The Sox made an impressive debut to the second half by shelling Roy Halladay for 4 runs in the first inning. Tonight's heroes were the returning All Stars David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, combining for 5 RBI's and going 5 for 9 on the night. Even Julio Lugo managed to hold off his critics for another day by hitting two singles off of Halladay. No RBI's or runs for Lugo as Coco Crisp was called out at home plate on his first hit and the second was the only hit of the third inning. Tonight's performance was just enough to push Julio's BA above the Mendoza line and with any luck may indicate a turnaround for Julio in the second half. Tim Wakefield managed to keep things interesting by giving up 4 runs in his six innings of work before Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima and Johnathan Papelbon put up a scoreless inning of work each to secure the win for Wake and the save for Papelbon.
I'm always happy when the sox beat up on an All Star Caliber pitcher like Roy Halladay. Toronto was forced to fall back on it's bullpen and use 4 different relievers because Halladay was unable to put up more than 5 innings before being pulled. With the next 3 games against Toronto's less highly touted pitchers this early burden on the Toronto bullpen could be significant.
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