What a great game. It had everything - clutching hitting, a Big Papi home run, beautiful relief pitching and the all important win.

With the series Detroit series behind, the Sox can now turn their attention to New York.

This day off is also most important. The bullpen needs a rest as do Manny, Coco and the boys.

Coco, by the way, may have turned the corner. Since the sweep by Kansas City, Coco has hit .360 with two dingers and five rbis. his throwing still desturbs me however. Yet again, his throws to the infield reach on multiple hops. Holding the ball much to long, his timing of release is most definitely off. This usually happens when he rushes to make a play. He needs to relax a bit out there.

Coco has not done exactly what I expected. It pains me to write this, but he is virtually half the player Johnny Damon is. Though the numbers are skewed because of the lineups. Damon has had the benefit of hitting ahead of Derek Jeter - who is batting a hefty .340 - every day.

Coco has not had such luxury. When he first came back from injury he was placed in the eight hole ahead of Gonzalez and now he leads off ahead of Loretta's and his .303 (not too shabby). The Boston Herald agrees.

Coco's hand injury may have just now fully healed. I think it took a lot longer than any expected and he was gutsy enough to play through the injury. I hope he can take this momentum forward through the weekend.

The lineup to me is bit off. Why is Pena batting so low in the order? He should be right behind Manny Ramirez, sending Youkilis to the seven or eight hole. This is not meant to be punitive, but instead give more meat to the middle of the lineup. Plus it gives the lower part of the order much more presence.

I could be wrong, but if I were an opposing pitcher I may think twice about putting Manny on if Wily Mo's powerful bat is behind him. He's hitting .314, let's not forget. Youk may get his quality at-bats but he doesn't not knock in a lot of runs.

Actually I would argue that Pena has more quality at bats. He has nine home runs and 34 RBIs in only 58 games (184 at-bats). That's a home run every 20 ABs compared to Youkilis' 36 ABs.

The loss of Varitek and Nixon has posed another problem no lefty. Thus the reason for Eric Hinske.
At first I just couldn't understand why the team would want this guy, but when I look at the lineup and see that there is only two legit lefties (Ortiz and the switch-hitting Crisp), it is clear. MLB reports that Hinske has joined the club.

Hinske does offer a little versatility too. He has played the outfield, third and first and will probably spell those positions occasionally while in Boston. He's only 29 and is not by any means washed up. There simply was no room for him on that team - Troy Glaus and Lyle Overbay took away his original positions and the outfield is quite full in Toronto as well.

It will be interesting to see how he is used in Boston. I imagine that with this upcoming long stretch without a day off, Hinske will get some chances. Especially when a big righty is on the mound. He does help balance the order, if only a bit.

Tonight, I'll take advantage of the beautiful weather spend some time with the family for this weekend there won't be enough time for that. Go Sox!

By the way: You may not remember the 2004 ALCS's Game 7 as much you think you do. A recent study confirms that pleasant memories are sometimes fuzzier than aweful ones. So to refresh your memory ask a Yankee fan for details.

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