Red Sox Win Their 1st AL East Crown Since 2007, 7th In Franchise History

Well that didn't take too long. Roughly 24 hours after they clinched a playoff spot, the Red Sox (94-61 overall, 52-27 home) wasted no time dispatching the hapless Blue Jays (70-83 overall, 32-43 away) 6-3 tonight at Fenway Park. Boston clinched its first AL East title in six seasons, the seventh in franchise history.

They remain 2.5 games up on Oakland for the best record in the AL so their hearty celebrations in the clubhouse and back on the field afterwards were well deserved especially after they didn't do anything following Thursday's victory over Baltimore.

There is plenty of work for the Red Sox to do in October in order to accomplish what is well within their grasp: an American League pennant and World Series title. Still, baseball is such an insane grind that it was nice to see them live in the moment for a second and enjoy their excellent regular season. As the last few seasons have shown, AL East (the best division in MLB) titles don't come around that often.

Jon Lester (15-8) set himself up to no question be the No. 1 starter when the playoffs roll around as he put together another stellar outing: seven innings, one earned run, five hits, eight strikeouts and two walks. Junichi Tazawa created a few scary moments when he gave up a two-run homer to Adam Lind in the eighth, cutting Boston's lead to 5-3. No worries, Koji Uehara would just be summoned for a five-out save.

Uehara allowed two hits (which is unheard of for him) and threw 26 pitches but he didn't allow a run and struck out two including Brett Lawrie to end it for his 20th save of the season. More than any other pitcher on the Red Sox, he earned the right to get the biggest out of the season (so far).

Boston's first two runs were gifts as Dustin Pedroia (3 hits, double) scored on a wild pitch in the first and Mike Carp (single) walked with the bases loaded in the second inning. Lawrie got the Jays on the board with an RBI single in the fifth but Boston added three in the seventh on David Ortiz's (run, two walks) RBI single and a two-run single by Carp. How good has Carp been?

With the big league hangovers that they're sure to all have this morning, it's best for the Red Sox that they don't have a game until tomorrow night (7:10, NESN). Clay Buchholz (11-0) faces Mark Buehrle (11-9), who Boston typically owns.

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Any Loss To The Blue Jays This Season Is A Bad One, Red Sox Have Dropped 7 of Their Last 9

There are few baseball games that on paper look like automatic wins: when you play a bad team, at home, with your ace on the mound, that's one of those rare occasions when a loss is simply unacceptable. The Red Sox found themselves in that scenario this afternoon and they lost 3-2 to the Blue Jays at rainy Fenway Park.

Clay Buchholz pitched very well (8 innings, 2 earned runs, 6 hits, 4 strikeouts, 3 walks) but Mark Buehrle (7 innings, 1 earned run, 5 hits, 5 strikeouts, 2 walks) was a notch better.

Toronto (14-24 overall, 7-12 away) went up 2-0 on RBI singles by Melky Cabrera and Colby Rasmus (run, walk) in the third and fourth innings respectively.

Boston's (22-15 overall, 13-9 home) continually shot themselves in the foot since they were 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. They clawed back in it with an RBI triple by Jacoby Ellsbury off Darren Oliver (2-1) in the eighth and Dustin Pedroia's (2 hits, stolen base) grounder ate up shortstop Munenori Kawasaki, allowing Ellsbury to score.

It wasn't a save situation but Junichi Tazawa's first appearance since getting elevated to closer didn't go smoothly as Adam Lind (3 hits, 2 runs) cranked a solo homer off him to center in the ninth for the winning run. Toronto closer Casey Janssen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 10th save of the season.

The three game series wraps up tomorrow afternoon (1:35 p.m., NESN) with another pitching matchup that favors the home team: Ryan Dempster (2-3) faces rookie Chad Jenkins, who is making his first start of 2013 (it'll be his fourth career start). After splitting the first two games, both squads are going for the series win on Mother's Day.

UPDATE 5/12: David Ross went on the 7-day DL with a concussion suffered yesterday so Ryan Lavarnway was recalled from the PawSox.

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The Red Sox Absolutely Have To Trade Josh Beckett, It's The Only Solution

Honestly, what else will it take for the Red Sox to realize that trading Josh Beckett in the next 10 days would be the best move they've made in years? The Texas Toughguy (5-8) just doesn't care anymore and the team will never get anywhere with him stinking up the clubhouse and dugout, not to mention his often abysmal starts.

Tonight, Boston (48-46, 25-26 home) was down 4-0 in the second inning and never really had a chance (I've said that before) as Toronto (46-47, 21-27 away) won the series opener 6-1 at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox' offense certainly didn't help matters as they only avoided a shutout by scoring a run in garbage time-down 6-0 in the ninth with a fielder's choice by Mike Aviles. Boston had nine hits, including two apiece from Will Middlebrooks and Kelly Shoppach but as a team they were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Aaron Laffey (2-1) added seven shutout innings to the six he threw at Fenway nearly a month ago. He allowed eight hits with four strikeouts and no walks.

Beckett went six innings but he gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits with seven strikeouts and three walks.

The Blue Jays scored twice in the first, on Edwin Encarnacion's (2 runs, single, walk) fielder's choice and J.P. Arencibia's RBI single. Toronto added two more in the second on a two-run double by Colby Rasmus (run, triple).

Adam Lind (2 hits) had an RBI single in the fifth and my man Yan Gomes pushed across the final run with an RBI single in the ninth. Toronto went 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Aaron Cook (2-2) faces Carlos Villanueva (4-0) tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., NESN) in the middle game of this three-game set.

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Bill bleepin' Hall

Remember when you wrote the Boston Red Sox off this season?

Well it's time to jump back on the bandwagon because this team is playing well and they're inching closer and closer to an improbable playoff spot.

The Sox (66-49) smoked the Blue Jays (59-54) 10-1 last night at the Rogers Centre.

Clay Buchholz (13-5) just did what he's been doing for the last year: embracing his role as the best Red Sox starting pitcher.

He allowed Jose Bautista's sacrifice fly in the first (scoring an unearned run) but other than that, he went eight innings, allowing five hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Shawn Marcum (10-6) is a good pitcher but he was no match for Buchholz or Boston. In four innings, he allowed eight earned runs on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts. A 36-pitch first inning was a sign of ominous things to come for Marcum.

I don't know what it is about the Rogers Centre but the ball is flying out of there for the Blue Jays (most homers in MLB) and the Red Sox (second most homers).

Boston slugged four home runs last night, including two from Bill Hall (3 hits, 4 RBIs).

Mike Lowell (3 hits) walked with the bases loaded in the first as the Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead.

Hall hit two towering shots to left field in the second (solo) and fourth inning (two-run). The Sox knocked out Marcum and sewed up the result with five runs in the fifth: J.D. Drew had a solo homer, Adrian Beltre had an opposite field three-run bomb and Hall had an RBI single.

Victor Martinez (2 hits) closed out the scoring with an RBI single in the eighth.

Adam Lind had three hits for Toronto in the one-sided loss.

John Lackey opposes rookie Brad Mills this afternoon as the Red Sox look for the sweep. They enter today, 3.5 behind Tampa Bay in the wild card and five games behind the Yankees.

I'm starting to love this team

They've been counted out for basically the whole season, the ratings are way down as the Pink Hats have jumped aboard the latest trend and the injuries have mounted at a ridiculous pace but through it all, the 2010 Boston Red Sox have survived. Kind of like Arnold in the Terminator 2.

The Sox (65-49) won 7-5 last night at the Rogers Centre over the previously hot Blue Jays (59-53).

Neither Daisuke Matsuzaka (5.2 innings, 4 earned runs, 6 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts) nor Ricky Romero (6 innings, 5 earned runs, 8 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts) were on their game so this one was decided by the bullpens.

Felix Doubront (2-2) gave up a solo homer to Jose Bautista, his 35th (major league leader) in the seventh but he survived to get four outs and serve as the bridge to Manny Delcarmen (eighth) and Jonathan Papelbon, who pitched a scoreless ninth for his 29th save.

Boston jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning which qualifies as an explosion for them these days. Adrian Beltre had an RBI double, Jed Lowrie (2 hits, 2 RBIs) had a ground-rule RBI double and Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits) kept the line moving with a run-scoring single.

Toronto leads MLB in homers so it was no surprise when Adam Lind (2 hits) crushed a solo shot in the bottom of the second.

Mike Lowell put the Red Sox up 4-1 in the third with a sacrifice fly but Travis Snider tied it up in the bottom of the third with a three-run bomb.

J.D. Drew hit a solo homer in the fifth but Bautista tied it in the seventh.

Lowell and Lowrie teamed up for the winning runs in the eighth. Lowell hit a solo homer and Lowrie had another RBI double.

Clay Buchholz faces Shawn Marcum tonight.

The Rays rolled last night but the Yankees lost so Boston is five games behind New York and 4.5 behind Tampa Bay.

Thanks Angels, see you losers next week

In what has to go down as one of the lamest clinches in sports history, the Boston Red Sox lost to the Toronto Blue Jays 8-7 last night-their fifth straight defeat-but still obtained the American League wild card as the Rangers lost to the Angels 5-2 early this morning.

It is the sixth time in the last seven seasons that the Red Sox have made the postseason.

It would have been a perfect way to win it as the Sox (91-66) rallied from a 8-2 deficit with five runs in the eighth at Fenway Park. Kevin Youkilis struck out looking to end the game with two runners on base.

Oh well, none of this matters one iota. Nobody has to think about the Red Sox for the next week or so, before the real games start against the Angels in the ALDS. It'll be the third straight season that the two teams have met in the first round and it's hard to forget how dominant the Sox have been over the Angels in October.

Clay Buchholz was shelled last night after having been spectacular for the last month or two. In five innings, he allowed seven earned runs on eight hits with a walk and four strikeouts. The loss dropped him to 7-4 and he gave up five home runs.

Adam Lind-who should be AL rookie of the year-had three homers for Toronto (74-84).

In the first, Jose Bautista hit a homer on the first pitch of the game and Lind followed shortly after that with a two-run bomb. Travis Snider's RBI single made it 4-0 Blue Jays in the first.

Victor Martinez drove in Dustin Pedroia (3 hits) with an RBI single in the bottom of the first.

Aaron Hill (his 36th, HAHA) hit a solo homer in the second and Jason Bay scored on Ricky Romero's wild pitch in the bottom of the second.

After struggling so much against Boston this season, Romero (13-9) finally had a decent start. He went five innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

The Blue Jays hit three more solo home runs: Kevin Millar in the 3rd, Lind in the 5th and Lind in the 7th to make it 8-2.

That's when the Red Sox bats came alive and it looked like they'd have one of their most memorable wins of the season. Youkilis and David Ortiz (2 hits) both had RBI doubles in the eighth. Ortiz just missed his 29th homer as his drive hit a bullpen wall. J.D. Drew had the big blast as he cranked a three-run shot over Toronto's bullpen.

Jason Frasor nearly blew it but he recorded his 11th save.

With so much going on elsewhere in the sports world: Bruins open up tomorrow, Patriots-Ravens on Sunday and Celtics starting training camp, it's nice that the Red Sox games are completely irrelevant for a few days.

The playoffs will be here soon enough.

Red Sox survive Beckett's clunker

Going into last night's game, Josh Beckett was shaping up as the odds on favorite to win the AL Cy Young. After last night's performance, he might have lost ground to Roy Halladay and Zach Greinke.

Most importantly, the Red Sox (67-51) held on 10-9 in Toronto (55-62) even though Beckett resembled John Smoltz.

In 5.1 bumpy innings, Beckett allowed seven earned runs on nine hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

Luckily, Blue Jays rookie Ricky Romero has been good against everyone except the Red Sox. He gave up six runs (five earned) in 3.2 innings.

This game looked over early as Boston built up leads of 4-0 and 7-3 but Beckett's uncharacteristic outing made for some tense moments.

David Ortiz's RBI double in the second scored two, Alex Gonzalez drove in a run with a ground out and Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits, 3 RBIs) singled home Oritz for a 4-0 cushion.

Recent call-ups Randy Ruiz (3rd inning) and Travis Snider (4th inning) hit solo homers to cut the Boston lead in half.

The Red Sox scored twice more in the fourth on an Ortiz solo homer and a sacrifice fly by Ellsbury.

Edwin Encarnacion made it 6-3 with a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Jason Bay (2 runs, 2 walks) hit a solo homer to make it 7-3 before Adam Lind's (2 hits, 2 RBIs) two-run double brought Toronto within two in the bottom of the fifth.

Rod Barajas (2 runs, 2 hits) tied it with a two-run bomb off Beckett in the sixth which ended Beckett's night.

The Red Sox responded once again with three in the eighth. Alex Gonzalez's bunt to pitcher Casey Jannsen was thrown away, allowing Ortiz to score. Then Ellsbury hit another sac. fly and Victor Martinez (2 hits) came through with an RBI double.

Jonathan Papelbon came to Daniel Bard's rescue in the eighth as the rookie continues to scuffle after his incredible start.

Unfortunately, Papelbon is almost as shaky as Bard at the moment. Papelbon allowed two inherited runners to score as Marco Scutaro hit a two-run double in the eighth.

The ninth was just as crazy for Papelbon who threw 33 total pitches, 17 for strikes. To get four outs, he worked around two hits and three walks. And most of the balls the Blue Jays hit for outs just fell short of being home runs. In the end, Papelbon recorded his 29th save but he obviously won't be available tonight.

Clay Buchholz for the third time in a row draws an ace, this time in the form of Halladay. After pitching great but losing to C.C. Sabathia and Justin Verlander, maybe tonight is the night his luck turns around.