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April 16, 2007
Clouds? Wind? Rain?
As far as the Red Sox were concerned, this homestand was nothing but blue skies.
After a two-hour delay beyond the original starting time of 10:05 a.m., the Sox took it to the Angels for the third straight game today at Fenway Park. They hit Los Angeles with a six-spot in the first inning and never looked back as they coasted to a 7-2 victory and a sweep of the weather-abbreviated three-game series. (Sunday's game was postponed because of rain.)
Boston outscored Los Angeles 25-3 in the three games, and had a 39-9 advantage overall in the five-game homestand. The Sox went 4-1 overall, beating Seattle 14-3 on Opening Day before losing 3-0 to Felix Hernandez last Wednesday. One of the games against the Mariners was also rained out.
The Sox actually fell behind in the first inning today when Orlando Cabrera homered off Josh Beckett. But that slim deficit melted away as they rocked Angels starter Ervin Santana in the bottom of the first.
Julio Lugo started things off with a double to center, and he came home to score on a single by Kevin Youkilis. A double to left by David Ortiz moved Youkilis to third, and they both scored on a single to right by Manny Ramirez, making it 3-1.
J.D. Drew followed with a potential double-play grounder to second, but Howie Kendrick threw the ball into left field. Ramirez came all the way around for a 4-1 lead and Drew wound up on second.
Mike Lowell continued the hit parade with an RBI double to left. After Jason Varitek flied out and Wily Mo Pena popped out, Alex Cora doubled to right and Lowell came home, making it 6-1.
Beckett was never in trouble, scattering six hits over six innings with one walk and five strikeouts. Hideki Okajima and J.C. Romero each tossed a shutout inning in relief, and Kyle Snyder allowed a home run to Kendrick in the ninth.
Ortiz had accounted for the seventh Boston run with a home run in the fourth.
Click here for the box score. The Sox, now 7-4 this season, head off to Toronto for games tomorrow night, Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon before returning home for a weekend series with the Yankees.
Posted by Art Martone 
at 2:39 PM | Permalink
