Showdown In Minny

After Jonathan Papelbon was unable to close on what looked like a great come from behind victory, the Sox dropped their opener with the Twins last night. The blown save was the second in a row for the normally sharp and seemingly inhuman Papelbon.

Tonight, the Sox sang a different tune while Dice-K earned his sixth win of the year. Over the course of seven innings, the second year Japanese pitcher struck out seven while only giving up two earned which is all the Twins were able to muster in the Metrodome this evening. With this past outing in the books Dice-K has racked up 47 K's on the season which puts him near the top in the American League.

Jed Lowrie hit his first major league career home run immediately after Coco Crisp hit his first home run since last season which put the Sox into a 2-2 tie, Lowrie's dinger proved to be the go ahead run for the Sox. Mike Lowell followed suit in the eighth to stretch the lead to 4-2 and Dustin Pedroia knocked in Lowrie to make the contest 5-2 in the top of the ninth.

It's nice to see that the offense is still coming from seemingly every part of the Sox lineup. Now with Lowell back in the lineup after coming back from the 15-day DL last week, things should be a little more consistent. Not that the Sox haven't been trying since the World Series MVP has been out. Boston is currently tops in the AL for runs scored with 198. Only the Arizona Diamondbacks have more in the majors with 204.

Tonight the Twins once again strung together a lot of good hits and put plenty of runners in position to make the game interesting. Tomorrow night will feature Tim Wakefield on the mound for the Sox who has gone 3-2 over the past three season against the Twinks. For tonight, credit the Sox 1-2 bullpen punch of Hideki Okajima and the (at least the past week) slumping Papelbon with closing out the game to seal a win up in the Twin Cities. So far on the season, Boston is 8-3 against the AL Central which only 3.5 games separate the first place Twins from the cellar dwelling Tigers. Hopefully the early season success against the Central can translate into a win tomorrow and even Monday night.