Lester takes a tough no decision as the Sox win in 13

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

As Chad would tell you, there's nothing worse than having your story all ready to go only to see the game sent to extra innings. Good bye story, and hello late night ballgame. That's what happened last night. John Lester was dominant for the 3rd straight start. He struck out 11, which made it the 3rd straight game he struck out at least 10 batters. He allowed 1 run on 2 hits in 7 innings. I was going to talk about how he out dueled Joe Blanton in a great 2-1 pitching duel. Thanks to Ramon Ramirez, I had to "rip" up that article and start from scratch. That's two straight bad outings for Ramon allowing 3 home runs over those two appearances.

The game was a good ol' fashion National League game though. Double switches galore, 4 pinch hitters, and12 total pitchers. It's one of the reasons why I love the Senior Circuit. It takes a better game manager to run an NL team. As you all know by now, last nights' game ended in 13 innings after the Sox scored 3 runs in the top of the 13th. You watched the game, so I don't need to run a full recap for you. What I would like to touch on are a few observations I had from the game.

- Red Sox pitchers held the Phillies scoreless for 11 of the 13 innings.

- Despite a few wildness problems, Daniel Bard had little to no trouble running down Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino. He is the closer of the future.

- Dustin Pedroia should be moved back to the 2nd slot in the batting order. This is not just because he went 0 for 7 last night. He's batted in the lead off spot for 11 games this season. He's only 8 for 47 with a .170 batting average at the lead off spot. He has an OBP of only .272. That is .147 points lower than his OBP in the number two slot. It's time to move Ellsbury back to lead off, Pedroia to 2nd and move Drew, Youkilis and Bay down to 3, 4, 5.

- I can't stand Shane Victorino, a.k.a. The Flyin' Hawaiian. He's such a pesky player that always seems to get a big hit or make a great catch. He didn't come through with the big hit in the 13th, but made an outstanding diving catch robbing Drew of a sure fire double or triple.