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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Red Sox West Coast Tour Of Pain Continues, A's Win Their 8th Straight Game

Who would have ever thought that Oakland would be playoff contenders in 2012? However, the more time goes by, we realize that they are legit and after a long drought (six years), Billy Beane has constructed another dangerous winner.

The A's (75-57, 41-27 home) easily dismissed the Red Sox (62-72, 30-34 away) 7-1 tonight at O.co Coliseum. Boston has now lost five in a row, all in California while Oakland has won eight straight games.

Rookie A.J. Griffin (4-0) was excellent, he went seven innings and allowed one earned run on three hits with five strikeouts and no walks. Pat Neshek wrapped it up with two scoreless frames as Boston managed only four total hits.

Felix Doubront's (10-7) promising season like everything associated with this team has quickly grown sour and for his sake, I hope the Red Sox shut him down before he does more damage to his confidence. He is a key piece in the future. He was gone after three innings, he was knocked around for five earned runs on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

He didn't go deep along with the three other former Red Sox (Brandon Moss, Josh Reddick, George Kottaras) last night so Coco Crisp blasted a solo homer (10th of the season) to lead off the home half of the first inning this evening. Yoenis Cespedes (2 runs, 2 stolen bases) and Derek Norris had RBI singles in the third sandwiched around a two-run double from Brandon Inge (who later hurt his shoulder; he's probably done for the season).

Norris added another RBI single in the fifth before Dustin Pedroia's RBI single cut it to 6-1 in the sixth. Chris Carter's solo homer (his 13th of the season) in the seventh made it 7-1.

The A's go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon (4:05 p.m., NESN) as Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-3) takes on Brett Anderson (2-0). I've already started to tune out since today was the first college football Saturday of 2012 and t-minus one week until NFL Week 1 next Sunday.

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In The Latest Chapter Of Rock Bottom, Red Sox Get Swept By A's To Complete 2-5 Road Trip

Is it possible to pretend that the Red Sox' West Coast trip to Seattle and Oakland simply didn't happen? I wish that was the case although at least we can take heart in the fact that it is mercifully over at long last.

Boston (42-40, 21-19 away) might as well have walked home as they lost 3-2 this afternoon to the A's (41-42, 22-19 home) at O.co Coliseum. Happy 4th of July, Oakland swept all three games against Boston (for the first time since May 2008) which meant the Red Sox went 2-5 against the Mariners and A's-two of the worst teams in the American League.

Want more depressing stats? Sure why not. Boston was held to two runs or less for the fifth straight game and sixth time in its last seven contests. As a team, the Red Sox hit .200 in this lost week. Finally, Oakland improved to 5-1 against Boston this season.

Dustin Pedroia (thumb) and Will Middlebrooks (hamstring) sat on the bench today, since the Red Sox are too smart to put injured players on the DL. That would make sense, it's better to have them eat a roster space and not be able to use them at all or better yet to stick scrubs in their spots.

Former average or worse Red Sox Coco Crisp, Josh Reddick and Brandon Moss collectively had the best series of their careers going 12-for-29 with six runs, four homers, nine RBIs, triple and two walks. Moss was the star today as he went 3-for-4 with two runs, a double and solo homer. Crisp was 2-for-4 with a triple and run while Reddick was held to a single and walk.

Aaron Cook went 6+ innings and did his job, only allowing three earned runs on nine hits with one walk and no strikeouts. Of his 18 outs, Cook had 13 ground outs so his sinker was working for the most part.

One of the most shocking aspects of Boston's lack of offense on the West Coast was that they faced mostly average starters and rookies. Felix Hernandez was the only certified ace or even No. 2. Step right up Oakland rookie A.J. Griffin who had a nice outing in only his third MLB start. He went six innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

It was a shame that David Ortiz's 400th home run came in such a forgettable loss on a holiday when probably most fans weren't even paying attention. His 22nd of the season was a solo shot that was a no-doubter to right field. It tied the game at one in the fourth.

He became the 49th player in MLB history to hit 400, the eighth active guy to reach that mark (Paul Konerko did it earlier this season). Ortiz is the sixth player to reach it while he was a Red Sox (Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Andre Dawson and Manny Ramirez) and the first to do it since Manny in 2005.

Moss had given the A's a 1-0 lead in the second with his 10th homer of the season to center.

Adrian Gonzalez kept his 15-game hit streak intact with an RBI single in the sixth which made it 2-1 Red Sox. Unfortunately, Boston's only other hit was a double by Mauro Gomez (the 1st hit of his MLB career).

Brandon Inge (2 hits) tied it at two with an RBI double in the sixth and Jemile Weeks had the game-winning hit, an RBI single in the seventh which scored Crisp who had led off with a triple.

You think Boston wanted to get on the plane for the long flight home? It took 33 combined pitches to retire them in the 7th-9th innings since they didn't walk or get a hit against any A's relievers. Grant Balfour got five outs, Jerry Blevins struck out the one player he faced (Ortiz to end the eighth) then All-Star Ryan Cook only needed seven pitches to record his eighth save with a 1-2-3 ninth.

The best news for the Red Sox is that they have tomorrow off before beginning their last series of the first half. They host the New York Yankees (49-32, 1st in AL East) with four games this weekend including a day-night doubleheader on Saturday. The rivals have only played twice so far in 2012 with New York winning both (April 20-21) which culminated in the original rock bottom reference by Bobby Valentine. The third game was rained out, hence the makeup date now.

Since they trail the Yanks by 7.5 games and are tied with the Blue Jays for last-place in the AL East, it's not hyperbole to say that this could be a make or break series in terms of even dreaming of giving New York a scare in the second half. If the Yankees win the series, it's time to focus solely on the two Wild Cards. Ditto if the Red Sox win the series but at least they'll head into the All-Star break on a high note as opposed to this current down in the dumps feeling.

Josh Beckett (4-7) faces Hiroki Kuroda (8-7) on Friday night (7:10 p.m., NESN), Franklin Morales (1-1) pitched 1.1 innings of relief for shits and giggles today but he faces Phil Hughes (9-6) on Saturday afternoon before Felix Doubront (8-4) gets Freddy Garcia (2-2) on Saturday night (7:15 p.m., Fox). MLB's first half closes on Sunday night with Jon Lester (5-5) opposing Ivan Nova (9-3) on Sunday Night Baseball (8:05 p.m., ESPN).

Red Sox-Yankees games always take forever, let's hope that with four games packed into three days, maybe they can speed the pace up just a bit. Haha I'm sure the reverse will actually happen.

UPDATE 7/6: Looks like I got my wish (a month late) as ESPNBoston.com reported this evening that Pedroia will be placed on the DL with his new injury. If you want to believe the Red Sox, it is to the same right thumb as before which caused him to miss seven total games in June. Ugh, it never ends.

Pedro Ciriaco has been called up with Pedroia going on the DL and Rich Hill being moved to the 60-day DL since Ciriaco wasn't on the 40-man roster. Nick Punto will start at second base tonight in the series opener with the Yankees. Shoot me now please.

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Red Sox Fall To A Mighty Depressing 2-4 On West Coast Trip Thanks To 3rd Walk-Off Loss

It's a good thing that A) nobody is watching or B) that nobody really cares about the Red Sox this season because this current West Coast road trip would give you nightmares all summer, trust the sucker that has watched or listened to most of it.

Tonight, Boston (42-39, 21-18 away) suffered another mind-numbing loss, 3-2 to Oakland (40-42, 21-19 home) at O.co Coliseum.

This was the 81st game of the season for the Red Sox-the exact halfway point-meaning that they are on pace for 84 wins. How mediocre.

Making matters much worse, it came on a walk-off sacrifice fly by old punching bag Coco Crisp in the bottom of the ninth that scored Cliff Pennington. Alfredo Aceves (0-6) blew his fourth save of the season but he wasn't helped out by Ryan Kalish's error on the RBI single by Brandon Moss that tied it at two. Compounding that, Bobby Valentine decided to pitch to Crisp with runners on the corners and one out. Ugh.

It was a Tour De Force of shitty baseball from the Red Sox who have scored two or less runs in four straight games and five of six overall on this swing (2-4) through the dredge of the AL West. Boston had runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the ninth but somehow didn't score a run as Nick Punto bunted into a double play (really) then Kalish was caught stealing third base. How that's possible outside of Little League, we'll never know.

Jon Lester's best outing in a month and a half went all for naught. He allowed a lead-off homer to Crisp (his 3rd of the season) in the first but he was locked in after that, going 6.2 innings and allowing one earned run on four hits with a season-high nine strikeouts and one walk.

Former Red Sox doughboy Bartolo Colon was similarly on point, he went six innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits with three strikeouts and a walk. Not bad for a guy making his first start off the DL.

Then again, anybody could shutdown Boston's limp lineup right now. They had seven hits and all but one was a single. Even worse, they were 0-for-8 tonight with runners in scoring position.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia (16th of the season) tied it with a solo homer in the second then David Ortiz scored on an error in the fourth, giving Boston the temporary 2-1 advantage.

Mr. Single himself Adrian Gonzalez was 2-for-4 (both singles of course) to extend his fraudulent hit streak to an MLB-best 14 games. Woo, feel the excitement.

After striking out pinch-hitter Seth Smith to end the seventh, Vicente Padilla managed to not allow a run in the eighth despite facing runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs after an error by Mike Aviles and a single. Oakland had a sacrifice and intentional walk but he struck out the last two batters to record his 18th hold of the season. If Aceves ever gets demoted, Padilla should be the next closer. Just saying.

Lefty Jerry Blevins (2-0) got the last five outs for the A's to receive the unexpected win.

The Red Sox will try to restore a shred of dignity while they close out this miserable road trip (their last before the All-Star break) tomorrow afternoon (4:05 p.m., NESN). Aaron Cook (2-1) faces rookie AJ Griffin (0-0) on the Fourth of July and I doubt that you have better plans than to watch what should be one of the better pitching matchups of the season. Haha! Plus, does it get more patriotic than Oakland?

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Red Sox Try To Blow A 10-Run Lead But The A's Don't Comply With Them

For many reasons, the Oakland Athletics will never be confused with the New York Yankees. The main difference being that they can't hit.

In their last game at Fenway Park (Sat. April 21), the Red Sox blew a nine-run lead to the Yanks. Tonight, they returned home from their wildly successful road trip (6-1) and for a little while, Boston (11-11, 4-5 home) entertained the idea of choking away a 10-run lead against the A's (11-13, 5-6) but they thought better of it and won 11-6.

Boston has won seven of its last eight games overall.

The Red Sox snapped a five-game losing streak at Fenway as Clay Buchholz (3-1) continued to be a concern despite the fact that he keeps picking up cheap wins. He was handed the 11-1 advantage by the fifth inning but he quickly faded in the seventh by allowing Oakland's terrible lineup to score five runs in the frame. Buchholz went 6.2 innings, allowing six earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and five walks. He's been so bad that this crappy outing actually lowered his ERA a tad to 8.69.

After Junichi Tazawa couldn't get an out, Vicente Padilla recorded the final out of the seventh. Scott Atchison (1 out, 2 hits, walk) also wasn't on but Franklin Morales (2 outs) and Alfredo Aceves (3 outs) were able to wrap it up for Boston.

A's rookie lefty Tommy Milone (3-2) quickly discovered that this wasn't like facing the Mariners at spacious Safeco Field. In 4.2 innings, he allowed eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits with five strikeouts and a walk.

Cliff Pennington (Chad's brother?) had an RBI single in the top of the first but the Red Sox answered with four runs in the second, two in the third and five in the fifth which turned out to be more than enough.

David Ortiz (3 runs) started it all with a solo homer into Oakland's bullpen. Marlon Byrd (2 runs) and Mike Aviles had RBI singles and Aviles eventually scored on Jemile Weeks's throwing error.

In the third, Darnell McDonald's (3 runs, 3 hits) two-run homer (his 2nd of the season) hit the light tower over the Monster. The fifth is when it really got silly as Ortiz homered again (his 6th of the season), this time into Boston's bullpen along with former Red Sox outfielder Josh Reddick who got a glove on it but couldn't catch the ball. He ended up flipping into the bullpen along with the baseball. Byrd added an RBI double and Aviles crushed a three-run bomb over the Monster (his 5th of the season).

Former Red Sox outfielders teamed up for Oakland's failed comeback attempt in the seventh. Two runs scored on Coco Crisp's (2 hits) weak single. Then Reddick (4th of the season) exacted some revenge with a three-run homer of his own, to right off Buchholz.

It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow but if they get the game in (7:10 p.m., NESN), Red Sox rookie Felix Doubront (1-0) faces A's rookie Jarrod Parker (0-0).

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Red Sox decide to finally win a road game in 2011

It doesn't get any uglier than the 0-6 and then 2-10 starts for the 2011 Boston Red Sox.

However, going 0-7 in their first seven road games was similarly unforgivable. Boston (6-11) finally notched a road win yesterday afternoon, 5-3 against the A's (9-9) at Oakland Coliseum.

Clay Buchholz (1-2) picked up his first win of the season too after his first two starts were nothing short of disasters. He wasn't great yesterday but he got the job done. He went 5.1 innings, allowing six hits, one earned run, four walks and two strikeouts.

Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez (2-1) came in on the opposite end of the spectrum after being basically unhittable in his first two starts. The Red Sox got to him though somehow as he went six innings, allowing eight hits, four earned runs, one walk and nine strikeouts.

Boston's offense righted itself with three home runs: by Kevin Youkilis, Jed Lowrie and J.D. Drew.

The real star of the game was reliever Daniel Bard who inherited a bases loaded situation in the sixth with one out and the Red Sox clinging to a 4-1 lead. He got out of that unscathed and also pitched a scoreless seventh. That made up for Bobby Jenks and Jonathan Papelbon who each allowed an earned run. Papelbon settled down and recorded the last two outs in the ninth with runners on first and third.

Coco Crisp gave Oakland an early (and I mean early 1-0 lead) as he homered on Buchholz's first pitch of the game.

Carl Crawford answered with an RBI single in the top of the second which tied it at 1. Youkilis' solo shot in the fourth, Lowrie's two-run bomb in the sixth and Drew's solo homer in the seventh gave Boston some breathing room.

They were able to withstand Crisp's RBI single in the eighth and Landon Powell's RBI single in the ninth.

From here, Boston travels to Anaheim with four games scheduled against the Angels. Josh Beckett faces rookie Tyler Chatwood tonight in the series opener.

Red Sox force Game 7 in ALCS

I thought the Tampa Bay Rays were different. After being the better team for games 1-5 (until the final seven outs of game 5), the Rays appear to have unraveled as the Red Sox took game 6 at the Trop, 4-2.

Yet another Boston Red Sox playoff comeback that seemed so unlikely, now seems almost inevitable. How much can one crazy rally change?

Josh Beckett was the Sox' biggest question mark heading into game 6 and he submitted a fine performance given the circumstances (and his probable injury). He went five innings, giving up two runs on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

For Tampa, Big Game James Shields failed to live up to his name as he gave up four (three earned) runs on nine hits in 5.2 innings, with three walks and three strikeouts.

TBS had a power outage so the first 21 minutes of the game were blacked out (really). That means the national audience missed Babe Ruth, I mean B.J. Upton's solo homer off Beckett in the first.

Boston responded as Kevin Youkilis hit a matching solo blast in the second off Shields. Youkilis put the Sox up 2-1 in the third with an RBI groundout that scored Dustin Pedroia.

The Rays tied it up with another long ball, from the most unlikely of sources: Jason Bartlett (his second of the season) hooked one down the left field line.

Maybe even more improbable than that was when Sox catcher Jason Varitek recorded his first hit in the sixth: a solo homer to right center off Shields. David Ortiz made it 4-2 with an RBI single to right which beat the shift.

Coco Crisp once again was great in the leadoff spot with three hits, a walk and a run.

From there, Boston got outstanding work from its bullpen. Hideki Okajima (who hasn't given up a run in the playoffs) went two scoreless innings, Justin Masterson (how good is he?) pitched a scorless eighth before handing it over to Mr. Automatic, Jonathan Papelbon. The 1-2-3 ninth from Pap gave him the save and more importantly forced a winner-takes-all game 7 tonight at the Trop.

It'll be Jon Lester against Matt Garza. You have to feel like the Sox have all the momentum in the world plus Lester will almost certainly have a better start than he did in game 3 (five runs). Just sayin'.

Sox stave off elimination in ALCS with comeback win for the ages

Where to begin? The Tampa Bay Rays were crusing along in game 5 at Fenway, nursing a 7-0 lead with nine outs to go from the World Series. Somehow, someway, the Boston Red Sox recovered to get a walk-off 8-7 win thanks to J.D. Drew's RBI double in the ninth. The seven-run deficit and comeback was the second biggest in MLB playoff history.

Following the exact same script from the first two games at Fenway, the Rays jumped on the Sox' starting pitcher immediately. B.J. Upton (who at the moment looks like the greatest player in MLB history) had a two-run bomb off Dice-K that just got over the Monster.

Carlos Pena (2 hits, walk) followed suit with another two-run homer in the third off Dice-K and Evan Longoria added a solo shot. Like Lester and Beckett before him, Matsuzaka had nothing in Boston's most important game of the year. He lasted only four innings, giving up five runs (all earned) on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

When Tampa Bay scored twice more in the top of the seventh, Upton (2 runs, 3 hits, 4 RBI, walk) knocked in two more with a double, I can't even blame the frauds that filled the seats at Fenway for leaving. Down 7-0, the Sox bats had been completely lifeless in the last 2+ games, who really thought they'd have such an epic ending?

Lost in all the chaos after such a dramatic win was the great performance by Rays starter Scott Kazmir. Countless lazy Boston writers had criticized Joe Maddon for going with Kazmir in game 5 yet all he did was throw six scoreless innings (something that the Red Sox would kill for at this point). Kazmir allowed two hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, the Red Sox finally woke up from their cryogenic slumber. Dustin Pedroia singled in Jed Lowrie to make it 7-1 Tampa Bay. David Oritz came up with two men on and for the first time in the 2008 playoffs, Big Papi delivered. He blasted a three-run homer off Dingo-herder Grant Balfour.

The season was hanging in the balance so Terry Francona smartly went to his best arm in the seventh-Jonathan Papelbon. He let two inherited runners score in the seventh but settled down to pitch a scoreless eighth.

In the home half of the eighth the Sox tied it up on J.D. Drew's two-run homer off Dan Wheeler and Coco Crisp's clutch 10 pitch at-bat and RBI single. When it was happening live, I thought in my head that it was Crisp's best at-bat of his Red Sox career.

Justin Masterson worked around a hit and walk in the ninth to retire Longoria on a double play ball to end the inning. At that point, you had a feeling that there was no way Tampa was winning this game.

Drew did the honors as he drove in Kevin Youkilis with an RBI single off J.P. Howell. Youkilis had a great 10 pitch at bat as well before he singled. Howell walked Jason Bay before Drew delivered with another chapter cementing his place as a Boston sports legend (grand slam in game 6 of the 2007 ALCS says hello as well).

Hideki Okajima was another unsung hero in the win as he pitched two scoreless innings after Dice-K's meltdown. It had to be the earliest Okajima has ever entered a game for Boston.

So the series shifts back to Tampa Bay tomorrow night with the Phillies waiting at home for the winner, in the World Series. The Rays had all the momentum in the series and looked like a sure bet to wrap it up last night. However, I can't think of many other soul-crushing losses like last night in any sport. The fact that the Rays are such a young, inexperienced team means that this loss might linger even longer than it would with a more veteran team. Who knows? It all comes down to if Josh Beckett can give Boston anything tomorrow night against James Shields. It's been three straight dogshit starts from Red Sox pitchers. If Boston wins game 6, you can bank on them winning the series. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves, the Rays have shown themselves to be a ridiculously talented team all year, particularly in the first two plus games at Fenway.

Sox tied for AL East lead

The Tampa Bay Rays had been sitting pretty in first place in the AL East since July 24. Not so much anymore. The Red Sox smoked the Rays, 13-5, last night behind six home runs and the teams are now tied.

For a team that hadn't won in Tampa all year, the Red Sox (89-61) made last night a laugher pretty quickly which was appreciated with the Cowboys-Eagles game on Monday Night Football. Boston led 11-1 going into the bottom of the fourth and 13-1 going into the bottom of the sixth before the Rays (88-60) woke up.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, king of the fraud pitchers, continued to pile up impressive numbers despite less than masterpiece quality starts every time out. Five innings and 101 pitches later, Dice-K was 17-2, the most wins for a Japanese-born pitcher in MLB. He allowed one run on three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

The Sox' lineup pounded Scott Kazmir (11-7) and a host of Rays relievers for 11 hits and nine walks. David Ortiz (2 hits, 4 RBIs) started it off with a three-run bomb in the first, knocking in Coco Crisp (3 walks, 2 runs, hit) and Dustin Pedroia (run, hit, RBI, walk) who had both walked to begin the game. Kazmir was knocked out after three innings, allowing nine earned runs on six hits with four walks and two strikeouts.

Two batters later, Mike Lowell hit a solo shot. Tampa Bay got one back in the third when Akinori Iwamura hit a solo homer but Boston exploded for seven in the fourth. Bay got it going with a solo homer, Jason Varitek hit a two-run bomb which scored Jed Lowrie (3 walks), Pedroia knocked in Ellsbury with an RBI single, Crisp came home on Ortiz's fielder's choice and Kevin Youkilis brought home Ortiz with another homer.

Ellsbury homered in the fifth and Youkilis added an RBI double in the sixth, putting the Red Sox ahead 13-1. After that, the benches were emptied as both teams put in the scrubs that were called up when the rosters expanded.

Justin Ruggiano and Dan Johnson each had two-run dingers for Tampa Bay in the sixth and seventh respectively.

Tonight's the big night where the Sox can finally pull ahead in the AL East. Who better to take the ball than Josh Beckett (who should be able to reach 100 pitches after having abbreviated starts recently while he returned from injury)? Andy Sonnanstine tries to save the Rays' division hopes which are quickly fading.

It's time to win in Tampa Bay

With 13 games left in the regular season, the Boston Red Sox (88-61) are one game back of the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.

Boston did what it had to do over the weekend, taking three of four from what had been a red-hot Toronto Blue Jays (80-70) team.

Jon Lester capped off the series yesterday afternoon with eight solid innings as the Red Sox held off the Blue Jays, 4-3.

In improving to 15-5, Lester lasted eight innings, giving up one run on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Roy Halladay (18-11) didn't go the whole way which is newsworthy. He pitched seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits with five strikeouts.

Boston's hottest hitter continued to scorch the ball, Coco Crisp contributed two hits and two RBIs.

Jose Bautista had a solo homer in the first off Lester but the Red Sox scored four straight runs. Ortiz knocked in Jacoby Ellsbury with an RBI groundout in the first while Crisp's RBI singles were in the second and seventh. Kevin Youkilis' sacrifice fly in the eighth pushed across Ortiz with what turned out to be a vital run.

Jonathan Papelbon gave up two runs in the ninth but still managed to record his 38th save of the season. Adam Lind had an RBI single for Toronto and Scott Rolen drove in the other run with a groundout.

The Sox left after the game for Tampa Bay and three games at the Trop. Boston is winless (0-6) in Tampa Bay this season but that will soon be forgotten if they can pick up a win or two the next few days.

Dice-K and Scott Kazmir go tonight.

Shifting Expectations

With the expected news arriving yesterday that Tom Brady is out for the season with a torn ACL, the Red Sox and Patriots' expectations shifted. Suddenly, the Red Sox are looking like a good bet to make another deep playoff run while any rational Pats fan would be happy with a playoff appearance now that Matt Cassel is the starting quarterback.

Such are the times in the City of Champions. I understand that no other parts of the country will feel bad for the Patriots or their fans. We still have the Celtics (who just won an NBA Championship). And the Sox, who by the way are defending World Champions too. Tough life indeed. While it's stupid to simply stop watching the Pats since Brady is gone, it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds now.

The Tampa Bay Rays came to Fenway last night for an extremely important three-game set. Boston (85-58) won 3-0 behind yet another dominant performance by Jon Lester.

Losers of four straight and five of its last six, Tampa's (85-57) sorry offense could not do anything against Lester. He threw a Dice-K-esque 119 pitches in 7.2 innings, but the difference was that Lester (14-5) was firmly in control the whole time. The lefty struck out nine with three walks, while allowing six hits.

Boston scored all three of its runs in the first off Rays starter Edwin Jackson (11-10). David Ortiz doubled in substitute leadoff hitter Mark Kotsay (2 hits, run, walk). Youk singled in Ortiz and Jason Bay cranked a solo homer off the lights above the Monster.

Coco Crisp continued the best hitting streak of his Red Sox career, going 3 for 3 with a steal.

Jonathan Papelbon recorded four outs for his 36th save of the season. He came in the eighth and struck out Rocco Baldelli with runners on second and third.

Weather permitting, Scott Kazmir and Daisuke Matsuzaka go tonight in game two.

Red Sox gearing up for another memorable October

They forgive you for not paying attention yesterday as Tom Brady's season likely ended, but the Boston Red Sox would like to let you know that they're playing their best baseball of the season with only 20 regular season games left.

Boston beat the Rangers, 7-2, yesterday afternoon in Texas to take two out of three in the Lonestar state. The Red Sox (84-58) are just 1.5 games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East and Boston leads Minnesota in the Wild Card by 6.5 games.

Alex Cora hit an RBI triple in the second and Coco Crisp (2 hits, 2 runs, RBI steal, walk) followed with a run-scoring single to give Boston the early 2-0 lead. Believe it or not, Crisp has been Boston's hottest hitter the last few weeks which is a sentence I didn't think I'd ever have to write.

David Ortiz hit a two-run bomb in the fifth, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia added RBI singles in the sixth and Jason Bay hit a solo shot in the seventh to give the Sox a 7-0 lead.

Paul Byrd (11-11) continued to impress, submitting his best game in a Sox uniform yesterday. He threw 6.2 scoreless innings, giving up three hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

The Rangers' (70-74) Taylor Teagarden hit a solo homer in the eighth and he also contributed an RBI single in the ninth.

Every series from here on out is huge for Boston's playoff chances. The Tampa Bay Rays come to Fenway tonight for (thus far) the three most important games of the season. In 12 games this year, Boston and Tampa Bay are both 6-6 with the home team winning every contest. The Rays have finally started to stumble lately so this would be the perfect time for the Red Sox to make a further move.

Jon Lester opposes Edwin Jackson tonight.

The Orioles will be soon starring in Will Ferrell's latest garbage comedy

Down 4-0 going into the seventh inning yesterday afternoon at Fenway, the Red Sox were not in good shape. No worries though since they were facing the Baltimore Orioles, a team notorious for giving away games (particularly the ones that really matter in August, September, etc).

The fact that the suddenly charmed Sox (82-57) pulled it out, 5-4, was not surprising. The player that jump started Boston was also utterly predictable if you've been paying attention: Dustin Pedroia.

Pedroia hit a solo homer into the Monster in the seventh-his 17th of the season. Later in the inning, Coco Crisp (2 hits, RBI walk), walked with the bases loaded to cut the Orioles lead in half.

Alex Cora (3 hits, 1 run) had an awesome defensive play in the eighth which saved a run as he gathered a groundball to short, turned and quickly fired to third where Jed Lowrie tagged out Aubrey Huff. It was a rough day for Huff (2 hits, run, steal) who earlier had a sure homer robbed by a leaping Jacoby Ellsbury in right field.

Mark Kotsay tied it up with a two-run triple to center in the eighth.

Dice-K had a rather pedestrian outing: four runs, four hits, three walks and seven strikeouts in six innings. Javier Lopez pitched a scoreless seventh and Justin Masterson (5-4) threw two clean innings with two strikeouts. It's easy to see that should the Sox make the playoffs (which is looking more likely by the day), Masterson will be a very valuable piece. A reliable reliever outside of Papelbon, what a concept.

Cora had a single to lead off the ninth. Coco tried to bunt him over but luck was on the Red Sox' side as the ball rolled fair after looking like it would go foul. Cora and Crisp were on first and second. Ellsbury also looked to sacrifice the runners over but Orioles rookie reliever Jim Miller tossed the ball well wide of third, into left field. Cora walked home with the winning run.

The Rays have lost two in a row and the Sox have won their last three games so Boston sliced Tampa's AL East lead to three games. Boston is in control of the Wild Card, five games ahead of Minnesota and seven in front of the Yankees.

Today is an offday then the Sox begin three games in Texas against the playing-for-pride Rangers. Their offense is deadly as usual so the Sox will need to get some pitching in Texas. Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett (who's supposed to start tomorrow), Sean Casey and Kevin Youkilis are all scheduled to be back for the series which is great news. Everything seems to be coming together at the perfect time for the Red Sox.

The Orioles are falling apart faster than John McCain and Sarah Palin's campaign

The spontaneous combustion of the Orioles' pitching staff (which you can pretty much set your watch to every season) has come at the perfect time for the Boston Red Sox.

After taking game one at Fenway, 7-4 on Labor Day, the Red Sox (81-57) came back last night to smoke the Orioles (63-75), 14-2.

As alluded to in the title, as the Orioles and the Republican Party's nominees fall apart, others are rapidly gaining strength-Obama and Dustin Pedroia for MVP (topical, no?).

Breaking the recent history of Rookie of the Years, who never really do anything after the first year, Pedroia is having a monster season. He leads the AL in batting average and runs. Hitting cleanup the past few games, Pedroia was 3 for 5 last night with five RBIs and a run. He provided the biggest hit of the game, a three-run bomb in the fourth inning.

The suddenly stacked Sox lineup banged out 20 hits and worked eight walks. David Ortiz was 3 for 3 with 4 RBIs, two runs and a walk. Coco Crisp had three hits, three runs and a steal. Jed Lowrie scored three runs, walked three times with a hit and two RBIs. Mark Kotsay (who has been great) added two hits and an RBI. Jeff Bailey notched a hit, two walks and two runs. Finally, Jacoby Ellsbury walked twice, scored twice, stole a base, had a hit and an RBI.

Jon Lester only needed to go five innings to improve his record to 13-5.

Dice-K looks for his 17th win this afternoon as the Red Sox look to sweep Baltimore.

A-Rod, still choking in the clutch like noneother

For only one game, last night provided immense pleasure for a Red Sox fan. The Sox beat the Yankees, 7-3, in game one of the last Sox-Yankees series at Yankee Stadium.

Secondly, A-Rod shat the bed in epic proportions. He was 0-for-5, grounded into two double plays (one with the bases loaded), made an error and struck out twice (once to end the game). At least he has that hag Madonna to console him as the Yankees' (70-61) season continues to fall apart.

Fresh off the DL, Tim Wakefield (8-8) pitched five innings to get the win. Wake gave up three runs on eight hits with a walk and a strikeout.

Andy Pettitte, who had such a great start to the season, can't seem to get untracked lately. Boston (76-55) made the lefty throw 101 pitches in 4.2 innings. Pettitte allowed six runs (all earned) on 10 hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

In total, the Sox banged out 14 hits and worked seven walks from the Yankees subpar bunch of relievers. Coco Crisp led the way with three hits, a run, an RBI and a steal. David Ortiz had two doubles, two walks and a run. Jason Bay and Jeff Bailey each added two hits and two RBIs while Kevin Cash added two hits.

Johnny Damon was the lone brightspot for the Yanks. He hit a solo homer in the first and another solo shot in the fifth.

Jacoby Ellsbury tied it at 1 in the second with an RBI single. Jose Molina gave New York its last lead in the second with an RBI single.

Boston scored twice in the third on Kevin Youkilis's RBI double and a Bay RBI single. The Sox opened it up with three more in the fifth. Coco knocked in Bay with a single and Jeff Bailey brought home two with an infield single that Jason Giambi forgot to throw home (he was too busy growing his moustache, damn it).

Jason Bay's sacrifice fly in the sixth was the last run for the good guys.

Hideki Okajima got the first two outs in the eighth and Jonathan Papelbon came on to recorded his 34th save after retiring four Yankees hitters.

Paul Byrd goes for the Sox tonight against Sidney Ponson, something you probably didn't expect to say at the beginning of the season.

Jed Lowrie, You Give Me the Business

With the injuries piling up lately, it hasn't been pretty but the Red Sox took care of business (baby) with a 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in 11 innings yesterday at the Rogers Centre.

Boston (75-55) won two of three in Toronto and has a day off today before playing its final regular season series at Yankee Stadium.

Toronto (67-63) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on Daisuke Matsuzaka and with A.J. Burnett on the mound, the Blue Jays looked poised to take another one from the Red Sox.

It was a true team win as numerous guys on the Red Sox contributed in big ways. Jacoby Ellsbury ran into a wall to make a catch, Jason Bay made a leaping catch at the left field fence to end the 10th, Dustin Pedroia hit a three-run bomb, Jonathan Papelbon threw two scoreless innings, Manny Delcarmen recorded a save and Jed Lowrie put Boston up for good with a homer in the 11th inning.

On a day where Dice-K really needed to give his beleaguered bullpen some innings, he came through. Kinda. Matsuzaka lasted six innings, giving up five runs on eight hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

Now that Rich Harden is healthy (knock on wood) and racking up wins and double digit strikeout totals for the Cubs, Burnett has officially taken over the title of baseball's most hyped pitcher, who has never put it together for a full season. Believe it or not, for as good as Burnett's stuff is, he's never had more than 12 wins in a season.

He entered yesterday on a hot streak, with a career-high 16 wins to his name but his record didn't change. Burnett went seven innings, allowing five runs on seven hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.

No hitter has killed the Red Sox as much this season as Toronto center fielder Vernon Wells (2 runs, 2 hits, 3 RBIs, walk). He added to his stats with a two-run homer in the first off Dice-K.

Pedroia put the Sox up 3-2 in the third with his 14th homer of the season. Boston's other hitter having a dream season, Kevin Youkilis, increased the lead to 4-2 with an RBI single later in the frame.

Lyle Overbay hit a solo homer in the fourth and the Jays tied it in the sixth on Wells' RBI double. Rod Barajas put Toronto up 5-4 but Matt Stairs was thrown out at home to end the inning.

Coco Crisp hit a solo homer in the seventh to tie it up and then Lowrie hit his first lefthanded homer (and second overall) in the majors, to put Boston up 6-5 in the 11th.

The Red Sox bullpen gets an A yesterday as they combined for five scoreless innings. Justin Masterson (who's settling down nicely in his new role) got four outs before Hideki Okajima (who has quietly turned his season around) got the last two outs of the eighth. Even in a tie game on the road, Papelbon went two innings and Delcarmen managed to nail down the save after walking the leadoff hitter.

The Rays lost in 10 innings yesterday to the White Sox so they're currently 4.5 games up on Boston. The Yankees are five games behind Boston and the Red Sox lead the Wild Card by one game.

Clearly, the three games against the Yankees could prove pivotal as the Sox could put the final nail in the Bombers' coffin by taking at least two games. Nothing is ever that easy though and with Tim Wakefield (fresh off the DL) and Paul Byrd scheduled to start the first two games, it could turn into batting practice quickly.

Props to Billy Beane for throwing away another season

It turns out that the 2008 Oakland Athletics as currently constructed are the cure for what ails you.

After a week of doom and gloom, with the Sox playing terribly against the Yankees and Angels before shipping away Manny Ramirez, everything is bright and sunny once again on Yawkey Way.

Boston won 5-2 yesterday at Fenway, sweeping the three games against the A's, who have traded Joe Blanton and Rich Harden earlier this season, all but surrendering the rest of the year.

Dice-K improved to 12-2 with a typical start. Six innings, two runs allowed on four hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. He would have been gone anyway after 105 pitches but a short rain delay made that a moot point.

The Red Sox (64-48) offense was paced by Kevin Youkilis (2 hits, RBI), Jason Bay (2 hits, 2 runs), Jed Lowrie (run, 2-run triple, walk) and Coco Crisp (2 RBI sacrifice flys).

Dustin Pedroia led off the bottom of the first with a double. Youk followed with an RBI single and moved up to second on the throw.

Boston put three up in the fourth inning to take a 4-0 lead. Lowrie drove in Mike Lowell and Bay with a two-run triple to the triangle in center. Coco knocked in Lowrie with his first sacrifice fly.

The A's (53-57) made it slightly interesting in the fifth as Daric Barton hit a two-run homer to right off Matsuzaka.

Coco's second sac. fly in the sixth scored Bay with the last run of the game. It was a great first weekend for Bay at Fenway, he also threw out Mark Ellis at second, trying to stretch a single into a double.

Hideki Okajima pitched a scoreless seventh, Manny Delcarmen worked a clean eighth and Jonathan Papelbon recorded a 1-2-3 ninth for his 31st save.

Boston heads out on the road for a seven game trip: three at Kansas City then four at the White Sox. Hopefully the Sox can continue their solid play against the Royals, another team that has little but pride to play for as we had into the dog days of Summer.

Fitting time for a day off, hopefully it's filled with Thai hookers

Well this has gotten ugly fast, eh? The Boston Red Sox' 2008 season is going down faster than a line of coke at a party in Hollywood.

The Angels (67-40) embarrassed the Sox one last time at Fenway, 9-2 last night to sweep the series and take eight out of nine against Boston (61-48) this season.

Left-hander Joe Saunders (14-5) joined Cliff Lee, Brandon Webb and Aaron Cook as the only 14-game winners in MLB. Saunders went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

Sox starter Josh Beckett (9-8) had a disastrous outing as he allowed eight runs (seven earned) on 11 hits in 5.1 innings with eight strikeouts and a walk.

Vlad Guerrero (2 hits, run, RBI) started it off with an RBI single in the fourth. Garret Anderson-who has absolutely killed the Sox this year-added a two-run single to make it 3-0 in the fourth. Anderson finished 4-for-5 with four RBIs.

Boston's only sign of life was provided by Coco Crisp as he knocked in Jason Varitek with a two-run homer over the monster in the fifth.

The Angels scored five runs in the sixth to knockout Beckett and the Sox. Anderson had a two-run bomb that just wrapped around Pesky's Pole. Jeff Mathis had an RBI double. Mathis scored on Jed Lowrie's error and Maicer Izturis knocked in Chone Figgins (3 hits, run, steal) with a sacrifice fly.

Torii Hunter (2 hits, 3 runs, RBI, walk) homered in the ninth off Justin Masterson.

Boston has today off and the Oakland A's come to town tomorrow night for a three-game set. Hopefully everyone can get away from Fenway for the day and try to regroup. The Red Sox are three games behind the Rays and only a game ahead of the Yankees.

Tampa Bay has yet to add a bat-which is imperative-but the Yankees have made two great trades in the last week. First they got Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady from the Pirates in exchange for four minor-leaguers and then yesterday they traded Kyle Farnsworth for Pudge Rodriguez. With those, they addressed a bunch of needs: lefty reliever, outfielder, catcher.

Today is baseball's trading deadline and the Manny Ramirez rumors have reached a fever pitch. Last night, there were reports that there was a three team deal that would send Manny to the Marlins and Pirates outfielder Jason Bay and reliever John Grabow to the Red Sox.

Despite Manny's latest verbal assaults yesterday, claiming that the Red Sox "don't deserve a player like me," I think they'll realize they can't get enough value in return and keep him around for the rest of the season. The question is if he's going to stay interested and not bail out on the team in the middle of a pennant race? In a perfect world, everything will work itself out and Manny will decide to play for Boston the rest of the season. Otherwise, pick up his option in the offseason and trade his ass.

Ichiro is not amused

Winning is a wonderful thing, no? After a terrible weekend against the Angels (three straight losses), the Sox found themselves in the Pacific Northwest, knocking off the pathetic Mariners (38-61), 4-0, last night.

In no particular order, the four main ingredients to the Sox' inconsistent play has been 1) Jacoby Ellsbury's huge slump as the leadoff hitter, 2) Boston has been terrible on the road all season, 3) they desperately need David Ortiz back in the lineup and the 4) the bullpen outside of Papelbon is a funhouse of surprises (most of which are bad).

For one night at least, Jon Lester made everything right for the Red Sox (58-43). He gave his team 7.1 scoreless innings before handing it over to Papelbon.

Lester (8-3) allowed eight hits, no walks and six strikeouts. His ERA was lowered to 3.20. Without getting all Baseball Prospectus/Tim Kurkjian on you, I'd submit that Lester has been better than any other Sox starter this season (gasp!). Sure, Dice-K has sexier numbers but he's had a couple clunkers and missed time on the DL. Lester has made every scheduled start and quickly established himself as one of the top young arms in the game.

Manny Ramirez had three hits but would you believe that Jason Varitek woke up from his two-month long dirt nap and cranked a two-run home run in the fifth off Jarrod Washburn?

Varitek had another hit and a walk. The other guest star at the bottom of the lineup was rookie Jed Lowrie. He had a two-run single in the eighth which accounted for the other scoring. He also added another hit and a walk.

I was high on the rookie when he made his debut early in the season. I was on vacation in Alaska last week when Julio Lugo got hurt but needless to say, I'm happy to see the rookie get another chance.

I don't root for players on my teams to get hurt but Lugo was pushing it. Let's never mention him again, agreed?

Papelbon came on with one out in the eighth and the bases loaded but he hadn't worked since the All-Star game. He induced a ground ball on his second pitch of the eighth and had a clean ninth to earn his 29th save.

With the Yankees coming to town this weekend, it's vital that the Sox take care of this inferior team. Boston is 1.5 games behind Tampa Bay and 3 ahead of the Yanks. If you must know, the Red Sox lead the Wild Card race by two games over the Twins.

Lester and Coco lead Red Sox to win in Philly

Remember when Jon Lester was a guy with a ton of potential but no consistency? Somewhere this season (probably after the no-hitter), the young lefty has gained confidence and started throwing more strikes on the mound. The results that have followed have been outstanding.

Working in a reputed hitter's park, Lester threw seven shutout innings last night as Boston defeated Philadelphia, 3-0.

Lester (6-3) gave up six hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

The unlikely offensive star for the Sox (45-29) was Coco Crisp (2 hits, 2 steals), who had a two-run homer in the second off Phillies (42-31) starter Jamie Moyer (7-4) and scored on Julio Lugo's (2 walks, steal) double in the sixth.

Boston tied a club record with six stolen bases. Sean Casey, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury notched the other steals (while Ellsbury was also caught once).

Moyer lasted only five innings as the Sox worked five walks off him. A night after looking like the MVP he was two seasons ago, Ryan Howard looked more like how he's been this season: he struck out all four times he came up.

For one game at least, the Sox' 8th-9th inning combination of Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon looked like they took a time machine back to last season when they were both unhittable. Okajima pitched a scoreless eighth and Papelbon picked up his 20th save of the season after a clean ninth.

In a matinee this afternoon, Justin Masterson opposes Kyle Kendrick as each team tries to take the series.