Orioles vs Red Sox (7/31-8/2)

Game 1: Josh Beckett struggled in the early going on Tuesday night against the Baltimore Orioles but was able to settle down and finish with 5 runs over 8 innings pitched. The Red Sox struggled to score against Erik Bedard, scoring their only 2 runs against him on a David Ortiz 2-run homerun. Ortiz would later add a 2nd homerun to bring the Red Sox within 2 runs.

The Red Sox staged a rally in the bottom of the 9th inning as they were able to get men on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Julio Lugo then hit into a fielder's choice and runners were on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs before Dustin Pedroia grounded out to the pitcher on the first pitch he saw. David Ortiz was on deck for the Red Sox.

The Yankees beat the White Sox tonight and the win moves them within 7 games of the Red Sox for 1st place in the AL East.

Game 2: The Red Sox won a close game on Wednesday night in come from behind fashion. Julian Tavarez took the hill for the Red Sox in place of Kason Gabbard who was traded to Texas in the Eric Gagne deal. Tavarez went 5 innings and gave up 3 runs in what will be his last start for the time being. Curt Schilling will re-enter the rotation on Monday, August 6th in his place.

Tavarez left the game with a 3-1 deficit, but the Red Sox were able to claim the lead when David Ortiz hit an RBI-double and Kevin Youkilis followed with a 2-RBI double. The Red Sox tacked on another run when Jason Varitek hit an RBI single for Boston's 4th run in the inning.

In the 8th inning, Miguel Tejada hit a solo shot off of Hideki Okajima to make the score 5-4 in favor of the Red Sox. Okajima was able to finish the inning with no more harm done and Papelbon pitched the 9th to close it out. Steve Trachsel pitched 6 solid innings for the Orioles but was unable to pick up the win.

Game 3: Tim Wakefield took the mound on Thursday afternoon and was opposed by Jeremy Guthrie, a legitimate rookie of the year canidate in the American League. Wakefield turned in his second consecutive quality start by pitching 7 innings and allowing 3 runs. Guthrie allowed 3 runs in 5.1 innings of work.

The Red Sox were able to score 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning against Rob Bell to take the lead for good. Doug Mirabelli, Alex Cora, and Dustin Pedroia picked up RBIs in the inning. The RBI in the 7th gave Mirabelli his 3rd hit of the day including a homerun in the 4th inning. Eric Hinske also homered in the 4th inning. Mirabelli had been booed an inning earlier when he was thrown out at the plate in a tie game with the bases loaded. Mirabelli showed poor timing on his tag-up from 3rd base on a deep flyout to right field by David Ortiz. Mirabelli retreated to 3rd base to re-tag and then attempted to score anyways but was easily thrown out by Nick Markakis at the plate. David Ortiz threw his helmet at the ground in frustration and the Fenway Faithful booed Mirabelli as he took the field in the top of the 7th inning.

Hideki Okajima pitched a scoreless 8th and gave way to Eric Gagne who received a standing ovation as he made his first appearance in a Red Sox uniform. After the game, Gagne called the feeling amazing and it would not surprise me if he were interested in staying in Boston for seasons beyond 2007. It appears unlikely at this time, but maybe the Red Sox will move Jon Papelbon to the rotation in 2008 so that Eric Gagne can close and be set-up by Hideki Okajima and Manny Delcarmen.

The Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox this afternoon in a high-scoring battle. The two clubs scored 8 runs each in the 2nd inning but the White Sox ended up winning by the score of 13-9. The Red Sox win and the Yankee loss puts the Red Sox 8 games ahead for 1st place in the AL East.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 3-game series with the red-hot Seattle Mariners on Friday night at 10:05 PM ET. Jon Lester will oppose Horatio Ramirez in the opener. Lester will be making his 3rd start of the season against the gaudy 6.52 ERA which will hopefully be enough to get the Red Sox offense going.

Deadline Dealing: Gagne to Boston

The Red Sox probably made the biggest move of any American League team at the trading deadline on Tuesday afternoon. They acquired former NL Cy Young winner, Eric Gagne from Texas in exchange for Kason Gabbard, David Murphy, and Engel Beltre.

The trade gives Boston a very, very strong bullpen especially if Timlin and Donnelly can get over their recent injury troubles. Having those two guys healthy to go with Papelbon, Okajima, Gagne, and the emerging Manny Delcarmen could give the Red Sox one of their best bullpens ever.

Hopefully their starters can stay healthy because the loss of Gabbard is a hit to their pitching depth. However, if somebody were to go down, Julian Tavarez could fill in for the short term.

I also felt that Boston could have used another big bat in their lineup, but it would have been tough to find everybody at bats if another power hitter was added to the lineup. Despite not adding another big hitter, Boston could easily be the team to beat in the American League with the addition of Eric Gagne at the trading deadline.

Devil Rays vs Red Sox (7/27-7/29)

Game 1: The Red Sox got a solid 6-inning performance out of Tim Wakefield on Friday night as he continued his mastery of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Red Sox were trailing 1-0 until the 5th inning when Kevin Youkilis cranked a 3-run homerun to give them the lead. The Red Sox would later pad the lead on RBIs by Coco Crisp, JD Drew, and Doug Mirabelli.

Manny Delcarmen pitched 2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen and Okajima pitched a scoreless 9th inning.

Game 2: Jon Lester pitched a decent ballgame on Saturday night as he gave up 4 runs in 6.2 innings. Lester left the game with a 6-4 lead which was held by Julian Tavarez and Hideki Okajima. Unfortunately, Jon Papelbon blew his 2nd save of the season by giving up a 2-run game tying homerun to Jonny Gomes. It was Gomes' 2nd homerun of the evening.

The Red Sox were able to get 2 scoreless innings out of Kyle Snyder before scoring 6 runs in the top 0f the 12th. Javier Lopez pitched the bottom half to end the game and give the Red Sox their 8th win in 9 tries.

Game 3: Daisuke Matsuzaka and Scott Kazmir engaged in a pitching battle on Sunday afternoon. It turned out that Matsuzaka was the first to crack. The first run of the game came off of a solo homerun by Dioner Navarro. Matsuzaka allowed another baserunner and was replaced by Manny Delcarmen who allowed 1 more baserunner followed by back-to-back homers to give the Rays a 5-0 lead.

Boston attempted to battle back in the top of the 8th when Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis connected on back-to-back solo homers, but Gary Glover was able to close out the victory for the Rays.

The Red Sox now lead the Yankees by 8 games and will lead by that amount when both teams resume their schedules on Tuesday night. Boston will face Baltimore as the Yankees take on the Chicago White Sox.

On Deck: Boston will begin a 3-game series with the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night. Josh Beckett will face Eric Bedard in the opener.

Indians vs Red Sox (7/23-7/26)

Game 1: Jon Lester's control was shaky at times, but he kept the Red Sox in the game as he pitched 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs. Lester left the game with 5-2 lead and showed some fire in the 4th inning when he pitched his way out of a jam. The inning ended when Lester struck out Grady Sizemore with the bases loaded. Lester ended up striking out 6 and walking 3.

The Red Sox did alot of their scoring in the early going as they scored 4 runs in the 1st inning, and 1 run in the 2nd inning. Jake Westbrook settled down after that and gave Cleveland a chance to make a comeback.

Manny Ramirez, Coco Crisp, Dustin Pedroia, and KevinYoukilis led the Red Sox offense. Mike Timlin, Javier Lopez, and Manny Delcarmen combined to pitch scoreless frames in the 7th, 8th, and 9th.

Jon Lester picked up his 1st win of 2007 and the Red Sox will remain 7.5 games ahead of the Yankees unless the Yankees blow a late lead to Kansas City tonight.

Game 2: Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon combined for a shutout on Tuesday night against the Cleveland Indians in a 1-0 victory. Matsuzaka pitched 7 innings, allowed 4 hits, and 3 walks, while striking out 5. Papelbon and Okajima pitched perfect innings in the 8th and 9th.

The only run of the game was scored when Ben Francisco misplayed a flyball hit by Mike Lowell with runners on base. The misplay resulted in a run for the Red Sox as Kevin Youkilis crossed the plate on the plate. The play turned out to be the difference in the game.

The Yankees currently have a big lead on Kansas City, so the Red Sox will likely remain 7.5 games in 1st place. The win is their 5th in a row.

Game 3: Wednesday night brought another 1-0 duel, but this time the Red Sox were on the wrong side of it. Fausto Carmona pitched 8 scoreless innings for Cleveland, trumping Josh Beckett's 8 innings of 1 run ball.

The only run of the night came off of a solo homerun hit by Franklin Gutierrez. The homerun came in the 3rd inning as Gutierrez got out in front of an outside fastball and pulled it over the left field wall.

The Red Sox did not have many chances on the evening, but they found a way to blow the ones they had. Every time the Red Sox got a baserunner they found a way to squander the chance. Coco Crisp was thrown out at the plate after trying to score from 2nd on an infield single with Manny Ramirez on deck and 2 outs in the inning. Julio Lugo was caught stealing, as were Alex Cora and Jason Varitek.

The loss brings the Yankees to within 7 games of 1st place in the AL East. A Yankee win tonight would make the lead 6.5, a Yankee loss would bring the Red Sox lead back to 7.5 games.

Game 4: The Red Sox won a slugfest on Thursday night by the score of 14-9. Kason Gabbard gave up 5 runs in less than 5 innings, but the Red Sox got a 4-hit night out of Wily Mo Pena including a homerun as well as a 2-homerun performance by Manny Ramirez.

Cliff Lee started the game for Cleveland and gave up 7 runs in 4 innings.

The Return of Jon Lester

Jon Lester will make his return to the Major Leagues on Monday night at Jacobs Field in Cleveland. The return comes nearly a year after Lester was diagnosed with a treatable form of Cancer.

Lester was deemed cancer-free by doctors in December and has slowly worked his way back to the Major Leagues. Lester was anxious for the Red Sox to let him loose but they took their time as they felt it was in his best interest.

Now, Lester will take Julian Tavarez's spot in the rotation and may be there to stay depending on how he performs until Curt Schilling returns. If both Lester and Gabbard are going well at the time of Schilling's return, it will be interesting to see what the Red Sox do with their rotation. There might be an outside possibility that Tim Wakefield could be moved to the bullpen with Tavarez but I'm not sure Francona would do that to Wakefield.

Tomorrow night when a cancer-free Lester takes the hill, Red Sox nation and most of the rest of baseball will be cheering him on.

White Sox vs Red Sox (7/19-7/22)

Game 1: Daisuke Matsuzaka struggled with the control once again on Thursday night as he walked 6 batters. Dice-K allowed 3 runs over his 5 innings of work.

Javier Vazquez, who took the hill for the White Sox, fared a little bit better. Vazquez went 6.1 IP and allowed 2 ER.

Manny Ramirez (2 hits), Mike Lowell (2 hits), and Dustin Pedroia (3/5, RBI) all had solid offensive nights for the Red Sox. AJ Pierzynski drove in 3 runs for the White Sox.

The Red Sox lost by the final score of 4-2 despite solid work out of the bullpen from Javier Lopez, Manny Delcarmen, and Kyle Snyder.

Game 2: The Red Sox offense seemingly woke up on Friday night as they pounded out 10 hits and scored 10 runs. Rightfully, the Red Sox had more than 10 runs as JD Drew was robbed of a 3-run homer by the 3rd base umpire who clearly blew the call. On the replay, the ball clearly hit above the red line atop the green monster. The Red Sox did not let the early call affect the outcome of the game as Coco Crisp had a bases clearing triple in the 5th inning. Julio Lugo would later add a grand slam and went 3/4 with 4 RBIs on the evening.

Beckett started the game for the Red Sox and struck out 10 batters in 6 innings of work. Beckett allowed 3 runs on 4 hits and walked 2. Jose Contreras was the started for the White Sox and he allowed all 10 runs as he went 7.1 innings. Mike Timlin, Hideki Okajima, and Joel Pineiro pitched scoreless innings out of the pen for the Red Sox as they won by the final score of 10-3.

Game 3: The Red Sox offensive attack continued on Saturday afternoon with Coco Crisp and Eric Hinske leading the way. Crisp had 3 hits and 5 RBIs while Hinske was 2/2 with 2 RBIs.

Kason Gabbard had another impressive performance for the Red Sox. Gabbard went 7 innings, allowed 1 run on only 3 hits and 1 walk. This encouraging start coming after impressive performances against Kansas City and Detroit.

Jon Danks started for the White Sox and allowed 4 runs in 6 innings of work. The White Sox bullpen was no better as they allowed 7 more runs in the last 3 innings.

The final score was 11-2 and the Red Sox are 7.5 games ahead of the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East.

Game 4: Sunday night brought another impressive performance from the Red Sox offense as they ripped Jon Garland and the White Sox for 8 more runs. Manny Ramirez had a 3-run shot in the 1st inning and Mike Lowell added one of his own in the 3rd. Ramirez would finish 2/2 with 4 RBIs. Coco Crisp stayed hot as well, collecting 3 more hits.

Tim Wakefield started for the Red Sox and pitched 6 innings of effective ball before allowing 3 runs to the White Sox in the 7th inning. Manny Delcarmen came in to relieve Wakefield and allowed a run of his own to cut the Red Sox lead to 3. Hideki Okajima ended the threat started by Delcarmen and pitched a scoreless inning of his own.

The Red Sox would enter the 9th inning with a 3-run lead before turning the game over to Jon Papelbon. Papelbon promptly loaded the bases before recording an out. Jim Thome came to the plate and was struck out by Papelbon. Konerko was next for the White Sox but grounded into a game-ending double play.

As a result of the Yankee win, the Red Sox remain 7.5 games ahead.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 4-game series against the Cleveland Indians at Jacobs Field. Jon Lester will face Jake Westbrook in the opener.

Royals vs Red Sox (7/16-7/18)

Game 1: Kason Gabbard continued to make a case to keep his spot on the Red Sox roster when Curt Schilling returns from the disabled list. Gabbard has a strong outing before the All Star Break against the Detroit Tigers and followed it up with a Complete Game 3-hit shutout on Monday night against the Royals. Gabbard struck out 8 and walked 1 as he appeared to be in complete control of all of his pitches.

Dustin Pedroia started the scoring for the Red Sox with a solo homer in the 4th inning. Manny Ramirez would later hit a solo shot of his own before David Ortiz wrapped a 2-run homer around the Pesky Pole. The homerun by Ortiz would give the Red Sox a 4-0 lead which turned out to be the final score.

The Yankees beat Toronto on Monday night, so they remain 9 games behind the Red Sox for 1st place in the AL East.

Game 2: The Red Sox lost an ugly game to the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night by the score of 9-3. Tim Wakefield was ineffective as he allowed 6 runs over 6.1 innings. Leo Nunez started for the Royals and pitched 4 innings while allowing 1 earned run. Zack Greinke received the win since Nunez failed to pitch 5 innings.

Julio Lugo and Mike Lowell had 3 hits each and were the bright spots in an otherwise terrible night. John Buck and Billy Butler did the damage with their bats for the Royals, they each knocked in 2 runs.

With the loss, the Red Sox are now only 8 games ahead of the Yankees who beat Toronto tonight.

Game 3: Lately it seems that the Red Sox are getting unlucky when it comes to 1-run ballgames. The Red Sox are actually 0-7 in their last 7 games that were decide by just a run.

Julian Tavarez didn't help the cause and may have pitched himself out of a rotation spot with another poor performance. The bullpen did a nice job picking him up, but the offense fell one run short.

Manny Ramirez had a solo homerun and Julio Lugo had an RBI double to keep the Red Sox in the game. In the 9th inning with a 1-run deficit, David Ortiz reached with 2 outs in the inning which brought the go-ahead run to the plate. Unfortunately, Manny Ramirez lost a relatively short battle with Octavio Dotel when he popped up to end the game and give the Royals another victory.

The Yankees won again tonight, and with the Red Sox loss they are now only 7 games out of 1st place in the AL East.

Notes: Tavarez may be on his way back to the bullpen thanks to another poor start and the emergence of Kason Gabbard. Curt Schilling is due back soon and will obviously reclaim his spot in the rotation. Tim Wakefield has been killing the Red Sox lately as well and it is not out of the realm of possibility that the Red Sox will have both Jon Lester and Kason Gabbard in the rotation by the end of the season. If that were to happen, Tavarez and Wakefield would both be relegated to the bullpen.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 4-game series with the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night. Daisuke Matsuzaka will look to pull the Red Sox out of their slump and he will be opposed by Javier Vazquez.

Blue Jays vs Red Sox (7/12-7/15)

Game 1: The Red Sox started off the second half right on Thursday evening against the Toronto Blue Jays as they receieved a solid start from Tim Wakefield and great work from the bullpen. Delcarmen, Okajima, and Papelbon each pitched a scoreless inning in that order to finish out the game.

Offensively, Julio Lugo collected 2 more hits. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were a combined 5/9 with 5 RBIs. The Red Sox will be in very good shape for the remainder of the season if that tandem can start clicking.

Roy Halladay took the loss for the Blue Jays and has struggled mightily against the Red Sox all season long.

Game 2: The Red Sox lost a close one on Friday evening to Shawn Marcum and the Toronto Blue Jays. Marcum allowed 3 runs over 6 innings to give the Jays the edge.

Julian Tavarez struggled for the Red Sox, as did Kyle Snyder, but the rest of the bullpen did a good job keeping the Red Sox in the ballgame. Mike Timlin threw 2.1 scoreless innings and Joel Pineiro and Javier Lopez combined for another scoreless inning.

The Red Sox received more offense from Manny Ramirez who hit a homerun and collected 3 more RBIs. Mike Lowell was also 2/4 with 2 RBI. The offensive output wasn't enough and the Blue Jays were able to take Game 2 of the series by the score of 6-5.

Game 3: The Red Sox rebounded on Sunday with a 9-run output from their offense. David Ortiz, Eric Hinske, and Jason Varitek all had homeruns and Julio Lugo went 3/4 as the Red Sox beat the Blue Jays 9-4. The homerun by Ortiz was his first at Fenway Park since April 20th.

Matsuzaka pitched 6 innings and allowed 4 runs. Manny Delcarmen relieved him and continued to pitch great. Delcarmen pitched 2 scorless. Hideki Okajima pitched a scoreless 9th.

Dustin McGowan was pounded for 6 runs in 5 innings as he took the loss for the Blue Jays.

Game 4: The Red Sox have not had the best of luck in one-run games lately and Sunday afternoon was no different.

They received a brilliant 8 inning effort from Josh Beckett. Beckett allowed 2 runs, but the Red Sox offense was only able to score one run.

Jesse Litsch pitched very well for the Blue Jays as he collected his 2nd win of the season. The only run he allowed was on an RBI double by David Ortiz in the bottom of the 6th inning.

With the loss, the Red Sox split the series with Toronto and are 9 games ahead of the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East.

Notes: It appears that Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp have decided to contribute to the Red Sox offense which will be a big help down the stretch. It also appears that David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are on the verge of getting hot. At the same time, the bullpen looks very good with Jon Papelbon, Hideki Okajima, and Manny Delcarmen leading the way.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 3-game series against the Kansas City Royals on Monday night. Kason Gabard will take on Brian Bannister in the opener.

Tigers vs Red Sox (7/6-7/8)

Game 1: Julian Tavarez put up his worst start of the season on Thursday night against the Detroit Tigers. Tavarez allowed 8 runs in 4.2 innings of work. He allowed homeruns to Curtis Granderson and Marcus Thames before he was removed.

Andrew Miller started for Detroit and went 7 innings. Miller allowed 1 earned run and struck out 6 to earn the win.

Manny Delcarmen pitched another scoreless inning of relief for the Red Sox.

Game 2: David Ortiz staked the Red Sox to an early 2-run lead with homerun off of Jeremy Bonderman. Unfortunately, that was the only scoring the Red Sox would come by on Saturday evening.

Kason Gabbard was able to make the lead last until the 7th inning when he gave up the tying run. Craig Monroe ripped a 2-RBI double off of Gabbard to tie it.

The game would go into 13 innings with both bullpens doing a very good job. Delcarmen, Okajima, Timlin, and Lopez held the line for the Red Sox until Jonathan Papelbon took over in the bottom of the 13th.

Papelbon would end up taking his 2nd loss of the season thanks to a hit batsman and an RBI single with 2-outs just out of the reach of a diving Coco Crisp. The winning hit came off of the bat of Ivan Rodriguez.

Game 3: Sunday's game would turn out to be another close one for the Red Sox, but unfortunately they fell short in a 1-run game for the second consecutive day.

Daisuke Matsuzaka struggled with his control and allowed 5 runs and 3 homeruns to Detroit before being removed after 5 innings of work.

Gary Sheffield, Marcus Thames, and Carlos Guillen all homered for Detroit.

The Red Sox were able to stay in the game thanks to solo homeruns from Jeff Bailey and Julio Lugo. Lugo also had an RBI double on the day and was 3/3.

Todd Jones took a 1-run lead into the 9th inning and allowed a leadoff hit before retiring the next 2 batters. Varitek then singled and put the tying run on 3rd base before JD Drew fouled out to 3rd base to end the game.

The Red Sox end the first half with the best record in baseball and a 10 game lead on the New York Yankees for the American League East. Julio Lugo had a nice series against Detroit which will hopefully give him momentum for the 2nd half. Coco Crisp and Manny Delcarmen have also been playing very well lately.

On Deck: The homerun derby will be held on Monday night and the All Star Game will be held on Tuesday night. The game will feature 6 Red Sox (Papelbon, Beckett, Okajima, Lowell, Ramirez, and Ortiz). All teams will receive a day off on Wednesday. After the day off, the Red Sox will begin a series with the Toronto Blue Jays from Fenway Park. Julian Tavarez and Roy Halladay will square off in the opener.

Devil Rays vs Red Sox (7/3-7/5)

Game 1: The Red Sox were finally able to beat Scott Kazmir on Tuesday night, much thanks to Daisuke Matsuzaka. Matsuzaka threw 8 innings of 4-hit shutout baseball to lead the Red Sox. Kazmir allowed 3 runs in 6 innings of work.

Julio Lugo and Jason Varitek led the way on offense. Varitek was 1/2 with 2 RBIs and Lugo was 2/3 with 2 RBIs.

Game 2: Tim Wakefield receieve some early run support courtesy of a 2-run homer by Mike Lowell and an RBI double by Jacoby Ellsbury. JD Drew and Doug Mirabelli also chipped in with RBI basehits.

Wakefield made the game interesting in the 7th inning when he allowed 3 runs and was replaced by Javier Lopez. Lopez allowed 1 more run of his own in the inning but Manny Delcarmen and Jonathan Papelbon were able to close it out.

Game 3: The Red Sox had Josh Beckett on the mound on Thursday night, but didn't need him as they broke out the bats in a big way. The Red Sox scored 6 runs in the 1st inning off of starter JP Howell, they added 3 more in the 2nd inning and 4 more in the 3rd.

Leading the charge was Mike Lowell, who went 5/6 with 5 RBIs and a homerun. Coco Crisp also had a grand slam in the 1st inning and 5 RBIs. Jacoby Ellsbury went 2/2 and has been pretty impressive in his short stint in the majors.

Notes: Manny Delcarmen has been very impressive over the last month for the Red Sox and may become an effective setup man in addition to Hideki Okajima. Delcarmen has been locating his high-90s fastball very well which allows his 12-6 curveball to be more effective. Look for Delcarmen to have a big 2nd half if he stays healthy and confident.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 3-game series with the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.

Rangers vs Red Sox (6/29-7/2)

Game 1: Tim Wakefield pitched 6.2 effective innings on Friday night to lead the Red Sox to victory. He allowed 1 run and struck out 4.

JD Drew and Mike Lowell had 2 hits each for the Red Sox. The Red Sox were only able to score 2 runs (RBIs from Wily Mo Pena and Manny Ramirez).

The Red Sox entered the 8th with a 2-1 lead and were able to keep that lead through the end of the game thanks to scoreless innings from Hideki Okajima and Jon Papelbon.

Game 2: On Saturday evening, the Red Sox scored 4 early runs against Robinson Tejada who appeared to have absolutely no control of any of his pitcher. The Red Sox, however, failed to capitalize on the ineffectiveness and the Rangers were able to stay in the game.

Generally, a 4-run lead is safe when Josh Beckett is on the mound, but that wasn't the case. Beckett ended up leaving after 5 innings in which he allowed 10 hits and 5 runs.

Once the Rangers got the lead, they never looked back. Eric Gagne finished off the Red Sox in the bottom of the 9th inning. The Red Sox have now lost 4 out of their last 5 games.

Jacoby Ellsbury made his much anticipated Major League debut and went 1/4.

Game 3: Julian Tavarez pitched very well on Sunday afternoon and allowed 2 runs (1 earned) in his 5.2 innings of work. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, Kameron Loe did just a little bit better. Loe allowed 1 run in his 6 innings of work.

The Rangers bullpen finished out the final three innings. CJ Wilson, Frank Francisco, Akinori Otsuka, and Eric Gagne pitched in relief. Javier Lopez, Manny Delcarmen, and Hideki Okajima kept the game close for the Red Sox, but the offense was unable to come through and put another run on the board.

The Rangers won the game 2-1 and the Red Sox have now dropped 5 of their last 6 games. Jacoby Ellsbury drew another start in CF for the injured Coco Crisp and went 0/4. The only run for the Red Sox came on an RBI single from KevinYoukilis.

Game 4: Kason Gabbard's control was a little bit better this time around and the Red Sox benefitted greatly. Gabbard, who struggled last time out against the Mariners, pitched 5 innings and allowed 3 earned runs. He struggled with walks again but did not allow a hit until the 4th inning. When he finally did, the crowd gave him a nice round of applause but it was quieted quickly when Brad Wilkerson hit a 3-run homer to bring the Rangers to within 1.

Eric Hinske came up with a big hit for the Red Sox in the bottom half of that inning to give the Red Sox a 7-4 lead. Hinske collected 2 hits, as did Jacoby Ellsbury, Manny Ramirez, and Jason Varitek. Ellsbury was 2/2 with 2 runs scored and a stolen base, he also walked twice. Ellsbury showed off his great speed on a bouncer over the pitcher and when he scored from 2nd on a passed ball. Ellsbury is now hitting .300 in 10 ML at bats.

The win was the Red Sox 50th of the year and came at a good time. The team had been struggling and didn't have one of their aces on the mound, but the offense came through. The Yankees won as well and remain 10.5 games behind the Red Sox.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 3-game series against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Tuesday. Daisuke Matsuzaka will take on Scott Kazmir in the opener. The game will mark the first time that the Red Sox and Devil Rays have played this season. It is interesting to note that 20% of the remaining games for the Red Sox will be played against the Devil Rays.

Mariners vs. Red Sox (6/25-6/27)

Game 1: The Red Sox allowed Jeff Weaver to shut them down on Monday evening. At the same time, Julian Tavarez was not on top of his game. Tavarez allowed 3 runs in 4.1 innings.

Coco Crisp and Dustin Pedroia collected 2 hits each, but the Red Sox offense was only able to put 4 runs on the board. The Mariners scored 9 times in the game, 3 coming off of an ineffective Mike Timlin.

Game 2: The Red Sox lost a back and forth affair on Tuesday night to the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners took an early 3-1 lead against a wildly inefficient Kason Gabbard. Gabbard lasted only 3.1 innings, allowed 4 ER, and earned 6.

The Red Sox were able to close the gap on numerous occasions, but both times the red-hot Mariners were able to answer. Manny Delcarmen and Javier Lopez allowed the Mariners to tack on runs and stay ahead.

JJ Putz recorded the final out for the Mariners against Manny Ramirez. The Red Sox have now lost 2 straight games.

Game 3: The frustration continued for the Red Sox on Wednesday night as they were only able to score 1 run and ended up losing in 11 innings.

Daisuke Matsuzaka turned in a masterful performance (8 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, and 8 Ks) before giving way to the bullpen in the 9th inning. In the 9th, Okajima got into a jam but was bailed out by Jon Papelbon who also pitched the 10th inning. In the 11th inning, Joel Pineiro took over and gave up a game-winning RBI double to Jose Lopez.

The Red Sox have now lost 3 straight and have been swept by the Mariners. Luckily, the Yankees are struggling at the current time as well.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin 3-game series with the Texas Rangers on Friday night. Tim Wakefield will start for the Red Sox in the opener.