BALTIMORE -- So, Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo was asked, for one day would he like to have Wily Mo Peña's body?
"No, I like my body," said Lugo, who gives away at least 100 pounds to a man who makes David Ortiz look like a welterweight.
OK, then, how about Peña's power?
"Oh, yeah, I'd love to have his power," Lugo said. "I'd love to have his power. He's amazing. That ball he hit, with the wind blowing in?"
Let Josh Beckett pick up the retelling of Peña's 430-foot grand slam, the one that made Beckett the majors' first five-game winner this season after a 5-2 victory over the Orioles last night.
"If the wind was blowing out," said Beckett, who joined Babe Ruth (1917) and Pedro Martínez (2000) as the only Sox pitchers to win five games in April, "I don't know where that ball would have ended up. Maybe Philly.
"I was very, very excited. It was nice. I felt I kept us in the game long enough, that was almost like a reward."
Ortiz hit a ninth-inning home run last summer off Chris Ray, the Orioles closer who surrendered Peña's slam right after intentionally walking Jason Varitek to load the bases in the eighth.
"It was long," Ortiz said of his home run, "but not like that." Ortiz let out a low chuckle. "Only Wily Mo could hit a ball that far, in this ballfield, wind blowing in like that. That's sick, dude."
What was sick, Lugo said, was that Peña called his shot. How's that for Dominican-style chutzpah after whiffing 12 times in his last six games?
"Before he got to the plate, he said, 'Watch, I'm going to get this guy right here,' " said Lugo. " 'Watch.' "
The watchword for Beckett was patience. Three times last night, he gave up a leadoff double. Brian Roberts doubled, stole third, and scored on an infield out in the first, Baltimore's first lead in 27 innings. Ramon Hernandez doubled to open the third and scored on Melvin Mora's two-out double. In each of those innings, the Orioles scored just once. The third time, when Mora doubled to open the sixth, he did not advance.
"That's a pretty big deal," said Beckett, who induced 15 ground ball outs (only three whiffs), did not walk a batter, and threw only 100 pitches in eight innings. "I'm always harping on pitches you have to make. Tonight, I made a large majority of them."
So many, in fact, that pitching coach John Farrell said he and Terry Francona discussed sending Beckett out for the ninth and a chance for a complete game (the Babe in 1917 had 35 of them. You think the game wasn't different then? He also gave up just two home runs in 326 1/3 innings ). Instead, they summoned Jonathan Papelbon, who like Beckett has a perfect record for the month except his streak includes last April, too (17 saves in 17 chances, seven this season).
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