Walk-Off Home Runs By David Ortiz Will Never Get Old

It had been almost four years (August 26, 2009 to be exact) but tonight at Fenway Park, David Ortiz proved that he can still hit a walk-off homer with the best of them. Ortiz's three-run shot off Michael Kirkman (0-2) gave Boston (37-24 overall, 19-13 home) a 6-3 win over Texas (36-23 overall, 18-15 away) coupled with a series victory against the American League's top team.

It was the 11th homer of the season for Ortiz and ironically enough his 11th walk-off homer (10th as a Red Sox) and 19th walk-off hit (regular season and playoffs) for Boston. He only needs one more walk-off homer to tie Babe Ruth, pretty elite company huh?

The funny part is that Rangers manager Ron Washington decided to intentionally walk Dustin Pedroia after Jonny Gomes (4 hits, run) had doubled to lead off the bottom of the ninth. I'm not sure if Washington was doing lines in the tunnel but I couldn't tell you a logical explanation for pitching to Ortiz with two guys on and no outs. Oh well.

Lefties Derek Holland (6 innings, 2 earned runs, 9 hits, 4 strikeouts, 3 walks) and Jon Lester (6 innings, 3 earned runs, 7 hits, 4 strikeouts, 3 walks) pitched to a standstill, at least according to ESPN's game scores which gave them both a 47.

The Red Sox bullpen was flawless: Junichi Tazawa pitched around a double and single for a scoreless seventh, Koji Uehara had a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts before closer Andrew Bailey (2-0) pitched a scoreless ninth.

Texas actually blew a three-run lead as Jeff Baker hit a two-run bomb in the second and former Red Sox Adrian Beltre (3 hits)-who always seems to kill Boston-added a solo homer in the third.

Dustin Pedroia's (walk, run) two-run double in the third brought Boston within a run (3-2) then Jacoby Ellsbury (4 hits, 2 runs, 2 doubles) tied it by scoring on Mike Napoli's fielder's choice in the seventh.

Weather permitting, the Red Sox get their first look at the underachieving Angels (26-34 overall, 3rd in AL West) this weekend with three games at Fenway. Felix Doubront (4-2) faces Tommy Hanson (2-2) tomorrow night (7:10, NESN), Clay Buchholz (8-0) looks to stay undefeated on Saturday night (7:15, NESN) vs. C.J. Wilson (4-4) and Ryan Dempster (3-6) closes it out Sunday afternoon (1:35, NESN) vs. Joe Blanton (1-9).

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The Rangers Are Unbeatable, At Least To The Red Sox

Thank God the Texas Rangers were only in town for two games because this could have gotten pretty ugly.

Texas (10-2, 5-0 away) rang up its sixth straight win, 6-3 tonight at Fenway Park against the going nowhere Boston Red Sox (4-8. 3-3 home). The Rangers swept the two-game series, outscoring the Red Sox 24-6 in just 18 innings.

Boston has now lost three in a row. At least they got some good news earlier in the day when it was revealed that Jacoby Ellsbury won't need surgery on his shoulder.

Two things best sum up my feelings about the hometown team and also how poorly they're playing: 1) my favorite time is off-days (like tomorrow) for this miserable squad. I'm serious too, that's not a line. 2) They made some noise in the ninth against Rangers closer Joe Nathan-in a non-save situation-but Jarrod Saltalamacchia lined into a double play for the final two outs as he pulled it right to first basemen Brandon Snyder, who was able to touch the bag. Salty represented the tying run after Boston had scored once.

It was the Josh Hamilton (3 hits, run, RBI, walk) and Mike Napoli (4 RBIs, 3 hits, run) show as the Red Sox pitchers did their best to enshrine that powerful tandem in Cooperstown, NY before the series was even over.

Josh Beckett (1-2) actually gave Boston a good start considering the loaded lineup he had to face: seven innings, three earned runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and a walk. The problem was that the Red Sox scored the first runs of the night for the second game in a row, but then the Rangers proceeded to pummel them with a monster surge of their own.

Mr. Hustle aka Kevin Youkilis hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot off Derek Holland (2-0) in the second inning. Holland (2-0) predictably settled down after that and ended up lasting seven innings himself. He allowed two earned runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and three walks.

Hamilton drove in Texas' first run on an infield single in the third. They added five more before Boston scored one meaningless run in the ninth. Napoli hit a two-run homer in the fourth (his fourth of the season) then Franklin Morales unraveled with the bases loaded in the eighth. He hit Craig Gentry then allowed a two-run double by Napoli.

Ryan Sweeney had a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth that scored Cody Ross.

In case you forgot, and how could you, the 100th anniversary of Fenway will be celebrated on Friday. What great timing huh? The New York Yankees will also be in the house and the teams will wear throwback jerseys on Friday afternoon (3:05 p.m., NESN). It's Red Sox vs. Yankees so you know the drill: Saturday afternoon game on Fox then Sunday Night game on ESPN.

The Yanks (6-6) aren't exactly lighting the world on fire either but they look much better than the Red Sox (who doesn't?). Clay Buchholz (1-0) faces Ivan Nova (2-0) on Friday. Felix Doubront (0-0) goes against Freddy Garcia (0-1) on Saturday and Daniel Bard (0-2) meets C.C. Sabathia (1-0) Sunday in a game which might take five hours.

With no Red Sox tomorrow, only Bruins-Capitals in Game 4, let's be thankful that the NHL playoffs exist and the B's are great which takes away much of the focus from the trainwreck on Yawkey Way.

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