Athletics vs Red Sox (9/25-9/26)

Game 1: Curt Schilling pitched 6 strong innings on Tuesday night against the Athletics. He allowed 6 hits, 1 run, and struck out 6.

The only run scored on Schilling was a homerun in the 1st inning by Daric Barton which gave the A's an early lead. Gaudin gave the run back in the bottom of the 1st and the game stayed tied until the 4th inning when Gaudin lost his control. The Red Sox drew 4 consecutive walks off of Gaudin and ended up plating 2 runs in the 4th inning.

The Red Sox were able to tack on some insurance runs in the 7th and 8th innings. David Ortiz hit a 2-run homer in the 8th to make it a 7-1 Red Sox lead.

Papelbon, who threw one pitch in the 8th inning to bail Eric Gagne out of a jam was removed in favor of Bryan Corey. Corey allowed 3 consecutive hits to start the inning but he got the next batter to fly out to JD Drew. The game ended when Shannon Stewart hit a bloop to Dustin Pedroia with 1 out. Pedroia snagged it and threw it to 2nd for a double play.

The Yankees game is currently tied in the 8th inning. A Yankees win means that the Red Sox remain 2 games ahead, a Yankee loss moves the Red Sox to 3 games ahead. The magic number to clinch the division is now 4 and could be down to 3 before the night is over.

Game 2: Jon Lester turned in some very odd results in his final start of the regular season. Lester was masterful, striking out 9. Unfortunately, Lester allowed the A's to score 4 times in his 4.1 innings of work.

The Red Sox offense, however, was up to the challenge. Mike Lowell collected 3 hits and 5 RBIs. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez also had 3 hits apiece. Kevin Youkilis went 1/3 in his 2nd game back from injury.

Kyle Snyder, Javier Lopez, Mike Timlin, Eric Gagne, and Julian Tavarez finished the last 4.2 innings of the game for the Red Sox. Tavarez was the only one of them to allow a run.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 4-game series against the Minnesota Twins. Josh Beckett will face Boof Bonser in the opener.

Devil Rays vs Red Sox (9/21-9/23)

Game 1: Josh Beckett collected his 20th win on Friday night and at the same time, he stopped the bleeding for the Boston Red Sox.

Beckett pitched 6 innings, allowing one run and striking out eight. The Red Sox offense was also able to give Beckett some support. David Ortiz led the charge with a homerun and 4 RBIs. Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek, and Jacoby Ellsbury also made strong contributions in the 8-1 victory.

Manny Delcarmen, Javier Lopez, and Eric Gagne combined for a scoreless 7th, 8th, and 9th to finish it off for Beckett and the Red Sox.

The Yankees also lost on Friday night which gave the Red Sox a 2.5 game lead.

Game 2: All the Red Sox needed to clinch the playoffs on Saturday night was a victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Daisuke Matsuzaka drew the start and looked decent. He left having only allowed two runs in 6.2 innings, unfortunately he left some runners on base and Javier Lopez allowed them to score when he gave up a homerun to Carlos Pena.

The Devil Rays took a 6-5 lead and took it to the 9th inning before Al Reyes entered the ballgame. Reyes had already blown two saves against the Red Sox this season. Jason Varitek started off the inning with a game-tying solo homerun. A couple of batters later, the Red Sox would ensure themselves a trip to the playoffs when Julio Lugo blasted a 2-run homer off of Reyes.

Papelbon entered the game in the bottom of the 9th and retired the Devil Rays in order on 12 pitches. The win kept the Red Sox 2.5 games ahead of the Yankees who beat Toronto in extra innings.

Game 3: Tim Wakefield's recent struggles continued against a team he normally dominates. Wakefield allowed 4 runs in 5 innings against the Devil Rays.

The Red Sox battled back with 3 runs in top of the 6th inning, but Tavarez allowed the Devil Rays to take a 5-3 lead when he allowed them to put across a run.

The Red Sox collected another run in the 8th when Alex Cora hit a rare homerun. Unfortunately for Boston, nobody was on base. For Al Reyes, Sunday was a better day than Saturday as he was able to retire the Red Sox in the 9th inning and seal the deal for the Devil Rays.

The Yankees beat the Blue Jays again on Sunday which dropped the Red Sox lead to 1.5 games, however, on Monday afternoon the Yankees lost 4-1 to the Blue Jays. The Red Sox will go into Tuesday with a 2 game lead in the AL East.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 2-game series with the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night. Curt Schilling and Chad Gaudin will square off in the opener from Fenway Park.

Blue Jays vs Red Sox (9/17-9/19)

Game 1: Tim Wakefield failed to give the Red Sox a quality start when they needed it once again. Wakefield did last for 6 innings but he allowed the Blue Jays to score 4 runs.

Unfortunately, Boston's offensive lineup was below par on Monday night and they were only able to put across one run. Kevin Youkilis, Manny Ramirez, Julio Lugo, and Jason Varitek were all on the bench for the game as Dustin McGowan blew through the Red Sox lineup.

McGowan pitched a complete game for the Blue Jays allowing only 5 hits and 1 run while striking out 9.

The Yankees also won tonight which brings the Red Sox lead down to 3.5 games in the AL East.

Game 2: Terry Francona is starting to show just how terrible he really is at managing a bullpen. After Jon Lester gave the Red Sox the start that they needed, the Red Sox found themselves ahead of the Blue Jays 2-1.

Manny Delcarmen got 1 out to end the 7th before he was removed by Francona to start the 8th inning. Why? Who knows. To make things better, Francona replaced Delcarmen with Eric Gagne. Gagne got 2 quick outs before allowing a hit and 3 consecutive walks. The game was now tied and it apparently wasnt enough for Francona who still refused to bring in Papelbon who had been warming in the bullpen. Gagne then allowed a 2-run double to right field, just over the glove of JD Drew. This gave the Blue Jays a 4-2 lead. The only reason Gagne got out of the inning was because the Red Sox threw out a Blue Jays baserunner at the plate.

Francona's decision looked awful tonight, but the follow-up decision that he made on Wednesday night made it look even worse.

Julio Lugo ended up hitting a solo homer in the 9th inning for the Red Sox before they were retired. The Red Sox lost by the score of 4-3. The Yankees won again so they pull to within 2.5 games of the AL East leading Red Sox.

Game 3: I've said it before and I'll say it again. Terry Francona is very good at managing players, however he is extremely inept when it comes to game management and bullpen management and that has been extremely obvious over the past few days.

The Red Sox lost another tought game on Wednesday night to the Blue Jays. They took an early 1-0 lead on a rare homer by JD Drew, but that was all the scoring they would get for the night.

The Red Sox remained close, even after Clay Buchholz allowed 2 runs (one of which was earned). The bullpen held the Blue Jays close until the bottom of the 8th inning when Mike Timlin took over. Timlin allowed runners to get to 2nd and 3rd with one outs and was replaced by Jonathan Papelbon. A move that was a real headscratcher to me. Terry Francona refused to use Papelbon the night before, when the Red Sox were winning despite the fact that Papelbon was rested. So why use Papelbon when down by a run the following day? There's only one good explanation: Terry Francona is a moron and is costing the Red Sox a division title as we speak.

It is also slightly maddening that Francona is resting all of his players, while the ones who are playing are playing poorly. On one hand this makes sense: The Red Sox should be rested and healthy when the playoffs finally do start. However, this has to hurt the confidence of the team and it could be costing them homefield advantage throughout the playoffs as well.

Whatever happens, the Red Sox will be in the playoffs barring a MAJOR collapse coupled with a MAJOR hot streak by the Detroit Tigers. However, it is still unknown whether it will be as a wild card team or a division winner.

The Red Sox lost the game to Toronto on Wednesday by the score of 6-2 and the Yankees beat Baltimore by the score of 2-1. These events have moved the Yankees to within 1.5 games of the division lead (only one behind in the loss column).

Terry Francona and the rest of his team need to go back to playing the kind of baseball that they have played all year. Solid hitting combined with very good starting pitching and a great bullpen. If this doesn't happen soon, there will be no World Championship for the Red Sox in 2007, a year that they clearly had all of the tools to bring one back to Boston.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 3-game series against the Devil Rays on Friday. Scott Kazmir will start the opener for the Devil Rays (when it rains, it pours). Fortunately, the Red Sox will counter Kazmir with an ace of their own, Josh Beckett.

Yankees vs Red Sox (9/14-9/16)

Game 1: The Red Sox lost in disheartening fashion on Friday night to the New York Yankees. The club went into the 8th inning with a 7-2 lead before Hideki Okajima allowed back-to-back homers followed by back-to-back hits. Papelbon came in to relieve him and gave up 3 more hits and 4 more runs (2 credited to Okajima). Before the inning was over, the Yankees had an 8-7 lead and a pretty good start by Daisuke Matsuzaka was wasted.

The Red Sox failed to get much going in the 8th or the 9th inning as Luis Vizcaino and Mariano Rivera finished it off for the Yankees giving them some hope of winning the division.

Game 2: The Red Sox rebounded in a big way on Saturday afternoon against the Yankees with a 10-1 win. Jacoby Ellsbury had 2 hits and 3 RBIs as Mike Lowell and David Ortiz chipped in 2 RBIs apiece.

Josh Beckett started the game for the Red Sox and went 7 innings, allowing only 3 hits and 1 earned run. Chien-Ming Wang started the game for the Yankees and kept them close until the 6th inning when the Boston offense finally exploded.

Game 3: The Red Sox and the Yankees played another tight game on Sunday night. Boston had an early 1-0 lead but the Yankees battled back with a solo homerun by Robinson Cano. The game stayed tied until the 8th inning when Derek Jeter connected for a 3-run homer against Curt Schilling who pitched admirably until that point. Schilling ended up with 7.2 IP and 4 ER.

The Red Sox answered in the 8th with a solo homer from Mike Lowell and they scored again in the 9th to make it a one run game. They managed to load the bases against Mariano Rivera and bring David Ortiz to the plate. Unfortunately for Boston, Ortiz popped out to shortstop and the Yankees pulled to within 4.5 games of the division.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 3-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night. Tim Wakefield will face Dustin McGowan in the opener.

Devil Rays vs Red Sox (9/10-9/12)

Game 1: The Red Sox continued their struggles against Scott Kazmir on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Kazmir pitched 7 shutout innings and struck out 10. Although Boston's lineup was makeshift (David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and JD Drew on the bench), Kazmir still deserves credit for a great pitching performance.

Curt Schilling pitched pretty well for the Red Sox as well. He went 6 innings and allowed 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 5. It was Schilling's 3rd consecutive quality start without a win.

Alex Cora got the start at shortstop for the Red Sox and I'm starting to think he has no place on the ballclub. He's contributed nothing to the team in what seems like months and they might have been better off with Jed Lowrie (who was not called up) or Royce Clayton (who sat on the bench).

The loss brings the idle Yankees to within 5 games of the division lead.

Game 2: Tim Wakefield normally has great success against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays but such was not the case on Tuesday night as he was roughed up. Wakefield ended up allowing 7 runs and 10 in 3+ innings. After a 3-run homer by Carlos Pena, the chances for a victory looked incredibly bleak for the Red Sox. Making matters worse, the Yankees had a big early lead against the Blue Jays. A Red Sox loss and a Yankee win would have drawn the Yankees to within 4 games, but suddenly the Red Sox bats woke up and overcame the adversity.

Trailing 8-1, their fortunes turned with a 4-run 4th inning and a 3-run 5th inning. The Devil Rays scored a run in the top of the 5th as well, which meant the Red Sox were trailing 9-8 with 4 frames to play. In the 6th, Dustin Pedroia started a big inning with a solo homerun. The Sox would end up scoring 5 more runs in the inning to take a 14-9 lead. The Red Sox added even more runs in the 7th inning with solo homers from David Ortiz and JD Drew (yes, that JD Drew).

Every Red Sox starter with exception to Kevin Cash collected at least 2 hits in the victory, but Cash come up with some clutch hits of his own including a 2-rbi single and a sacrifice fly. Mike Lowell had 4 hits. Ellsbury, Crisp, Pedroia, and Lugo collected 3-rbis apiece while Kevin Youkilis had 3 of his own.

Kyle Snyder continued where Wakefield left off, but once Snyder was lifted the Red Sox received a very solid effort out of their bullpen. Javier Lopez, Manny Delcarmen, Bryan Corey, Mike Timlin, and Eric Gagne pitched in relief. They combined for 4.1 innings pitched and 1 earned run. Bryan Corey collected the win and has now pitched 3 scoreless inning since being called up.

The win keeps the Red Sox 5 games ahead of the New York Yankees with 1 game remaining before the two teams begin a 3-game series from Fenway Park. The Yankees have 2 games remaining until then. They will play Toronto on Wednesday and Thursday.

Game 3: Wednesday night's game against the Devil Rays was similar to that of Tuesday night's in that the Red Sox had to rally in order to win. On this night, the Rays jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on some cheap hits by the Devil Rays including a 2-run homer off Pesky's pole from BJ Upton.

A 3-run homer in the 3rd inning by David Ortiz brought the Red Sox to within a run. Jon Lester was able to settle down, but unfortunately, he had to leave before he had finished 4 innings due to a high pitch count. Julian Tavarez relieved him and tossed 3 hitless innings, his only mistake was a walk. Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon also pitched well in relief, none of them allowed the run and they kept the Red Sox in the game. Good relief pitching set up a very exciting bottom of the 9th inning.

Julio Lugo led off the bottom of the 9th with a walk against Al Reyes. Reyes then retired Pedroia for the 1st out of the inning, the Red Sox still trailing 4-3. David Ortiz, who had not hit a walkoff homerun all year long, came to the plate for the Red Sox. Ortiz found a pitch that he liked from Reyes and took a swing for the fences. Originally, the ball appeared to be heading foul, but the wind played with the ball and turned Tampa Bay RF Delmon Young around. Before Young could regain sight of the ball, it was in the stands and Ortiz was rounding the bases.

The win was huge for Boston who stays 5 games ahead of the Yankees. The Yankees lost to Toronto on Thursday night which pushes the lead to 5.5 games entering the head-to-head series.

On Deck: The Yankees and the Red Sox will begin a pivotal 3-game series from Fenway Park. If the Red Sox win any of the games, it will be very difficult for the Yankees to win the division. However, the potential of a sweep by the Yankees means that the division is not yet over. If Boston wins the series, either 2-1 or 3-0, the AL East is likely all but over. The Yankees likely need a series win just to have a chance. The struggling Daisuke Matsuzaka will face Andy Pettitte in the opener.

Orioles vs Red Sox (9/6-9/9)

Game 1: Clay Buchholz was able to pick up his 3rd win in his young career on Thursday night, but it wasn't as a starter. One appearance after he tossed a no-hitter, Buchholz came in as a relief pitcher and pitched 3 scoreless innings, allowing only 1 hit. Buchholz did have to work out of a jam in his first inning of work, but he did his job by keeping the Orioles off the board.

The game was started by Tim Wakefield and he was lit up for 6 runs in his first start back since experiencing back pain last week.

The Red Sox rallied back from a deficit on numerous occasions and eventually came out on top thanks to an 9th inning RBI single by Jason Varitek. The RBI gave the Red Sox a 7-6 lead which allowed Jonathan Papelbon to come in and close out the game, which he did in impressive fashion. Papelbon struck out 2 of the 3 batters he faced in his perfect inning.

The Red Sox received also offensive contributions from Coco Crisp (3/4, 3-run homer), David Ortiz (solo homer, 2 RBIs).

The Yankees were idle on Thursday night which allowed the Red Sox to increase their division lead to 6.5 and decrease their magic number to 16 with 21 games remaining.

Game 2: Jon Lester took on Daniel Cabrera in a rematch of Sunday, 9/3 on Friday night. Lester pitched 7 innings of shutout ball and only allowed 4 hits on the night. Javier Lopez and Manny Delcarmen relieved him to keep hold of the 4-0 lead that Boston jumped out to.

Boston's runs came courtesy of Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek, and Coco Crisp.

Daniel Cabrera, who started for the Orioles, was thrown out after nearly hitting Dustin Pedroia which resulted in a clearing of both benches and bullpens.

Game 3: Daisuke Matsuzaka was roughed up again on Saturday night, which is quickly becoming a cause for concern among Red Sox Nation. The Red Sox need Daisuke Matsuzaka to be a dominant number 2 or 3 starter for the playoffs or their chances of winning will take a severe hit. I am still confident that he can find what he has recently lost, but it is worrisome.

Matsuzaka gave up 8 runs in less than 3 innings and the Red Sox really never had a chance to win the ballgame. David Ortiz had a 2-run homer and Julio Lugo contributed 2 RBIs, but it wasn't enough for the Red Sox who did not display enough pitching to come away with a victory.

Game 4: Josh Beckett is in the Cy Young race to stay. The young righty won his 18th game on Sunday afternoon against the Orioles. Beckett pitched seven innings and allowed two runs while striking out 8 Orioles.

The Red Sox got some early scoring on a single by Mike Lowell, followed by an error which allowed 2 runs to score rather than 1. That hit gave the Red Sox the lead for a majority of the game, but the Orioles came back to score 2 later in the game. The tie lasted until the 8th inning when Coco Crisp came through for the Red Sox with an RBI single to score JD Drew.

Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon pitched scoreless innings to close it out and keep the Red Sox 5.5 games ahead of the Yankees in the AL East.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 3-game series with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Monday night before a 3-game series with the New York Yankees beginning on Friday. Curt Schilling and Scott Kazmir will square off in the opener of the Boston-Tampa Bay series.

Blue Jays vs Red Sox (9/3-9/5)

Game 1: Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Boston Red Sox jumped out to an early 10-1 lead, but Matsuzaka ended up laboring in the 6th inning and giving most of the large lead back. The Blue Jays ended up scoring 8 runs in the inning (2 against Javier Lopez) before Manny Delcarmen came in to finish off the inning.

The Red Sox answered with 3 runs of their own in the bottom half of the 6th inning. The Blue Jays scored a run in the 7th off of Delcarmen before Hideki Okajima, Mike Timlin, and Jonathan Papelbon finished them off. The save was Papelbon's 32nd of the season as the Red Sox won by the final score of 13-10 and Daisuke Matsuzaka picked up his 14th win.

The Red Sox received solid contributions on offense from Mike Lowell, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Jason Varitek, and Julio Lugo. The Yankees lost to the Mariners earlier in the day which allows the Red Sox to increase the division lead to 7 games.

Gane 2: Josh Beckett continued his campaign for the AL Cy Young Award on Tuesday night. Beckett did make one mistake on the night, which was a 3-run homer hit by Matt Stairs. Luckily, the Red Sox have a kid named Jacoby Ellsbury who has made great contributions to the Red Sox in his short stint in the majors.

Ellsbury showed what all the hype was about when he took Roy Halladay deep for a 2-run shot. The homer gave the Red Sox a 3-0 lead, before the Blue Jays battled back with the homerun by Stairs.

Kevin Youkilis added an insurance run later in the game with a solo shot of his own to bring the lead to 5-3.

Josh Beckett went 8 innings and allowed 3 runs and Papelbon came in to pitch the 9th for the 3rd consecutive night and looked dominant once again. After striking out the final batter, Papelbon pumped his fist in jubilation as the Red Sox kept themselves 7 games ahead of the New York Yankees.

Game 3: The Red Sox failed to complete the sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night as the Papelbon-less bullpen. The Red Sox were ahead of the Blue Jays 4-3 going into the 8th inning until Manny Delcarmen gave up a solo homerun to Troy Glaus.

Hideki Okajima came in to pitch the bottom of the 9th after the Red Sox failed to answer. Okajima pitched a decent inning but made a fatal mistake to Vernon Wells which resulted in a 2-run homer which ended up winning the game for the Blue Jays.

Schilling got the start for the Red Sox and pitched respectably, while Shaun Marcum continued his very solid season for the Jays.

The loss decreases the Red Sox division lead to 6 games as the Yankees defeated the Mariners on Wednesday night.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 4-game series with the Baltimore Orioles from Camden Yards on Thursday night. Tim Wakefield will face Garrett Olson in the opener.

Orioles vs Red Sox (8/31-9/2)

Game 1: The Red Sox showed some offensive resiliency on Friday night after the Orioles took a 9-3 lead on a 3-run homer by Nick Markakis. The game appeared over, but the Red Sox hitters did not give up as they tacked on three runs in the 7th and another two in the 9th. The Red Sox had the opportunity to score more runs in the 9th as they had runners on 1st and 2nd and Jason Varitek at the plate with 1 out, but Varitek grounded into a double play to end it.

Fortunately, the Yankees were unable to gain any ground as they lost their opener against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Eric Hinske, Dustin Pedroia, and Mike Lowell had solid offensive contributions for the Red Sox, but it wasn't enough to come away with a victory. The divison lead remains at 5 games.

Game 2: Clay Buchholz made his 2nd career start on Saturday evening after Tim Wakefield discovered some discomfort in his back. The discomfort turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Red Sox as Buchholz came threw with the first Red Sox no-hitter since 2002, the first ever by a Red Sox rookie.

Buchholz baffled batters with a wide array of pitches as excitement grew throughout the night as he got closer to the great accomplishment. Buchholz ended up walking three and hitting a batter, but held the Orioles hitless. Nine of the outs were strikeouts by Buchholz.

The final out of the game came when Buccholz threw a nice offspeed pitch to Nick Markakis. The pitch froze Markakis as he failed to swing at the pitch. After a short hesitation, the umpire punched out Markakis sending Fenway Park and the surrounding areas into a frenzy.

The no-hitter was the 3rd of the season (Mark Buehrle and Justin Verlander each threw a no-hitter earlier in the season). The Red Sox won by the score of 10-0 and kept the division lead at 5.

Game 3: The final game of the series proved to be a tight affair as Jon Lester and Daniel Cabrera both pitched pretty good ballgames. The Red Sox took a 3-o lead, one of the runs coming on Jacoby Ellsbury's 1st career homerun. Ellsbury ended up collecting another hit and a stolen base in the contest.

Jon Lester pitched 6+ innings of 2 run ball, his final pitch thrown in the 7th inning to Ramon Hernandez was a solo homer, which brought the Orioles within 1 run. Lester was the beneficiary of some great defense, including a great throw by JD Drew to gun out a runner at home. Javier Lopez relieved Lester and pitched a scoreless 7th. Okajima came in to pitch the 8th and allowed a leadoff double. The runner was moved to 3rd with 1 out before Okajima struck out the final 2 batters of the inning. Jonathan Papelbon came in to pitch a perfect 9th to end the game, one of the outs coming on a very nice diving catch by Jacoby Ellsbury.

The win combined with a Yankees loss moved the Red Sox to 6 games ahead in the AL East.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 3-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday. Daisuke Matsuzaka will face Jesse Litsch in the opener.

Yankees vs Red Sox (8/28-8/30)

Game 1: The Yankees and Red Sox played a tight game all the way through on Tuesday night but the final blow was dealt by the Yankees when Johnny Damon hit a 2-run shot off of Daisuke Matsuzaka in the 7th inning.

Matsuzaka finished with 6.1 IP and 5 ER while striking out 2. The winning pitcher for the Yankees was Andy Pettitte who allowed 3 runs in 7 innings. Joba Chamberlain and Mariano River pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th to close out the victory.

Game 2: As tight as Tuesday night's game was, Monday night's contest was even tighter. The Yankees had a 4-1 lead going into the 8th inning until Kevin Youkilis blasted a 2-run shot against Kyle Farnsworth. Unfortunately, the Red Sox could not make up the other run against Mariano Rivera in the 9th inning.

Josh Beckett started the game for Boston and gave up 13 hits in 6.2 innings. The 13 hits was the most that Beckett had ever allowed in a given start. New York's big inning came in the 2nd when Josh Beckett was on the wrong side of some controversial calls, which ended up costing the Red Sox 3 runs.

Roger Clemens allowed 1 run in 6 innings for the Yankees as he picked up his 6th win of his shortened season.

Game 3: The Red Sox went into the series with the Yankees knowing that they had to avoid a sweep at all costs, but unfortunately they weren't even able to do that as they got outplayed and outpitched throughout the series..

Curt Schilling did his best to prevent the worst from happening, but his offense was unable to give him any support. Schilling pitched 7 innings and allowed 2 runs, both coming on solo homeruns from Robinson Cano.

Chien-Ming Wang, who started for the Yankees, took a no-hitter into the 7th inning. He finished with 7 shutout inings, only allowing 1 hit. The Red Sox were only able to collect 2 hits in all.

Tempers began to flare in the 9th inning when Joba Chamberlain fired 2 pitches right over the head of Kevin Youkilis. The umpires quickly took matters into their own hands and ejected Chamberlain before the situation escalated. Chamberlain ended up getting suspended 2 games for his actions.

The sweep brings the Yankees to within 5 games of the Red Sox.

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