Game 34 - Red Sox v. Blue Jays (@Fenway)

Thank god for the Blue Jays. Just when you're ready to get down in the dumps about the season after losing 2 out of 3 to your biggest rival, in stroll the Blue Jays for a quick pick me up. Sure the standings say the Blue Jays are 0.5 games better than the Red Sox so far this year, but with a 5-0 record against Toronto it's hard to see that lasting much longer.

The big story in tonight's game was the battery, Dice-K pitched very well (3H and 0BB, the latter being the big story for a guy who is notorious for being a nibbler), and Jason Varitek hit his 6th HR of the season, so he's second on the team despite only having 38 AB!. To put that in perspective, his HR/AB ratio is 0.15, based on that, there's a 15% chance he'll hit a home run when he steps to the plate. Of guys with 6+ HR here are his closest competitors:

Paul Konerko: 0.13
Nelson Cruz: 0.11
Rod Barajas: 0.10
Andruw Jones: 0.09
Jason Heyward: 0.09

Actually now that I look at some stats, the bigger story really is Dice-K. This was arguably his best start since late 2008. The last one that's comparable to this was against, you guessed it, Toronto when he had this line on September 21, 2008:

7.0IP 2H 0R 2BB 6K 109pitches

I had heard he was throwing well in the minors and maybe even feels that he has something to prove after the lousy season he had last year, but could he really round into the same form as 2008? Actually I'd like to see him do even better because that year I remember lots of games where he got wins, but was frustratingly hesitant to throw strikes to batters on any consistent basis (his strike percentage in 2008, 61% was actually lower than 2009 when it was 62%). Tonight he was at 67%, let's hope he keeps those numbers up in his next start which should come next Monday against the Yankees in NY.