You can't really call them the Cardiac Kids. If anything, the young players the Red Sox have brought up have kept the heartbeats of management fairly steady. When you dip into the farm for reinforcements to fill in for injured and tired veterans, you don't always get a boost. The Red Sox have.
``I love it,'' said Mike Lowell, who knocked in two of the three runs in Boston's 3-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles yesterday at Fenway Park, a day after Clay Buchholz shocked the nation with a no-hitter in his second major league start. ``There's a hunger and they're all very athletic. There are a lot of things up in the air for next year, but they're showcasing their skills and giving us a great opportunity to win games while helping themselves.''
Lefthanded prospect Jon Lester yesterday provided a nice follow-up to Buchholz's eye-popping performance Saturday night. He allowed two earned runs over six innings in improving to 3-0. There was also a significant contribution from young center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who started in center and then moved to left. The speedster hit his first major league home run and went 2 for 3 with two superb catches. Kevin Cash caught (the Sox are 3-1 when he's out there) and Brandon Moss started in left. He went 0 for 3 but made a nice catch on Nick Markakis in the sixth to prevent extra bases. Rookie of the Year candidate Dustin Pedroia had two hits; he had helped save Buchholz's no-hitter with a great diving play at second base.
``There are some proud people in the organization, and there should be,'' said manager Terry Francona. ``Guys getting to the big leagues is always exciting. Exciting for us and especially for the player development people. When they come here they understand how to play the game. They understand how to act. If they have the talent we think they do it will show, like it did today.''
For all of the heat general manager Theo Epstein sometimes gets to make a deal, his resolve not to lose his top prospects - Buchholz and Ellsbury - has proven wise.
Ellsbury used his superior speed on both of his superb catches, fighting the sun and the wall in the triangle in right-center to rob Ramon Hernandez of extra bases in the second inning, and also diving for a ball he had to run in a long way on to take a hit away from Jay Payton in the fifth.
``It's a matter of trusting your ability to go out there and showing it on the field,'' Ellsbury said. ``You can't play tentative. You've got to believe you can make the play and then go out and do it.''
The Orioles have lost 11 of their last 12 games and have been outscored, 119-49. Teams can't wait to play them. The Sox are now 24-8 vs. the Orioles since the start of 2006.
Kevin Millar made a bonehead play by getting himself thrown out at second base in the sixth, which took the Birds out of a potentially bigger inning (they scored a run). Miguel Tejada was thrown out at the plate in the fourth when he tried to score on Hernandez's short fly ball to right field. J.D. Drew might not be hitting so well, but he still can play defense and easily threw the runner out at home.
In the eighth, with Markakis at second and nobody out against Hideki Okajima, the Orioles couldn't get the run in.
``It's just great to see this happening,'' Buchholz said. ``We're all down in the minors and we dream about coming up here and trying to help the big league team win. Jacoby is such a great athlete. He's a five-tool player, so the catches don't surprise you, and now you see him hit the home run . . . that's just the type of player you're going to see in the future.''
Cash, who did a nice job catching Lester and who is making a case to be kept on next season as the backup, said, ``It's funny, we didn't win that many games as a group down there [in Pawtucket], but you couldn't deny the talent. I mean, we're all shocked that Clay pitched a no-hitter in his second big league start, but I said after I saw him pitch his second start in Pawtucket that he had the best four-pitch stuff I've ever seen.''
For Lester, it was fun to play with some of his former Pawtucket mates and watch them support him in a very good outing in which he did enough to keep the Orioles off balance.
``We've come up through the system together,'' Lester said. ``We know what we can do and we know how to push each other. Jacoby made some great plays out in center field today, as did Brandon Moss [in left]. And Peddy up the middle . . . the defense played really well, and it's just fun to see those guys up here.''
He spoke about the Sox maybe getting a second wind thanks in part to the infusion of talent.
``August was tough,'' Lester said. ``We had two 10-game road trips. It wore on some guys, you could tell. And now it's like we're at home and you catch a second wind, and give some guys a couple days off and let them rest and get that second wind and push for the playoffs.''
Lowell knocked in Boston's first run with a single to left in the first after Pedroia singled to lead off and advanced to second on David Ortiz's walk. Ellsbury homered in the fourth with two outs, and Lowell knocked in the game-winner with a sacrifice fly in the fifth. That scored Pedroia, who led off with a double and was sacrificed to third on Alex Cora's bunt.
Jonathan Papelbon, last year's rookie phenom, recorded his 31st save and ran his scoreless streak to 10 2/3 innings.
It was a beautiful day at the ballyard on a day when Boston's youth felt like a breath of fresh air.
Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com.
