Sox Obsessed

Red Sox vs Tigers (4/8-4/10)

2008-04-09T11:35:00.003-04:00

Game 1: Maybe receiving their World Series rings lit a fire under the Boston Red Sox. It appeared that way throughout Tuesday’s game against the Detroit Tigers. Daisuke Matsuzaka got the ball for the Red Sox and was brilliant again for the 2nd straight time. As a result, Matsuzaka was able to move to 2-0 on the season. His line: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 4 BB, 0 ER, 7 K.

The Red Sox got offensive support from Kevin Youkilis (3/3, 2 RBI), as well as Dustin Pedroia, Jason Varitek, and Julio Lugo who collected two hits each. J.D. Drew also had an RBI single as he continued to play well.

Manny Delcarmen pitched 1.1 scoreless innings with 2 strikeouts and Hideki Okajima pitched 1 scoreless inning with 2 strikeouts to end the game for the Red Sox who moved to 4-4 with the 5-0 victory over Detroit. Shockingly, the Tigers are now 0-7 on the season.

Red Sox vs Blue Jays (4/4-4/6)

2008-04-09T11:33:00.002-04:00

Game 1: The first five innings of Friday night’s game started out as a pitchers duel between Tim Wakefield and Shaun Marcum. Unfortunately for Boston, the Jays got to Wakefield for 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning. The Red Sox quickly answered in the top of the 7th with a 3-run homerun by J.D. Drew. It’s early in the season, but it appears that 2008 is going to be different for Drew.

To start the bottom of the 7th, Francona decided to go with David Aardsma who allowed a leadoff walk. Aardsma was promptly removed in favor of Javier Lopez who allowed a hit. Finally, Francona went to the man with whom he should have started the inning, Manny Delcarmen. Delcarmen was able to record the first two outs of the inning with no damage before Frank Thomas came up to the plate and ripped a double to left.

The Blue Jays tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th and Brian Tallet and Jeremy Accardo tossed scoreless frames to give the Blue Jays the win and drop the Red Sox to 3-2.

Game 2: Saturday afternoon’s game was an ugly showing for the Boston Red Sox despite a decent outing by top prospect Clay Buchholz. The final line wasn’t pretty for Buchholz, but it didn’t accurately tell the story of how he pitched. He finished with 5 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, and 7 Ks.
When Buchholz left the game after 5 innings, the Red Sox were still in the game as they trailed 4-2, much of the damage resulting from a fielding error by Casey. The Red Sox bullpen, however, offered no relief. Kyle Snyder allowed 2 runs in 1/3 inning. Brian Corey followed with an even worse performance as he allowed 4 runs in 1/3 inning. At the completion of the 6th inning, the Jays led 10-2. They cruised to victory as the Red Sox dropped their 2nd straight game.

One bright spot: Julian Tavarez pitched 2.1 scoreless innings in relief and looked very good.

The Red Sox look to correct their poor fortunes in Sunday’s game as Josh Beckett returns to face Roy Halladay in the finale.

Game 3: Sunday’s game was in many ways uglier than Saturday’s in the eyes of Red Sox fans. The team made 4 errors, 3 by Julio Lugo. Many of these errors came on routine plays and led to scoring innings for the Blue Jays. Not only that, but the errors played a big role by unnecessarily driving Josh Beckett’s pitch count up.

In the third inning, the Red Sox took an early 1-0 lead on Jacoby Ellsbury’s first homerun of the season. The Jays answered in the bottom of the 4th with a 2-run homer by Vernon Wells before Jason Varitek tied things up with a solo homer in the top of the 5th. Unfortunately, the Red Sox completely came unraveled in the bottom half of that inning. Beckett recorded 2 outs before allowing a cheap, broken-bat single to Aaron Hill and walking the following two batters. Frank Thomas was coming to the plate and Beckett was removed for Manny Delcarmen who had been beaten by Thomas on Thursday night. The pitch that Thomas hit on Friday night was a Delcarmen changeup. As a result, Thomas was well aware that the fastball was on its way and he was sitting dead red. Thomas crushed Delcarmen’s first pitch, a fastball that was right in his wheelhouse, for a grand slam to give Toronto a 6-2 lead.

The Jays added to that lead in the following inning with a double by Aaron Hill. The Sox attempted to battle back with a solo homerun by J.D. Drew in the 7th and an RBI single by Ortiz in the 8th. The Red Sox actually ended up bringing the tying run to the plate against Jeremy Accardo and the Jays. Unfortunately, the tying run was Julio Lugo who had done everything in his power to cost the Red Sox the game early on. Fittingly, Lugo flied out weakly to center to end the game and drop the Red Sox to 3-4.

Red Sox vs Athletics (4/1-4/2)

2008-04-02T13:29:00.001-04:00

Game 1: Daisuke Matsuzaka turned in one of his best starts in the Major Leagues on Tuesday night in Oakland. Dice-K was dealing all night long and did not issue a single walk to the A’s. Matsuzaka was efficient, throwing 96 pitches and plowing through 6.2 innings before being removed. The final line: 6.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 9 K. The brilliant outing gives Matsuzaka 11.2 IP and only 4 hits allowed in the young season.

The A’s only run, came from a Jack Cust solo homerun in the early going, but Matsuzaka settled down after that before handing the ball to Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon to finish the game. Okajima struggled to throw strikes, but pitched a scoreless inning. Papelbon was his normal untouchable self as he picked up a four out save and struck out the side in the bottom of the 9th inning.

The Red Sox trailed 1-0 until the 5th inning when Jacoby Ellsbury looped an RBI-single into right field. The Sox took the lead in the 6th when the struggling Jason Varitek ripped a 2-run homerun to right. The umpires, however, ruled that it was only a double. The Red Sox still scored a run in the inning. This run turned out to be the game winner.

Aside from Jason Varitek (2/4) and Kevin Youkilis (3/4) there weren’t many bright spots for the Red Sox offense. David Ortiz went 0/4 and is now 0/11 on the season. Look for him to pick it up shortly.

The Red Sox move to 2-1 with the win.

Red Sox vs Athletics in Tokyo (3/25-3/26)

2008-03-26T11:34:00.005-04:00

Game 1: The start of the 2008 season wasn't too promising for the Red Sox in the earlygoing of their first game. Daisuke Matsuzaka was struggling to locate his pitches in his native land and he gave up two first inning runs to put the Sox in an early hole. Matsuzaka's 2nd inning was pretty shaky as well, but fortunately he kept the A's off the scoreboard and settled down in the following innings. He ended up going 5 innings, allowing 2 hits, 2 runs, and 5 walks while striking out 6.

The Red Sox struggled to get to Joe Blanton as his first 5 innings were smooth sailing. The Red Sox finally jumped on him in the 6th inning for three runs and chased him from the game. The big blow in that inning came from Manny Ramirez who hit a 2-run double to put the Sox ahead.

In the following inning Kyle Snyder surrendered a 2-run homerun to the might Jack Hannahan. The decision to put Snyder into a game with a one-run lead was questionable to begin with and Snyder proved the doubters correct.

The outcome appeared bleak for the Sox as they failed to score as the game carried into the 9th inning. It was very disappointing as a Sox fan for their hitters to fail to tee off on the likes of Alan Embree and Keith Foulke.

Huston Street entered to pitch the 9th for the A's after the Red Sox got some solid bullpen work from Javier Lopez and Bryan Corey (who in my opinion deserves a spot in the bullpen). Street started off the inning by retiring Mike Lowell on a routine flyball to centerfield. Brandon Moss then came to the rescue for the Red Sox as he cranked his first career homerun to tie the game at four. The blast likely came as a shock to Sox fans who probably expected JD Drew to start in the opener. Drew was scratched due to a tight lower back.

The game would go into extra innings after the Red Sox got a solid contribution from Hideki Okajima to get them into extra innings. The performance opened up a 2-run 10th for the Red Sox in which they scored on another 2-RBI double from Ramirez after Ortiz was intentionally walked. Something tells me that this is going to be a huge year for Ramirez who is in a contract year and racked up 4 RBIs in the opener.

Jonathan Papelbon came in to pitch the bottom of the 10th and gave the Red Sox fans a nice scare. Papelbon was likely saved by a baserunning gaffe made by Emil Brown who attempted to take 3rd base on an RBI double. The ball was cutoff and the Red Sox got Brown in a run down. The following two Athletics hitters singled as Papelbon was apparently struggling. Red Sox fans feared for the worst before Papelbon finished off the A's by getting Kurt Suzuki to ground out to Kevin Youkilis.

The win gave the Red Sox a 1-0 record and put them in first place. Picking things up from where they left off apparently.

Game 2: The second game of the young season didn't go as smoothly for the Red Sox as their bats went cold against a healthy and brilliant Rich Harden. Harden pitched 6 innings, gave up a solo homerun to Manny Ramirez, and struck out nine Red Sox hitters.

Jon Lester struggled for the Sox as he only made it through 4 innings. He allowed 4 runs and walked 3. The big blow came from yesterday's goat, Emil Brown. Brown hit a 3-run bomb on a cutter right over the heart of the plate. The homerun gave the A's a 4-0 lead.

David Aardsma, Bryan Corey, and Manny Delcarmen pitched in relief for the Sox.

The loss drops the Red Sox to 1-1. They will now play three exhibition games on the west coast before continuing the regular season on April 1st in Oakland.

Offseason Recap

2008-02-27T15:22:00.001-05:00

It appears that the Boston Red Sox are perfectly fine with standing pat. They won the World Series in 2007 and believe that no major changes need to be made in order to repeat in 2008. While no major moves were made, the Red Sox made a few low-impact transactions this offseason:

1. Signed Bartolo Colon as a Free Agent: After the injury to Curt Schilling, the Red Sox are looking for some starting pitching depth. They decided to do this by adding Bartolo Colon. Colon won the Cy Young in 2005 with the Angels but has struggled through two injury-riddled seasons since winning the award. He reported to Red Sox camp approximately 20 pounds overweight and the Red Sox hope that he can drop some weight, get in shape, and make a positive contribution to their title defense. Colon will make slightly over $1 million if he makes the Red Sox, but he can make up to $7 million this season (if he makes the team out of camp and starts 30 or more games).

2. Traded for David Aardsma for Willy Mota and Miguel Socolovich: Despite the fact that the bullpen was a considerable strength last year, the Red Sox looked to add some depth this offseason. They did so by acquiring David Aardsma from the White Sox and they are hoping that he can continue his success from early last season. Aardsma started the season 2-0 with a 1.31 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 20 innings with the White Sox before struggling through the rest of the season.

3. Signed Sean Casey as a Free Agent: An interesting signing for the Red Sox, Casey should be a strong presence in the clubhouse and is known as one of the nicest players in the Major Leagues. Casey has a career batting average of over .300 and will backup Kevin Youkilis at 1st base.

The Red Sox will open their season on March 25th against the Oakland Athletics in Japan.

Schilling and Lowell to Return

2007-11-24T15:50:00.000-05:00

It didn't appear likely a few days before the signing, but Curt Schilling will be returning to the Red Sox in 2008 for one more season as the Red Sox signed him to a 1-year deal with incentives. I felt this was a great move by the Red Sox as it puts them in good position to repeat in 2008. It was a good deal for the money and even though Schilling is not the ace he used to be, he will give the Red Sox some strength in the middle of the rotation for 2008. It will be interesting to see who will earn the #4 and #5 spots. The competition will likely between Tim Wakefield, Jon Lester, and Clay Buchholz.

It also didn't appear very likely that Lowell would be back with the Red Sox once the offers from other teams started rolling in. However, Lowell decided to remain where he was comfortable: playing 3B for the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox got what could be considered a bargain with the signing (Lowell accepted 3 years/$37.5 million). The Lowell signing ensures that the Red Sox will have all of the major pieces back for 2008 (Coco Crisp might still be traded, but it appears that the Red Sox are better off with Jacoby Ellsbury in CF).

World Series Game 4: Red Sox vs. Rockies

2007-11-24T15:40:00.000-05:00

Ironically, it was Jon Lester that could send Red Sox Nation into euphoria in 2007. Lester would have been considered an unlikely hero at the start of the season due to struggles with cancer; however, Lester proved his worth as a Major Leaguer in Game 4.

Lester pitched 5.2 brilliant scoreless innings. He allowed only 3 hits while striking out 3 and walking 3 and left with a 2-0 lead thanks to RBI singles by David Ortiz and Jason Varitek. In the 7th inning, the Red Sox picked up another run from a Mike Lowell solo homerun to make it 3-0 Boston.

The Rockies would battle back in the bottom of the 7th with a solo homerun by Brad Hawpe off of Hideki Okajima before the Sox answered in the top of the 8th with a solo homerun by Bobby Kielty, another unlikely hero.

In the 8th inning, the Rockies gave their fans some hope when Garret Atkins smashed a 2-run homer into the Coors field seats to cut the Red Sox lead to 1. Unfortunately for the Rockies, the Red Sox have Jonathan Papelbon who shut the door on the 8th inning and retired the side in order in the 9th to give the Red Sox their 2nd World Championship in 4 years. The save by Papelbon also made the solo homer by Kielty extremely significant, as it turned out to be the run that clinched the title.

World Series Game 3: Red Sox vs. Rockies

2007-11-24T15:36:00.000-05:00

Daisuke Matsuzaka would start Game 3 for the Red Sox and try to give them a 3-0 series lead. He pitched 5.1 strong innings, only allowing the Rockies to put 2 runs on the board.

Despite a short outing, Matsuzaka was able to pick up the win as the Red Sox offense crushed Josh Fogg for 10 hits and 6 runs in 2.2 innings which gave the Red Sox a 6-0 lead.

The Rockies would end up scoring 2 runs in the 6th and 3 runs in the 7th before the Red Sox put the game away. In the 8th inning, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia had RBI doubles to extend the lead to 9-5. Ellsbury and Pedroia were a collective 7/10 with 3 runs scored and 4 RBIs. Boston collected another run in the 9th on a sacrifice fly by Jason Varitek.

Jonathan Papelbon was able to pick up the save because he came in to finish the 8th inning with runners on base.

World Series Game 2: Red Sox vs Rockies

2007-10-25T20:24:00.000-04:00

Curt Schilling continued his postseason brilliance in Game 2 against the Colorado Rockies. Schilling allowed 1 run in the first inning that he pitched but that would be the only run that the Rockies could score on the night. Schilling finished with 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, and 4 Ks.

The Rockies took an early 1-0 lead that lasted until the 4th inning when Jason Varitek hit a game-tying sacrifice fly off of Ubaldo Jimenez. The Red Sox would score again in the 5th inning on an RBI double by Mike Lowell, giving the Red Sox a 2-1 lead.

Schilling left the game in the 6th inning as Hideki Okajima took over to pitch 2.1 perfect innings. Okajima struck out 4 during that span. Jonathan Papelbon came on to pitch the 9th and allowed the tying run on base before retiring the side by striking out 2 Rockies.

The Red Sox won by the score of 2-1 and took a 2-0 series lead with the series headed to Colorado.

World Series Game 1: Red Sox vs Rockies

2007-10-24T19:02:00.001-04:00

Josh Beckett is continuing to make a case for himself as the best postseason pitcher of all time at only 27 years of age. Beckett won his 4th game of the postseason and kept his ERA below a phenominal 1.20.

While Beckett dominated, the Red Sox were breaking offensive records. They scored the most runs ever in a Game 1 of a World Series and they set the record for the most doubles hit in a World Series game. The scoring started when Dustin Pedroia led off the game with a homerun and from there, the Red Sox couldn't be stopped.

Every starter, with exception to Jacoby Ellsbury, collected a hit. Ortiz, Ramirez, Varitek, Drew, and Pedroia collected 2 RBIs apiece.

Beckett finished with 7 innings pitcher, 1 earned run, and 9 strikeouts to move to 4-0 in the 2007 postseason. Jeff Francis started the game for the Rockies and got lit up for 6 runs in 4 innings of work. The Red Sox put 7 more runs across against Franklin Morales, who was the first out of the bullpen to relieve Francis. Mike Timlin and Eric Gagne pitched perfect innings of relief in the 8th and 9th inning respectively.

The Red Sox lead the series 1-0, and look to take a 2-0 series lead on Thursday night with Curt Schilling on the hill. He will be opposed by Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies.

World Series Preview: Red Sox vs Rockies

2007-10-22T11:05:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately I do not have enough time to create an entire preview for the World Series, however, a basic prediction can be found below.

The Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies will play in the 2007 World Series. Interestingly enough, each team likely possessed the Rookie of the Year in their respective league. It appears that Troy Tulowitzki will win it for Colorado (the only other rookie that has a chance is Ryan Braun of the Brewers). It also appears very likely that Dustin Pedroia has the honor locked up in the American League.

If there is an offense in the National League that can compete with the top offenses of the American league, it is the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies have a number of great hitters including Troy Tulowitzki, Brad Hawpe, Garret Atkins, Matt Holiday, and Todd Helton. Kazuo Matsui and Yorvit Torrealba have also contributed in the playoff charge. I would call the offenses equal or maybe even give Colorado a slight edge in that department.

Even if Colorado has better hitting, Boston's starting pitchers are very talented and battle tested. Curt Schilling has been one of the best postseason pitchers of all time and Josh Beckett is quickly making a case to be labeled with that title as well. Daisuke Matsuzaka should prove to be a decent #3 in the series and will not have to face a DH. He will, however, have to deal with the thin air of Colorado in Game 3. It appears that Jon Lester will start Game 4 after Tim Wakefield was left off of the ALCS roster. The Rockies will counter with ace Jeff Francis, followed by Ubaldo Jimenez. Josh Fogg and Franklin Morales will pitch Games 3 and 4 respectively. Boston has the clear edge in starting pitching.

Boston's bullpen, in my opinion, also trumps that of Colorado. Manny Corpas and Brian Fuentes have been very good for the Rockies but keep in mind that they are pitching in a weaker league. Jonathan Papelbon has been able to stump some of the American League's top offenses as have Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen, and Mike Timlin. One last quick note about the bullpen: I believe that the Red Sox made a mistake by choosing Kyle Snyder over Julian Tavarez on the World Series roster. Tavarez has more postseason experience than Kyle Snyder who struggled down the stretch. I give the bullpen edge to the Red Sox.

Despite a good sized edge in the pitching department, the Rockies do have one big thing going for them: Momentum. The team has practically lost one game within the past month and has cruised through the playoffs (going 7-0, 8-0 if you count the play-in game). Both teams play very good team defense.

Prediction: Boston in 5 games, maybe 6. I hate to bet against a team as hot as the Rockies have been but they have been playing against National League competition and have been off for 8 days. Plus, I have faith in my team. Go Red Sox!

ALCS Game 7: Red Sox vs Indians

2007-10-22T10:50:00.000-04:00

How fitting that Daisuke Matsuzaka would get the chance to send the Red Sox to the World Series by winning Game 7 of the ALCS. On the same token, failure would further raise questions about the acquisition. However, either way I believe that Daisuke Matsuzaka was a good acquisition for the Red Sox this year and I feel that he'll only get better as he adjusts to pitching in the American League.

Matsuzaka started off strong by putting up zeroes through his first 3 innings. At the same time, the Red Sox were scoring runs in each of those innings. After those frames had been completed, the Red Sox were up 3-0, but it oddly felt like they were tied or even losing the game due to the fact that they could have easily had a few more runs than that with some clutch hitting. Unfortunately, the double play was in full effect once again on Sunday night for the Red Sox hitters. It also appeared that Francona dropped the ball on a couple of baserunning decisions in the early going, both of which resulted in the Red Sox grounding into a double play.

Matsuzaka labored through the 4th and 5th inning and probably should have been taken out before finished the 5th, but Francona left him in and it paid off. Matsuzaka finished with 5 IP, 2 ER, and 3 Ks.

The score remained 3-2 until the 7th inning. The Indians threatened in the top of the 7th, but were unable to come up with any runs. The Indians had runners on 1st and 3rd after Julio Lugo mishandled a popup by Kenny Lofton and Franklin Gutierrez lined a single off of the 3rd base bag. Inexplicably, Lofton didn't score on the play and it kept the Red Sox up by a run. The play turned out to be huge as the next batter (Casey Blake) grounded into an inning ending double play.

In the bottom of the 7th, the Red Sox extended their lead when Dustin Pedroia cranked a 2-run shot over the Green Monster off of the previously unhittable Rafael Betancourt. The homer gave the Red Sox a 5-2 advantage.

In the 8th, it appeared that it would make sense to bring Mike Timlin into the game until a baserunner reached, at which point Papelbon should have entered. Instead, Francona brought out Hideki Okajima despite the fact that he had already pitched 2 innings. Okajima allowed a leadoff walk followed by a single to Asdrubal Cabrera. Now it was time for Papelbon to come in and attempt to shut the door with the tying run at the plate. Papelbon struck out Travis Hafner and then forced Victor Martinez into a fielder's choice ground out. Runners were on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs for Ryan Garko. Garko took a nice swing on a Papelbon offering and as Garko left the box it appeared that he felt that the ball had a chance to clear the fence and tie the game. Luckily, Jacoby Ellsbury ranged over in centerfield and caught the ball in front of the warning track to end the treat.

In the bottom of the 8th, the Red Sox really poured it on. They scored 7 more runs capped off by a bases clearing double off the wall by Dustin Pedroia followed by 2 -run homer by Kevin Youkilis.

Papelbon came out to pitch the 9th inning and allowed a leadoff hit before retiring the rest of the side in order and sending the Red Sox to the World Series.

The final score was 11-2 and it gave the Red Sox a 4-3 series win. The Red Sox outscored Cleveland by an astounding 30-5 in the final 3 games of the series. Josh Beckett won series MVP, but there were many key contributors including JD Drew, Kevin Youkilis, Manny Ramirez, Dustin Pedroia, Mike Lowell, and David Ortiz (in the first few games of the series).

The team will now face the Rockies in the World Series. Game 1 will take place at Fenway Park on Wednesday night. The Red Sox have homefield advantage because the American League won the All-Star Game again this year.

ALCS Game 6: Red Sox vs Indians

2007-10-22T10:42:00.000-04:00

Going into Game 5, the Red Sox had to win 3 straight games against the Indians and from the outset I believed that the toughest game to win would be Game 6 with Curt Schilling going up against Fausto Carmona.

Despite Schilling's reputation as a big game pitcher, he struggled in his first start of the series so there were some doubts. Luckily, fear motivates Schilling and he sure pitched like it. It also helped that JD Drew came up with his biggest hit in a Red Sox uniform in the first inning. After failing to score in two chances with the bases loaded and no outs, JD Drew came to the plate for the Red Sox and it appeared that the team might squander another chance for a big inning. Luckily, JD Drew put an end to those chances when he absolutely crushed an offering from Fausto Carmona into the centerfield seats for a grand slam.

The hit gave the Red Sox a 4-0 lead. Schilling then worked in and out of trouble in the next couple of innings but only allowed 1 run. It appeared that the Red Sox would need more than 4 runs to win it, so it was a huge relif when they broke it open in the bottom of the 3rd with a 6 run inning. JD Drew collected his 5th RBI in that inning. Ellsbury, Lugo, and Youkilis also collected RBIs in the frame. The Red Sox ended the 3rd inning with a 10-1 advantage and the game ended 12-2 in favor of the Red Sox.

Schilling ended up pitching 7 innings and allowing 2 runs. Javier Lopez and Eric Gagne pitched perfect innings in relief.

The win on Saturday night ties the series at 3 games apiece and sets up a winner-takes-all Game 7 from Boston on Sunday night. Daisuke Matsuzaka will square off against Jake Westbrook in the pivotal game.

ALCS Game 5: Red Sox vs Indians

2007-10-22T10:37:00.000-04:00

The Red Sox needed a big performance out of Josh Beckett to keep their season alive on Thursday night and that is exactly what he gave them. Beckett gave up a cheap run in the 1st inning but cruised from there and finished with 8 innings pitched. Beckett allowed 5 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and struck out 11.

Meanwhile for the Indians CC Sabathia struggled again and gave up 4 runs in 6 innings. Kevin Youkilis started the scoring for Boston with a solo homerun off of Sabathia in the 1st inning. Youkilis would finish with 3 RBIs. David Ortiz collected 2 RBIs of his own as the Red Sox broke it open in the late innings.

The final score had Boston on top 7-1, but the game was much closer than the final score indicated. The win leaves Boston still down 3-2 in the series, but keeps their season alive for another night.

ALCS Game 4: Red Sox vs Indians

2007-10-18T00:52:00.000-04:00

Going into Game 4, the Red Sox desperately needed a win. Not only to tie up the series, but to guarantee a return to Fenway Park before the end of the series.

Tim Wakefield got the call for the Red Sox and Paul Byrd took the mound for the innings. Both veterans pitched extremely well without a blemish until the bottom of the 5th inning. Wakefield led off the inning by allowing a solo homerun to Casey Blake to put the Indians ahead 1-0. The Indians then added a couple of baserunners, in the process, Wakefield was able to record the 1st out of the inning. Asdrubal Cabrera was coming to the plate for the Indians and he popped a ball to 1st base in foul territory. The wind played with the ball, Youkilis lost it, and the ball dropped in giving Cabrera another chance. On his second chance, Cabrera smacked a ball right back at Tim Wakefield who stuck out his glove and almost made the plate. Had Wakefield made the play, it is likely that an inning ending double play would have occurred and the inning would be over with the Indians only plating 1 run. The other unfortunate fact: If Wakefield let the ball go through, it appeared that Dustin Pedroia was ready to turn an easy double play to end the inning. Unfortunately for Boston, the ball trickled off of Wakefield's glove and a run scored. By the time the inning was over, it was 7-0 Cleveland and the game was all but over.

The Red Sox answered quickly with back-to-back-to-back homeruns, but it was too little, too late. The 3 homeruns ended up being the only runs that the Red Sox would score in the game as they lost Game 4 by the score of 7-3.

Cleveland takes a commanding 3-1 series lead with one more game remaining at Jacobs Field. Josh Beckett will take the hill for the Red Sox and try to salvage their season against CC Sabathia. If Beckett can come away victorious, the Red Sox will have a shot as the series returns to Fenway Park for the final two games (if necessary). Here's hoping that Beckett can save the Red Sox season. Anything less than a World Series Title this year would be no less than a major disappointment for the Red Sox and their fans.

ALCS Game 3: Red Sox vs Indians

2007-10-18T00:45:00.000-04:00

With the series tied at one game apiece, it was clear that Game 3 was to be pivotal in determining the final outcome of the ALCS.

With that in mind, the Red Sox needed a shut down performance from Daisuke Matsuzaka or a good offensive performance against Jake Westbrook. Unfortunately, they got neither of the two. Matsuzaka didn't pitch terribly, but he was far from shutting the Indians down. The scoring began in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Matsuzaka had recorded 2 outs and the Indians had a man on base with Kenny Lofton at the plate. Lofton got the fastball that he wanted and took the Red Sox rookie deep to put the Indians up 2-0.

The Indians padded that lead in the bottom of the 5th inning after Matsuzaka and the Red Sox narrowly missed getting out of the inning with a nifty double play thanks to Dustin Pedroia. Unfortunately, Pedroia's strong throw was beaten to the bag by hundredths of a second. The Indians scored a run on that play after already scoring a run earlier in the inning to make it 4-0.

The Red Sox showed signs of life in the top of the 7th inning when Jason Varitek clubbed a 2-run homerun off of Jake Westbrook. Following the homerun, Westbrook's night was finished with 6.2 innings pitched and 2 runs against.

The Indians bullpen, which has been very strong this postseason, finished off the Red Sox. Jensen Lewis, Rafael Betancourt, and Joe Borowski finished the job and put the Indians up 2-1 in the series with 2 games remaining at Jacobs Field.

ALCS Game 2: Red Sox vs Indians

2007-10-18T00:35:00.000-04:00

Neither Curt Schilling or Fausto Carmona was nearly as good as expected. Schilling went 4.2 innings and allowed 5 runs, while Fausto Carmona allowed 4 runs in 4 innings of work.

Manny Delcarmen took over for Schilling and finished the 5th inning and in the bottom half the Red Sox scored 3 runs to take the lead. Runs were scored off of a 2-run homerun by Manny Ramirez and a solo shot by Mike Lowell after David Ortiz hustled out an fielders choice to keep the inning alive.

With a 6-5 lead and the Red Sox bullpen in control of things, it appeared that the Red Sox werein good shape. Unfortunately, Manny Delcarmen quickly coughed up the lead and allowed the Indians to tie the game at 6. The score remained deadlocked until the top of the 11th inning.

It should be noted that the Red Sox had a real chance to win in the bottom of the 9th (Ellsbury on 2nd with 2 outs). Youkilis lined out hard to Grady Sizemore to end that inning. When the ball made contact with the bat of Youkilis, it appeared that the Red Sox might be taking a 2-0 series lead. It was not to be. Grady Sizemore made a sliding catch to preserve the tie. In the bottom of the 10th, the Red Sox again failed to capitalize. This time, their 3, 4, and 5 hitters were due up against Tom Mastny.

After those failures, the top of the 11th began and it turned out to be big trouble for the Red Sox. Eric Gagne started the inning with a strikeout before allowing two consecutive batters to reach base. Gagne was replaced by Javier Lopez who would face the lefthanded Trot Nixon. It appeared to be a very smart move as I'm sure all Red Sox remember how bad Nixon was against lefthanded pitching. Unfortunately, Nixon found a pitch he liked and deposited it into the outfield for the go-ahead RBI. The Red Sox would still have a chance in the bottom half if they could keep it close but the Indians blew it wide open against Lopez and Jon Lester. By the time the top of the 11th was over, it was 13-6 Indians and the game ended that way.

The victory was much needed for Cleveland and it ties the series up at 1 game apiece. The series will move to Jacobs Field for the next 3 games.

ALCS Game 1: Red Sox vs Indians

2007-10-13T00:03:00.000-04:00

Josh Beckett turned in another solid postseason performance for the Boston Red Sox on Friday night against the Cleveland Indians. The performance was not as brilliant as his first start of the postseason, but it didn't need to be.

Beckett through 80 pitches through 6 innings and gave up 2 earned runs on 4 hits. Beckett struck out 7 and walked none. Beckett has now thrown 15 innings this postseason, allowing 2 runs, striking out 15, and walking none. As the numbers show, he's been incredible. The efficient and short night came as a result of a large Boston lead and opens up the possibility for Beckett to start Game 4 if the Red Sox are in a hole. If not, he'll likely start Game 5 as was planned by the team.

CC Sabathia, while great in the regular season, has looked awful in his 2 postseason starts and its starting to appear as if he's having trouble battling some nerves. After struggling against the Yankees in the ALDS, Sabathia gave up 8 earned runs to the Red Sox and walked 5 over the course of 4.1 innings.

The Indians struck first against Beckett thanks to a homerun by Travis Hafner, but the Red Sox quickly answered in the bottom half of the 1st inning before bailing Sabathia out of trouble with a double play. Beckett and Sabathia both tossed scoreless frames in the 2nd inning, but it was the 3rd inning when the Red Sox began to break out.

Manny Ramirez started things off with a bases loaded walk. Mike Lowell followed with a 2-RBI ground-rule double. Jason Varitek added another run with an RBI groundout to make it 5-1 Boston.

Sabathia settled down again in the 4th before allowing 3 more runs to score in the 5th, ending his night. From there, the Red Sox just coasted to victory. Mike Timlin pitched a scoreless inning of relief, Javier Lopez allowed 1 run in the 8th inning, and Eric Gagne pitched a scoreless, but shaky 9th inning. Gagne struggled with the control but was hitting 94 MPH on the gun and struck out the side to end the ballgame.

Every Boston started recorded at least one hit while David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez combined to reach base 10 times for the Red Sox. Mike Lowell and Manny Ramirez had 3 RBIs apiece. Jason Varitek and Bobby Kielty contributed 2 more each in the rout.

The Red Sox were also to wear out the Indians bullpen a little bit as a result of the early exit by Sabathia. Jensen Lewis, Aaron Fultz, Tom Mastny, and Joe Borowski all pitched for the Indians in the loss. The Indians managed to salvage Rafael Perez and Rafael Betancourt, their two top relievers.

The win gives Boston a 1-0 series lead in the best of 7 series.

ALCS Preview: Red Sox vs Indians

2007-10-12T13:55:00.001-04:00

The Red Sox advanced to the ALCS by handling the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 3 games. Boston outscored Anaheim by an impressive 19-4 margin in that series and were lead by great pitching performances by Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling.

The Indians move on as a result of taking down the New York Yankees in 4 games despite a below par performance by CC Sabathia in Game 1. The Indians were able to win Sabathia's start and they took Game 2 after Fausto Carmona tossed a gem. The Yankees battled back in Game 3, but Paul Byrd and the Indians were too much in Game 4.

Now, the two winners will square off and fight for the right to advance to the 2007 World Series to play the winner of Colorado/Arizona. Boston took the season series against Cleveland, but then again so did the New York Yankees. This should be a good one, but who has the edge to move on?

Offense: The questions revolving around Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz have been answered as both look like they are in top form after great performances in the ALDS against the Angels. Youkilis appears to be getting back to 100% as well (he hit a homerun of his own in Game 1 to start things for the Red Sox).

The Indians have a great core of offensive players as well including Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez, Kenny Lofton, and Ryan Garko.

In the regular season, the Red Sox were 3rd in runs scored. The Indians finished 6th in that department. Boston also has a slight edge on the bases as they were in the middle of the pack in stolen bases. By comparison, the Indians finished near the bottom.

One thing that could be in the Indians favor: They hit more homeruns in the regular season and arguably have a better 1-2 pitching punch.

We'll give Boston the edge in the offense department.

Starting Pitching: The Red Sox finished 1st in the American League in team ERA, while the Indians finished 3rd. The fact of the matter, however, is that CC Sabathia and Fausto Carmona will likely get the ball at least two times apiece and their ERAs were lower than that of Boston's #1 and #2 starters (Beckett and Schilling).

Sabathia was very shaky in his start against the Yankees, but Fausto Carmona was lights out as usual. Meanwhile, Curt Schilling's postseason resume suggests that he may be one of the best postseason pitchers of all time. Josh Beckett is also quickly establishing himself as a big game pitcher as well. Beckett has 3 career postseason shutouts at 27 years ofage.

Jake Westbrook will start Game 3 for the Indians and will face Daisuke Matsuzaka. In Game 4, it appears that Tim Wakefield will make the start against Paul Byrd. The Red Sox need to beat Westbrook and Byrd to give themselves a good chance at moving on to the World Series.

This is very close, Cleveland's 1-2 punch had better numbers in the regular season but Boston's top two starters are proven commodities in the postseason. I'm going to say that starting pitching is even only because of a lack of postseason experience for Carmona and Sabathia.

Bullpen: Boston also has a slight edge in the bullpen; however, with the emergence of Rafael Perez and the continued dominance of Rafael Betancourt, that gap could be closing. The big difference lies in the closer. The Red Sox have Jonathan Papelbon (DHL Delivery Man of the Year) closing out their games, while the Indians have an often shaky Joe Borowski doing the job for them. It will be interesting to see if any of the games are decided by blown saves.

Other Factors: Boston has been very good defensively all year long. Cleveland hasn't been bad, but the Red Sox have undoubtedly been better in that department.

Terry Francona continues to push all of the right buttons in the postseason. He seems to turn into a different type of manager once October rolls around. He managed the bullpen in Game 2 of the ALDS brilliantly and it was a huge factor in the team's victory. Francona also used Jacoby Ellsbury very well off the bench in the ALDS.

Hideki Okajima answered some of the concerns about his arm, but Eric Gagne only drew 1 inning in the ALDS and gave up an earned run. The question of how effective he can be is still in the air. Luckily for the Red Sox, Manny Delcarmen and Mike Timlin have pitched well all year long and are capable of picking up the slack if Gagne can't. In fact, I think Francona might look to Delcarmen before looking to Gagne in this series, as he did in the ALCS.

Prediction: Red Sox in 7 games. They have the homefield advantage and the postseason experience. They also appear to have a plan against Sabathia as it appears that the only lefthanded starter in Sabathia's game will be David Ortiz. Bobby Kielty will play in place of JD Drew because of past history against Sabathia and the fact that Sabathia absolutely devours lefthanded hitters.

ALDS Game 3: Red Sox vs Angels

2007-10-07T21:47:00.000-04:00

Curt Schilling may not have been outwardly upset by the fact that he was starting Game 3 instead of Game 2, but he sure pitched like that was the case on Sunday afternoon.

Schilling pitched 7 shutout innings. His control was impeccable throughout the performance as he allowed 6 hits, 1 walk, and struck out 4. Schilling left with a 2-0 lead after finishing the 7th inning. The Red Sox runs coming from back-to-back solo homeruns by David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Unbelievably, it was the first time the duo went back-to-back in 2007.

In the top of the 8th inning, the Red Sox really broke it open and sealed their fate as participants in the 2007 American League Championship Series. Collecting big hits in the inning were Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek, and Coco Crisp. By the time the 8th inning was over, the Red Sox had scored 7 runs to take a 9-0 lead.

Hideki Okajima and Eric Gagne finished off the 8th and 9th innings for the Red Sox who will now wait to see who they face in the ALCS. It will either be the Indians or the Yankees and currently the Indians hold a 2-0 series lead.

Game 1 of the ALCS will take place on Friday night.

ALDS Game 2: Red Sox vs Angels

2007-10-07T21:33:00.000-04:00

Daisuke Matsuzaka didn't fare as well as Red Sox fans had hoped in his first career postseason start in the Major Leagues. Matsuzaka only lasted 4.2 innings, giving up 3 runs and leaving with a deficit. He struggled with his control throughout.

When Matsuzaka left with a deficit, it felt as if the Red Sox were on the ropes as they had been struggling to put together anything against Escobar since the early going (The Red Sox took an early 2-0 lead thanks to a 1st inning 2-rbi single by JD Drew; but the lead was relinquished by Matsuzaka in the top of the 2nd).

The Angels held onto the lead until the bottom of the 5th inning when Mike Lowell hit a game-tying sacrifice fly. The run may never have scored if not for a young fan in the first row who broke up a foul out to the catcher earlier in the inning.

The score remained tied as Shields and Speier pitched well for the Angels and Javier Lopez, Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon pitched well for the Red Sox. The Red Sox pen may very well have been the story as they picked up Matsuzaka and kept the Red Sox in the game.

Entering the bottom of the 9th, the game was still tied. Julio Lugo led off the inning with basehit before being moved over to 2nd base by Dustin Pedroia. Youkilis struck out swinging to give the Angels 2 outs in the inning. With David Ortiz coming to the plate and 1st base open, the Angels opted to intentionally walk him. A decision they most likely regret at this point.

Manny Ramirez followed the Ortiz walk and took ball 1 from Angels closer, Frankie Rodriguez. On the ensuing pitch, Manny Ramirez took a gorgeous swing on a Rodriguez offering. Once the bat connected with the ball, the Fenway crowd knew that the game was over.

The homerun was the 1st walkoff with the Red Sox for Manny Ramirez. The 447 foot shot was the 3rd longest of the year at Fenway Park and it gave the Red Sox a 6-3 win and a 2-0 series lead.

ALDS Game 1: Red Sox vs Angels

2007-10-03T22:01:00.000-04:00

Josh Beckett turned in a masterful performance in Game 1, leading the Red Sox to victory. It was arguably one of his best performances of the season as he went 9 innings, allowed only 4 hits, and struck out 8. Beckett was also very efficient, throwing only 108 pitches.

Meanwhile, John Lackey's well-documented struggles at Fenway Park continued early in the game. Kevin Youkilis started things off for the Red Sox with a solo homerun in the 1st inning. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez followed with hits, but the Red Sox were unable to put any more runs across. Lackey held the Red Sox scoreless in the 2nd inning as well, but David Ortiz connected on a 2-run homerun in the 3rd. Manny Ramirez followed it with a single and ended up scoring to make it 4-0 Red Sox.

After the 3rd inning, the Red Sox were only able to collect one more hit (a single off of Lackey's glove by JD Drew), but they didn't need any more offense as Beckett cruised to a Game 1 victory.

Defensive replacement Jacoby Ellsbury made a very nice play in Left Field in the 9th inning. Ellsbury had taken over for Manny Ramirez.

The win gives the Red Sox a 1-0 series lead.

ALDS Preview: Red Sox vs Angels

2007-10-01T18:13:00.000-04:00

The Red Sox and the Angels will begin their American League Division Series on Wednesday night at 6:30 PM from Fenway Park. Two Cy Young candidates will take to the hill for their respective teams. Josh Beckett will go for Boston and he will be opposed by the ace of the Angels staff, John Lackey. Lackey, however, has struggled against Boston throughout his career. This is especially true when he pitches at Fenway Park where he has a 7.98 career ERA. How Lackey pitches will be a major factor in this series.

The Red Sox and the Angels were the two best teams in baseball for a majority of the 2007 season, so who has the edge? Here's the breakdown.

Offense: The Red Sox and the Angels have two very different styles of offense. The Red Sox can score runs in bunches, while the Angels like to use their speed on the basepaths and play small ball. On the whole, the Red Sox offense is more dynamic. They are now among the league leaders in stolen bases, collecting 96 on the year. The Angels stole a total of 139. The Red Sox knocked in 867 runs this season, compared to 822 for Anaheim. Boston also outhomered Anaheim by a fair amount.

Another major issue in the series will be the health of some of the Angels key hitters and the health of Manny Ramirez. Ramirez looked fine in his return from injury, but he still hasn't played a full game since returning. It appears that Manny is able to play a full game without issue and that Terry Francona was simply being careful with one of his key sluggers. Gary Matthews, on the other hand, is a player who can make an impact with his speed. Unfortunately for Anaheim, Matthews has battled with serious knee and ankle issues of late. Vladimir Guerrero is another player of concern. Guerrero has been recently relegated to the DH role as a result of a triceps/forearm injury.

Keep an eye on JD Drew this series. He's been hot throughout September, playing some of his best baseball of the season. Drew also clubbed a 3-run homer on Saturday which allowed the Red Sox to clinch the best record in the American League. With the fans behind him, JD Drew might have his confidence back at the right time. David Ortiz has also been hot of late, hitting over .400 in September. He also appears to have his power stroke back and claims to be feeling better after he took a cortisone shot for his balky knee.

Boston clearly has the edge in the offensive game, but the Angels do have a highly capable offense. If Vladimir Guerrero is hot, the Red Sox will have no qualms about pitching around him with Garret Anderson as his only protection.

Starting Pitching: John Lackey and Josh Beckett will square off in Game 1 (and Game 4 if necessary). Lackey has historically struggled against the Red Sox, especially in Fenway Park and nobody can be quite sure of the reason. Despite his 7.98 lifetime ERA in Fenway Park, I believe that John Lackey will pitch well in his start(s). The only question is, will he be able to outpitch Josh Beckett?

Beckett is coming off of a lackluster start against the Twins, but he should be able to bounce back in the postseason where he thrived during the Marlins championship run.

Kelvim Escobar and Daisuke Matsuzaka will oppose each other in Game 2 (and Game 5 if necessary). The season numbers favor Escobar, however, Matsuzaka has been pitching better lately. Dice-K has no previous playoff experience, but he has pitched and excelled in some big games. Just remember back to the World Baseball Classic of 2006 of which he was the MVP. His strong performances for Japan allowed them to become the first champion of the tournament.

Curt Schilling will face Jared Weaver in Game 3 from Anaheim. Historically, Schilling has been a great pitcher in the postseason and he should have a little bit of gas left in the tank for some additional playoff magic.

The Red Sox season starting pitching ERA was lower than that of the Angels, however, 4th and 5th starters are included in that equation and we won't be seeing any of them in this series.

The Red Sox have the slight advantage here.

Bullpen: Jonathan Papelbon and Francisco Rodriguez have been studs for their respective teams all season long. It will likely be the middle relief that plays a large role in this series.

The Red Sox have some questions in that department as Hideki Okajima has recently battled a tired arm and Eric Gagne has struggled since his acquisition. The good news: Gagne has been much better recently, using his changeup and curveball while Hideki Okajima pitched decently in his 2 appearances after returning from tired arm.

The Red Sox should be seeing alot of Justin Speier, Scot Shields, and Darren Oliver (David Ortiz will be anyway). Speier, as expected, has been very good all season long. Scot Shields, on the other hand, has struggled mightily of recent. Shields has a 3.86 ERA on the season, a number that has risen steadily during the second half of the season.

David Ortiz is 2/9 lifetime against Darren Oliver, but something tells me he'll get the best of Oliver at some point during this series.

Also pitching out of the bullpen will be Mike Timlin who has regained my respect with a strong comeback season. Manny Delcarmen should also get some action in the series. Javier Lopez will be the lefty specialist.

Tim Wakefield and Julian Tavarez were left off the playoff roster. Wakefield due to a sore back; Tavarez probably due to subpar performance.

It appears that the bullpens are about even, only because of the uncertainties around Eric Gagne and Hideki Okajima. If those two are on the top of their game, Boston's bullpen has the strong advantage.

Other Factors: The Red Sox have been very tough at Fenway Park this season and will get to play 3 games there if the series goes the distance. The Red Sox went 51-30 at home this season, while the Angels went 40-41 on the road. The Angels had the best home record, but will only get to play a maximum of two games there.

Terry Francona's bullpen management could also play a part in this series. It will be interesting to see how much he trusts Eric Gagne and Hideki Okajima and in what situations he is willing to use them in.

Jacoby Ellsbury will likely be coming off the bench for the majority of the games. He will give the Red Sox a good speed option off the bench for the late innings. He may also prove to be a very good late inning defensive replacement for Manny Ramirez if the Sox have the lead.

Prediction: The Red Sox mixture of starting pitching and offense will prove to be too much for the Angels. Boston wins the series in 5 games.

Twins vs Red Sox (9/27-9/31)

2007-10-01T14:21:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Boof Bonser somehow managed to outduel Josh Beckett on Thursday night due to a rough start by Beckett.

Beckett allowed 10 hits and 5 runs in his last start of the regular season. The Red Sox hung tough and scored 3 runs against Bonser, but it wasn't enough.

The Red Sox lost 5-4 despite offensive contributions from David Ortiz, Jason Varitek, and JD Drew. They almost came back against Joe Nathan in the 9th, but were unable to come through with 1 out and the tying run on 3rd base.

Bryan Corey, Hideki Okajima, and Manny Delcarmen all turned in solid work out of the bullpen.

Game 2: Going into Friday's game, the Red Sox needed a win and a Yankees loss to clinch the American League East. Daisuke Matsuzaka helped them complete the first of their needs with an 8 inning, 2 ER gem in his final start of the season.

David Ortiz and Mike Lowell were able to provide the needed run support to turn Matsuzaka's gem into a victory. Jonathan Papelbon closed the door in the 9th inning for his 37th save.

It appeared that the Yankees would stay alive in the AL East race for one more day as they took a 9-6 lead into the 9th inning against Baltimore. The lead vanished as Mariano Rivera gave up 3 runs in the 9th to force the game into extra inning. In extra innings, the orioles were able to finish off the Yankees with a bunt single by Melvin Mora to win the game. These events set off a celebration by the Red Sox and their fans at Fenway Park.

The Yankees will still make the playoffs as the American League Wildcard team.

Game 3: A day after the Red Sox clinched the AL East, they were able to clinch the best record in the AL and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

Behind a solid 7 innings by Tim Wakefield, the Red Sox were able to hang in the game long enough for JD Drew to hit a go-ahead 3-run homerin the bottom of the 7th inning. The shot gave the Red Sox a 6-4 lead that Javier Lopez and Hideki Okajima were able to hold on to.

Game 4: The Red Sox lost their season finale on Sunday as they gave alot of players the entire day off or a portion of it.

Julian Tavarez got the start for the Red Sox and allowed 3 runs in 3 innings. Jon Lester pitched 2 scoreless innings out of the pen. Mike Timlin, Manny Delcarmen, and Eric Gagne pitched perfect innings as well.

The Red Sox finish the regular season with a league best 96-66 mark, 2 games ahead of the New York Yankees.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin their American League Division Series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Wednesday at 6:30 PM. Josh Beckett will face John Lackey in the opener from Fenway Park.

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

2007-09-25T22:21:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-09-25T22:04:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-09-19T22:46:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-09-19T22:38:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-09-11T20:12:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-09-07T19:43:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-09-04T13:44:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-09-04T13:29:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-09-04T13:08:00.000-04:00

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.

White Sox vs Red Sox (8/23-8/26)

2007-08-26T15:31:00.000-04:00

Game 1: The first game of the series would take place on Friday due to heavy rains in Chicago on Thursday night. Josh Beckett drew the start against Jon Garland.

Beckett went 5.2 IP and allowed 3 runs, but the Red Sox were luckily on top of their game when their ace wasn't. Jason Varitek had a big offensive night (2/3, HR, 4 RBI) as did Mike Lowell (3/4 2 RBI).

The Red Sox blew the game open in the 8th and 9th innings, scoring 2 runs in the 8th and 4 in the 9th.

Game 2: Curt Schilling pitched a decent ballgame and had his velocity back up to 91 MPH. He allowed 1 run and 3 hits over 6 innings. Schilling was relieved by Manny Delcarmen who pitched a scoreless inning in relief. Kyle Snyder and Eric Gagne also pitched scoreless innings in the game.

David Ortiz was 4/5 with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs. Kevin Youkilis added a 3-run homer of his own.

Game 3: The Red Sox scored in double digits for the 3rd consecutive game against the Chicago White Sox. Tim Wakefield, who has pitched well of late, did not need all of the support but he gladly took it as he picked up his 16th win. Wakefield now has a decision in all 26 of his starts this year (10 losses).

Wakefield pitched 7 shutout innings and only allowed 3 hits while striking out 6. Kyle Snyder allowed 2 runs in relief while Javier Lopez pitched scoreless 9th.

Newcomer Bobby Kielty lead the offensive charge with a 3/5 4 RBI performance. Mike Lowell went 4/6 with a 2 RBIs and Kevin Youkilis chipped in 2 RBIs as well.

Game 4: Julian Tavarez pitched well in his start and pitched in a tight 1-1 ballgame until the Red Sox scored 4 runs in the top of the 5th inning. 2 of the runs scored on an RBI single by Dustin Pedroia. A 2-run homer by David Ortiz was the source of the other 2 runs in the inning.

Tavarez finished with 6 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, and 7 K. He picked up his 7th win of the season as the Red Sox scored in double digits for the 4th consecutive game.

Bobby Kielty played well again as he went 2/4 with a HR and 2 RBIs. JD Drew added a homerun as well. The final score was 11-1 in favor of the Red Sox.

The win gave the Red Sox a sweep of the White Sox. The Yankees also lost today which puts Boston ahead by 7.5 games going into a 3-game set against their rivals. The Red Sox also became the first team to reach 80 wins this season and are now 29 games above .500.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 3-game series with the New York Yankees on Tuesday night. Daisuke Matsuzaka and Andy Pettitte will square off in the opener as the Red Sox will have their chance to put the division away with a good series. A poor series could easily let the Yankees right back into the race. Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett will pitch the other 2 games in the series.

Devil Rays vs Red Sox (8/20-8/22)

2007-08-21T21:10:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Tim Wakefield continued his master of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays while he and the Red Sox collected another win. Wakefield tossed 7 shutout innings, only allowing 5 hits.

At the same time Wakefield was dominating Tampa Bay hitters, the Red Sox got out to an early 5-0 lead and coasted to victory. Dustin Pedroia, Coco Crisp, and Mike Lowell each collected 3 hits. Lowell had 3 RBIs on the night.

The Yankees lost to the Angels in the 10th inning on Monday night which helped the Red Sox move to 5 games ahead of the Yankees in the AL East.

Game 2: Unlike the last time the Red Sox faced Andy Sonnanstine, they didn't waste much time. The Red Sox scored 2 runs in the 1st inning and added another 5 runs in the 4th inning.

Varitek, Crisp, Lugo, Pedroia, Ortiz, and Ramirez made significant offensive contributions in the early going.

The Red Sox appeared to have the game in hand until Jon Lester ran into some trouble in the bottom of the 5th inning. Lester gave up a 3-run homer to Akinori Iwamura before the inning was over and the Devil Rays cut the Red Sox lead to 7-5. Lester came out to record an out and give up a hit in the 6th before Manny Delcarmen relieved him and induced a double play to end the inning. Manny Delcarmen and Okajima combined to pitch the 7th, then Okajima and Papelbon combined to finish the 8th. Papelbon also ended up pitching the 9th to close it out for the Red Sox. Papelbon struck out 3 batters in 1.1 innings pitched.

The win moves Boston to 5.5 games ahead of NYY (the lead will become 6 with a Yankee loss tonight or 5 with a Yankee win).

Game 3: The Red Sox lost a close 2-1 affair as Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched well for the Red Sox again but did not receive the necessary run support to come away with a victory.

The Red Sox had a slim lead until the 6th inning when Daisuke Matsuzaka made his only mistake of the game. The mistake resulted in a go ahead 2-run homerun by BJ Upton.

Timlin and Gagne pitched scoreless innings in relief, but the Red Sox were unable to come back from the deficit as they dropped the finale against the Devil Rays.

On Deck: The Red Sox are set to begin a 4-game series with the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night.

Angels vs Red Sox (8/17-8/19)

2007-08-18T12:52:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Clay Buchholz made his first career start for the Boston Red Sox on Friday afternoon in the 1st game of the doubleheader with the Angels. In the first inning, Buchholz was visibly nervous as his first 5 pitches were balls and he threw a curveball to the backstop. Buchholz quickly settled down after that despite a fielding error by JD Drew which would have ended the inning. Buchholz ended up allowing an unearned run in the 1st inning and 3 ER throughout the rest of his performance. He finished with 6 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, and 5 Ks. Buchholz made his final pitch to Reggie Willits to end the 6th inning on a nasty 12-6 curveball with incredible movement. Red Sox nation was impressed with their 1st look at what is potentially a future ace in the big leagues.

The job done by Buchholz allowed the Red Sox to take the 1st game of the doubleheader from the Angels as their offense tacked on 6 runs in the 1st inning against Cy Young candidate John Lackey. Lackey ended up going 4 innings before giving way to the bullpen.

Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez had 2 hit performances. One of the hits by Ortiz was a 2-run homer that gave the Red Sox an early lead. JD Drew collected 3 hits in the contest.

The win moved the Red Sox to 6 games in 1st place ahead of the New York Yankees.

Game 2: The nightcap was an emotional rollercoaster to say the least for the Red Sox and their fans. It appeared to be an easy game to win with Ervin Santana squaring off against Boston's ace, Josh Beckett. Beckett pitched very well, but Santana was surprisingly able to top him as the Angels carried a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the 8th inning.

In that frame, the Red Sox were able to come up with some clutch hits against Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez. The big blows came from David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez who have seemingly disappeared in close and late situations this season. Ortiz had a 2-RBI double to tie the game and Ramirez followed with a double that scored Ortiz.

Papelbon and Okajima had been used in the day game so it appeared that Francona had to go with Eric Gagne. Gagne started the inning strong to retire Reggie Willits but it all came undone from there. The Angels tied it on a hit by Orlando Cabrera and took the lead when Vladimir Guerrero followed it with a hit of his own.

The Red Sox were unable to come back in the bottom of the 9th. Kevin Youkilis was the victim of a horrible call. Youkilis was called out on strikes after foul tipping what the umpire believed to be strike 3. Terry Francona came out to argue and was ejected, Youkilis was ejected soon after. Julio Lugo was the final batter of the game and he flied out to Gary Matthews Jr. in center field.

The loss combined with a Yankee win brings the Yankees to within 5 games.

Game 3: The Red Sox had not been very good at rallying up until recently, and they were able to do it again on Saturday evening against one of the better pitching teams in baseball.

The Sox fell behind 5-0 early as Curt Schilling struggled through 6 innings, however, he was able to pick up the win thanks to some clutch hitting. The big blow came on a grand slam by David Ortiz in the bottom of the 5th inning. The homerun put the Red Sox up for good.

They ended up scoring a total of 10 as the Angels were unable to put any more runs on the board once Schilling left the ballgame. Mike Timlin, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon each pitched scoreless innings to finish out the game.

Game 4: After an encouraging offensive night, the Red Sox bats fell silent on Sunday afternoon in Fenway Park. Joe Saunders of the Angels held the Red Sox to 1 run in 7.2 innings of work. Julian Tavarez pitched very well for the Red Sox (6 IP, 2 ER), but it wasn't enough to deliver a victory.

The lone bright spots in the offense on Sunday afternoon were David Ortiz (2/4) and Bobby Kielty (2/3). It was Kielty's first start in a Red Sox uniform. He also robbed a 3-run homer in the 1st inning to keep the Red Sox close.

The loss, coupled with a Yankee win brings the Yankees to within 4 games of the AL East lead.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 3-game series with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field on Monday night. Tim Wakefield and Scott Kazmir will square off in the opener.

Devils Rays vs Red Sox (8/13-8/15)

2007-08-13T21:30:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Tim Wakefield had a no-hitter through 6 innings before giving up a leadoff single to Carl Crawford in the top of the 7th inning. At the time, the Red Sox were clinging to a 1-0 lead. Crawford successfully stole 2nd base but was stranded by Tim Wakefield as the Red Sox kept their slim lead.

The Red Sox would score another run in the bottom of the 7th inning and tack on more in the bottom of the 8th inning to extend the lead.

Wakefield finished with 8 innings pitched, 2 hits allowed, and no earned runs. He struck out 6. Jonathan Papelbon came in to pitch the 9th and struck out 2 batters to complete the shutout and keep the Red Sox 4 games ahead of New York.

Game 2: The Red Sox finally got what they were looking for out of Jon Lester in his emotional return to Fenway Park. Lester labored through the first bunch of innings but finished strong. Lester ended up hurling 7 innings while using under 100 pitches. He allowed 1 run, 2 hits, 1 walk, and 1 earned run as he struck out 4. Though he pitched great, Lester left with a 1-0 disadvantage and the score would stay that way until the 9th inning.

The Red Sox got good performances out of Mike Timlin and Eric Gagne (1 IP 3 Ks) in relief. Manny Delcarmen also contributed but got the Red Sox into a jam in the 8th inning before Timlin bailed him out. The solid bullpen work allowed the Red Sox to stay close.

In the bottom of the 9th, Manny Ramirez led off and was retired. With 1 out, Mike Lowell came to the plate and deposited an Al Reyes pitch into the Green Monster seats to tie the game and send the Fenway Faithful into a frenzy. It turned out that the Red Sox weren't quite done. With 2 outs and nobody on base, Varitek ripped a single into the right field corner, not missing a walk-off homerun by very much. Coco Crisp was next to the plate and after a lengthy at bat, he singled to right field which allowed Varitek to score. Delmon Young fielded Crisp's hit and made a poor throw to home. A good throw may or may not have made a difference.

The Yankees also lost this evening, so the Red Sox lead in the AL East increases to 5 games.

Game 3: Daisuke Matsuzaka labored through 6 innings on Wednesday afternoon while Andy Sonnanstine was baffling Red Sox hitters. The Red Sox trailed 6-0 going into the 7th inning before Jason Varitek hit a 2-run homerun and Julio Lugo recorded an RBI double to cut the Devil Rays' lead in half.

After Daisuke's departure, Julian Tavarez and Mike Timlin gave the Red Sox solid work out of the bullpen as they combined for 3 scoreless frames.

The Red Sox were able to score another run off of Dan Wheeler in the 8th inning to cut the lead to 2. Jason Varitek had a chance to do more damage but grounded a changeup to 1st base to end the inning.

Entering the 9th inning, the Red Sox needed 2 runs to tie. The inning was led off by Coco Crisp who started things with a bunt single. Julio Lugo followed that up with an RBI double. With 0 outs and Lugo (the tying run on 1st base), the Red Sox could have potentially put across the game-tying run without even getting a hit. Unfortunately, there were no clutch hits on Wednesday afternoon as Dustin Pedroia recorded the 1st out as he struck out swinging. Kevin Youkilis followed that up with a strikeout of his own before David Ortiz walked. As a result of the walk, Manny Ramirez came to the plate with the winning run on 1st base and 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th. Ramirez fouled off pitch after pitch before finally striking out on a neck-high pitch from Al Reyes.

The win was Tampa Bay's first of the season in Fenway Park. Fortunately, the Yankees 9th inning rally was overcome by the Baltimore Orioles so the lead stayed at 5 games as the midway point of August has passed.

On Deck:The Red Sox will get the day off on Thursday and will resume play on Friday night against the Angels from Fenway Park. Ervin Santana will face Josh Beckett in the opener. It is rumored that Clay Buchholz will start the 2nd game of the doubleheader on Friday night against John Lackey. Buchholz is highly regarded and is the Red Sox top pitching prospect at the current time. He has been baffling hitters in the minor leagues and the Red Sox are hoping that it will translate to success in the major leagues in the near future. Another big arm would be a great boost for the Red Sox, whether out of the bullpen or in the starting rotation.

Orioles vs Red Sox (8/10-8/12)

2007-08-13T19:58:00.000-04:00

Game 1: A good start by Daisuke Matsuzaka and an inspiring comeback were wasted on Friday night against the Baltimore Orioles. Erik Bedard and Matsuzaka engaged in a pitching duel for 7 innings with the Orioles leading 1-0. Finally, in the 7th the Red Sox tied it and then took the lead on bunt single by Julio Lugo that opened the flood gates. The Red Sox would score 3 more runs in the inning as the game appeared to be all but over.

But then Terry Francona revealed his ugly head and reminded me of how much I dislike his bullpen management skills (or lack thereof). Francona opted to go with Gagne to start the 8th inning despite the fact that the coming matchups favored Hideki Okajima. Not only that, but after the initial mistake he made the mistake of leaving Gagne in for too long when he was struggling. Okajima would finally come in, but it was too late as he allowed a weak basehit and the tying run scored.

Okajima would pitch the bottom of the 9th and give up a leadoff double to Brian Roberts who ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly by Nick Markakis. Francona also inexplicably left 1st and 2nd base open with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th inning with the inning run of 3rd base.

Boston lost by the score of 6-5 as Eric Gagne's struggles in a Red Sox uniform continued.

Game 2: Josh Beckett helped the Red Sox back into the win column on Saturday afternoon. Beckett had no-hit stuff in the early innings but struggled in the 9th inning. Beckett was 1 out away from his 1st shutout in a Red Sox uniform before allowing 2 runs and giving way to Jonathan Papelbon who closed it out.

Beckett pitched 8.2 innings, allowed 8 hits and 2 runs while striking out 8 and walking none. JD Drew had 3 hits and 2 RBIs while Julio Lugo contributed with 2 hits and 2 RBIs of his own as the Red Sox won by the score of 6-2.

Game 3: Terry Francona tried his best to blow the game against the Orioles on Sunday and succeeded. He wasted a good start by Curt Schilling at the same time. Schilling went 6 innings without allowing an earned run in his 2nd start back from the disabled list. He left the game with a 3-1 lead and was in line for the win until Terry Francona attempted to use his league-best bullpen.

Francona, instead of sticking with Hideki Okajima (who has been lights out this season), went with the struggling Eric Gagne once again. Gagne replaced Okajima after he recorded an out and allowed 1 baserunner and promptly allowed a game-tying 2-run homer to Miguel Tejada.

The game stayed tied until the 10th inning when Terry Francona removed Manny Delcarmen after 1 inning pitched. He replaced him with mop up man Kyle Snyder (instead of Papelbon). Snyder gave up 2 base hits to start the inning which brought up Kevin Millar. Instead of walking Millar to create a force play at home with no outs and the winning run on 3rd base, Francona opted to have Snyder pitch to Kevin Millar who cranked a 3-run walkoff homerun as the Orioles took the series from the Red Sox.

Much of the blame from the losses this series can be attributed to Terry Francona and Eric Gagne and I'm sure they both know it. I'm also confident that Eric Gagne will find himself at some point before the end of the season and be a worthwhile acquisition for the Red Sox.

The frustration was compounded with a Yankees victory over Cleveland which brought them to within 4 games of 1st place in the American League East.

Angels vs Red Sox (8/6-8/8)

2007-08-06T23:13:00.001-04:00

Game 1: Curt Schilling made his return from the DL on Monday night but was unable to lead the Red Sox to victory. Schilling went 6 innings, allowing 4 hits and 9 runs while striking out 5 and walking none. Schilling had been cruising through the first three innings until he tried to barehand a comebacker that ricocheted off of a finger on his throwing hand.

The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead on a 2-run homer by Kevin Youkilis but the lead was soon surrendered by Curt Schilling on a 2-RBI single by Casey Kotchman. Maicer Izturis broke the tie in the 7th inning with a solo shot and Chone Figgins added to it with a sacrifice fly.

The Red Sox had some chances against Jered Weaver and against Scot Shields but were unable to capitalize on the opportunities as they took the loss. The loss cuts the Red Sox lead on the AL East to 6 games with a little less than 2 months remaining in the season.

Game 2: Tim Wakefield was touched up pretty good by the Angels on Tuesday night as he allowed 6 ER over 4 innings. Kyle Snyder and Julian Tavarez would give up more runs in relief.

While the Angels did alot of scoring, the Red Sox did not have much of an answer. Doug Mirabelli hit a 2-run homer to temporarily give Boston the lead in the top of the 4th inning, but it was relinquished in the bottom half.

Boston ended up losing the game by the score of 10-4 as Joe Saunders took the win for the Angels.

Game 3: The Red Sox fell behind early on Wednesday night but showed some resilience in their comeback effort against the Angels.

The Angels got out to an early 3-0 lead but Boston battled back with 4 runs in the 4th inning. Jon Lester gave up the lead in the bottom of the 4th but the Red Sox took it back in the top of the 5th. The Angels tied it at 6 in the bottom half of that inning and the game stayed tied until the 7th inning when Dustin Pedroia hit a solo homerun off of the glove of Garrett Anderson.

Hideki Okajima took the win for the Red Sox.

Mariners vs Red Sox (8/3-8/5)

2007-08-03T18:49:00.001-04:00

Game 1: Jon Lester made his 3rd start since returning to the Boston Red Sox on Friday night. Lester wasn't on top of his game as he allowed 4 runs and 8 hits in 5 innings.

The Red Sox and Mariners were tied at 4 after 5 innings but the Mariners started to pull away in the 6th inning and were able to pick up insurance runs in the 7th as they won by the score of 7-4.

Game 2: Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched very well on Saturday night in a 4-3 Red Sox victory. Matsuzaka pitched 7 innings and allowed 2 runs while striking out 10.

Red Sox runs were driven in by David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and Jason Varitek.

Eric Gagne pitched the 8th inning with a 2-run lead. Gagne retired the 1st two batters he faced before allowing 3 consecutive hits and a run to score. The new Red Sox reliever was able to get out of trouble, however, when he induced a comebacker that he threw to 1st base for the final out of the inning.

Jonathan Papelbon came in to pitch the 9th and walked 2 batters before retiring the Mariners in the bottom of the 9th for a Red Sox win.

Game 3: Josh Beckett pitched a gem on Sunday afternoon as he went 6 innings while only allowing 1 run. He struck out 9 Mariners on the afternoon.

In addition to Beckett's stellar pitching, the Red Sox got a good offensive effort against Seattle starter Miguel Batista. The Red Sox offense scored 9 runs as Manny Ramirez homered and Coco Crisp, Mike Lowell, and Julio Lugo had 2-hit performances.

At the conclusion of the Sox-Marniers series, the Red Sox hold a 7 game lead on the AL East over the New York Yankees. The Yankees have been hot lately and are only 1/2 game out of the AL Wildcard.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 3-game series with the Anaheim Angels on Monday night as they continue their 6-game trip to the West Coast. Curt Schilling will start the opener for the Red Sox in his 1st start back from the disabled list.

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

2007-07-31T22:25:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-31T16:52:00.001-04:00

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)

2007-07-31T16:40:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-07-23T21:57:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-23T21:52:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-07-23T21:33:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-07-16T22:35:00.001-04:00

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)

2007-07-16T22:21:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-07-09T22:09:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-07-09T21:55:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-07-01T15:38:00.001-04:00

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)

2007-07-01T15:22:00.000-04:00

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.

Padres vs Red Sox (6/22-6/24)

2007-06-25T22:54:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched another pretty good ballgame on Friday night as he went 6 innings and allowed only 1 earned run. Matsuzaka struggled with the command a bit, especially in the 1st inning when he walked three. He ended up walking 5 on the evening and striking out 9 while using 126 pitches.

Greg Maddux pitched a pretty decent game himself, however, the two runs that the Red Sox did score against him were enough to give them. The Red Sox were able to get runs off of RBI singles by Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis.

In a tight ballgame, the Red Sox bullpen came up big as Javier Lopez, Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon combined to pitch 3 scoreless innings. Papelbon recorded the save and came off the mound pumping his fist.

Game 2: Tim Wakefield's struggles continued on Saturday night as he allowed 6 runs in 4.1 innings. Wakefield's performance really didn't give the Red Sox a chance to win the game against Chris Young who was brilliant. Young allowed 1 hit over 7 innings and struck out 11.

The Red Sox lost by the score of 6-1. The Padres received runs from 2 solo shots by Khalil Greene and a 3-run homer by Josh Bard.

Game 3: In the pitching matchup of the season, Josh Beckett outdueled Jake Peavy. Beckett earned his 11th win and dealt Peavy only his 2nd loss of the season. Beckett pitched 8 innings, allowed 2 runs, and struck out 8. Peavy struggled in his 5 innings as the Red Sox really made him work. Peavy allowed 3 runs and struck out 3.

Jon Papelbon closed it out with a perfect 9th inning as he struck out 2 in the process. Papelbon has looked very, very good in his past bunch of outings.

Offensively for the Red Sox, JD Drew, Jason Varitek, and Alex Cora had strong offensive days. Varitek had a homer to give the Red Sox some insurance in the 8th inning.

With the win, the Red Sox take the series against the Padres and move to 11.5 games ahead of the New York Yankees. The Blue Jays are now in 2nd in the AL East and trail the Red Sox by 11 games. The Red Sox now sit at 48-26 on the season.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 3-game series with the Mariners on Monday evening before returning home to Fenway Park. Julian Tavarez, who has pitched very well of late, will take on Jeff Weaver in the opener.

Braves vs Red Sox (6/18-6/20)

2007-06-17T22:44:00.001-04:00

Game 1: Curt Schilling struggled for the 2nd consecutive time leaving a few members of the Atlanta Braves wondering if he might be injured. It turns out that he may well have been. Schilling went for an MRI and despite the fact that results were negative, he will head to the DL as a precaution to rest his tired right shoulder.

Schilling failed to record a strikeout and gave up 6 runs in 4.1 IP. The Braves took a commanding lead in the 5th inning when Brian McCann launched a three-run homer just out of the reach of CF Coco Crisp.

Despite the loss, all was not lost in Red Sox Nation after Monday night's game. The big story is the resurgence of Coco Crisp who is beginning to look like the 2005 version of himself. Such a resurgence would be a huge boost for the Red Sox offense. Crisp went 4/4 in the tilt with 2 homeruns. JD Drew also hit a homerun out of the leadoff spot but it wasn't enough as the Red Sox lost 9-4. They now lead the Yankees by 8 games.

Game 2: Josh Beckett overcame the poor performance in his last start and looked like his normal, dominant self. Beckett tossed 6 shutout innings and it probably would have been more if not for a rain delay after he finished his portion of the 6th inning. Beckett threw 88 pitches, allowed 4 hits, and struck out three.

The Red Sox received offense from David Ortiz who belted an opposite field homerun off of Tim Hudson. Josh Beckett chipped in with an RBI double. Alex Cora and Dustin Pedroia also recorded RBIs. Coco Crisp went 1/4.

Kyle Snyder relieved Josh Beckett and pitched a scoreless inning. Okajima and Papelbon pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th.

The Red Sox won by the score of 4-0 as the Yankees lost to Colorado. As a result, Boston has a 9 game stranglehold on 1st place in the AL East.

Game 3: The Red Sox offense wasted no time on Wednesday night as they scored 5 runs in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves. JD Drew led off the game with a solo shot while Coco Crisp added a 3-run shot later in the inning as he continued his resurgence. Crisp would finish 2/5 on the evening. The Red Sox would end up clobbering 5 homeruns (Drew, Crisp, Ortiz, Ramirez, and Hinske).

Julian Tavarez was grateful for the support but didn't need much of it as he tossed 7 shutout innings in his best performance of the season. Tavarez is now 4-0 with a 3.65 ERA in his last 7 starts. He surrended only 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out four. Pineiro and Timlin pitched scoreless innings as well to complete the 2nd consecutive shutout for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox won 11-0 and the Yankees lost 6-1 to the Rockies, so the Red Sox move to 10 games up on 1st place in the division.

Thoughts: Coco Crisp has been hammering the ball since working with hitting coach Dave Magadan to change his stance and it would not come as a surprise to me if he hits around .300 from today forward. He has really looked like the 2005 Coco Crisp of the Cleveland Indians (.300, 16 HR, 69 RBI, 15 SB). Crisp hit 3 homers in the series and went 7/13.

On Deck: The Red Sox receive a day off on Thursday as they head to San Diego to begin a 3-game series. The series starts on Friday night at 10:05 PM from Petco Park. Daisuke Matsuzaka and Greg Maddux will square off in the opener. The pitching matchup for Sunday appears like it will be Josh Beckett against Jake Peavy. It can be argued that the two of them have been the best pitchers in their respective leagues up to this point. It should prove to be a good matchup.

Giants vs Red Sox (6/15-6/17)

2007-06-17T22:29:00.000-04:00

Game 1: JD Drew continued to show signs of life on Friday evening and Dustin Pedroia had the best game of his young career as the Red Sox offense awakened to score 10 runs against Barry Zito and the Sanfrancisco Giants. Pedroia had 5 RBIs on the night, Drew had 3.

At the same time, Julian Tavarez continued his string of solid starts as he picked up his 4th win to move to 4-4. Tavarez tossed 7 innings of 2 run ball and struck out 3.

Oliver Perez shut down Roger Clemens and the Yankees as the Mets won 2-0. The win and Yankee loss gives the Red Sox an 8.5 game lead in the AL East.

Game 2: Daisuke Matsuzaka made quite possibly his best start in the major leagues against the Giants on Saturday afternoon. He tossed 7 scoreless innings, allowing 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out 8.

Matsuzaka's gem came at the perfect time as the Red Sox were only able to muster 1 run, but it was all they needed thanks to the Japanese import. The Red Sox only run came in the 4th inning when Manny Ramirez crushed a solo homerun over the green monster.

JD Drew had another hit, and Coco Crisp came through with 2 of his own. The Yankees beat the Mets on Saturday afternoon and remain 8.5 games behind the Red Sox as a result.

Earlier in the week, it had been reported that one of Matsuzaka's coaches in Japan noticed a difference in the way that Matsuzaka was pitching and notified him of that. Reportedly, Matsuzaka made the change and it could very well have contributed to his success. After the game, Matsuzaka said that he thought it was his best performance as a Major Leaguer.

Game 3: The Red Sox offense showed more improvement against Matt Morris and the Giants on Sunday afternoon in the series finale. Matt Morris was putting together a very strong season until he ran into the Red Sox. Morris allowed 8 runs in 4 innings of work.

JD Drew continued to perform at the plate out of the leadoff spot. He was 1/3, but was on base 3 times in the game. David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and Kevin Youkilis each collected 2 hits and Ramirez homered for the 2nd straight day.

Tim Wakefield wasn't great, but kept the Red Sox ahead. He left after surrendering 5 runs, one of which came from Barry Bonds' 747th homerun.

The Red Sox were able to avoid using Jonathan Papelbon as they won by the score of 9-5. Manny Delcarmen, Joel Pineiro, and Hideki Okajima pitched well in relief. Pineiro came on with 1 out and the tying run at the plate in the 8th inning and induced a double play on his first pitch.

With the win the Red Sox sweep the series and have won 3 straight games. It appears that the Yankees are going to beat the Mets tonight barring a major implosion by the Yankee bullpen. If the Yankees hold on, they will remain 8.5 games behind the Red Sox. The Yankees have Monday off while the Red Sox face the Atlanta Braves.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 3-game series against the Atlanta Braves from Turner Field on Monday night. The first game is set to begin at 7:05 PM. Curt Schilling will oppose Chuck James in the opener. Josh Beckett and Julian Tavarez will also pitch in the series.

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

2007-06-14T22:18:00.000-04:00

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.

Diamondbacks vs Red Sox (6/8-6/10)

2007-06-11T16:22:00.001-04:00

Game 1: The Red Sox continued the positive momentum on Friday night as Josh Beckett moved to 9-0. Beckett went 8 innings and only gave up 2 earned runs. He struck out 8 and walked none.

JD Drew also showed Red Sox Nation what he can do with the bat. JD Drew had his best game in a Boston uniform as he delivered a pair of 3-run homers. Drew finished with 3 hits and 7 RBIs.

The Red Sox have now won two straight games and remain 10.5 games ahead of the Yankees.

Game 2: Julian Tavarez is making it easy for the Red Sox to take their time with Jon Lester. Over his last bunch of starts, Tavarez has managed to keep the Red Sox in the game. On Saturday night, he went 6 innings and allowed 3 runs to Arizona. Tavarez left the game with a deficit, but the Red Sox still had a chance to win and they capitalized.

With a 3-0 disadvantage, Jason Varitek hit a 2-run homer in the 6th inning and tied it in the 8th with an RBI double which plated JD Drew. Drew had his 2nd consecutive good performance as he collected 3 more hits and scored 2 more runs.

The Red Sox bullpen held strong as Donnelly and Okajima combined for 3 scoreless innings. When the Red Sox took the lead in the top of the 10th it created a save situation for Jonathan Papelbon who has been used very sparingly. Papelbon appeared to be a little rusty but was able to nail down the win for the Red Sox.

The win is the Red Sox third in a row and they remain 10.5 games ahead of the Yankees who have won 5 straight games (against the White Sox and the Pirates).

Game 3: The winning streak was halted at 3 games on Sunday afternoon by Randy Johnson and the Diamondbacks. Daisuke Matsuzaka was unable to match Johnson and the Red Sox bullpen let the game get out of hand in the 8th inning.

Matsuzaka was plagued by control problems again as he needed 120 pitches to get through 6 innings. Both starters struck out 9 on the day as the Red Sox offense continued to struggle against lefthanded pitchers.

Coco Crisp and Julio Lugo continue to struggle and its hurting the Red Sox. Crisp's struggles are bearable just because of the kind of defense he is playing in centerfield, but Lugo isn't getting it done on either side. Wily Mo Pena should not be starting over Coco Crisp in CF for the Red Sox, but if the Red Sox believe that Jacoby Ellsbury is ready, they may want to give him a try. Ellsbury could provide comparable defense to Crisp and maybe better numbers at the plate. As far as Lugo goes, there isn't much the Red Sox can do besides hope that he improves and I believe he will. They signed him to a 4 year, $36 million contract and there really isn't any logical replacement for him at this point.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 3-game series with the Rockies on Tuesday night at 7:05 PM from Fenway Park. Tim Wakefield will take on Aaron Cook in the opener.

Athletics vs Red Sox (6/4-6/7)

2007-06-04T17:48:00.003-04:00

Game 1: Julian Tavarez did a pretty good job of keeping the Red Sox in a game that they had no business winning. His efforts allowed the Red Sox to enter the 9th inning with just a 2-run deficit and luckily their bats came alive.

It all started with a double from David Ortiz. The next two batters (Ramirez and Youkilis) were retired. Jason Varitek then singled home Ortiz to make it a 1-run game. Coco Crisp came in to run for Varitek. Wily Mo Pena was up next and on the third pitch he saw, Crisp attempted to steal. Pena smacked that pitch into the gap and Crisp raced around the bases to score the tying run.

The A's couldn't answer in the bottom of the 9th. In the 10th inning, the Athletics loaded the bases with no outs against JC Romero, but Romero was able to miraculously work his way out of trouble. The Red Sox failed to score in their half of the 11th inning. Kyle Snyder came in to pitch the bottom half and retired the first two batters he faced when Eric Chavez came to the plate. Chavez smacked a walk-off homerun off of Snyder to end the game and give the Athletics the victory.

Game 2: Daisuke Matsuzaka turned in a decent performance on Tuesday night going 7 innings, allowing 7 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs. He struck out 7 and threw 129 pitches.

Despite his performance, the Red Sox gave him no chance of winning as they were stymied by former Red Sox pitcher Lenny Dinardo. Dinardo walked 6, but was very solid despite the control issues.

Eric Chavez homered once again for the Athletics as the Red Sox dropped their 3rd straight game.

Game 3: Tim Wakefield turned in his best start in awhile on Wednesday night. Wakefield went 6.2 innings, and allowed 3 runs while striking out 8.

The Red Sox offense was again nonexistent for the first 6 innings, but finally showed signs of life in the 7th when they scored 2 runs to make it a 3-2 ballgame.

Hideki Okajima relieved Wakefield and pitched 1.1 scoreless innings. His efforts were not enough as the Red Sox failed to score. It was their 4th straight loss and 6th in the last 7 games.

Game 4: Curt Schilling was extremely close to making history on Thursday afternoon. Schilling entered the 9th inning only having allowed 1 baserunner which came on a fielding error by Julio Lugo. Schilling retired the first two batters in the 9th inning, still having allowed no hits.

At this point, Shannon Stewart was the only thing standing in the way of Curt Schilling and his first career no-hitter. On the first pitch, Varitek called a slider away, and Schilling shook him off. Instead, the two agreed on a fastball away. Unfortunately, Shannon Stewart smacked the offering past Alex Cora for the first hit of the game. Schilling retired Mark Ellis on a tough blooper which was reeled in by Alex Cora to end the game.

After the game, Schilling seemed to be in pretty good spirits and whether he meant it or not, his postgame comments were the truth. The Red Sox needed the win and they got it and thats all that matters.

Schilling's performance came at the perfect time. The Red Sox had been struggling and only scored 1 run courtesy of a David Ortiz homerun in the 1st inning. They are extremely fortunate to get that win right now while only scoring 1 run and they have Curt Schilling to thank for that.

The 4-game losing streak is snapped and the Red Sox are now 12 games ahead of the Yankees depending on what happens in their game tonight against the Chicago White Sox. The Red Sox now sit at 38-21.

On Deck: The Red Sox will start a 3-game series with the Diamondbacks on Friday from Arizona. Josh Beckett will get the nod in the opener for the Red Sox.

Yankees vs Red Sox (6/1-6/3)

2007-06-02T00:03:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Tim Wakefield came out of the gate looking very strong and threw nothing but strikes in his first inning of work. Wakefield then began to struggle in the 2nd inning and allowed 3 runs. The Red Sox were eventually able to battle back in the bottom of the 3rd, but in the top of the 4th, the Yankees tacked on 6 runs to take a 9-3 lead.

Wakefield finished with 3.2 IP, 8 ER, and 6 BB. He also hit a batter. Dustin Pedroia continued his hot streak as he went 3/4. Manny Ramirez was 4/5 and David Ortiz recorded 3 hits.

The Red Sox entered the bottom of the 9th inning with a 6-run lead and began to battle back. They were able to score 2 runs before the final out was recorded. The final score was 9-5. With the win, the Yankees move to within 12.5 games of 1st place in the AL East. Boston has lost 2 straight games for the first time since April.

Game 2: Saturday's game was a back and forth affair and the New York Yankees ended up blowing 3 different leads before the game was over.

The Yankees went ahead 4-3 in the top of the 6th inning on a homerun from Jorge Posada. Posada would be the last batter that Schilling faced, but the Javier Lopez surrendered another run to give the Yankees a 2-run advantage. In the bottom of the 6th, Mike Lowell led off with a solo shot and Jason Varitek followed it up with a solo shot of his own to tie the game.

The Yankees then took a 6-5 lead on a solo homer by Derek Jeter, but the lead was again short lived. The Red Sox came roaring back in the bottom half of that inning and scored 5 runs thanks to shoddy defense by the Yankees.

Okajima and Papelbon closed out the game with scoreless innings and the Red Sox took a 13.5 game lead on the Yankees.

Game 3: Josh Beckett pitched very well on Sunday evening despite what the box score may look like. Beckett left with a 5-4 lead thanks to a 5-run 5th inning. The Red Sox held the 1-run lead, but failed to extend it despite having chances to do so. Finally, in the 8th inning, the Red Sox bullpen cracked and the Yankees were able to tie the game. In the 9th inning, Jonathan Papelbon gave up a homerun to Alex Rodriguez, which turned out to be the game winner.

Dustin Pedroia collected 2 more hits, as did Manny Ramirez but their efforts were not enough to lead the Red Sox to victory. The loss brings the Yankees to within 12.5 games of the AL East division lead.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 3-game set with the Oakland Athletics on Monday night. The first game begins at 10:05 PM EST. The Red Sox will be faced with a tough pitching matchup on Monday night when Julian Tavarez takes the hill against one of the AL's best, Dan Haren.

Indians vs Red Sox (5/28-5/30)

2007-05-28T13:58:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Curt Schilling figured out what had been wrong over his past three starts. He held the Cleveland Indians to 1 ER over 7 innings and struck out 10. Meanwhile, the Red Sox were able to get to Cliff Lee for 3 runs in his 5 innings of work.

The Red Sox received nice offensive contributions from Julio Lugo (2/4), Kevin Youkilis (2/4), and Dustin Pedroia (3/3). Pedroia now sits at a very respectable .298 on the season. Youkilis had an inside the park homerun.

J.C Romero gave up a run in relief as did Jonathan Papelbon. Papelbon closed out with multiple fist pumps after 2 very clutch outs to end it. Javier Lopez and Brendan Donnelly combined for a scoreless 8th.

Game 2: Josh Beckett returned from the DL on Wednesday night and it was as if he never left. Beckett was brilliant as he faced the minimum number of batters through his first 6 innings of work. He ended up with 7 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, and 7 K as he picked up his 8th win of the season. Beckett is now 8-0.

Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek hit homeruns off of Jeremy Sowers to help the Red Sox to an early lead. Youkilis collected 2 more hits extending his streak of games with multiple hits to nine.

Brendan Donnelly, Javier Lopez, and Hideki Okajima combined for a scoreless 8th and 9th inning. Okajima picked up his 4th save. Mariano Rivera currently has 3.

The Yankees lost their 5th straight by falling to Toronto 3-2. The Red Sox now hold a 14.5 game lead over them.

Game 3: Daisuke Matsuzaka struggled for his 2nd consecutive start. He allowed 12 hits and 6 runs over just 5 innings and the Red Sox were unable to recover from his poor performance.

The Red Sox got 2-hit games from Jason Varitek, Mike Lowell, and Dustin Pedroia but it wasn't enough as the Indians scored 8 runs and the Red Sox were only able to put 4 on the board.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 3-game series with the Yankees on Friday night. Tim Wakefield will take on Chien-Ming Wang in the opener.

Rangers vs Red Sox (5/25-5/27)

2007-05-28T13:44:00.001-04:00

Game 1: Daisuke Matsuzaka was feeling very sick and throwing up between innings, but he attempted to pitch through it nonetheless. The Rangers were finally able to get to him in the 4th inning for 5 runs, he came out to pitch the 5th but his day was cut short after just 85 pitches and 5 IP.

The Rangers were ahead 5-4 heading into the 5th inning, but the Red Sox added 2 runs in the 5th and another 4 runs in the 6th. The Red Sox finished with 10 runs, each member of the team recorded an RBI with exception to Mike Lowell and JD Drew.

The Red Sox were able to win the game thanks to very solid relief outings from Kyle Snyder, Brendan Donnelly, Hideki Okajima, and Jon Papelbon. The win moves the Red Sox to 32-15

Game 2: The Red Sox were able to pick up win number 33 on Saturday evening thanks to a 7 inning, 4 run performance by Tim Wakefield.

The Red Sox trailed 4-2 heading into the 6th inning, but tacked on 5 runs in the frame to take a 7-4 lead. Manny Ramirez had a great night offensively, going 4/4. Kevin Youkilis recorded 2 hits for the Red Sox as well. Brendan Donnelly and Jon Papelbon closed out the game with scoreless innings.

Game 3: Julian Tavarez was absolutely unhittable for the first 5 innings of Sunday's game, but he began to unravel in the 6th inning. Tavarez gave up the lead by allowing 4 runs on 5 hits in the inning. JC Romero came in to finish the 6th inning and was able to do so without allowing any more runs to score. Joel Pineiro relieved him and was brilliant in his 1.2 innings of work. Pineiro struck out three and picked up the win. Pineiro was also helped by a very nice catch in CF by Coco Crisp that likely saved 2 or more runs. The grab kept the Red Sox in the game and they rallied in the following inning.

Pineiro was able to pick up the win thanks to an RBI-double by the slumping JD Drew and an RBI-single by Mike Lowell. Dustin Pedroia played a good game as well, he went 2/4 and gave the Red Sox an insurance run (that turned out to be needed) by hitting a homerun off of Rangers closer Eric Gagne. Pedroia's at-bat leading up to the homerun was one of the best at-bats I've seen all season. Pedroia fought off pitch after pitch before smacking the 12th offering into the left field seats. Jason Varitek had a 3-run homerun in the early innings to give the Red Sox the lead, but Mark Teixeira answered in the Rangers' big inning against Tavarez.

Hideki Okajima came in to close the game with a 2-run lead. Okajima gave up 1 run but was able to retire Sammy Sosa with the tying run on base. The Yankees were swept by the Angels this weekend, so the Red Sox were able to pick up another game. They now sit 12.5 games ahead of the 4th place Yankees in the AL East.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 3-game series with the Indians from Fenway Park on Monday night. Trot Nixon makes his return to Fenway and should get a very warm reception, he was a joy to watch over the years. Curt Schilling and Cliff Lee will square off in the opener as the Red Sox attempt to move to a season high 20 games over .500.

Yankees vs Red Sox (5/21-5/23)

2007-05-23T22:48:00.001-04:00

Game 1: Tim Wakefield struggled on Monday night and allowed 6 earned runs in 5 innings. That was all the help the Yankees needed as the Red Sox offense was only able to put together 2 runs. Both Red Sox runs came off the bat of David Ortiz.

The Yankees got homeruns from Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi as well as a strong start from Chien-Ming Wang. They won by the final score of 6-2.

Game 2: Julian Tavarez wasn't exactly dominant on Tuesday night, but he got the job done. Tavarez allowed 2 runs over 5.2 innings and struck out two.

The Red Sox were able to take the lead early in the game courtesy of a 3-run homer by Manny Ramirez. Mike Lowell also added a homerun. The Yankees began to pull closer in the middle innings but the Red Sox were able to put them away with a nice display of offense in the top of the 7th inning.

Javier Lopez pitched a very impressive 1 1/3 innings of relief. Okajima relieved Lopez and struggled in his appearance. Okajima allowed his 1st run since allowing a homerun to John Buck of the Royals on his first pitch in the MLB. Papelbon was equally as shaky in the 9th, but was able to get the job done without allowing the Yankees to score and the Red Sox won 7-3.

After the game, some were questioning the takeout "slide" by Alex Rodriguez. In order to attempt to break up a double play, Rodriguez backed into Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia and brought his elbow up near Pedroia's groin. After the game, Pedroia called the tactic "a little cheap" but also claimed that it was no big deal. It will be interesting to see if Curt Schilling will retaliate against Rodriguez as the two men have a history with one another.

Game 3: The Yankees offense didn't waste any time getting started on Wednesday night. By the time their first three hitters had completed their at bats, the Yankees had a 3-0 lead on Curt Schilling who was not at his best. Schilling ended up pitching 6 innings and giving up 5 runs. He struck out only 3 on the night.

Andy Pettitte turned in a nice performance for the Yankees (7 IP, 8 H, and 1 ER) as he picked up his 3rd win on the season to even his record at 3-3.

Hideki Matsui gave the Yankees the lead in the 1st inning with his 3-run homerun. Doug Mientkiewicz also hit a homerun for the Yankees. Coco Crisp hit his first homerun this season as well. Rivera closed out the 9th for the Yankees, but did not pick up a save. Rivera entered with a 5-run lead. The Red Sox lost a game to the Yankees by losing 2 of 3 games in this series. The division lead is still at 9.5 games.

Notes: CB Bucknor's strike zone was called into question on numerous occasions during the game. It is one thing to have a tight strike zone or a wide strike zone, but its completely different if you are inconsistent on a pitch by pitch basis. I felt that he did an awful job calling that game, but it probably affected both sides equally.

Also, Roger Clemens pitched against top Red Sox pitching prospect Clay Buccholz. Buccholz outpitched Clemens who struggled on the evening. Clemens allowed a total of 10 baserunners and left the game with the bases loaded after walking in a run. I realize that he was probably not trying his hardest and still might be a little rusty, but allowing 10 baserunners in just over 5 innings to an AA team has to be reason for concern. Another concern might be that his fastball averaged only 89 MPH tonight. He has been a dominant pitcher throughout his career, and the last 3 years in the National League, but something tells me he's going to have some tough times in the American League. I'm expecting an ERA of around 4 for him, which is respectable. Savior? I think not. The Yankees could still easily win the AL East, there are tons of games left to play. If it does happen, however, I don't think much of the comeback will be attributable to Clemens himself.

On Deck: The Red Sox have Thursday off and will head to Texas for a 3-game series with the Rangers. The series will begin on Friday night and Daisuke Matsuzaka will oppose Brandon McCarthy in that game. JD Drew, who received the night off on Wednesday, should be back in the lineup on Friday night. Hopefully he can get things turned around, he is a much better player than he has shown thus far.

Braves vs Red Sox (5/19-5/21)

2007-05-20T01:06:00.002-04:00

Game 1: Daisuke Matsuzaka was very good for his 3rd consecutive start. He went 8 innings and allowed 3 runs while striking out 6.

The Red Sox offense was also firing on all cylinders in the first game of the doubleheader. Julio Lugo lead off the game with a homerun. Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell (Grand Slam), and Wily Mo Pena also had homeruns in the first game.

The Red Sox won by the score of 13-3. and moved to 29-12 on the season.

Game 2: The 2nd game of the doubleheader didn't go as smoothly for the Red Sox who gave the ball to AAA callup, Devern Hansack. Hansack struggled with the location all day but the results weren't horrible. The bullpen didn't do anything to help the cause. Joel Pineiro and Javier Lopez both got roughed up in their appearances.

The Braves offense was able to put 14 runs on the board and John Smoltz was his normal dominant self. The Braves won by 14-0. The loss drops the Red Sox to 29-13. The Yankees lost earlier in the day to the Mets. The Red Sox are currently 10.5 games ahead of the Yankees.

Game 3: Kason Gabbard filled in brilliantly for Josh Beckett. Gabbard left his outing without allowing a run, but was responsible for two baserunners when he was lifted. Both runners ended up scoring and he finished with a respectable 5 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, and 7 K line.

Tim Hudson, who has been dominant thus far for the Braves struggled mightly against the Red Sox, especially in the early going. The Red Sox went up 3-0 in the bottom of the 1st inning on a bases clearing triple by Jason Varitek. Hinske followed that up with a single, giving the Sox a 4-0 lead. Hudson would allow 2 more runs in the later innings before leaving the game.

Brendan Donnelly struggled in relief, however, Lopez, Snyder and Okajima pitched well. Jonathan Papelbon pitched the 9th and allowed a couple cheap hits before striking out Andruw Jones to end the game. The strikeout was Jones' 5th on the day giving him the platinum sombrero.

The win moves the Red Sox to 30-13, the Yankees beat the Mets later in the night so the lead on them remains the same.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 3-game series with the Yankees on Monday night from the Bronx. Tim Wakefield and Chien-Ming Wang will square off in the opener.

Tigers vs Red Sox (5/14-5/17)

2007-05-15T11:41:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Red Sox Nation was presented with evidence that Daisuke Matsuzaka will be well worth $103.1 million dollars on Monday night when the Japanese import baffled Tigers hitters and hurled a complete game. Matsuzaka allowed 1 ER over his 9 innings, the run came on a solo shot by Curtis Granderson in the 3rd inning. Matsuzaka allowed 6 hits and walked none while striking out 5.

The Red Sox offense touched up Tigers Starter Nate Robertson for 11 hits in his 5 innings but were only able to put three runs on the board against him. Getting Robertson out of the game early was important because the Tigers bullpen was overworked on Sunday night. A decimated Tiger bullpen will only work to the Red Sox advantage for the remainder of the series. The Red Sox were able to add four more runs in the 8th inning, three of them coming on a 3-RBI double by Julio Lugo.

Papelbon had been warming in the pen but sat down when the league was expanded. Much to the delight of the Fenway Faithful, Matsuzaka came out of the dugout to pitch the 9th inning. The crowd rose and gave Matsuzaka a much-deserved standing ovation. The crowd erupted when the final out was recorded and then gave Matsuzaka another ovation. The Red Sox won by the score of 7-1. They moved to 8.5 games ahead of the idle Yankees with the win and are now 26-11.

Game 2: Tim Wakefield failed to turn in a great start on Tuesday night as he allowed 5 runs over 7 innings. Brendan Donnelly relieved Wakefield and gave up two more runs in the 8th.

The Red Sox were only able to score two runs in the game. One coming from an RBI single by JD Drew in the first inning, the other coming from a solo shot from Kevin Youkilis in the 8th inning.

Justin Verlander pitched very well for the Tigers and was a big reason they were able to win the game. He pitched 7 innings, gave up 2 earned runs, and struck out 7. Fernando Rodney pitched the final 1 1/3 innings for the Tigers and didn't give up any runs. The Tigers won by the score of 7-2 and the Red Sox dropped to 26-12 on the season.

Game 3: The 2006 version of Julian Tavarez the starter was back on Thursday afternoon in the makeup game from Wednesday night's rainout. Tavarez allowed 4 hits and 4 walks but only 1 earned run. He struck out two Tigers in 7 IP.

Tavarez was on at the right time because the Red Sox offense struggled to get much going against Zach Miner and the Tigers bullpen. The offense scored 2 runs on the day (only 1 of them was earned). After the 7th inning, Tavarez gave way to Okajima who pitched a perfect 8th. Papelbon pitched a perfect 9th for the save and the 2-1 win. The win moves the Red Sox to 27-12.

Game 4: Curt Schilling struggled on Thursday night but grinded his way through 6 innings to keep his team in the game. Schilling left after 6 innings and 2 earned runs. Schilling allowed 8 hits and walked 4 on the evening.

At the end of the 6th inning, the Tigers and Red Sox were tied at two. Brendan Donnelly pitched a scoreless 7th. In the bottom half of that inning, the Red Sox had a man on first with 2 outs as Eric Hinske came to the plate. Hinske who had already saved at least 1 run earlier in the game when he made a spectacular diving catch. His catch might turn out to be one of the best catches in 2007. As Hinske raced after the ball, it appeared that he wouldn't come within 5 feet of it but as the ball began to fall Hinske launched himself parallel to the ground and made an unbelievable catch to end the inning. He was a little shaken up on the play but eventually got up and received high fives from Curt Schilling and the rest of his teammates. Anyways, back to the top of the 7th inning, Hinske came to the plate with 2 outs and smacked a two run shot into the Red Sox bullpen in right centerfield. The homer gave the Red Sox a 4-2 lead.

Brendan Donnelly and Javier Lopez combined for a scoreless 8th inning. The score remained 4-2 heading into the 9th and Francona elected to stay away from using Papelbon again. Papelbon had thrown 13 pitches in the day game. Instead, Hideki Okajima, who also threw 13 pitches in the day game came in to finish the game. Okajima got the job done and pitched a scoreless 9th to give the Red Sox the win. With the win, the Red Sox took 3 of 4 from the defending AL Champion Detroit Tigers and moved to 28-12. The Red Sox retained the best record in the MLB and moved to 9.5 games ahead of the Yankees.

Notes: Josh Beckett will head to the DL and miss 2 starts. Devern Hansack will get the nod on Friday and Kason Gabbard will likely start on Sunday (because of the doubleheader on Thursday night). Beckett's next turn would come on Thursday, a day that the Red Sox have off. The Red Sox may elect to skip Hansack/Gabbard as a result of the off-day. They may also elect to have Hansack or Gabbard start on Friday to give the rest of the rotation a little bit of extra rest. The Red Sox are hoping that Josh Beckett will return on May 29th to face the Cleveland Indians. Hopefully his injury is not enough to slow the Red Sox down.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 3-game series with the Atlanta Braves on Friday night. Devern Hansack will square off against Anthony Lerew in the opener. Daisuke Matsuzaka is scheduled to face John Smoltz on Saturday. On Sunday, Kason Gabbard is set to oppose Tim Hudson. Hopefully the Red Sox can sneak out a win or two in this series, the pitching matchups certainly do not appear to be favorable (at least on Friday and Sunday).

Orioles vs Red Sox (5/11-5/13)

2007-05-10T22:07:00.000-04:00

Game 1: All good things must come to an end. The Red Sox offense struggled for the first time in awhile on Friday evening. They left the bases loaded in 3 different innings and were only able to put 3 runs on the board as a result.

Julian Tavarez turned in a pretty shaky start, allowing 10 hits and 4 runs, he struck out only two Orioles. The Red Sox got solid efforts from Javier Lopez (1 IP, 0 ER), Kyle Snyder (2 IP, 1 ER), and JC Romero (1 IP, 0 ER).

As a result of the lack of offense, the Red Sox ended up losing the game by the score of 6-3. The loss put an end to their 4 game winning streak. Fortunately, the Yankees remain 7 games behind as a result of their loss to Seattle later in the evening.

Game 2: Curt Schilling wasn't at his best on Saturday afternoon but he was able to do enough to keep them in the game. Schilling left with runners on base in the 5th inning and by the time the inning was over the Orioles had tied the game. Javier Lopez relieved Schilling and did a good job of stopping the Orioles rally.

The Red Sox were able to take the lead in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI double by David Ortiz. Javier Lopez started the 6th inning, but gave way to Donnelly who allowed 2 baserunners and failed to record an out. Hideki Okajima cleaned up the mess and got the Red Sox out of the inning with the 1-run lead still intact.

After Okajima's fine work, the Red Sox offense was able to add three more runs to the scoreboard. Okajima then pitched a scoreless 8th before the Red Sox tacked on 5 more runs to put the game out of reach. Papelbon pitched in the 9th with a big lead because the team wanted him to get some work in. Papelbon hadn't pitched since May 9th, and fortunately, he only threw 13 pitches in the outing.

Kevin Youkilis, Alex Cora, Julio Lugo, and Mike Lowell lead the offensive charge for the Red Sox. The Red Sox won by the score of 13-4 and move to 24-11 on the season. They remain 7 games ahead of the Yankees if the Yankees hold onto their lead against Seattle tonight.

Game 3: The 2007 Boston Red Sox do not quit. Orioles' starter Jeremy Guthrie had Red Sox hitters off balance all day long and it wasn't until Sam Perlozzo prematurely removed him that the Red Sox finally got something going.

Josh Beckett only went 4 innings in his outing, but pitched very well. He left after striking out the side in the 4th inning with what the team is calling an "avulsion of the right middle finger." After the game, Terry Francona described it as a cut or a flap of skin that had peeled back from the finger.

Beckett's injury, however, was momentarily forgotten with an unbelievable 9th inning from the Red Sox bats. Guthrie entered the 9th inning with a 5-0 lead and started by retiring Julio Lugo. Coco Crisp was next and hit a high popup to Ramon Hernandez. Had Hernandez made the routine play, the Orioles would have been an out away from victory with a 5 run lead. At that point, Guthrie's pitch count was in the low 90's and he'd been cruising all day long. Inexplicably, Perlozzo came out of the dugout to remove him with a complete game shutout in reach and the game not necessarily on the line. Shut out aside, Guthrie simply gave the Orioles the best chance of winning the game with the way he was pitching and Perlozzo made a huge mistake by removing him and he ended up paying dearly.

After replacing Guthrie for Danys Baez, Baez allowed an RBI double by David Ortiz and a single by Wily Mo Pena. In came Chris Ray, needing to get two outs and having a 5-1 lead with 2 runners on base. Ray walked Drew and Youkilis before allowing a crowd awakening double to Jason Varitek. The tying run was now on 3rd base with less than 2 outs and the winning run was on 2nd. Eric Hinske came to the plate and was intentionally walked to set up a double play possibility. Cora's spot was next, despite how hot he's been, I wanted Tito to let Lowell hit in his place. In hindsight though, Cora doesn't strike out much and doesn't hit into many double plays, so it wasn't a horrible decision by Tito. Cora ended up hitting a slow grounder to 2nd base. Brian Roberts fired the ball home, and forced out Kevin Youkilis at home. Youkilis was visually upset with the call and after seeing the replay, it appeared that he had cause to feel that way. Julio Lugo came up with 2 outs and the bases still loaded. Lugo hit a bouncer in between 1st and 2nd and Kevin Millar (1B) left the bag to go after the ball. As a result, it appeared that the game would come down to a foot race between Julio Lugo and Chris Ray. It appeared that Ray's foot beat Lugo's to the bag, but Millar's throw was slightly off and it deflected off the edge of Ray's glove and into foul territory. The tying run had already scored, and the winning run (Eric Hinske) was rounding 3rd. By the time the Orioles had retrieved the ball, the Red Sox spilled out of the dugout as Red Sox Nation erupted into a frenzy.

I watch alot of Red Sox games and this was probably the best 9th inning Red Sox comeback I have ever seen live. It was their largest such comeback in 9 years. They didn't quit and it paid off. The Yankees also lost, which means the Red Sox now lead the division by 8 games. The Red Sox now also possess the best record in the Majors (25-11). What an unbelievable game.

On Deck: The Red Sox will be tested in a 4-game series against Detroit starting on Monday night at 7:05 PM from Fenway Park. Detroit currently has the 2nd best record in the American League. Daisuke Matsuzaka will try to put together consecutive good starts and will be opposed Nate Robertson in the opener.

Blue Jays vs Red Sox (5/8-5/10)

2007-05-10T03:04:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Josh Beckett continued his Cy-Young season (yes, it's early but the guy has been phenominal and deserves a ton of credit). The Red Sox offense was right there to back Beckett's brilliance. They put up 9 runs and had homeruns from Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek. Youkilis had 3 hits in the game and Varitek had 4. Varitek is now hitting at .284 which is a pleasant surprise for many Red Sox fans.

Red Sox Nation got its first look at Devern Hansack in 2007 and it was not a good one. Hansack struggled with his control and allowed a run. I do still think that he can greatly help this team out of the bullpen if given the chance. Romero and Snyder pitched well in relief to finish out the game

Beckett gave up 1 run in 7 innings. The run came on his first pitch of the night to Alex Rios who smashed the offering over the wall for a leadoff homerun. The following batter doubled and then Beckett settled right down and was locked in from that point on. Beckett has changed his pitching style and is throwing a lesser percentage of fastballs and its benefitting him greatly. Last season, 73% of Beckett's pitches were fastballs. This season, the number has dropped to 63%. Beckett is mixing up his pitches and keeping hitters off balance, they can no longer sit on the fastball. In my estimation, he has been the team's MVP thus far and is providing a ton of optimism among Red Sox Nation. Let's hope it continues.

The Sox move to 21-10 with the win, 6 games ahead of the 2nd place Yankees.

Game 2: The real Daisuke Matsuzaka showed up in Toronto on Wednesday night. Matsuzaka went 7 innings, allowed 1 earned run, and struck out 8. He walkd 3 on the night.

The Red Sox offense picked up where it left off on Tuesday evening and put another 9 runs on the scoreboard. Lugo chipped in with a homer as did Mike Lowell and Manny Ramirez. David Ortiz went 4/5 with a homerun of his own. Dustin Pedroia's recent great play continued as well. Pedroia was 2/4 with 2 runs scored and made some pretty nice plays with the glove

It's so encouraging to watch this team right now. They are going to be a special ballclub if they can avoid injury. The win moves them to 22-10. The Yankees also won, so the division lead stays at 6 games.

Game 3: Roy Halladay wasn't even enough to stop the Red Sox offense. The Red Sox were able to touch up Halladay for 8 runs (7 earned). Mike Lowell hit another homerun in the effort.

Tim Wakefield was once again unbelievable. He pitched 7 shutout innings and struck out 5 to lower his ERA to a measly 1.79. Wakefield only allowed 3 hits and a walk to the Blue Jays who have now lost 9 games in a row.

The Red Sox received good work out of the bullpen from Hideki Okajima. JC Romero pitched a scoreless inning, but gave up 2 hits. The win moves the Red Sox to 23-10, they have won 4 straight. The Yankees also lost today, which means that the Red Sox division lead has increased to 7 games.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a series with the Orioles on Friday night. Julian Tavarez will oppose Brian Burres of the Orioles. Curt Schilling will pitch in the 2nd game for the Red Sox and Josh Beckett will pitch in the finale.

Thoughts: Roger Clemens to NY

2007-05-07T01:07:00.000-04:00

The signing of Roger Clemens definitely improves the Yankees staff, but they still have alot of question marks including Clemens himself. Clemens' numbers looked very nice in the National League over the past few years. However, I'm willing to bet that he won't have the same luck in the American League.

Clemens is now 45 years old and Yankees "fans" are acting like he's going to be a savior. I just don't see it. In 2002 with New York, he finished with an ERA of 4.35, in 2003 he finished with a 3.93 ERA. Solid, but not great, not the savior he's being made out to be. Not only is he not going to get to face a pitcher 3 times per game, he's going to have to face much stronger offenses in the American League. Roger Clemens is now technically the game's highest paid player (yes, his salary even trumps that of teammate Alex Rodriguez).

On the outside, this appears to be a panic move by the Yankees. It was reported that the Red Sox offered him a pro-rated salary of $18 million (the Yankees offered $28 million). At this point it seems pretty clear that Roger is all about the money and nothing else. He has nothing to gain in New York. Coming to Boston would have given him the best chance at another ring. Clemens could have passed Cy Young as the winningest pitcher in Red Sox history and ended his illustrious career where it all started. He could have gone into the Hall of Fame as a Red Sox and had his #21 retired by them, but apparently the money meant more than all of that (even though he'll probably never spend a cent of it).

My Prediction: Yankees win the AL East (I felt this way even before the Clemens signing despite the fact that I believe the Red Sox have a better ballclub). Clemens puts up an ERA between 3.90 and 4.10. I still feel like the Red Sox have a stronger club and will fare better in the playoffs barring injury to a key player or a big trade made by the Yankees.

Twins vs Red Sox (5/4-5/6)

2007-05-06T16:27:00.000-04:00

Game 1: The Red Sox got another brilliant performance out of Tim Wakefield as he lowered his ERA to 2.11 on the season. Wakefield pitched 7 shutout innings and only allowed 6 baserunners. Romero, Donnelly, and Papelbon all pitched well in relief and Papelbon picked up the save.

The Red Sox were fortunate that Wakefield and the bullpen were on top of things because their offense was only able to push 2 runs past Carlos Silva and the Twins. The Red Sox took the lead in the 6th inning with a solo shot from David Ortiz and scored another run in the 8th inning on an RBI single from Coco Crisp. The win moves the Red Sox to 19-9 on the season.

Game 2: In a game that appeared to be a huge mismatch on paper, Julian Tavarez kept the Red Sox in the game and actually outpitched Johan Santana. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, the Twins caught a few breaks and were able to score 2 runs against Julian Tavarez. The Red Sox offense also blew a couple of golden opportunities against Johan Santana early in the game.

The Red Sox had a chance to tie the game in the top of the 9th inning. Kevin Youkilis got on base with 1 out to give David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez a chance to make something happen. Ortiz made very good contact on Nathan, but Torii Hunter was able to track the ball down in centerfield. Nathan then retired Manny Ramirez to end the game and the Twins won by the score of 2-1. The loss dropped the Red Sox to 19-10, but they remain 5.5 games ahead of the Yankees.

Game 3: The Red Sox offense was able to score 4 runs against Sidney Ponson in the 5.1 innings that he pitched. They took the 4-0 lead into the 7th inning when Curt Schilling began to unfold. Schilling ended up being removed from the game after allowing two runs. He was eplaced by Hideki Okajima who allowed an RBI single and a 3rd run was charged to Schilling. Okajima ended up getting out of the inning with a 4-3 lead.

Okajima came out to pitch the 8th inning and did a nice job. He gave way to Papelbon in the 9th inning. Papelbon struck out the first batter he faced and then induced a ground ball out. Jason Tyner then blooped to Mike Lowell to end the game. The Red Sox win the game by the score of 4-3 and take 2 out of 3 games from Minnesota. They moved to 20-10 on the season and remain 5.5 games ahead of New York.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 3-game series in Toronto on Tuesday night. Josh Beckett will face Victor Zambrano in the opener.

Mariners vs Red Sox Makeup Game (5/3)

2007-05-06T16:07:00.000-04:00

Daisuke Matsuzaka struggled mightily in the 1st inning of Thursday's game. He allowed 5 runs in the inning on only 2 hits, but hit a batter and walked 2. Fortunately, the Red Sox were able to battle back against Horatio Ramirez. After the 5-run 1st inning, Matsuzaka settled down and the Red Sox eventually took a 7-5 lead. The final two runs of that rally came on a 2-run shot by Manny Ramirez. The Mariners answered in the following inning and tied up the game at seven.

The game stayed tied until the 8th inning when Manny Ramirez smacked a solo homerun into the seats and the Red Sox took an 8-7 lead. Francona held out Papelbon for the 2nd consecutive night and the Red Sox got solid performances out of Kyle Snyder, Brendan Donnelly, and JC Romero. Romero picked up the save and the Red Sox won the ballgame.

Athletics vs Red Sox (5/1-5/2)

2007-05-03T00:39:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Curt Schilling turned in a nice performance, but it wasn't enough as Jon Papelbon faltered for the first time of the young season. Papelbon had been unhittable, but he clearly did't have it on Tuesday night. Schilling went 7 innings and only allowed 2 runs and the Red Sox took a 2-run lead into the 9th inning. On most nights, the game would have been over but Papelbon was touched up for in the inning courtesy of a 2-run homerun by Travis Buck.

It was by far the most disappointing loss of the season. The Red Sox seemed to have the game in the bag from start to finish, only to see the victory disappear at the very last second. The Red Sox had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the 9th, but were unable to come up with a winning hit. Crisp was at the plate with men on 2nd and 3rd base and 2 outs but unfortunately he grounded out to end the inning. Donnelly came in to pitch the 10th and allowed what turned out to be the winning run on back to back doubles. The Red Sox were unable to answer in the bottom half and dropped to 16-9 on the season.

Game 2: Coco Crisp might FINALLY be coming around. For the second consecutive night, he made an unbelievable catch in centerfield. He also has an 8-game hitting streak which continued tonight with a 2/4 performance with 2 runs scored. One of Coco's hits was a double in the bottom of the 6th inning which turned out to be a big reason that the Red Sox won the game.

Josh Beckett also moved to 6-0 on the season and has been extremely impressive so far. Beckett went 7 innings and allowed 3 runs while striking out 7. Hideki Okajima pitched for the 2nd consecutive night and once again got the job done. He'll probably need a day or two off. Timlin came in to pitch the 9th and allowed a leadoff single. Timlin was able to finish the inning allowing only 1 run, but it could have been way worse if Coco Crisp wasn't in centerfield to make his brilliant catch. A nice win for the Red Sox as they moved to 17-9 (Six games ahead of New York).

On Deck: Makeup game with the Mariners at 7 PM from Fenway Park. Daisuke Matsuzaka will face Horatio Ramirez.

Yankees vs Red Sox (4/27-4/29)

2007-04-29T15:54:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Daisuke Matsuzaka was pretty good on Friday night with exception of one rough inning as he picked up his 2nd consecutive win against the New York Yankees. Dice-K finished with 6 IP, 4 ER, and 7 K. He threw 117 pitches. The Yankees countered with Andy Pettitte who was touched up for 5 runs in 4.2 IP.

The Red Sox offense received big contributions from Julio Lugo, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, and Coco Crisp. The game was close early on, but the Red Sox broke it open in the later stages of the game. Timlin, Okajima, and Pineiro pitched scoreless innings in relief. They are now 6.5 games ahead of the Yankees and remain in 1st place in the AL East.

Game 2: Saturday's game started with a hard-hit comebacker by Julio Lugo that struck Yankees starter Jeff Karstens just below the knee. After walking around for awhile, Karstens was allowed to stay in the game and pitch to Youkilis. Youkilis smacked a single into the outfield and Torre removed Karstens. It was discovered later on that Karstens had suffered a broken fibula. Kei Igawa releived Karstens and was very good for the Yankees over 6 innings. Meanwhile, for the Red Sox, Tim Wakefield was average and his control was erratic.

Jorge Posada hit a 2-run homer in the 4th inning off of Wakefield and it put the Yankees up for good. The Red Sox threatened in the 8th inning against Kyle Farnsworth. Coco Crisp came up as the go ahead run and displayed great patience in the at bat. Unfortunately, Bruce Froemming's strike zone expanded and Coco was the victim of some poor calls. Crisp struck out looking to end the inning on a ball that appeared to be a foot out of the strike zone. Crisp was understandably frustrated, as there were two other very questionable strike calls in that at bat. Crisp threw his bat and helmet after striking out and was ejected from the game.

Rivera came in to pitch the 9th and allowed a leadoff single but was able to maintain his composure to close out the game. With the loss, the Red Sox lead on the Yankees diminishes to 5.5 games.

Game 3: Julian Tavarez kept the Red Sox in the game while opposing Chien-Ming Wang. Tavarez went 5+ innings and allowed 3 runs, but left the game with a 4-3 lead. He was relieved by Hideki Okajima who threw 2 scoreless frames and struck out four in the process. Timlin pitched the 8th and allowed a homerun to Jeter, followed by a basehit to Bobby Abreu, but was able to finish the inning thanks to a double play ball off the bat of Alex Rodriguez. Jonathan Papelbon came in to pitch the 9th and allowed a leadoff double to Giambi. Papelbon then struck out Matsui and got Posada to ground out.

The Red Sox benefitted from an early homerun by David Ortiz and went ahead in the 5th when Alex Cora hit a 2-run homerun (his 2nd of the season). The Red Sox added another run on a sac fly hit by Julio Lugo in the 7th and a 2-run homer from Manny Ramirez in the 8th.

The win moves the Red Sox 6.5 games ahead of New York and gives them the best record in the Majors. The Yankees have now lost 8 of 9 games.

On Deck: The Red Sox will have their first off day in awhile on Monday and it will be followed by a 2-game series against Oakland from Fenway Park. Curt Schilling will take on Joe Blanton in the opener. On Thursday, the Red Sox will make up a game against the Seattle Mariners that was rained out on April 12th.

Orioles vs Red Sox (4/25-4/26)

2007-04-25T19:08:00.002-04:00

Game 1: Curt Schilling allowed 1 run over 7 innings on Wednesday night as he picked up his 3rd victory in 5 starts. He is now 3-1 on the season.

The game was tight in the first 6 innings, but in the 7th the Red Sox began to pull away. David Ortiz knocked in what turned out to be the winning run on a bloop single and the Red Sox were able to tack on 2 more runs after that. Okajima came in to pitch the bottom of the 7th and looked great once again. The Red Sox offense added two more runs in the top of the 9th and Donnelly closed it out in the bottom of the 9th. My thoughts on Francona's use of Donnelly to come later.

Alex Cora hit his first homerun of the season in the win. The Red Sox are now 13-7 (4.5 games ahead of NYY).

Notes: It has been reported that Terry Francona plans on using Joel Pineiro in some high-leverage situations (in the 8th inning), which doesn't seem to make any sense. The Red Sox have Hideki Okajima and Brendan Donnelly who are suited to fill that role. To date, Francona has hesitated to use Donnelly in high-leverage situations for some unknown reason. If you recall back to last season, he did the same thing with David Riske (a quality reliever), before Riske was shipped to Chicago for LHP Javier Lopez (now in AAA). Donnelly needs to be given the chance to pitch in big situations, he is simply a better pitcher than Joel Pineiro and at this time he's the 3rd best reliever the Red Sox have. Pineiro and Timlin should be 4th in line for opportunities, followed by Kyle Snyder. JC Romero should be the last option.

Game 2: Josh Beckett's magical season continued on Thursday evening. Beckett gave up 2 early runs, but settled down nicely. Beckett finished with 8 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, and 3 strikeouts.

The Red Sox trailed for most of the game, but finally broke through in the 8th inning with a 2-1 deficit and Orioles' closer Chris Ray on the hill. Ray allowed a double to Mike Lowell after John Parrish walked Manny Ramirez. Ray then elected to intentionally walk Jason Varitek to face Wily Mo Pena. Pena took advantage of the opportunity and crushed one of Ray's offerings for a grand slam. The slam put the Red Sox ahead 5-2. Jonathan Papelbon came in to pitch the 9th inning and closed the door on the Orioles.

Josh Beckett's record is now a major league leading 5-0. The Red Sox sweep the 2-game series vs. Baltimore and are now 14-7 on the season (currently the best record in the majors). The Yankees also lost on Thursday night and remain in last place in the AL East. They are currently 5.5 games behind the Red Sox.

On Deck: The Red Sox will travel to New York to begin a three-game series with the Yankees on Friday night. Daisuke Matsuzaka will take on Andy Pettitte in the opener.

Blue Jays vs Red Sox (4/23-4/24)

2007-04-24T13:24:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Tim Wakefield's run of brilliant starts had to come to an end. Wakefield allowed 4 earned runs to the Blue Jays on Monday night and the Red Sox offense went dead as the Blue Jays took the game by the score of 7-3.

The Red Sox took a 2-1 lead when Dustin Pedroia recorded his first 2 RBI of the season with a double off of the monster but the Red Sox were unable to hold the lead. With the loss, the Red Sox fall to 12-6 but remain in 1st place in the AL East.

Game 2: Julian Tavarez had a rough outing on Tuesday night against the Blue Jays. The Red Sox defense wasn't too great either. The team made 4 errors in its sloppiest performance of the season. Tavarez was unable to keep the Red Sox in the game, which is always the goal when facing a great pitcher like Roy Halladay.

The poor performance of Tavarez might prompt the Red Sox to make a change with their #5 starter. Devern Hansack, possibly one of the best options at this point, turned in a subpar performance in AAA his last time out. Jon Lester will pitch for Pawtucket in Rochester on Wednesday night, but the Red Sox do not want to rush him back to the majors. Lester, as everybody will remember, is recovering from chemotherapy treatments.

Despite the loss, the Red Sox remain in 1st place in the AL East and remain 4 games ahead of the Yankees (who lost again on Tuesday night to Tampa Bay). The Yankees have lost 5 straight games and are currently in last place in the AL East. Don't expect that to last.

Notes: Coco Crisp sat again on Tuesday night to rest his strained left oblique. Francona believes that Crisp is fully capable of playing but stated that the Red Sox do not want to take any chances with Crisp's health. Pena got the start in center and looked sloppy at the plate and in the field.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a 2-game series with the Orioles on Wednesday night. Curt Schilling will take on Daniel Cabrera in the opener. The Orioles are currently in 2nd place in the AL East.

Yankees vs Red Sox (4/19-4/22)

2007-04-21T23:53:00.000-04:00

Game 1: The torrid pace of Alex Rodriguez continued on Friday night as he hit two homeruns against Curt Schilling. Luckily, Schilling kept the game from getting out of hand and so did the Red Sox bullpen. The Yankees took a 6-2 lead into the 8th inning when everything suddenly began to go Boston's way. David Ortiz started the rally with a double against Mike Myers, Manny Ramirez then worked a walk. JD Drew followed Ramirez and grounded out, moving Ramirez and Ortiz over to 2nd and 3rd. Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek followed with RBI singles, which brought Coco Crisp to the dish with 1 out and a 2-run deficit. Crisp knocked a Mariano Rivera offering down the first base line past 1st baseman Doug Mientkiewicz. Two runs scored and Crisp ended up at 3rd base with a tie game. Alex Cora capped off the rally when he blooped a single over the head of Derek Jeter who was playing shallow and the Red Sox took the lead.

The Red Sox took their 1-run lead into the 9th inning with Papelbon unavailable after he pitched in the previous two games. Fortunately for the Red Sox, Hideki Okajima did his best Papelbon impression and retired the Yankees (including the red-hot Alex Rodriguez), which sent the fans into a frenzy.

By completing the comeback, the Red Sox avoided a 1st place tie with New York and moved ahead by 2 games. Thursday's game against Toronto was great, but the Red Sox one upped themselves tonight. What a great game.

Game 2: Josh Beckett took the hill for the Red Sox on Saturday and wasn't quite as sharp as he had been in his previous three starts. He allowed the Yankees to get two-run leads on two seperate occasions, but the Red Sox offense answered each time. The Red Sox pulled ahead 5-4 in the 4th inning, but the lead was extended further when David Ortiz hit a 2-run homer just inside the Pesky Pole for what turned out to be the game winning runs. Coco Crisp (2/4, 2 R, SB) and Jason Varitek (2/4) also deserve mentioning as they both continued their recent resurgence. Ortiz (4 RBI), Youkilis (1 RBI), and Lugo (2 RBI) had multi-hit games as well.

Beckett came out after 6.2 innings. He allowed 4 runs and struck out 7. Hideki Okajima relieved Beckett and recorded some more big outs. Mike Timlin finished the 8th inning before giving way to Jonathan Papelbon who continued his dominance in the closer role. The final out came on a well-hit ball by Bobby Abreu, but Coco Crisp was there to make the play and the Red Sox won again.

The Red Sox move ahead of the Yankees by 3 games with the win and are 9-2 in their last 11 games.

Game 3: Daisuke Matsuzaka had a rough outing on Sunday night as he allowed 6 runs to the Yankee offense. Matsuzaka still recorded the win, thanks to 4 consecutive solo shots (first time in time history) by the Red Sox and a 2-run shot from Mike Lowell later in the game. Jon Papelbon held onto a 1-run lead in the 9th inning and retired Alex Rodriguez for the final out.

With the win, the Red Sox sweep the series and move 4 games ahead of the Yankees.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 2-game series with the Blue Jays on Monday night. Tim Wakefield will take the mound for the Red Sox.

Blue Jays vs Red Sox (4/17-4/19)

2007-04-17T14:34:00.000-04:00

Game 1: The Red Sox lost a close one on Tuesday night by the score of 2-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. With the exception of one inning, Daisuke Matsuzaka looked great as he struck out 10 batters. Matsuzaka allowed 2 runs over 6 innings, however, 2 of those runs may have come as a result of some unfortunate calls that did not go the way of the Red Sox.

Gustavo Chacin tossed 7 solid innings for the Blue Jays. His only blemise was a solo blast to Wily Mo Pena which appeared that it could be one of the longest homeruns ever hit in the building. The ball landed on top of the restaurant in centerfield almost directly above the 400 foot sign. The Blue Jays moved into 1st place with the victory.

Game 2: Tim Wakefield's start of the 2007 season is becoming quite the story for the Red Sox. Wakefield turned in his 3rd consecutive gem, pitching 7 innings and only allowed 1 earned run. Brendan Donnelly picked up where Wakefield left off and pitched a scoreless inning. Jon Papelbon closed it out, but not before allowing the tying run to come to the plate with 2 outs. Papelbon struck out the side, including Adam Lind to end the Blue Jays late threat.

Mike Lowell, Doug Mirabelli, and David Ortiz all connected on solo homeruns and Doug Mirabelli added an additional RBI in the late stages of the ballgame. With the win, the Red Sox take back 1st place in the AL East but now face Roy Halladay in tomorrow's matinee.

Game 3: Julian Tavarez did what he had to do. He kept the Red Sox close. Tavarez allowed three runs over 5.1 innings and left the ballgame with a 3-1 deficit. From there, the bullpen took over and shut down the Blue Jays. Joel Pineiro, JC Romero, Mike Timlin, and Jonathan Papelbon contributed to the brilliant effort.

The Red Sox appeared to be in some trouble in the 8th inning down by 2 runs, but Manny Ramirez picked the perfect time to hit his first long ball of the season. Ramirez hit a 2-run shot to dead center to tie the ballgame. That would be the only scoring the Red Sox would do in the 8th inning.

Mike Timlin came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th for the Red Sox and got himself into a jam after Vernon Wells lead off the inning with a double to deep center. Fortunately, Timlin was able to get an out before intentionally walking Lyle Overbay (a correct decision made my manager Terry Francona). The intentional pass that was issued to Overbay set up an inning ending double play. The play at first base was extremely close thanks to a poor throw to 2nd base by Mike Timlin. The Blue Jays runner appeared safe, but was called out. A fact that likely wouldn't have mattered because Overbay (who was running from 1st to 2nd) performed a take out slide that would likely have been deemed illegal if the runner at 1st base was safe. Alex Cora, who played shortstop for the Red Sox, was a victim of Overbay's takeout slide and Cora felt that it was a dirty play on Overbay's behalf.

In the top of the 9th, Alex Cora smacked an RBI triple for the go-ahead run. Coco Crisp scored Cora on a sacrifice fly to deep center field to make it a 5-3 ballgame. Jonathan Papelbon came in to finish the game. Papelbon struck out the first two batters he faced before engaging in a long duel with Alex Rios which resulted in an out and a Red Sox win. With the win, the Red Sox remain 1 game ahead of the New York Yankees who won on another Alex Rodriguez walkoff homerun.

In my estimation, this game was the best game of the year for the Red Sox so far. The Red Sox rallied and were able to overcome the odds of having to face one of the AL's best pitchers in Roy Halladay with Julian Tavarez opposing him. Coco Crisp did some good things, as did Tavarez, Cora, and Ramirez. All in all it was a very encouraging victory for the Red Sox (now 9-5 and 7-2 in their last 9 games).

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a three game series with the New York Yankees on Friday night at Fenway Park. Curt Schilling will take the mound for the Red Sox and will be opposed by Andy Pettitte.

Angels vs Red Sox (4/13-4/16)

2007-04-14T20:54:00.000-04:00

Game 1: In a game that figured to be tough, the Red Sox won in grand fashion on Friday night against John Lackey and the Angels. Lackey, a potential Cy Young canidate, had been on fire in his first 2 starts of the young season. Fortunately, the Red Sox were able to cool him off as they scored 3 runs on him and continued to tack on to the lead once the Angels bullpen took over.

Tim Wakefield turned in his 2nd consecutive solid start for the Red Sox, and this time the Red Sox offense was able to give him some run support. Wakefield pitched 7+ innings and allowed 1 run. David Ortiz and Mike Lowell each had 3 RBIs on the night. The Sox won by the score of 10-1 and the win moves them to 5-4 on the season.

Game 2: Curt Schilling pitched a gem for the second straight time and this time, Terry Francona didn't even get a chance to blow it. Schililng pitched 8 scoreles frames and struck out 4 while the Red Sox offense put together 8 runs. David Ortiz had his 3rd homerun of the season (a 3-run shot to put the game way out of reach). Eric Hinske also did a good job filling in for Kevin Youkilis and has reached base 8 times in 9 plate appearances. The win moves the Red Sox into 1st place in the AL East with a 6-4 record.

Note: The Red Sox have allowed a total of 25 runs in their first 10 games (2.5 runs per game). The team has only given up more than three runs on two seperate occasions so far, yet they have lost 4 games.

Also, remember this name: Devern Hansack. Hansack has struck out 20 batters in just over 10 innings in AAA. Hansack's ERA at this point in time is 0.84. If Julian Tavarez continues to struggle, Hansack could take his spot in the rotation. It is also possible that Hansack may be called up very soon to pitch in the bullpen. No matter what role the Red Sox need him to fill, Hansack should be called up. He deserves the opportunity and he could really help the team.

Game 3: Josh Beckett was supposed to take the mound and be opposed by Ervin Santana, however the game was rained out and will have to be made up at a later date.

Game 4: It's starting to look like Josh Beckett may have overcome his woes from last year. Beckett turned in his third straight gem and the Red Sox offense gave him the run support he needed once again. Beckett moved to 3-0 in his first three starts. He went 6 innings and allowed 1 run (homerun to Orlando Cabrera in the 1st inning) while striking out 5.

The Red Sox offense broke out in the bottom of the 1st inning with 6 runs. David Ortiz would add on a 7th run in the 4th inning with a solo blast to center field. Hideki Okajima (2 strikeouts) and JC Romero pitched scoreless innings of relief. Kyle Snyder allowed a run in the final frame to make it 7-2 in favor of the Red Sox. The Red Sox move to 7-4 with the win and remain in 1st place in the AL East.

On Deck: The Red Sox now travel to Toronto for a 3-game set. Daisuke Matsuzaka and Gustavo Chacin will take the mound in the opener. Toronto has recently been bit by the injury bug losing BJ Ryan (up to 6 weeks), Reed Johnson (likely out until July), and Troy Glaus (heel).

Mariners vs Red Sox (4/10-4/12)

2007-04-11T21:41:00.000-04:00

Game 1: The Red Sox offense finally woke up with a little help from Jeff Weaver who had a surprising run in the 2006 playoffs. The team tagged Weaver, chased him from the game early, and continued to add runs against the Seattle bullpen. JD Drew continued to impress Red Sox fans as he hit a homer in his Fenway debut and Jason Varitek gave the Fenway Faithful some hope that he might actually produce this season (but I wouldn't hold your breath). The team, as a unit, scored 14 runs on the afternoon.

Although it was not needed, Josh Beckett pitched one of his best games as a member of the Red Sox. Beckett went 7 innings (using only 84 pitches) allowing 2 hits, 1 earned run, and striking out 8. Okajima pitched well in relief and Mike Timlin made his not-so-glorious return. Timlin allowed 2 runs in the final frame and the Red Sox won by the score of 14-3.

Game Notes: Brendan Donnelly was ejected from the game. Donnelly struck out Jose Guillen and the two exchanged words as Guillen headed back to the dugout. Donnelly beaned the following Mariner and was tossed from the game. It appeared that Donnelly was not intending to hit the batter, but the umpire apparently deemed it necessary to keep the two teams from getting out of hand.

Game 2: Daisuke Matsuzaka made his Fenway debut and pitched very well. He held Ichiro hitless and only allowed 3 runs over 7 innings. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, Felix Hernandez showed the world what kind of pitcher he can be. Hernandez took a no-hitter into the 8th inning, but JD Drew broke it up. Drew's hit would be the only one for the Red Sox on the night.

The loss drops the Red Sox to 4-4.

Game 3: Tim Wakefield was slated to take on Jarrod Washburn but the game was postponed due to inclement weather. The game will be made up on May 3rd.

On Deck: The Red Sox will start a series with the Anaheim Angels on Friday night. John Lackey will face Tim Wakefield in the series opener.

Rangers vs Red Sox (4/6-4/8)

2007-04-06T16:23:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Tim Wakefield pitched a pretty good ballgame on Friday afternoon. He allowed 1 ER over 6 innings and really settled down after the first few innings. The other run that Wakefield allowed came courtesy of a Dustin Pedroia error followed by a base hit.

Despite Wakefield's performance, the Red Sox were unable to come up with the victory. They were only able to put together 3 hits as a team. There was some hope in the 9th inning when Manny Ramirez got a leadoff single, but the Red Sox were retired in order after that. The loss drops the Red Sox to 2-2.

Game 2: Julian Tavarez started for the Red Sox and gave up 4 runs as he struggled throughout the night. He left after just three innings due to a high pitch count and ineffectiveness. The bullpen, for the first time this season, did not provide the needed relief and allowed the game to get out of hand. It was another frustrating night for the Red Sox as they cranked out some hits, but were unable to put enough runs on the board. The Red Sox still only have 1 home run on the season (hit by Kevin Youkilis) and drop to 2-3 with the loss.

Game 3: Curt Schilling put an end to his Opening Day struggles and put together a 7-inning gem (4 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts). Unfortunately, it was almost blown by Terry Francona, but I'll get to that later. Vicente Padilla, who started for Texas, pitched a pretty good game himself. He went 7 innings and allowed 3 runs.

David Ortiz was all that the Red Sox needed offensively as he finally got himself going. Ortiz had 2 homeruns and 3 RBIs on the night. JD Drew also added 2 hits for the Red Sox.

Jonathan Papelbon saved the day for the Red Sox as Francona put him into an incredibly tough spot, but Papelbon just proceeded to embarrass everyone he faced. He is an unbelievable pitcher.

Now, onto Terry Francona. Schilling told Francona after he finished the 7th inning that he could pitch another inning. Francona seemed to acknowledge Schilling's request, but decided to bring in Joel Pineiro to start the 8th inning with a 2-run lead. Schilling had only thrown 102 pitches to that point and should have been allowed to face at least another batter or two. Pineiro struggled to throw strikes to the first two batters he faced. Despite this, he was left in to face Kenny Lofton who reached on a bunt single after 1st base was not covered. Now, instead of bringing Papelbon (who was ready to go), he brings in Javier Lopez with the bases loaded and no outs in a 2-run ballgame. Lopez got hit hard, but fortunately the ball was right to Youkilis. Youkilis dropped the ball but was able to get a force out at 2nd, which left runners at 1st and 3rd with 1 out and a 3-2 score. Finally, in came Papelbon to save face for Terry Francona who completely botched the inning.

While Francona does a solid job of managing the players, his in-game management is horrendous and I'd like to see him fired. He will cost the Red Sox at least 5 games this season with poor game management if he gets the chance to do so.

Anyways, I'll stop ranting. The Red Sox move to 3-3 with the victory and head home for their home opener on Tuesday.

On Deck: The Red Sox have their home opener on Tuesday against the Mariners. Josh Beckett will get the ball in front of the Fenway Faithful for the first time of the young season.

The Season Begins: Sox vs Royals

2007-04-04T23:36:00.000-04:00

Game 1: Curt Schilling had trouble controlling his fastball and relinquished an early lead. The Royals never looked back and ended up tagging Schilling for 5 runs. Hideki Okajima made his major league debut and on his very first pitch, he was taken deep by John Buck. Okajima settled down after that and pitched 1.2 solid innings. The rest of the bullpen looked pretty good but the Red Sox bats struggled against Gil Meche and Joel Peralta and the Royals took Game 1 by the score of 7-1.

Schilling's struggles shouldn't be cause for concern as he was solid all spring and has supposedly added a changeup to his already dominant arsenal.

Game 2: Josh Beckett struggled with the command but gave the Red Sox bats a chance to capitalize on Royals pitching. Beckett went 5 innings and threw 94 pitches (48 for balls, 46 for strikes). He allowed 1 run on 2 hits and allowed 4 walks. Kevin Youkilis had his first home run of the season and JD Drew had 2 hits and an RBI. Drew also made a couple of nice plays in the outfield and has me impressed after two games. The bullpen pitched well for the second straight night and I was particularly impressed by Joel Pineiro. Javier Lopez, Kyle Snyder, and JC Romero also kept the Royals off the board.

Game 3: Daisuke Matsuzaka made an impressive Major League debut striking out 10 batters in 7 innings. Matsuzaka allowed 6 hits, and 1 earned run (David Dejesus hit a homer to lead off the 6th). Zack Greinke (my early pick for Comeback Player of the Year) also impressed in his 2007 debut. He lasted 7 innings, allowed 8 hits, and 2 earned runs while striking out 7.

The Red Sox made a habit out of getting the leadoff man on base, but it led to little in the early going. Luckily they were able to pick up a few runs in the 8th on some base hits and an Alex Gordon error. Multiple Red Sox hitters turned in 2-hit days including Lugo, Ramirez, Lowell, and Pedroia. Coco Crisp collected his first hit of the season and added an RBI.

JC Romero pitched an inning of scoreless relief in the 8th. Romero has now pitched 2.2 scoreless innings on the season. Papelbon pitched the 9th inning and struck out two batters to pick up his first save of the season as the Red Sox took the game by the score of 4-1.

On Deck: The Red Sox will begin a series with the Texas Rangers tomorrow at 2:05 PM. Tim Wakefield will oppose youngster Robinson Tejeda. Tavarez will get the ball in the 2nd game and Schilling will pitch the finale.

Red Sox Season Preview

2007-03-29T13:50:00.001-04:00

After a disappointing finish to the 2006 season, the Boston Red Sox are back with a revamped lineup and potentially another Cy Young canidate in Daisuke Matsuzaka. Epstein and the Red Sox brass loosened the purse strings with the hope of bringing another World Series Championship to the city of Boston and the Fenway Faithful. Let's hope it pays off.

Starting Pitching: What appeared to be by far the best pitching rotation in the major leagues (on paper) just two weeks ago, is now minus Jon Papelbon who has shifted back to the bullpen. Despite that, the Red Sox still enter the 2007 season with arguably the best staff in the MLB. Curt Schilling is still considered the ace of the team and has added a changeup to his already solid arsenal of pitches. Schilling claims he is finally starting to get used to throwing the pitch and I look for him to have a better season than he had last year despite being one year older. Then there is Josh Beckett, former World Series MVP, who struggled in his first year in Boston. Beckett looks to reverse his fortunes this year and all signs in Spring Training are leading everybody to believe that he will do just that. He has apparently looked so good this spring that many writers are touting him as a dark-horse canidate for the Cy Young. The "third" pitcher for the Red Sox may very well turn out to be the best. That pitcher, of course, is Japanese import Daisuke Matsuzaka, whom the Red Sox paid $51 million for his rights and another $52 million over 6 years. Matsuzaka has been pretty good so far this Spring and I expect him to have a solid 1st season and win AL Rookie of the Year honors, by edging out Royals phenom Alex Gordon. Tim Wakefield and Julian Tavarez (for now) will round out the rest of the rotation. Wakefield had injury problems last year, but he should be his normal reliable self this season. Tavarez pitched well in the role for the Sox last season down the stretch, but should he falter, the Red Sox may take a look at Kyle Snyder or Jon Lester. The Red Sox also have Michael Bowden, Clay Buchholz, and Dan Bard in the minor leagues. It is unlikely any of those players will emerge this year, but each of them have the potential to be special players.

Starting Lineup: Newcomer Julio Lugo will lead off this season and will score a boatload of runs if he stays healthy. Lugo is no Alex Gonzalez in the field, but he has solid range and his hitting ability should more than make up for his defensive downside. Kevin Youkilis will follow him and should continue his improvement. Youkilis also has an outside shot to win the gold glove at 1st base. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez will hit in their normal 3-4 spots and should continue to produce as they always have (providing good health or another trade request from Ramirez). The Red Sox struggled mightily last year in the 5-hole, which was why the J.D. Drew acquisition was deemed so important. Drew, arguably the best overall position player on the market, has a history of injuries but has stayed healthy of recent and has a clause in his contract that protects the Red Sox in the future. The electric Fenway environment might push J.D. Drew to his best season ever, or he could implode under the pressure. Lowell and Varitek will likely man the 6-7 spots. Mike Lowell had a decent season last year and was great defensively, however, there were signs that Jason Varitek might be in the twilight of his career. Varitek looks to prove those claims wrong this season, but I'm not too confident he'll be able to do so. Coco Crisp also struggled last season with a broken finger that lingered throughout. He looks to rebound this season and could realize his 20 HR, 20 SB, .300 batting average potential. How Coco plays will be key to the Red Sox season. Rookie Dustin Pedroia will play 2nd base and hit 9th. He struggled in his brief stint in the majors last year but has never hit below .300 in a full season at any level.

Bullpen: If the 2007 Boston Red Sox have a large weakness, this is it. Jon Papelbon's re-entry to the closer role does provide some stability, however the rest of the bullpen may prove to be shaky. Mike Timlin struggled last year and has been injured throughout spring training which does not bode well for his future. The Red Sox will also be trotting out Joel Pineiro, JC Romero, Brendan Donnelly, and another Japanese import (Hideki Okajima). Donnelly will most likely be the best of the bunch, but it wouldn't be incredibly surprising if that honor belonged the Hideki Okajima by season's end. The Red Sox will also start the season with Kyle Snyder and lefthander Javier Lopez in the pen. Lopez will likely be sent to AAA upon the return of Mike Timlin. Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen will spend time in minors and may spend time in Boston at some point this season. Bryan Corey will also be in Pawtucket and could get a chance as well.

Bench: The 2007 Red Sox have a decent bench, but it's no different than what it was at the end of last season. Wily Mo Pena will get some time in the outfield, Alex Cora will get time at shortstop and 2nd base. Eric Hinske will likely play some corner outfield, and corner infield when starters need a day off. Doug Mirabelli will back up Jason Varitek and catch Tim Wakefield as usual.

X-Factors: One or more of the following players returning to form would provide the Red Sox with a great boost: Mike Timlin, Jason Varitek, Coco Crisp, Josh Beckett. In my opinion, Beckett and Crisp are the most likely to step up, but I wouldn't be surprised if Varitek turns himself around slightly. Mike Timlin, on the other hand, might be cooked. He was horrible towards the end of last year and has been unhealthy during spring training.

Outside Possibility: If Coco Crisp struggles, there is an outside chance that Jacoby Ellsbury might get the call up to the big leagues by June or July with Crisp being traded for relief help. Ellsbury has the potential to be a stud in Centerfield and I get the feeling that Red Sox fans will come to love the ability to see him play baseball on an every day basis. Wily Mo Pena may also get a chance at the role if Crisp struggles. Pena could likely smack 30 homeruns if he played on an every day basis. Unfortunately for him and Sox fans, he has had trouble making contact so far in his young career. Does this sound familiar anybody?

Bottom Line: The Red Sox likely have the best pitching in the major leagues, but it won't be enough to hold off the New York Yankees. The Blue Jays will make a push as well, especially if Burnett stays healthy. With that in mind, it is my belief that the Red Sox will get the AL-wildcard and finish 2nd in the AL East with a 96-66 record. If Schilling, Beckett, and Matsuzaka prove to be as dominant as expected, I believe they will carry the Red Sox through the postseason and bring another World Series back to Boston with Papelbon closing it out and competing for a Cy Young of his own (or maybe this is just what I'm hoping for).

Starting Off: The Red Sox will begin their season against the Kansas City Royals. Curt Schilling will take on Gil Meche in the April 2nd opener. I cannot wait.

Papelbon to Close; Sox Announce Roster Moves

2007-03-27T12:59:00.001-04:00

It was announced last week that Jon Papelbon would be returning to the role he thrived in last year. Apparently Papelbon requested the move. As a fan, I'm a little disappointed that we did not get to see Papelbon as a starter. However, he provides some stability to an otherwise shaky bullpen.

The Red Sox also announced today that Bryan Corey and Craig Hansen were sent to the minor leagues. I felt like Corey deserved a chance at the last spot given how well he's pitched this spring. The news of these moves means that there is only one spot left on the Red Sox 25-man roster. The spot will likely be occupied by LHP Javier Lopez or RHP Manny Delcarmen. The winner of this spot will likely be sent down upon the return of Mike Timlin from the disabled list. It was also announced that Kyle Snyder made the team, and deservedly so. He will pitch out of the bullpen for the time being.

Here is the rest of the 25-man roster as it stands today:

SS Julio Lugo
1B Kevin Youkilis
DH David Ortiz
LF Manny Ramirez
RF JD Drew
3B Mike Lowell
C Jason Varitek
CF Coco Crisp
2B Dustin Pedroia
BN Wily Mo Pena
BN Eric Hinske
BN Alex Cora
BN Doug Mirabelli
SP Curt Schilling
SP Josh Beckett
SP Daisuke Matsuzaka
SPTim Wakefield
SPJulian Tavarez
RP Jon Papelbon
RP Joel Pineiro
RP Hideki Okajima
RP JC Romero
RP Kyle Snyder
RP Brendan Donnelly
RP Manny Delcarmen/Javier Lopez

Spring Training Update

2007-03-04T00:38:00.000-05:00

One time through the rotation and all of the Red Sox starters have pitched well in their debuts (with exception of Tim Wakefield, who pitched alright).

Schilling: 2 IP, 0 ER
Beckett: 2 IP, 5 K, 0 ER
Matsuzaka: 2 IP, 1 H, 3 K, 0 ER
Papelbon: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 4 K
Wakefield: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 K

Matsuzaka was brilliant as 19 of his 24 pitches went for strikes as he threw some nasty looking stuff at Boston College batters.

The bad news includes the fact that Pineiro was rocked for 4 ER on Saturday, and Manny Delcarmen was tagged for 3 ER later in the same game. Not a good sign for the bullpen, but its only spring training.

Red Sox Update

2007-02-22T18:47:00.000-05:00

Spring Training has finally begun and all players expected on the Red Sox 25-man roster have reported to camp with one exception. That exception, of course, is Manny Ramirez who is scheduled to report on March 1st due to his mother's illness. General Manager Theo Epstein has confirmed this report. There have been reports that Ramirez was scheduled to appear at a classic car show sometime this week (rather than reporting to Red Sox spring training), but those reports have not been confirmed.

In news from camp today, Daisuke Matsuzaka threw a whopping 103-pitch bullpen session and reportedly impressed all spectators.

Curt Schilling has announced that he will test the free agent waters upon completion of the 2007 season. Members of the Red Sox front office have deemed it too risky to enter into a contract extension with Schilling before this season due to his age. Hopefully, this motivates Schilling to prove Theo Epstein wrong and pitch great in 2007.

There were rumblings on Tuesday that Jonathan Papelbon would reclaim his closer role for the 2007 season, but those have been quieted for now and it appears that Papelbon will be a starter in 2007 as was anticipated.

Boston.com has been posting spring training photos on a daily basis, here are the links from the last few days:

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/02_22_07_spring/
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/02_21_07_spring/
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/02_20_07_spring/
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/02_19_07_spring/
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/02_18_07_spring/
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/02_17_07_spring/

Schilling to Pitch Beyond 2007

2007-01-29T12:04:00.000-05:00

It had been anticipated for awhile now that the 2007 season would be Curt Schilling's last, however, he expressed to WEEI on Monday morning that he plans on pitching beyond the end of this season.

This comes as good news for Boston as long as he can continue to be effective as he grows older. Rotoworld.com reported that if Schilling were to stay in Boston, he hopes to get a contract extension worked out before opening day.

Rumor: Sox In Trade Talks Regarding Helton

2007-01-28T01:47:00.000-05:00

A rumor was circulating on Saturday afternoon that the Red Sox were in serious discussions with the Colorado Rockies regarding Todd Helton. While Helton could potentially be a very nice addition to an already potent attack, the pieces that the Rockies are requesting are hopefully enough to make the Red Sox shy away from making a deal.

The Red Sox should not even consider giving up Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buccholz, Craig Hansen or Manny Delcarmen (or any combination of the bunch for that matter) in return for Helton. Helton is aging and his skills are declining. It's also quite possible that Youkilis will be the better player in the coming season(s) and possibly Mike Lowell as well.

Boston should consider a deal if the Rockies are requesting the services of Mike Lowell and/or Matt Clement and are willing to eat some salary. Other than that, I'd rather just have the Red Sox stand pat unless they are making a move to solidify their bullpen.

JD Drew Signing Finally Official

2007-01-28T01:34:00.000-05:00

The Red Sox announced the signing of JD Drew on Friday, and this time it's official. After weeks of negotiations with Scott Boras, the two sides finally struck an agreement to give the Red Sox protection against a future shoulder injured to Drew. The contract includes an out-clause that will allow the Red Sox to cancel the remaining years of Drew's contract if he goes on the DL with a right shoulder injury in his 3rd or 4th year of service.

I like the signing for the Red Sox, especially given the protection they received in the later years of the contract. They badly needed a #5 hitter and an upgrade in right field with the departure of Trot Nixon. If Dustin Pedroia can step up his game this season, the Red Sox offense will look very strong 1-9.

Red Sox Update

2007-01-08T12:42:00.000-05:00

JD Drew: Theo Epstein was asked the other day about JD Drew and he said that he had nothing new to announce regarding Drew. It was reported several weeks ago that the Red Sox were to sign Drew, however, there were apparently problems with his physical which has stalled the signing. It still appears that Drew will end up in Boston once the language in his contract is fixed in a way that protects the Red Sox in case of an injury to Drew.

JC Romero: Romero was signed shortly after the Sox acquired Brendan Donnelly. Romero had a rough season last year but put together some good campaigns in Minnesota. He will likely get a chance to compete for a spot in the pen as a LOOGY.

Joel Pineiro: The most recent signing for the Red Sox was former Mariners starting pitcher Joel Pineiro. Pineiro has struggled in each of the past three seasons as a starter, but the Red Sox plan to move him into the bullpen and allow him to potentially be the closer for the 2007 Boston Red Sox. The contract is for $4 million dollars and a mutual option for 2008.

Runelvys Hernandez: The Red Sox also signed Runelvys Hernandez to a minor league deal. He is a player who has shown the potential to be a very good pitcher in the major leagues, however, he has yet to put it together over an extended period of time. Hernandez is 28 years old and will compete for a bullpen spot. I like the signing as it is a low risk move with some upside. Hernandez could also serve as a spot starter if one of Boston's regulars goes down.

In other news: Mark Loretta signed with the Astros and it is now being said that the Red Sox had no interest in Loretta at any salary level for the upcoming season. It appears that Dustin Pedroia is most likely going to start the season as the starting second baseman for the Red Sox.

Red Sox acquire Brendan Donnelly

2006-12-15T15:13:00.000-05:00

The Red Sox made a trade with the Angels today in an effort to bolster their weak bullpen. The Red Sox acquired the services of Brendan Donnelly in exchange for minor leaguer Phil Seibel. Seibel is 28-year old lefty who has had a history of injuries but pitched well in the minors last season.

It appears like this is a good move, but the Red Sox front office still has some work to do on the bullpen. A closer is still needed and I'm sure they will be exploring their options until they find an adequate solution.

Report: Matsuzaka to Sign

2006-12-13T22:53:00.000-05:00

As I predicted in the previous post, it appears that Daisuke Matsuzaka will be pitching for the Boston Red Sox in 2007 and beyond and I couldn't be happier. As a sweetener, the contract that Matsuzaka signed is much less than I anticipated.

Matsuzaka and Scott Boras arrived by plane with members of the Red Sox front office. Upon landing, Matsuzaka headed for Mass. General for his physical. It is being anticipated that the deal will be finalized and announced at some point tomorrow.

Red Sox fans should be breathing a sigh of relief as Matsuzaka was the player that the Red Sox centered their offseason around. Add J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo to Matsuzaka and the roster looks pretty good as it stands right now.

At this point in time, the bullpen still looks a little rough and definitely needs improvement if the Red Sox want to even think about being considered as World Series favorites entering the season.

There have been recent rumors regarding a trade of Coco Crisp to bring a closer to Boston. The names of Mike Gonzalez and Chad Cordero have been among the mentioned possibilities. At this point, I don't think the Red Sox should trade Coco Crisp. He struggled last season, but I'm choosing to believe it was the direct result of a finger injury he suffered very early in the season. He will be fully recovered from that by the time Spring Training rolls around and I look for him to have a bounceback season as well as Josh Beckett and possibly Mike Timlin and Jason Varitek.

In addition to a closer, I believe that the Red Sox need one more reliable arm in the pen. Adding Roger Clemens as either a closer or starter would obviously work (if the two sides could work out a manageable contract). If Clemens were added, he could either close (provided he's willing to do so) or start (which would send Tim Wakefield to the pen barring an injury to another of the starters).

The next few weeks should be important and interesting for the Red Sox as they likely shift their focus to what is now their biggest need, relief pitching.

Projected Lineup:
SS Lugo
1B Youkilis
DH Ortiz
LF Ramirez
RF Drew
3B Lowell
C Varitek
CF Crisp
2B Pedroia

Bench:
Pena
Hinske
Cora
Mirabelli

Projected Rotation:
Matsuzaka
Schilling
Beckett
Papelbon
Wakefield

Bullpen:
Timlin
Okajima
Donnelly
Delcarmen
Hansen
Tavarez
Pineiro

Other possibilities:
Jon Lester
Runlevys Hernandez
Devern Hansack
JC Romero
Nick DeBarr
Edgar Martinez
Craig Breslow
Lenny DiNardo

Matsuzaka Deadline Approaches

2006-12-12T03:12:00.000-05:00

Despite reports that contract talks for Daisuke Matsuzaka have stalled, I still believe a deal is going to get done. If a contract does not get done, nobody wins. Not the Red Sox, not Daisuke Matsuzaka, and not Scott Boras. Returning to Japan and leaving millions of dollars on the table is simply too risky for Matsuzaka.

At this time, the Red Sox have approximately 72 more hours to negotiate a contract with Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. The Red Sox made an original offer to Matsuzaka about a week ago, an offer that Scott Boras has apparently deemed unacceptable. Boras has not since made a counter-offer and as a result, important members of the Red Sox front office have flown to southern California to meet with Boras and his client.

Scott Boras held a press conference at 9 PM on Monday night, which prompted the Red Sox to hold a late-night conference of their own. A press conference in which Theo Epstein made it abundantly clear what signing Daisuke Matsuzaka means to the Red Sox.

It appears highly evident that the Red Sox have every intention of inking Daisuke Matsuzaka to complete what would appear to be a strong starting rotation of Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jonathan Papelbon, and Tim Wakefield.

Here are some quotes from Epstein's press conference regarding Daisuke Matsuzaka:

"John Henry has very generously made his plane available, it's here in Southern California, it will leave on Wednesday morning. We hope Matsuzaka-san will be on it, that we can complete the physical in Boston in time to get a contract done."

"We do have plans to meet with them Tuesday. Again, we flew out unsolicited and called immediately upon landing and asked for a meeting, not only with Scott but also with Daisuke. We'll present the second offer, an improved offer, one that we hope will get this deal done. We're not frustrated. We're just doing everything possible under the sun to get a deal done. That's all we can do. We can control the Boston Red Sox actions, and we plan to leave no stone unturned."

"Signing Matsuzaka is extremely important to the Boston Red Sox. We're very committed to making sure that happens. Although it's normally not good policy to make a second offer without receiving a counteroffer, we want to demonstrate to Matsuzaka and to fans of Japanese baseball around the world just how important this is to us."

The clock is ticking, lets hope the Red Sox can come to an agreement with Boras and Matsuzaka. Luckily, Boras himself admits that the player has the final decision. Matsuzaka does not want to go to Japan, so this can only help the two sides hammer out a contract.

Report: Drew Signs with Red Sox

2006-12-05T19:08:00.000-05:00

CNNSI's Jon Heyman is reporting that the Red Sox have signed JD Drew to a 5 year, $70 million deal.

It is also being reported that Julio Lugo has now signed with the Red Sox for $36 million over 4 years.

The Offseason

2006-11-17T14:13:00.000-05:00

In order to put themselves in position to have a chance to win the World Series in 2007, the Red Sox must:

1. Upgrade their bullpen: While the Red Sox have already missed out on many of the most promising free agent relief arms (not that the market was plentiful), there is still an opportunity to upgrade what I believe is their biggest weakness. The Red Sox recently found what appears to be a bargain when they signed Japanese set-up man Hideki Okajima. They believe he will be used as either a set-up man or a lefty specialist for the 2007 season. Jonathan Papelbon's exit from the closer role (he will start in 2007) creates a big hole in the Red Sox bullpen that will need to be filled. Mike Timlin and Julian Tavarez will be returning, but both struggled mightly at times in 2006 and will need to rebound. Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen are still promising young arms but both experienced growing pains in their rookie seasons. The Red Sox appear to be exploring closer options via trade as well as free agency. Eric Gagne should be considered. Gagne hasn't seen much action in the last couple of seasons, but everybody knows what he can do when he's healthy. An incentive-laden deal wouldn't be too incredibly risky. Roger Clemens could also do the job, but the odds of him agreeing to do so are not particularly great.

2. Sign Daisuke Matsuzaka: The consensus among Major League scouts is that Matsuzaka is as good as advertised and should be a major force in the MLB. He has been described as a #1 or #2 starter and some scouts claim that he throws 9 pitches and locates them all very well. After winning his rights from Seibu for $51.1 million, the Red Sox will need to sign him by December 15th or his rights are returned to Seibu and the Red Sox get their posting fee back. Regardless, the Red Sox need a big upgrade in the rotation and Daisuke Matsuzaka could very well be a step in the right direction. They should attempt to sign him to a long-term deal as they will have already invested a great deal of money on him. Hopefully, Jonathan Papelbon will continue his dominance as he transitions to a starter role and Josh Beckett can rebound from his worst year in the Major Leagues. All of these pieces falling into place would give the Red Sox a formidable starting rotation of Curt Schilling, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon, and Tim Wakefield with Michael Bowden, Clay Buccholz, Daniel Bard, and Jon Lester waiting in the wings.

3. Sign JD Drew: The Red Sox offense struggled down the stretch last year and they need a boost. JD Drew is an on-base machine who would likely either hit 2nd or 5th for the Red Sox next year and will provide another big bat to go with David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, which leads me to my next point.

4. Keep Manny Ramirez: This is one of the best hitters to ever live, his production is irreplaceable. He has his quirks, but his production makes him worth the headache. If the Red Sox do trade Manny, they need to get a very good reliever who could potentially close in return (Francisco Rodriguez, Scot Shields, Chad Cordero, Jonathan Broxton) as well as a couple of top prospects.

5. Sign Julio Lugo: The demand for Julio Lugo doesn't appear to be too incredibly high at this time and if the Red Sox can ink him to a 4 year, $32 million deal, they should do so. Although his defense is below average, he is a good hitter who can potentially hit leadoff and steal some bases. Lugo would fill the void at shortstop for the Red Sox who could them move Dustin Pedroia over to 2nd base.

6. Bring back Roger: Either as a starter or a closer, the Red Sox should bring Clemens back to Boston to finish out his Hall of Fame career. If he comes over as a starter, the rotation will look even better. Tim Wakefield could then move into a relief role where he has been very successful in the past.