Sox rock the Halladay

Ty Hampton
Sox Swaggerista

The Red Sox jumped all over NL ace Roy Halladay in an 8-3 road clobbering of the Phillies.

The Sox took 2 of 3 from the Phillies in this Philadelphia series, proving that they do indeed still have the pitching and the bats to make some serious runs this season. Lookout Rays and Yanks – we’re gunnin’ for ya!

Halladay hit the showers early Sunday after only 5-2/3 innings, his shortest outing of the season. The Cy Young Award Winner and ace for the NL champion Phillies gave up 8 hits and 5 runs to the Sox in a very, very short time frame.

This is not uncommon for Roy when the Sox are in town, having a 14-15 record against Boston.

On the other side of the mound, 43-year-old Tim Wakefield threw 8 innings of shutout baseball, with a strikeout and only giving up 5 hits to improve to 1-2 with a 4.44 ERA. Wake also threw only 99 pitches, 62 for strikes – this is a knuckleball pitcher were talking about here remember. Amazing.

Red Sox Record: (24-21)

Tomorrow’s matchup: Clay Bucholz (5-3, 3.26 ERA) vs. Wade Davis (4-3, 3.35 ERA)
-Tuesday’s matchup: Jon Lester () vs. James Shields ()
-Wednesday’s matchup: John Lackey vs. Matt Garza ()

Yay’s:
- Kevin Youkilis is a true beast of Viking lore! A home run (9), triple, and a walk – the 2 hits being off of Halladay. I’d say Youk’s got his number alright. Good for my Sox and even better for my fantasy team. Gotta love this guy.

- A 4-run 6th inning for the Sox was what really broke the dam and opened the flood gates, knocking Roy out of the game and tacking on 2 runs thereafter.

- The Sox have now won 4 of their last 5 against some of the best teams in baseball.

Nay’s:
- Ramon Ramirez came in for Wake in the 9th and gave up 3 hits for 3 runs, including back-to-back doubles to Werth and Ibanez and a homer to Ross Gload. I say let Wake finish it off there Francona, he knows how to pace himself and the Sox need to not tap the bullpen unless it’s completely necessary these days.

- The Sox have played very well lately against the Yankees, Twins and Phillies – but the test isn’t over yet for this eventful road trip with the next stop in Tampa. The Rays are in my opinion the best team in the AL East and will win the pennant. However the Sox have to win games against the Rays and the Yankees respectively to make it to the postseason.

I feel it will ultimately come down to the Yankees and Red Sox for the wildcard this year, so every game between this 3-headed division rivalry will count big time. New York is the team to beat, but you want to bring you A-game if you’re playing the Rays these days and it’s going to take exactly what the Sox have dished out this week already, plus some, if they want to win this series.