Final Score: Boston Red Sox 7, Texas Rangers 3So something weird happened last night: Kevin Youkilis took the night off, after doctors told him his strained quadriceps wouldn't stopped nagging him until he took some rest. Of course, since Youkilis is a dirt dog and sports a beard powerful enough to hit home runs on its own, the doctors in question probably told the trainer to shoot Youk with a tranq dart to make the news easier (and safer) to pass on, but there he was, on the bench and out of the lineup just hours before game time.
Actually, that wasn't really the weird thing; what's weird was the result: Lugo goes from batting ninth to batting first and it actually seems to help. Lugo went 0 for 2 with two walks and a sacrifice bunt, but he looked a lot happier in the box, showing glimpses of the lead off hitter who hit .308 with a .373 OPS a year ago in Tampa Bay. If last night truly marks the end of Lugo's year-long battle with mediocrity, he'd join Pedroia, Drew and (I would argue) Crisp as the fourth Red Sox to experience a renaissance when thrust into the lead off role. There's an adage that baseball announcers will sometimes bring up about how a hit-and-run play can force a slumping player to start hitting again; maybe batting first for the Sox serves the same function. I certainly hope so, because it'd be nice to hold on to a shortstop for more than a season again.
The other result of Youkilis sitting for the night was the triumphant return of Eric Hinske, who did what he does best: score unexpected runs on unexpected hits. Pedroia and Manny may have been at the plate when the Sox scored their first four runs (hallelujah!), but it was Hinske who hit the bases-loaded triple that put Boston up with breathing room after Texas scored three runs to break up Gabbard's no-no bid in the fifth. The guy may not make much of an impression as a pinch hitter, but he does toss in the odd and wonderful surprise coming off the bench for a game.
One final note: Robin called me at the end of the top of the fifth to find out the score and pointed out that Boston has an almost perfect record when they score six or more runs in a game - last Tuesday's game is the only exception. "Only two more," he said, "and we're golden." I went and looked after Hinske's triple made things official: last night made 30 games Boston's won scoring six runs or better, which is almost better (point of pride) than every cellar dweller in the MLB right now. Now we just need to score six runs against nemesis Scott Kazmir tonight...
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