Jacoby Ellsbury was 2 for 5 with a walk and three runs scored. He is 14 of 30 on the road trip with nine runs, four extra-base hits and four RBIs. Ellsbury is 21 of 49 (.429) in a 10-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 16 of the last 17 games at 30 of 75 (.400). He is up to .318 on the season.
Dustin Pedroia is 7 of 13 with six RBIs in three games since getting his right knee checked out and a lubricating fluid injected.
Ortiz has four home runs and 13 RBIs on the road trip after his three-run shot today. He is hitting .325 and already has 43 RBIs. After getting Saturday off, Kevin Youkilis was 3 for 4 with a homer, two walks and four RBIs today
Oh, yeah. The pitcher. All Jon Lester did was allow a run on two hits over eight innings with eight strikeouts.
“I've been fortunate to be part of some streaks here and some good times, as far as swinging the bat and playing well and pitching well. But I don't think I've ever really seen a stretch like these last nine games we've been playing, as far as scoring runs and the way our pitchers have been throwing the ball,” Lester said. “It's been fun to watch and, hopefully, we can keep it going.”
In terms of other stuff:
ߦ Thanks to my sharp journalistic skills, I have learned Drew Sutton is not going to Tampa with the team and is being optioned to Pawtucket. I know this because he is sitting about six feet away from me at Gate 166 at Pearson International Airport waiting for a flight to Boston. They don't take just give anybody this job.
Darnell McDonald is expected to be activated off the disabled list on Tuesday. McDonald hit .345 with five-extra base hits and 11 RBIs in nine games for Pawtucket on his rehab assignment.
Sutton performed well in his 12 games, hitting .290 with six doubles and five RBIs. But with Marco Scutaro back (and playing well), the Sox did not need an extra infielder.
ߦ Jed Lowrie was out of the lineup for the third time in the last six games because of a sore left shoulder. Francona also is planning to sit him out of Tuesday's game. “What I want him to do is go out and feel good. Maybe two, three days will jump-start that a little bit,” Francona said.
Lowrie is in a 2-for-24 slump that has dropped his batting average from .304 to .276.
Thanks to everybody for reading this weekend.
AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese 
