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.