The Curse Of J.D. Drew Is Alive And Well, A's Sweep The Red Sox Thanks To His Little Brother

In Major League Baseball, you'll be hard-pressed to find two teams that are headed in more opposite directions than the A's and Red Sox. Oakland (76-57, 42-27 home) polished off a three-game sweep this afternoon as they beat Boston (62-73, 30-35 away) 6-2 at O.co Coliseum.

When you delve a little deeper into the numbers, it is staggering the difference between those clubs. In Oakland's last 81 games, they are 54-27. The A's have won nine straight games. Conversely, Boston has lost six in a row to begin their West Coast trip in California a healthy 0-6. For this series, the A's outscored the Red Sox 33-5, but wait it gets better. Boston has been outscored 54-15 during those six losses in California.

Brett Anderson (3-0) was superb and Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-4) was his usual bum self. Dice-K threw 97 pitches in 3.2 innings (so efficient) and allowed six earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and four walks. He allowed two home runs. Anderson recently returned Tommy John surgery, he looks like he has fully recovered and then some. His presence makes the A's formidable rotation that much better. In six innings, he allowed one earned run on five hits with four strikeouts and a walk.

Stephen Drew of all people was 3 for 4 with a double, solo home run and two RBIs while Seth Smith was 2 for 3 with a two-run homer, walk and two runs. Coco Crisp added two walks, two runs and a stolen base.

Smith's bomb (13th of the season) was in the first and Drew's (1st of the season) was in the second. The A's were up 5-0 in the third after Josh Reddick's sacrifice fly and Drew's RBI single. Yoenis Cespedes' groundout in the fourth plated the final Oakland run at 6-0.

Cody Ross (RBI single in the sixth) and Mauro Gomez (sacrifice fly in the ninth) were the only reasons that the Red Sox weren't shut out. Dustin Pedroia was 3 for 4 with a double and run in the loss.

The fun continues in the Pacific Northwest as Boston meets Seattle (65-70, 3rd AL West) for three games. Sadly, the only reason anyone would watch these meaningless contests is to see Felix Hernandez and he's not scheduled to pitch. Instead, it is Clay Buchholz (11-4) vs. Jason Vargas (13-9) tomorrow afternoon (4:10 p.m., NESN) on Labor Day; Jon Lester (8-11) vs. Blake Beavan (9-8) Tuesday night (10:10 p.m., NESN) then a battle of washed up mediocre pitchers on Wednesday night (10:10 p.m.) with Aaron Cook (3-8) taking on former Paw Sox Kevin Millwood (4-12).

UPDATE 9/3: The Red Sox have called up reliever Chris Carpenter (compensation for Theo Epstein) and infielder Ivan De Jesus Jr (who was part of the trade with the Dodgers) from Pawtucket.

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Brett Anderson rules

They get absolutely no hype because well they're the Oakland A's and they play in the AL West but damn, Billy Beane has really constructed a young rotation to die for.

The Boston Red Sox got their first taste of it in 2011 last night as they opened a nine-game road trip at Oakland Coliseum.

Anderson (1-1) completely baffled Red Sox (5-11) hitters for eight innings as Oakland (9-8) won 5-0.

Anderson allowed just four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts in picking up his first win of the 2011 season.

John Lackey (1-2) actually pitched very well, for him, since he was facing an old AL West foe that he was familiar with from his days in Anaheim. Lackey kept the Red Sox in the game with six innings of work, allowing four hits, one earned run, one walk and three strikeouts.

In falling to 0-7 on the road this season, Boston proved that they still haven't figured out how to hit consistently despite coming in on a three-game win streak.

Old friend Coco Crisp gave Oakland a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after a hit, steal and two groundouts. Woo, small ball!

In the seventh and eighth innings, Dan Wheeler (1 hit, 1 earned run) and Hideki Okajima (2 hits, 3 earned runs in his return) did their best to blow the game although truth be told, there was not a chance in hell Boston was scoring any runs last night.

Daric Barton's RBI single that scored Cliff Pennington in the eighth for a 2-0 lead was enough but Oakland padded their lead with three more runs in the frame.

Hideki Matsui added a two-run double and Kurt Suzuki notched an RBI single.

Clay Buchholz will try and help the Red Sox avoid the sweep this afternoon as he takes on another young A's lefty stud, Gio Gonzalez, in the conclusion of this brief stay in Oakland.

Where did it all go wrong?

I can't say I saw this one coming. The Boston Red Sox are completely falling apart and in any given game, either their pitching or hitting is terrible. They can't put both parts together in the same contest anymore. Or so it seems.

Once again, they lost to the Oakland A's, 8-6 last night at Fenway as the Yankees won their series in Tampa.

Brad Penny (7-5) gave up five runs in the first inning and though the Sox (58-42) made a decent comeback attempt, it fell short.

Adam Kennedy hit the first pitch of the game over the Monster as the A's (43-57) took a 1-0 lead. It got much worse as a run came home on Ryan Sweeney's groundout then Rajai Davis had a three-run double.

Mike Lowell (2 hits, 5 RBIs), one of Boston's only hot hitters, cut the Oakland lead to two when he hit a three-run bomb in the first.

Penny settled down for a couple innings but he later gave up a solo homer to Kurt Suzuki (2 runs, 2 hits) in the fifth. He threw 100 pitches in five plus innings, allowing seven earned runs on seven hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

Justin Masterson relieved Penny and gave up a two-run double to Eric Patterson in the sixth that put the game out of reach (8-3 Oakland).

The rotation which was one of the Red Sox's biggest strengths has now become woefully imbalanced. Josh Beckett and Jon Lester are aces but Penny, John Smoltz and Clay Buchholz are pretty useless. Dice-K is fighting with the Sox over training methods and Tim Wakefield is on the DL. Ugh.

Boston chipped away with single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth. Dustin Pedroia's (2 hits, RBI) groundout drove in Jacoby Ellsbury (3 runs, 2 hits, steal). Mike Lowell's sacrifice fly scored Jason Bay and finally, Lowell got an RBI single off A's closer Andrew Bailey.

For the second time in a month, A's starter Brett Anderson (6-8) won at Fenway. This outing wasn't nearly as dominant but it was still a win. He went six innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits with four walks and eight strikeouts.

Despite allowing a run on three hits, Bailey struck out two and recorded his 13th save.

I don't believe in must-win games in July but this afternoon's series finale is mighty close to that for the Red Sox. It's Gio Gonzalez vs. Jon Lester and Boston needs to win to gain some semblance of momentum. Losing three of four to the A's at home would be a real bad sign.

The Pink Hats respond appropriately to a legend's return

If you are a male, around my age (25) that grew up in New England, odds are your favorite baseball player was Nomar Garciaparra. He was a lethal hitter, a slick fielder and a guy that played the game the right way (ie. hustling 24/7) as the old timers like to say.

He was an AL rookie of the year, a five-time All-Star, a two-time batting champion, MVP runner-up and yet since he left the Red Sox his career took a complete U-Turn that few would have ever imagined. Injuries have limited him to a role player and he can't seem to ever stay off the DL.

His path to Cooperstown which seemed inevitable now seems impossible at age 35. Since the Sox made the stunning trade in 2004 and Nomar went to the Cubs, he's bounced from Chicago to LA and finally Oakland.

It's hard to believe that A) it's been five years since the face of the franchise was traded (I remember exactly where I was when I heard that unbelievable news) and B) that he hadn't returned to Fenway again until last night.

Such was the backdrop of last night's Red Sox-A's game. I'm sure Kevin Costner has already bought the rights to some whimsy script about the emotional event.

When Nomar came to the plate in the top of the second against John Smoltz, he received the longest standing ovation I can remember at Fenway. It must have lasted over a minute. It was truly a goosebumps inducing moment.

That was about the only memorable thing from last night as the A's (35-46) completely shutdown the Red Sox (49-33), 6-0 behind the outstanding pitching of rookie Brett Anderson.

In the best game pitched against Boston so far this season, Anderson threw a complete game, two-hitter. He walked two and struck out nine.

To much less fanfare than Nomar, Smoltz was making his Fenway debut in a new uniform and it wasn't a good one. In six innings of work, he gave up five runs on ten hits with one walk and three strikeouts.

Nomar (2 hits) actually produced the first run with an RBI single in the fourth. Mark Ellis (2 hits) added a two-run double in the frame and Adam Kennedy (3 hits, 2 RBIs) scored Ellis with an RBI single.

Kennedy made it 5-0 with an RBI single in the sixth which scored newly-acquired Scott Hairston.

Another old friend, Orlando Cabrera (who should have never left) hit a solo homer in the ninth of Takashi Saito.

If the game happens tonight (it's pouring at the moment), Josh Beckett will take the mound for Boston.