Red Sox Recap

I am not impressed by the way the Sox have been playing of late, although they did manage to take two of three from the Rays coming out of the All-Star break. Yesterday, Will Middlebrooks and finally healthy Jacoby Ellsbury had three hits apiece to back a quality start by Josh Beckett and win 7-3. It is nice to see that Ells can still hit, although it is another player who is turning heads so far this season. After being called up to Boston, second baseman Pedro Ciriaco is batting .417. He was first called up for the doubleheader against the Yankees, and ended up going 7-for-13 in three games versus New York. He has already stolen three bases and has been a valuable asset for Boston. The other new Boston pickup who has been helping the Sox is Will Middlebrooks, who has knocked in 41 runs in 51 games so far this season. And of course, the lone Boston All-Star, David Ortiz, is still hitting consistently for Boston, far and away their best player this year.

Tonight, the Chicago White Sox visit Fenway Park in Kevin Youkilis's return against Boston. Dylan Axelrod goes for the ChiSox against Aaron Cook, who has been 2-1 with a 2.55 ERA since coming off his elbow injury. Hopefully Boston can gain some ground on the Yankees, who are still 9.5 games ahead of them. However, Boston is only 1.5 games behind in the wild-card race, so they just need to win some games. Lets go Sox!!!

Trivia
Ciriaco had played in a handful of games with the Pittsburgh Pirates in previous seasons before coming to Boston.