Projo Sox Blog

Every time there is a sign of life from the bleaker parts of the Red Sox lineup lately, the urge is to hope that the entire order may finally be lumbering to life. Jason Bay and Kevin Youkilis have carried the offense thus far, while Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, David Ortiz and others have been AWOL.

But after Wednesday's eight-run rout of Oakland and Friday's top-to-bottom 10-run outburst against Baltimore, Bay felt safe saying that the long-awaited turning point may have come.

"Hopefully some guys have turned the corner," Bay said.

JD Drew in particular has bounced back, although Ortiz is still having trouble, striking out three times last night.

"I don't think it's fair to think that every guy in that lineup is going to be firing at all times. Obviously early on, there was more guys not doing well than there was guys doing well. So it was tough to pick up the slack," he said.

Bay and Youkilis have reached base in every game thus far this season. Bay has 11 hits and 11 walks so far, and Youkilis 17 hits, five walks.

Bay said he expects that this is the type of lineup where two or three guys will carry it for stretches, and then other players will step up and bear that load.

"We have the ability to have two or three guys not on their game and still put up a lot of runs," Bay said.

Catcher Jason Varitek has two home runs, but they are his only two RBI, and his average sits at .207. He wasn't so sure that the Sox had yet found their groove, but insisted it's no cause for concern.

"Everybody's not swinging the bat great yet, but we'll be alright," Varitek said.

Manager Terry Francona was also hesitant to say that the infamous corner hath been turned -- partially because it's a bad omen, but also because the Sox couldn't score Friday night with the bases loaded.

"Every time someone asks me if I see a sign or if we're hot, it always goes the other way. After all was said and done, we hit ourselves back into the game, and then we left the bases loaded when we had a chance to separate it a little bit," Francona said.

 Tags  Dan Barbarisi Jason Bay Jason Varitek Terry Francona `

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