Lackey: Getting In On The Fun

Well, goodness. What do I say? Second straight game of 8 innings from the starter. If Jon had just gone two more innings on Friday, it would have been four in a row. Lackey wasn't quite as good as Dice-K (did I really just type that? Am I in bizarro world again?!), allowing six hits during his eight scoreless innings, but he allowed fewer walks - one compared to Dice's three. Does it matter who was better, though? Yes. Yes it does. Dice won the ace card for the week, John. You're welcome to try again next week. Still, very solid pitching and another really good outing from our starter. Maybe Theo isn't as stupid as I give him credit for? Maybe I can actually enjoy this team and not be in pain all season! Hopeful!

While the game was on TV at my house, I'll be lying if I said I watched it. Easter dinner at my house, so there was a lot of cooking to be done. Strangely enough, I could actually hear Crawford's smile from the kitchen after he hit his first home run of the season, a two-run job that brought Ortiz home. His smile was really loud. It called me away from the spinach to see what was going on.... and it was worth seeing... despite my love of spinach. Carl was beaming. It was a tremendous sight after the first few weeks of defeat and misery that had been all over his face. It looks like Carl's luck might be turning around. I hope so. He's got a nice smile and he deserves to use it more often.

Know who else has a nice smile? Papi. Papi's smile makes the world go round. Papi's only hit of the day came on an RBI single in the first inning, but it sounded pretty delightful. Actually, I appreciated that the Sox got the scoring started early, posting a 3-spot on the board in the first (Ernie doubled in Ells, and Cam's one-out ground out brought Youkilis home). Top of the fifth, Munchkin's sac fly brought Scutaro home. In the 7th, Scutaro came around to score again, this time on an RBI Ernie single, bringing the score up to 7-0, which would be the final. I just can't hate on anyone in this game. It was a solid thumping, and we needed it so badly.

So here we sit, one game away from .500, no longer in the AL east basement. Instead, we can look down on two other teams below us for the first time this season. It feels pretty good to be putting more and more distance between that 2-10 start and this current team who suddenly can win games. Yup, I enjoy winning. Based on Crawford's smile, I would guess that our boys do too. Off-day Monday, followed by Dahmer trying to carry the torch of great starts forward into Baltimore. Ah, it's good to be home.