A combined 1 hitter

Well that was a very nice effort by the Sox pitching tag team - 8 innings of 1 hit ball from Lester, followed by a 1-2-3 9th from Papelbon - that would do just fine every 5th day! And given the Sox pitching hadn't produced a shutout this season before Saturday, 2 in 4 days isn't the worst effort.

And incredibly, the Sox pitchers needed to produce that second shoutout, and their first one hitter since May 25, 2001 (thanks NESN) as the Royals heralded pitching lineup restricted the Sox to 1 run, 6 hits and 2 intentional base on balls - presumably our bats will get back to pre-All Star break form sometime soon.

Lester moves his record to 5-0 on the season, and while he was facing one of the weaker lineups in the AL, he is showing that he can be a valuable contributor to this team down the road. I still think it is too much to ask him to produce at say... Philip Hughes* levels this year, but given Wake's breakdown, we may need him to perform at a higher level than should be reasonably expected / predicted if we expect to maintain our lead in the East.

Another highlight tonight - Captain J became the Sox record holder for games caught, overtaking Carlton Fisk - not sure if players care about these types of 'record' but well done V'tek!

===============

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post the next chapter in my tour of Major League parks - #22 will be the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the first new stadium I have managed to get to this year - trips to unusual cities with work sometimes have a silver lining! Given the matchup tonight was Kazmir v Liriano, my trip is a night late, but hopefully some interesting pics from the park tomorrow!

===============

* a stunningly cheap shot at my writing partner, I should be ashamed!