G69: Red Sox 11, Nationals 3

Ten of the 14 Red Sox batters faced by Livan Hernandez reached base -- and six of them scored. Boston led 8-0 after four innings, giving some support for Tim Wakefield, who, except for a four-batter hiccup to start the sixth inning, pitched extremely well (6-4-1-1-4, 103).

The rout was a balanced attack: Mark Loretta, Trot Nixon and Alex Cora had three hits apiece; Coco Crisp and Ramirez each had two hits; and Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell walked twice. ... Every Boston starter scored a run -- except David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, which is somewhat odd.

After Wakefield, Julian Tavarez pitched the seventh and Craig Hansen -- called up as Jermaine Van Buren was sent down -- pitched the eighth and ninth.

Media Moron Moment: Before tonight, I had never listened to a game called by Bob Carpenter and Tom Paciorek. These guys were cringingly bad. Hearing them offer nothing but praise for Tavarez's pitching abilities was strange and I chuckled at Carpenter's mid-game comment that "Florida is about to win their 9th game in a row -- they're up 6-0 in the 5th, so they've got a long way to go ..." Mmmmmmmm, that's good stupidity! [/artfern]

But what was most annoying was both men announced the game like a couple of ignorant nine-year-olds. How many times did one of them say: "Well, if X hits a double here and then Y goes yard, then the Nats are right back in this"? I truly lost count. Then if X made an out, they both would insist the game was completely out of reach and Washington had better look forward to tomorrow. This went on all night long.

Also: Ryan Howard (2 home runs, triple) drove in all seven of Philadelphia's runs, but the Yankees rallied for a 9-7 victory (Bernie Williams went 5-for-5). Boston's lead remains at two games. Toronto beat Atlanta 6-5; the Jays are 3.5 out.

***

Livan Hernandez (5.18) / Tim Wakefield (3.97), 7 PM

Youkilis, 1B    Soriano, LF
Loretta, 2B     Vidro, 2B
Ortiz, DH       Guillen, RF
Ramirez, LF     Anderson , DH
Nixon, RF       Zimmerman, 3B
Lowell, 3B      Fick, 1B
Crisp, CF       Clayton, SS
Mirabelli, C    Schneider, C
Cora, SS        Byrd, CF

Hernandez faces Boston for the second time in his career. In his last start, he threw a season-high 138 pitches. (Mike Lowell is hitting .362 (17-for-47) against Hernandez.)

Wakefield continues to get paltry run support from his mates (3.79 runs per start versus 5.72 runs per start for all other Boston pitchers). Wakefield has not allowed more than three earned runs in his last four outings, but he has received credit for only one win.