Win-win-win

The question after last night's game was: "Glass half-empty or half-full?" I have to admit that I was already leaning towards half-full, and tonight's game only served to confirm that feeling.

I know we're supposed to kick the crap out of the Royals - shut down their offense and score runs in multiples of 5 - but last time I looked a one-run win counts the same as a ten-run win. The Red Sox are a team currently without a number 4 or number 5 starter, and every win that they can scratch out now is a step closer to October. The Sox just put together back-to-back 1-0 wins for the first time in 16 years, and after the disaster that was the Oakland series, I'll take that thank you very much. Beckett looked like he was trying to prove to Jon Lester that he's the stud around Fenway - 8 innings, 4 hits, 7 strikeouts, consistently 95-97mph on his fastball, and pitching out of a Lester-esque bases-loaded jam in the sixth.

It was a good win, whichever way you look at it. Before coming into the series it felt like Red Sox Nation would settle for nothing less than a sweep of the Royals. Well that's what we got, and as a special bonus prize, the Yankees lost to the Mariners, which put another tiny sliver of daylight between us and them. There's still a long way to go, but for the time being the Sox are hanging in there.