Blue Jays vs Red Sox (5/8-5/10)

Game 1: Josh Beckett continued his Cy-Young season (yes, it's early but the guy has been phenominal and deserves a ton of credit). The Red Sox offense was right there to back Beckett's brilliance. They put up 9 runs and had homeruns from Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek. Youkilis had 3 hits in the game and Varitek had 4. Varitek is now hitting at .284 which is a pleasant surprise for many Red Sox fans.

Red Sox Nation got its first look at Devern Hansack in 2007 and it was not a good one. Hansack struggled with his control and allowed a run. I do still think that he can greatly help this team out of the bullpen if given the chance. Romero and Snyder pitched well in relief to finish out the game

Beckett gave up 1 run in 7 innings. The run came on his first pitch of the night to Alex Rios who smashed the offering over the wall for a leadoff homerun. The following batter doubled and then Beckett settled right down and was locked in from that point on. Beckett has changed his pitching style and is throwing a lesser percentage of fastballs and its benefitting him greatly. Last season, 73% of Beckett's pitches were fastballs. This season, the number has dropped to 63%. Beckett is mixing up his pitches and keeping hitters off balance, they can no longer sit on the fastball. In my estimation, he has been the team's MVP thus far and is providing a ton of optimism among Red Sox Nation. Let's hope it continues.

The Sox move to 21-10 with the win, 6 games ahead of the 2nd place Yankees.

Game 2: The real Daisuke Matsuzaka showed up in Toronto on Wednesday night. Matsuzaka went 7 innings, allowed 1 earned run, and struck out 8. He walkd 3 on the night.

The Red Sox offense picked up where it left off on Tuesday evening and put another 9 runs on the scoreboard. Lugo chipped in with a homer as did Mike Lowell and Manny Ramirez. David Ortiz went 4/5 with a homerun of his own. Dustin Pedroia's recent great play continued as well. Pedroia was 2/4 with 2 runs scored and made some pretty nice plays with the glove

It's so encouraging to watch this team right now. They are going to be a special ballclub if they can avoid injury. The win moves them to 22-10. The Yankees also won, so the division lead stays at 6 games.

Game 3: Roy Halladay wasn't even enough to stop the Red Sox offense. The Red Sox were able to touch up Halladay for 8 runs (7 earned). Mike Lowell hit another homerun in the effort.

Tim Wakefield was once again unbelievable. He pitched 7 shutout innings and struck out 5 to lower his ERA to a measly 1.79. Wakefield only allowed 3 hits and a walk to the Blue Jays who have now lost 9 games in a row.

The Red Sox received good work out of the bullpen from Hideki Okajima. JC Romero pitched a scoreless inning, but gave up 2 hits. The win moves the Red Sox to 23-10, they have won 4 straight. The Yankees also lost today, which means that the Red Sox division lead has increased to 7 games.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a series with the Orioles on Friday night. Julian Tavarez will oppose Brian Burres of the Orioles. Curt Schilling will pitch in the 2nd game for the Red Sox and Josh Beckett will pitch in the finale.