Rockies vs Red Sox (6/12-6/14)

Game 1: Tim Wakefield was very strong in his eight innings of work on Tuesday night as he only allowed one run. The Red Sox carried a 2-1 lead into the 9th inning thanks to an RBI double from Kevin Youkilis and a sacrifice fly from JD Drew. Jonathan Papelbon came in to pitch the 9th and it was one of his strongest performances of the season. His fastball was regularly in the high 90s as he threw a perfect inning and struck out Todd Helton to end the game.

Game 2: Curt Schilling's near no-hitter did not carry over to Wednesday night. Schilling struggled early and wasn't helped out by his defense either. Both Julio Lugo and Mike Lowell made errors in the early going. Schilling left the game after 5 innings of work and surrendering 5 runs. The Red Sox offense remained stagnant as they were only able to plate two runs on the evening (a solo homer by Mike Lowell and an RBI single by Manny Ramirez). The rockies ended up scoring 12 runs and winning by the score of 12-2. The Red Sox are now only 8.5 games ahead of the Yankees.

Game 3: Josh Beckett turned in his shakiest start of the season on Thursday night. Beckett gave up 6 runs in 5 innings while only striking out 1. Jeff Francis was on the hill for the Rockies and he threw 5 shutout innings. The Rockies took control of the game with a grand slam from Garrett Atkins.

The Red Sox offense remained in its horrible slump as they only managed to score 1 run. JD Drew led off for the 1st time this season and was 0-5. Manny Ramirez, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek each recorded two hits on the evening.

The Red Sox lost their 2nd straight game and are now only 7.5 games ahead of the Yankees who finished a sweep of Arizona earlier in the afternoon.

On Deck: The Red Sox will open up a series against the Sanfrancisco Giants on Friday night. Julian Tavarez will take on Barry Zito in the opener. The Red Sox will also have to face Matt Cain and Matt Morris in the series as Barry Bonds continues his quest for the homerun record.