AS MUCH HARD LUCK AS THE RED SOX recently had with great pitching but tough losses, Roy Halladay had worse:
It was Halladay’s fourth straight complete game. He’s lost the last three.
But then again, Pedroia was there to make sure everyone knew the Sox earned the win:
Lester allowed just one hit in eight innings, a clean single on Lyle Overbay’s liner in the fifth over second baseman Pedroia’s head. But Pedroia kept the game scoreless in the ninth when he dove to his right and nabbed Wells’ grounder after Scott Rolen had doubled off Jonathan Papelbon (1-0) with two outs.
Pedroia gloved the ball and threw out Wells.
“Anybody’s diving for any balls in that situation,” Pedroia said. “It definitely got the crowd involved. It’s a little bit of momentum. They could have had a run and it gets taken away.”
Wells wanted to hit the ball up the middle.
“I saw it get by the mound,” he said, “and I saw Superman at second base.”
That play also earned Pedroia Baseball Tonight’s number one Web Gem, by the way.