Boston is in this position because it held off the red hot Blue Jays, winning three out of four games. Yesterday, the Sox did it the hard way - beating Roy Halladay - arguably one of the best pitchers in baseball, even on three days' rest.
Although the Sox have a six-game lead in the wild-card race, Mike Lowell says the team has its eyes on a bigger prize - the East.
"Absolutely we want to win the division," said Lowell. "We're right there in the standings. We were able to win this series with Toronto and take care of business here and now we're in position to be able to fight for the division. If you're in this position, why not?"
The Red Sox received a sterling performance from Jon Lester, who outdueled Halladay with a strong eight-inning performance, in which he allowed a run on four hits with six strikeouts. Lester improved to 15-5 while his ERA dropped to 3.15 with a superb cutter and movement on his two-seam fastball that ate up Blue Jays' hitters like something resembling Andy Pettitte in his prime.
"I'm so proud of him," said Sox shortstop Alex Cora. "The way he's been able to come back from everything he's had and now to be one of the best pitchers in baseball is just amazing. To have that kind of a player from the left side in this rotation is major for us. We feel like we're going to win when he takes the ball."
Jonathan Papelbon's 38th save was shaky, but the job got done as the Jays scored two runs in the ninth and a bad call at second base (Lyle Overbay was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double) cost the Jays a chance to pull even. The lefthanded hitting Overbay stroked a ball off the Wall. Jason Bay collected the carom flawlessly and gunned a strong throw to second base that beat Overbay, but Dustin Pedroia's tag was late. Umpire Doug Eddings missed the call, however. It would have given the Jays second and third and nobody out after one run already had scored.
