J.D. Drew and the Sox offense seem to be on the same wavelength in the opening weeks of the baseball season.
The Boston bats struggled to score runs and averaged only 3.4 runs per game in their first seven games, and the Sox right fielder carried a .231 batting average into the Tuesday night middle game of the three-game set against Oakland. Drew collected three hits in the extra inning loss, jacked a three-run bomb in the series finale and continued the power surge Friday night with a solo home run that helped the Sox climb out from a seven-run deficit. Drew was a veritable on-base machine in the victory. He registered the toughest parts of the cycle (triple, home run) in his second and third at bats and walked three times en route to three runs scored. The 33-year-old is now one of three Sox hitters -- along with Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay -- registering a 1.000 plus OPS in a lineup that's beginning to catch fire.
Was Drew thinking about tucking away the single and double in his later at bats and potentially becoming the second Drew -- behind baby bro Stephen in Arizona -- to place hitting for the cycle on his baseball resume?
"No. Not really. Sleep crossed my mind a couple of times," said Drew, who like his teammates had an off-day Thursday after returning from a West Coast trip. "My schedule is out of whack coming from San Francisco. I was thinking about sleep a lot, but it worked out good. Guys got some really key hits in some big situations, which is something we weren't getting early on."
Drew is hitting .500 with two home runs, six runs scored and five RBIs in his last three games while the Boston batting order has exploded for 23 runs and 34 hits during the three-game mini breakout.
RED SOX 10, ORIOLES 8: RHP Brad Penny lost all mastery of the strike zone and the O's hitters turned three second-inning walks in seven runs, but the Sox hitters managed to erase the deficit by cranking out 10 runs and 12 hits in a breakout offensive performance. OF J.D. Drew was on base five times and scored three runs, and OF Jason Bay blasted a two-run bomb to right field in the second that helped spark the comeback.
