Sox Win, Rays Lose

The Red Sox wake up today with a 1 1/2 game lead in the AL East after their slugfest win in Houston & the Rays loss in Arizona. The Sox used a "kiddie" core of pitchers in Wright, Workman, Britton & de la Rosa. Wright & Workman gave up 9 runs. Britton & de la Rosa closed the game out better than the first two. The Sox win 15-10 as they outslugged the Astros. Jacoby Ellsbury had 2 home runs, the 2nd one landing in the upper deck in right. Jonny Gomes comes off the bench & hits a 3-run homer, adding an RBI single later to drive in 4 on the night. David Ortiz reachs base 5 times, 4 singles & 1 walk. Shane Victorino added 3 hits. All in all, a good night for the top of the order. Some games are won by pitching & defense, others by offense. This was definitely an offensive win. Good news is a number of bullpen arms got rested & the starting rotation gets an extra day of rest. I stayed up to see Rubby de la Rosa close the game & he did not disappoint. If the plan is for Rubby to be a future closer, he certainly has the stuff as his fastball maxed out at 98 to go along with a nasty cutter & change. 2 strikeouts in a clean 9th inning. Dempster goes tonight for the series win.