G14: Red Sox 6, Spiders 4

Red Sox - 100 000 113 - 6 12  0
Spiders - 000 220 000 - 4  7  1

You puny Cleveland mortals ... did last October teach you nothing? Do you not realize that you are powerless to stop the mighty Red Sox Baseball Machine?

The Sox scored a run in the first, and saw 32 Westbrook pitches. Coupled with Phil Hughes's performance last night, the Bostons have seen 71 pitches in their last two first innings.

Lester was sharp through three innings, but stumbled in the fourth (allowing four of the first five batters to reach) and fifth (five of the first six Cleveland hitters reached base). Julian Tavarez came in and struck out two Spiders to end the fifth, then pitched well through the next two innings. And then Timlin threw a perfect eighth! OMG!!1!!!

In the meantime, the Red Sox chipped away at Cleveland's 4-1 lead. Sean Casey started the seventh with a walk and was forced by Julio Lugo. Singles from Coco Crisp and Dustin Pedroia brought Lugo home and ended Westbrook's night. Rafael Betancourt struck out both David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez to end that threat.

However, Kevin Youklis opened the eighth with a solo home run to left -- and the Spiders' lead was cut to 4-3. In the ninth, facing "closer" Joe Borowski, Lugo doubled down the left field line, was bunted to third by Crisp and scored on a fly ball to left by Pedroia. Tie game 4-4. Ortiz singled to left (he finished the night 2-for-5) and Manny followed with a first-pitch home run to deep left. Youkilis doubled, but Drew struck out to end the inning.

Jonathan Papelbon made quick work of Grady Sizemore (bsc: K), Asdrubal Cabrera (bcbs: K) and Travis Hafner (b: F8) and the win was secured.

Baltimore beat Toronto 4-3, so Boston moved into second place, .5 GB the Birds. The Yankees nearly blew a 7-2 lead to Tampa, winning 8-7 to move out of the AL East basement into fourth place.

***

Jon Lester (4.50, 96 ERA+) / Jake Westbrook (2.76, 152 ERA+)

Ortiz:

I know exactly what I'm doing wrong. Everything is right here [pointing to his head]. ... I have to stop thinking too much and fighting myself. I've been there before. I've been messed up before. Big time. Big time. I know I'll be out of it at some point. It happens to all of us. I'll be all right. This game is very mental. Your mind takes over. I know in my situation, my mind works more than anything else. Once you get physically prepared your mind takes over and sometimes you're fighting, fighting, fighting [yourself]. ... The manager can see things. Terry knows what to do. I always do everything Terry tells me to do.

Jeff Horrigan has some cool tidbits, including the fact that Ortiz:

went a career-worst 0-for-27 from Sept. 26, 1998 to April 4, 2000, with Minnesota, including all 10 of his big league at-bats in 1999.

The Sox stole four bases in a game for the first time since July 19, 2003, vs. Toronto. It was the first time they had stolen four vs. New York since May 3, 1995, at Yankee Stadium. ...

Jacoby Ellsbury's first-inning steal made him 11-for-11 in the majors. He is the first Sox rookie to begin his career with 11 consecutive successful steals since Lee Tinsley swiped 15 straight from the start of the 1994 season through April 28, 1995.

Bad Man Watch: Since the start of the 2006 season, Manny Ramirez is hitting .550 with eight home runs and 24 RBI in 18 games against the Yankees at Fenway.