Walking Wounded

So just how many Boston starters can get injured on one road trip? It's great that Lester manhandled the Giants yesterday, outdueling Tim Lincecum with a brilliant complete game win. Lester allowed just one run on five hits to propel Boston to a 5-1 win, giving Boston three wins in their last four games and a .500 record on this road trip.

But the injury bug is getting a little ridiculous here. First Pedroia, then Buchholz and now Victor Martinez. V-Mart fractured his thumb on Sunday, making San Francisco the most dangerous place in the world for a Red Sox player this side of Afghanistan. And while Buchholz may miss just one start, Pedroia and Martinez could be out for an extended period of time. Those are two critical positions where Boston doesn't have a lot of depth. Playing Bill Hall and Tek every day is a very short-term answer. Very short term.

But the Sox get a day off before they return to Boston. I would guess they'll use it to decide what they need to do to cover these positions. We would have seen Dusty Brown or Mark Wagner come up as backup for Tek...but they're on the DL as well. So who knows who the Sox will bring up. I guess we could see Tug Hulett come up from the Bucket to help out at second unless the brass thinks Angel Sanchez can handle it. But are any of these legitimate options if Pedey or V-Mart are out for weeks? Or does Boston have to start looking at trade scenarios so they don't lose the ground they just made up in the AL East?

Clay Hits 10

I'll be honest; I had serious doubts Clay Buchholz would ever tap into his obvious wellspring of pitching talent. I had no problems entertaining ideas about him on the trading block. He looked like the proverbial player who just never quite plays up to his ability.

Knocking On The Door

Does anyone else remember the blind panic back in April? The absolute fear that the Red Sox were done? Finished? Doomed to finish fourth in the AL East? Well, I think we can say that, for now, those fears have been proven hollow.

Tough Win Is Still A Win

No, Clay Buchholz did not have his best stuff last night, scoreline and K/BB ratio to the contrary. But he did what he needed to do, the batters did what they needed to do and the result was a 6-3 win for the Sox over Arizona.

Sox Surging At Half-Power

What has been most remarkable about Boston's recent run of play is that they've been doing it while carrying a lot of injured players. How well would they be playing with a full roster?

Well Lookie Here...

I'm almost asking myself why I am writing this. During my hiatus, the Red Sox basically turned the dial up to 11 and stomped their way up AL East ladder. Now they sit just four games out of first and just two games behind the Yankees for what would currently be the wild-card slot in the post-season. Quite a far cry from the end of April when a bunch of pink hats and airwave bloviators were ready to blow this team up.

Did Ya Miss Us?

You'll have to forgive our long absence. We've been doing a lot of life- and work-related things that have taken us away from SvS these past few weeks.

But that is winding up now and soon we'll be back to talking about the Sox and Yanks. And why the Sox are better than the Yankees.

- Dave