Too Bad The Red Sox Only Have 1 Clay Buchholz, They Could Use A Few More

Clay Buchholz is pitching like a man on a mission, too bad the same cannot be said for the rest of the Red Sox rotation this season.

Buchholz (10-3) pitched his second complete game of the season and fifth of his career as Boston (56-58, 27-24 away) beat Cleveland (52-61, 29-28 home) 3-2 tonight at Progressive Field in the second game of the four-game set.

Buchholz only allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits with six strikeouts and no walks. Asdrubal Cabrera had a solo homer (13th of the season) in the first for the Indians and Ezequiel Carrera's sacrifice fly in the sixth provided the other run.

Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, walk, run, stolen base) had an RBI single in the fourth as he continues to heat up while Cody Ross had the big blow with a two-run blast (18th of the season) in the sixth.

Young journeyman (I realize that's an oxymoron) Chris Seddon (0-1) pitched well enough to win on most nights for Cleveland. In six innings, he allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

Red Sox rookie third baseman Will Middlebrooks reportedly broke his wrist after getting hit by a pitch in the ninth inning. With only seven weeks left in the regular season, who knows when he would be able to return? I feel bad for him since he's having a very solid year and for fans, he is one of the only reasons to watch this team day in and day out. Boston will have to call up Danny Valencia from Pawtucket to take his place.

Franklin Morales (3-2) faces Zach McAllister (4-4) tomorrow night (6:05 p.m., NESN). Other than Buchholz, Morales has been the most trustworthy Red Sox starter in 2012 so I think he'll give them another good outing.

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Ubaldo Jimenez Goes Back To Being An Ace, For 1 Night Only-Against The Red Sox Of Course

Good or bad, the Red Sox will find a way to lose to virtually any kind of team in 2012. Their season to nowhere-copyright me-journeyed to Cleveland tonight with the Indians (52-60, 29-27 home) taking a 5-3 decision in the series opener at Progressive Field.

Boston (55-58, 26-24 away) repeatedly shot themselves in the foot by going 1-for-13 (I didn't think that was possible before I watched this team) with runners in scoring position and leaving seven men on base. It's the first time the Red Sox have fallen three games under .500 since June 11. Expect that loss column to keep going up like the price of gas around the U.S.

Ubaldo Jimenez's (9-11) ERA is 5.25 but that didn't stop him from striking out 10 batters this evening. The former Rockies ace who has dropped off a cliff since being traded to Cleveland, held Boston to three earned runs over six innings with one walk and one home run allowed.

That sound you heard a few weeks ago was Felix Doubront (10-6) hitting the wall since he's pitching way more innings than he ever has in one MLB season. In a measly 4.1 innings, he allowed four earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts, two walks and one home run allowed.

Fresh up from the minors, Jason Donald (2 runs, walk, stolen base) led off the bottom of the first with his inaugural homer of 2012. Adrian Gonzalez (12th of the season) grabbed the lead for Boston with a two-run bomb in the fourth and Dustin Pedroia-a DH for the first time in his career-added an RBI single in the fifth for the Red Sox. Of course, that would be their final run and Gonzalez left in the eighth after getting hit in the thigh.

Asdrubal Cabera's (run, walk) RBI double and Carlos Santana's (2 hits, walk) RBI single in the fifth tied it at three. Michael Brantley's sacrifice fly later in the inning put the Tribe up for good and Donald's ground out in the eighth was an insurance run.

Jacoby Ellsbury had a single, run, walk and stole three bases (they remembered he's fast!) and Pedro Ciriaco was 2-for-4 with a double in the loss.

The Indians bullpen had things locked down on the Red Sox with Tony Sipp pitching a clean seventh, Vinnie Pestano with a scoreless eighth (his MLB-leading 31st hold) and Chris Perez had a 1-2-3 ninth (on 13 pitches) for his 30th save of the season.

Clay Buchholz (9-3) faces Chris Seddon (0-0) tomorrow night (7:05 p.m., NESN). Buchholz is Boston's only reliable starter at this point and Seddon is making only his second start of the season, so if the Red Sox are going to win a game this weekend-I would put my money on that one.

In other Red Sox news, the team re-signed outfielder Scott Podsednik, who was traded to Arizona with Matt Albers but never reported. Ryan Kalish was sent down to Pawtucket to make room for him on the roster.

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In 2011 Justin Masterson Is Better Than Erik Bedard, Fact

If you took a time machine back to 2006 or 2007 and said that a low-level prospect named Justin Masterson would someday be better than Erik Bedard, you would not believe it.

Welcome to real life folks where the former Red Sox middle reliever (Masterson) is better than Bedard (Boston's newest acquisition). To be fair, it is the breakout season of Masterson's career (9-7, 2.63 ERA, 121 strikeouts, 1.17 WHIP) as he's transformed himself into a front-end starter in the average AL Central.

Conversely, Bedard (4-7, 3.55 ERA, 92 strikeouts, 1.18 WHIP) does not look like a guy that the Red Sox (68-42) should trust in a pennant race but here they are.

The Indians (55-54) earned a split at Fenway Park with a 7-3 win tonight that was all about Masterson's dominance of his former teammates coupled with Bedard's uneven debut.

Masterson went six innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits with a walk and nine strikeouts (including four in the third inning). Bedard was limited to 70 pitches in his second start back from the DL. He went five innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

To make matters worse, the Yankees swept the White Sox with a 7-2 win tonight as well meaning Boston and New York are tied atop the AL East heading into this weekend's series at Fenway.

Things started well for Boston as they got two runs in the first on an RBI double by Adrian Gonzalez (14-game hit streak) and an RBI single by David Ortiz.

From there, Cleveland took over offensively as they almost tripled the Red Sox' hit total (14-5). Carlos Santana led the Tribe with three hits and three RBIs while Travis Hafner and Kosuke Fukudome had three hits and Asdrubal Cabrera scored three runs.

Jacoby Ellsbury capped a memorable series for him (two walkoff hits) with two hits, a run and a walk.

The Indians tied it with two runs in the second on Matt LaPorta's (2 hits) infield single and a groundout by Austin Kearns.

Santana's RBI single in the third put Cleveland up 3-2 before Josh Reddick pushed across Boston's last run in the fourth with a solo home run (his fifth of the season) into the Red Sox bullpen.

Santana hit a two-run bomb off Franklin Morales (0-2) in the sixth before Hafner and Fukudome added RBI doubles in the seventh and ninth respectively.

Andrew Miller made his first appearance for the Red Sox out of the bullpen and the change of scenery didn't seem to change anything in his uneven performances. He's becoming a left-handed Dice-K which is about the worst thing I could say about the guy. In 2 2/3 innings, he threw 71 pitches and gave up two earned runs on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts. I'll cut him some slack since it was his first relief outing but he's going to have to step it up if he wants to keep his job.

With the Yankees in town, all the usual trappings are in place: Friday night game on NESN, Saturday afternoon game on Fox and Sunday night game on ESPN. It has been almost two months (June 9) since the teams last played but hopefully Boston can keep its death grip (8-1) on the season series.

The pitching matchups are Jon Lester vs. Bartolo Colon tomorrow night, John Lackey vs. CC Sabathia on Saturday and Josh Beckett vs. Freddy Garcia on Sunday. Slight edge to the Red Sox on Friday and Sunday although Colon and Garcia have been surprisingly very solid. Saturday is a layup for the Yanks since Sabathia is on fire (3 of his 5 losses this season have been to Boston). I'm excited, it's been too long since we last saw baseball's best rivalry.

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Cleveland rocks (or so I've been told)

Sooner or later in 2011, the Cleveland Indians will come back to Earth. Right? Maybe not for MLB's surprise top team.

For the fourth time this season in four games at Cleveland's Progressive Field, the Indians (30-15) beat the Red Sox (25-22). Last night, the Tribe rallied for a 3-2 win as Daniel Bard (1-4) once again failed to get the job done.

Bard deserves blame since he you know, threw the pitches. However, Red Sox manager Terry Francona should get some heat too since he had Bard face Asdrubal Cabrera (who was 5 for 5 on Sunday and had hit a solo homer earlier last night) with first base open and a struggling Shin-Soo Choo up next.

Cabrera hit an RBI double off Bard which scored Michael Brantley (who had tied it with an RBI single) with the winning run in the eighth.

Indians closer Chris Perez worked around two hits in the ninth to get his 13th save of the season. Carl Crawford ended the game by grounding into a double play.

Clay Buchholz started for Boston and yet again, he shut down the opposition enough to earn a win. He went 7.1 innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs and two walks with four strikeouts. He was pulled after 94 pitches since he threw an obscene 127 in his last start.

Former Red Sox pitcher Justin Masteron (who went to Cleveland in the Victor Martinez trade on July 31, 2009) continued to baffle his old team. He also got a no decision but he pitched well. He went 7.2 innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs with two walks and three strikeouts.

Dustin Pedroia gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the third with an RBI single that scored Crawford.

Cabrera tied it up with his 10th homer of the season in the fourth inning.

Crawford answered with just his second homer of the season-solo of course-in the fifth.

Tonight figures to be another pitcher's duel as Josh Beckett opposes Fausto Carmona.

Will the Boston Red Sox ever win in 2011?

At this point, the Boston Red Sox in 2011 are the car crash of Major League Baseball. You can't help yourself but look at the carnage as this superstar-laden team is still winless going into the second week of the regular season.

If all goes right, in the dog days of summer, we'll all sit back over our Fenway Franks and Sam Adams beers and laugh about this nightmare start. However, at the moment, there's nothing funny about a team that's now 0-5 (only three winless teams left in MLB-Tampa Bay and Houston) after an 8-4 loss last night at Progressive Field.

Like Josh Beckett the night before him, Red Sox fans were forced to abandon all rational thought (not a tough concept for us) and pretend that Daisuke Matsuzaka would spin a gem against a bad Cleveland (3-2) team.

Instead, Dice-K was exactly as maddening as you remember. He lasted only five innings (like Beckett) and departed after giving up six hits, three earned runs, three walks and two strikeouts. Congratulations to him since he only needed 96 pitches and about four hours to get that far.

Indians starter Mitch Talbot wasn't any better (4.1 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts) since he left after 102 pitches.

It turned into a battle of bullpen's and Boston's JV trio of Dennys Reyes (3 earned runs), Dan Wheeler (earned run) and Tim Wakefield (earned run) predictably couldn't get the job done.

Another loss overshadowed nice games from Carl Crawford (2 hits, 2 steals) and Adrian Gonzalez (double, two-run homer).

Shin-Soo Choo gave Cleveland a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run bomb.

Boston tied it up with a pair of runs in the second: Marco Scutaro's chopper scored David Ortiz and Jacoby's Ellsbury groundout drove in J.D. Drew.

Asdrubal Cabrera put the Indians back on top with an RBI single in the second.

Michael Brantley's fielder's choice in the sixth scored Travis Buck but it was all Jason Varitek's fault as he made a Little League type brain cramp. Kevin Youkilis got the force at third base and tossed it to Varitek covering home. He forgot he had to tag Buck so he just harmlessly stepped on the plate.

That run looked big at the time but it didn't matter as Wheeler allowed a three-run homer to Cabrera in the next at bat.

Gonzalez cut it to 7-4 with his first homer for Boston. A two-run shot to right that scored Crawford. Should be the first of 35+ this season for Adrian.

Matt LaPorta tacked on an insurance run with a solo homer off Wakefield in the eighth.

The Red Sox are off to their worst start in 15 years. They'll look to avoid a disastrous 0-6 start this afternoon as Jon Lester gets the ball for his second start of the season. Fausto Carmona opposes him and ironically both got shelled on Opening Day.

Needless to say, Boston needs a win to salvage some pride. Otherwise, Opening Day tomorrow afternoon at Fenway against the New York Yankees could be rough.