Clutch 8th leads to Sox win

-- Tuesday's game could not have been any more opposite than the prior night's double-digit Fenway slugfest, quickly turning into a pitching duel between Jon Lester and Angel hurler Ervin Santana. That is until the flood gates opened up in the 8th inning to propel Boston towards a clutch 5-1 victory.

Lester looked great, going 8 innings only giving up 1 run on 5 hits, two walks and collecting 5 strikeouts. But the wall the Sox have been facing all of April has been making that extra push to get the victory in tight games.

Thanks to a 2-out, base-clearing 3-run double by Jeremy Hermida the Sox jumped ahead with plenty of breathing room in the bottom of the 8th. Before the Halos got out of the inning, Hermida was also brought in to score and make it 5-1 on a J.D. Drew RBI-single.

Other than Lester's greatness on the mound, defense was a consistent theme throughout the game. Perhaps the biggest play may not have even been Hermida's double in the gap but a huge double-play by Pedroia to escape an Angels assault in the top of the 8th.

The bases were loaded with 1 out. With Eric Aybar on first Bobby Abreu hit a rip of a grounder towards right field, but it wouldn't get there as Pedie swooped in snagged it off an extremely short hop and still had the knowledge to tag the passing Aybar before shovel passing it to Youk for the unconventional double-play to get out of the inning and sustain the 1-1 tie game at that point.

It seems that no matter how much we see of Dustin Pedroia, his skill and impact with both the bat and the glove is still underrated and underappreciated in the game of baseball. Plus he's proven time and time again to be clutch in just about any situation the Sox need him. Props Pedie, much props buddy!

Yay's:
- Tuesday's victory was at last the masterpiece breed of victory the Sox have been struggling to get. A close-fought victory against a serious contender where the Sox's pitching clicked, defense made game-saving plays, and the bats were alive enough to get it done in the clutch.

- A lot of people missed two other HUGE defensive plays that saved the day for the Sox other than Pedie's clutch double-play in the 8th. With a runner in scoring position Marco Scutaro made a running, one-hop, fading the other direction throw from the outfield grass to hose the runner at first and steal a hit from the Angels.

Then with a runner on second and third with 2 outs in the 7th Victor Martinez attempted a pickoff play at third. The thing is his throw was short by about 5 feet and inside the baseline, and if it were not for a full-body layout dive from Adrian Beltre to snag the errant throw, that runner and maybe the runner at second could've scored on the sure error.

- Papelbon looks to be in stride as well now as he come in and slammed the door without any trouble on the last three games he's appeared in.

Nay's:
- Ortiz was given yet another shot at redemption Tuesday with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the 8th. However, he grounded out into a home-to-first double play to complete his 0-4 performance for the day. Could've used ya there Papi. I feel for the guy though because he knows that more than anyone. You can bet if this trend continues we're going to keep seeing Ortiz pulled off the on-deck circle for a Mike Lowell pinch-hit in crucial game situations, which is sad, but necessary at this point.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry