“Very dangerous,’’ he said. “This team is very dangerous right now. I have seen this before.’’
The current road trip, which continues tomorrow night against Tampa Bay, has been a testament to what the lineup is capable of. In six games against the Yankees and Blue Jays, the Sox scored 60 runs, hit .330, and collected 33 extra-base hits.
The Sox outscored the Blue Jays, 35-6, over the weekend. And Terry Francona considers Toronto manager John Farrell, his former pitcher coach, a close friend. Imagine if he didn’t.
“That’s a good weekend. You can’t count on that very often,’’ Francona said. “That doesn’t happen all the time. You take it when you get it.’’
The Sox had 17 hits against five Toronto pitchers, 10 for extra bases including home runs by Ortiz, Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia, and Kevin Youkilis.
“When you’re losing games and you have a good team, it’s hard to figure things out sometimes,’’ Ortiz said. “Sometimes you figure it out and what is happening right now is what happens.
“That’s why everybody was going crazy when we were losing all those games at the beginning of the season. Because if you go position by position, you can match this team against anybody in the league. It’s what everybody expected.’’
Gonzalez got the scoring started with a two-out home run off Kyle Drabek (4-5) in the first. Drabek walked Marco Scutaro and Jacoby Ellsbury to start the third inning. Gonzalez drove in another run with a ground out before Youkilis singled in another to make it 3-0.
The Red Sox sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth inning and scored six runs. The first five came in a span of five batters.
Ellsbury singled and scored on a home run by Pedroia. Since having his sore right knee checked out Thursday and treated with a lubricating substance, Pedroia is 7 for 13 with six RBIs in three games. His batting average has climbed from .247 to .262.
“I’m still working and doing everything. My knee is starting to feel better and that helps,’’ Pedroia said.
