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.