THE BATS TAKE A TURN

For the better part of this four-game series with Kansas City we've been talking about the starting pitching. And with good reason. Today the bats took center stage. J. D. Drew and Mike Lowell each socked grand slams to pace a 14-hit attack as the Red Sox completed a sweep of their series with an 11-8 victory over the Royals, on Thursday afternoon. The victory also sent Boston to a seven-game sweep of their now concluded homestand.

Drew's slam came in the second inning with Boston trailing 1-0. The Red Sox lefthanded hitter sent an offering from Brian Bannister the opposite way, up and over the Green Monster. Manny Ramirez, Lowell and Kevin Youkilis scored ahead of Drew. Lowell's slam came during a six-run sixth that put Boston up 11-3. Scoring ahead of Lowell was Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Ramirez. Pedroia and Youkili also had run scoring hits for the Red Sox.

Dice-K Matsuzaka improved to 8-0 on the season picking up the mound victory. He lasted just 5.2 innings. The Boston starter was charged with three runs on six hits, but walks once again drove up his pitch count. Matsuzaka has now failed to reach the sixth inning in five of his 10 starts on the season.

The pen also had trouble as David Aardsma and Craig Hansen were charged with a combined 5 runs on five hits as Kansas City pulled to within three runs. Jonathan Papelbon came into the game in the ninth inning to pick up his 14th save of the season. Middle relief has been an issue for Boston this season.

As stated earlier Boston has now won seven games in a row to improve to 31-19 on the season. The Sox now head out to Oakland to begin a 10-game road trip that sends them up against the A's (3 games) and Seattle (3 games) before flying back to the east coast for a four-game set with Baltimore. Prior to the homestand Boston was 4-6 on a 10-game road trip.

There are some late nights ahead of us and let's hope the Red Sox keep us happier than the last time they headed out on the road.