"This is our team now," said Varitek after the victory and before the Sox embarked on a seven-game swing to Kansas City and Chicago. "The guys we have in this room are the guys we're going to be playing with from here on out. We feel good about that. We have to continue to compete. Get quality at-bats. Pitch quality games. I think everyone in here likes where we're heading."
The Sox held the A's to five hits as Daisuke Matsuzaka earned his 12th win with a six-inning performance (2 earned runs, 4 hits, 8 strikeouts, 2 walks). Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen, and Jonathan Papelbon pitched three shutout innings - the bullpen allowed just one run in 10 2/3 innings in the series. The bats were again timely with young shortstop Jed Lowrie contributing a two-run triple to the triangle in the fourth, Coco Crisp a pair of sacrifice flies, and Kevin Youkilis a first-inning RBI single.
The Sox are in second place in the American League East, three games behind the Rays. "Where we are at the present means that we're good," said Varitek. "To go where we need to go, and where we want to go, we have to pitch like we did the last three games."
Boston has a chance to continue the upward trend with three games in Kansas City, another team down on its luck. The White Sox are a different story, but all the Sox really care about is playing consistently on the road.
Varitek pointed out, "We won our last three road games [at Seattle]. That's what we have to dwell on, not what we did before that on the road. We have to take the same mind-set that we have at home to the road. If we do that, we'll continue to win games."
This series was the perfect scenario for the Sox. They made a controversial deal, swept the A's to regain their confidence, and headed out on the road. They were able to not lose ground to the Rays, who just won't fade away, and keep ahead of the Yankees, who split their series with the Angels. It seems the entire team was on board with getting Ramírez out of town, and newly acquired Jason Bay had a very good start to his Red Sox career, which made players and fans feel much better about the trade of Manny.
