Insert Sweep-related Pun Here

Hamel Brooms, originally uploaded by Phil Armishaw.

How Sweep it is, Swept Away, Swept A Ray, etc.

But seriously. How awesome is it that, having taken their first win of the season against the Rays this year with the first game of this week's series, the mercurial Sox just up and decided they'd take 'em all?

Especially against one of the two teams it has seemed like the Red Sox just can't beat this year.

The biggest reason for this was the Red Sox starting pitching seeming to come into its own. Jon Lester especially seems to be turning it on after a slow start. That cutter's just devastating, his narrowed eyes above the glove tucked under his chin now the source of a positively Beckettsian intimidation factor. And Clay Buchholz is making me quite happy by bearing out my prediction that consistent playing time would allow him to blossom. It sucks for Wake, but I'm still glad it wasn't Buch they sent to the pen.

But that's not to disavow the contributions from the offense this series, especially David Ortiz, who was swatting balls around the Trop and blasting off like it was the old days. Adrian Beltre had a huge night last night with 6 RBI, and Pedroia got back on track with a three-fer performance Tuesday, including a lucky shot off the ceiling that had the Elf chuckling to himself at second base.

There are chain reactions, too, whenever one part of the team improves. Papi returning to being a threat helps his teammates up and down the lineup. The starters going deep saves the bullpen, which makes their appearances more crisp and effective (especially MDC). Not walking around with half a dozen Red Sox fans and beat writers up their butts each will also probably help the team play better defense.

This series went about as well as can be expected, but it's still always a relief to get away from road games against these dome teams. I think @RedSoxRedShoes put it best when he described the Trop this way: "I cannot believe Tropicana Field is an MLB stadium. It looks like someone puked Tinker Toys inside of a snare drum."