S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y...Night!

So first off, a confession. After the second inning, I was watching the Sox game somewhat haphazardly. During C's-Bulls commercials, timeouts, and even free-throws, I would flip over quick and resolve to watch an entire at-bat, but invariably I'd get nervous that I was going to miss a Jesus-3 or a Rondo scrape and I'd flip back quick, then realize I overshot the return by about two and a half minutes, flip back to the Sox, then the vicious cycle repeated itself. So that while I think I saw a pretty substantial portion of the Sox 10-6 victory over the Rays, really my impressions can't be trusted. But, here's what I gathered from the onslaught:

---Jacoby and Pedey combined for another big night, looking more and more like the 1-2 combination we're hoping is going to carry us for a long time. And once again, the 3 hole came up empty. (Papi did draw 2 walks, continuing to gradually lower the bar, so that he gets a fist pump from me everytime he watches 4 go by and brings Youk to the plate. Is this really all we need from our 3 hole?)

---Nick Green went 3 for 5, driving in 3 and improving to .304 on the season, with a .371 OBP and .464 SLG. (Uptown got its hustlers, Bowery got its bums, Red Sox got Mean Nick Green, he's a sweet-swinging son of a gun.) Only Jason Bartlett and Yuniesky Betancourt are better on the season from the SS position.

---Tim Wakefield, though he ultimately gave up 5 and got pulled after giving up a single to start the 6th, did what he had to do and held off the Rays until the Sox could build up a sizeable lead. He improved to 3-1 on the year, and is, sadly, the only Sox starter with an ERA under 3. (The closest is Masterson, on a smaller sample, at a nothing to brag about 4.37.

---Now I could be wrong about this game note, but I'm pretty sure Eddie House hit a double in the 6th to drive in Ellsbury and Pedroia. That could have been the still red-hot Youk, but I feel fairly confident this morning that it was Eddie House.

---The Sox pen had another stellar night. Oki and Ramirez combined for another scoreless 3 innings, and while Saito gave up another 9th inning run, it was the result, in part, of a defensive indifference advance. All in all, another strong night for the best pen in baseball.

---A bad sign for the Sox: Pat Burrell looks like he might finally be starting to hit. If he regains form after a slow start, the Rays are going to have a damn lethal lineup.

---Evan Longoria is a beast. I'm not going to say anything more, except that the Upton-Crawford-Longoria opener scares the crap out of me every time.

Altogether a good night for the Sox and a good night for Boston. The Sox have a 1:35 start today, and on a rainy day up and down the East Coast, that dome never looked so good.

(A final aside. Brad Penny's start today is pissing off a lot of Yankees fans. I've had 3 people ask me this week if he was lined up to start the Monday opener in Yankee stadium. I mean, I know he hasn't pitched great this year, but he hasn't been so bad as to explain the kind salivating he inspires in New Yorkers. Do they suspect something I don't?)