Red Sox Take Win and Series against Phillies

The Boston Red Sox showed just how good they were after wrapping up their interleague series with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Red Sox won the series with the Phillies, and also matched the Phillies in runs produced with 12.

They defeated the "team to beat" and without the help of stars David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Manny Ramirez, Josh Beckett, and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Obviously, Ortiz is still recovering from his wrist injury, Youkilis has had a bad back of late, Beckett's turn in the rotation just did not come up in the series, and Matsuzaka has been recovering from a bad shoulder.

But Manny Ramirez played. He just did not produce. He and Jacoby Ellsbury were, for the most part, non-influential.

Instead, the offense was picked up by Dustin Pedroia, J.D. Drew, and Sean Casey.

For game three of the series, as I reached my seat near the right field foul pole, I found out that Manny Ramirez would not be in the lineup. This fact deeply concerned me, as now there was just J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell as home run threats.

But, the Red Sox did not seem to need Manny in the lineup, and showed this emphatically by consecutive base hits to lead off the top of the first from Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia. Then, amid the boos and battery signs, J.D. Drew crushed a Kyle Kendrick fastball into right center field for a three run home run.

Drew was followed by Mike Lowell, who then belted a 2-1 changeup into the left field seats to make it a 4-0 lead in the first. And still with nobody out.

The bottom of the inning saw the Phillies manufacture a run off of Justin Masterson by means of a walk to Shane Victorino, a ground out by Chase Utley, and a single by Ryan Howard.

The now three run lead for the Red Sox would be the closest the Phillies got to tying the score for the rest of the game.

The Sox struck again in the top of the third, when Brandon Moss (pinch hitting for Coco Crisp [sore hand]) belted a bases loaded, two out, two RBI double scoring J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell.

The Red Sox struck once more in the top of the fourth, courtesy of J.D. Drew's RBI single that scored Dustin Pedroia from second.

While the Red Sox were busy building a lead, Justin Masterson was doing his best to protect it, going five innings, scattering four hits, two earned runs, two walks, and striking out one.

In Masterson's last inning, the Phillies manufactured another run on Jayson Werth's grounding into a fielder's choice.

Javier Lopez came in for the sixth inning, and did not give anything to the Phillies' 4-5-6 hitters.

It was in the seventh that the Phillies made one last, desperate rally. They were patient at the plate, and as a result roughed up reliever Craig Hansen. Hansen's ERA jumped from 4.82 to 5.79, by allowing a walk, and two hits to produce two runs without recording an out.

Manny Delcarmen was quickly called in to replace Hansen, and the combination of Delcarmen and Jonathan Papelbon, pitched no-hit baseball for the rest of the game to shut down the rally, and close out the series.

In my mind this series showed just how good the Boston Red Sox really are. They were able to stay with, and beat out the Phillies for most of the 27 innings played, with the exception being the entirety of game one.

They were able to produce enough runs to give their young starters Jon Lester and Justin Masterson room to make mistakes, and in both cases the lead was never lost.

The bullpen also pitched superbly in games two and three, using a combination of Lopez, Hideki Okajima, Delcarmen, and Papelbon to effectively shut down the Phillies hitters.

The Red Sox have the day off thursday, befoe heading back to the familiar confines of Fenway to face off against the upstart St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks.

One last bit of good news: Daisuke Matsuzaka is penciled in as the starter Saturday against the Cards, and will take Bartolo Colon's spot in the rotation.