers off the board, but he really wasn't. He threw 106 pitches in 6.2 innings, walked three, and hit two batters. Consider in the top of the first, he had the bases loaded with one out after two of those walks and a Manny Ramirez (there's that name again) single. He had to throw thirty pitches in the first inning alone to get out of that jam unscathed, but he did it. So no, he wasn't at his best but he was still damn good. Maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe.

And yet, Pedroia was the story of the game again. Isn't he always? In the first, after a ground ball single, Pedroia decided to steal second. When Russell Martin failed to throw cleanly, Munchkin jumped up and moved to third. Sure it only counts as one stolen base, but still... he came around to score. In the third, after another single, Pedroia steals second again. Unfortunately, our mighty Munchkin was stranded there, but he wasn't done. Do you know what he did in the 8th? Yeah you do, you were watching. In the 8th, Pedroia tripled. Yup. He tripled. All that talk the next day about Pedroia showing off his wheels? That was why. He was fun to watch. Hell, he's always fun to watch. Out of the seven hits the Sox had for the day, Pedroia had three of them, AND two stolen bases. He may not have been directly responsible for the runs, but he definitely provided the energy that the team needed. Pedroia's good like that.

Other notable performances? No one. No one is going to outshine Dahmer or Munchkin from this game. Sox finished with the sweep on a day when the Yankees won and Tampa lost. These pesky Sox have been inching closer and closer to the top of the AL east, and have one of the best records in baseball. No one saw that coming in April, did they? Ok, so I'm sure a lot of you did. I didn't. I was expecting just to root on a .500 team, but luckily, they've rewarded a lot of loyalty from their fans by playing the best baseball since April 20th. Glad to see there's some life in these guys after all!