Well Played, Sox

And not just on the field at Fenway last night.
The Red Sox and Dustin Pedroia agreed on a seven-year, $100 million deal yesterday, and it will keep the future Red Sox captain and second baseman in a Red Sox uniform until 2021, when he is 38 years old.
The Sox moved quickly to lock up Pedroia, as Robinson Cano is in his walk year in New York and didn't want to have to compete with that. Pedroia's deal was up after this season, and the club had an option for 2015.
Terrific move by the Sox. Pedroia will be the centerpiece of the Red Sox for the rest of this decade.
And Jon Lester had a nice bounce back game against the hottest team in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays, last night.
After getting buzzsawed by Matt Moore the previous night, Lester went 6 1/3 innings, and allowed just two solo home runs, and walked no one. The bullpen combo of Matt Thornton, Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara was perfect, going the remaining 2 2/3 innings, and struck out 5 of the 7 hitters they faced.
How good has this Sox team been compared to last season? They matched their total home wins last night with 2012: 34. And they still have two months left in this season, and 29 home games still to play. Makes 2012 look like one bad dream.
The Sox have split the first two of four with Tampa Bay with the 6-2 win last night. They remain 1 1/2 games in first.