Red Sox 4, Cardinals 3. This afternoon. Box:

Red Sox    200  011  000 -  4  9  1

Cardinals  200  000  100 -  3  5  3

The Red Sox struck first on David Ortiz's two-run, first-inning homer off Matt Morris. The Cardinals quickly got the runs back on Albert Pujols's sacrifice fly and Scott Rolen's RBI single. Byung-Hyun Kim yielded those runs and three hits in 2.1 innings and was pulled after reaching his 45-pitch limit. Boston went ahead 3-2 in the fifth when Johnny Damon scored on Brian Daubach's double. In the 6th, Doug Mirabelli scored from first when Ray Lankford couldn't handle Terry Shumpert's fly to deep left field. The Cardinals closed the gap in the seventh when Kerry Robinson singled home Kevin Witt. Jason Shiell picked up the win and Anastacio Martinez got the save.

Before I forget: Oakland beat Anaheim last Saturday 26-3. I like 20+ run games.

Following up on Pedro's comment that an average pitcher should need only 110-115 pitches to throw a complete game, I looked at his CG for the past 3 seasons.

DATE     OPP   IP  H  R ER BB   K  PIT  SCORE

5/24/01  @NYY   8  6  2  2  3  12  120  Yankees 2-1

6/14/02  @Atl   8  8  2  2  1   5  110  Atlanta 2-1

8/16/02  @Min   8  8  5  3  1  10  108  Twins 5-0

5/ 3/03  vMin   9  5  1  1  0  12  107  Red Sox 9-1

8/ 6/03  vAna   9 10  2  1  1  11  128  Red Sox 4-2

9/16/03  vTB    9  6  2  2  1   6  122  Red Sox 3-2

I suppose this really doesn't show much of anything, since Pedro threw 110+ pitches many times since 2001 and did not go the distance. But he did have low pitch counts in 3 of the 6 games listed. ... I'm not 100% sure the first game listed was a CG (however, Pedro threw only 1 in 2001 and after looking at his log, this is the most likely outing). On 8/6/03, he allowed one of the two runs in the 9th inning. In the 9/16/03 game, he led 1-0 after 7 innings, but allowed the tying run in the 8th. Boston went ahead 3-1 in the bottom half, then Pedro allowed another run in the top of the 9th, but held on for the victory. He was probably pretty gassed to be scored on like that by the Devil Rays. ... If he is kept on a strict limit this season -- and with the current Sox pen, there is no reason why not -- he'll throw one complete game, two at the most.