Red Sox Beat A's 4-2 In Series Opener With More Help On The Way-Matt Thornton

You couldn't possibly ask for anything more (within reason) from the Red Sox at the moment: thanks to their 4-2 win tonight against the A's at O.Co Coliseum, Boston (58-37 overall, 27-21 away) moved to a season-high 21 games over .500 while also opening up a 4.5 game lead over the Rays for first place in the AL East (Tampa Bay lost 2-1 to Houston). Oh by the way, they also flipped something called Brandon Jacobs (not the former Giants running back) and cash to the White Sox for reliever Matt Thornton. Damn.

Thornton will be 37 in September but he's still one of the better lefthanded relievers in MLB and a more than suitable replacement for Andrew Miller. He was an All-Star in 2010 and has a career line of 32-41 with 23 saves, 169 holds, 3.53 ERA and 1.27 WHIP. Keep in mind that it's hard to gauge numbers for setup men, especially ones that have been on some really bad teams-like this year's edition of the White Sox. He is a big guy (6-6, 235 pounds) that throws in the mid-90s and should be a welcome addition to Boston's ragtag bullpen that only had one lefty (Craig Breslow) remaining in it since Miller got hurt on Saturday.

It has gotten to the point where I'm actually expecting a good start from John Lackey (7-6) every time out. He went seven innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits with five strikeouts and four walks. Don't be surprised if a pitcher pulls out of the All-Star Game for the AL in the next few days that Lackey could be heading to Citi Field. Seriously.

Oakland (54-39 overall, 28-15 home) got a fine outing from Jarrod Parker (7 innings, 2 earned runs, 3 hits, 3 strikeouts) but reliever Sean Doolittle (3-3) was the weak link as he gave up a two-run single to Dustin Pedroia (2 hits) that made it 4-2 in the eighth. Former A's closer Andrew Bailey pitched a scoreless eighth with two strikeouts for his eighth hold and Koji Uehara struck out the side for his eighth save of the season.

Boston never trailed as Brock Holt opened the scoring with a two-run single of his own in the second. The A's chipped away with an RBI single by John Jaso in the fifth and former Red Sox great (stop laughing) Jed Lowrie tied it with a solo homer off Lackey in the sixth.

Mike Napoli was 2 for 4 with a triple and run in the win, the fourth straight for the Red Sox who improved to 5-3 on this endless West Coast road trip.

Tomorrow night (10:05, NESN) Jon Lester (8-5) tries to end his first half on a good note as he takes on A.J. Griffin (7-6).

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Red Sox Take Series With A's After A 6-5 Win At Fenway

After Alfredo Aceves' stinkbomb last night in a miserable rain-shortened 13-0 loss by the Red Sox (that earned him a demotion to Pawtucket today), Boston needed to regroup and find a way to bounce back against Oakland. The Red Sox (14-7 overall, 7-5 home) did just that by holding off the A's (13-9 overall, 7-5) 6-5 this afternoon at Fenway Park. With the win, Boston took two of three against Oakland-the best team that they have seen so far this season.

Jon Lester improved to 4-0 even though he had his worst outing of 2013: 5.2 innings, three earned runs, six hits, five strikeouts and six walks. Chris Young's three-run homer in the fourth gave Oakland a 3-0 lead. Boston responded with three runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth. That was enough to hold off single runs by the A's in the seventh and eighth.

Mike Napoli fittingly started the rally with an RBI double and Stephen Drew (yes him) tied it with a two-run triple. Shane Victorino's RBI double (he later left with a stiff back) put Boston ahead 4-3 then David Ortiz (2 hits, double, run) and Daniel Nava (2 hits) each added RBI singles. After Josh Donaldson's RBI single in the seventh, Young crushed a solo homer off Koji Uehara (second straight appearance that he's allowed a run) in the eighth.

Former A's All-Star closer Andrew Bailey struck out the side in the ninth for his fifth save. Of course, he had some help from the umpires since Jed Lowrie's (3 hits, double, run) possible double into the right field corner was ruled foul. It was too close to call and he ended up being the third out. I would say that Bailey has locked down the closer's position: in his last three appearances he has gone three innings, allowing no hits and no runs with seven strikeouts and one walk for two saves. Let's see Joel Hanrahan do that!

Boston received a gift from the MLB scheduling gods since this longest homestand of the season (10 were scheduled, 1 will be made up) is capped off by four games against Houston (7-14)-the worst team in their new league (American).

Clay Buchholz (4-0) faces Philip Humber (0-4) tomorrow night (6:35 p.m., NESN), Ryan Dempster (0-2) gets Erik Bedard (0-1) on Friday (7:10 p.m., NESN), Felix Doubront (2-0) takes on Brad Peacock (0-1) on Saturday night (7:10 p.m., NESN) then John Lackey (0-0) returns to oppose Bud Norris (3-2) in the series finale on Sunday afternoon (1:35 p.m., NESN). Good seats are still available for these awful games, the Red Sox need to win at least three against the hopeless Astros.

UPDATE 4/25: Ryan Lavarnway was called up from the PawSox, taking Aceves' spot on the roster.

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Red Sox Trade Jed Lowrie & Kyle Weiland, For Astros Closer Mark Melancon

Another day and another interesting move by the Boston Red Sox.

Today, they traded spare parts with infielder Jed Lowrie and pitcher Kyle Weiland to the Houston Astros for closer Mark Melancon.

I'm a big fan of the move, assuming that Melancon will be the setup guy for either Andrew Bailey (A's) or Ryan Madson (free agent, of the Phillies). I'll grant you that predicting who will be a successful closer or not is basically impossible but Boston can't pin its hopes on a guy who is coming from the NL Central to the AL East.

This also means that Daniel Bard will be in the rotation (please no); as far as I'm concerned, Melancon should not be construed as Jonathan Papelbon's replacement.

Houston was the worst team in MLB last season with 56 wins and Melancon went 20 for 25 in save chances with three holds during his first year as a closer. He's 26 and he had a 2.78 ERA and 1.22 WHIP with 66 strikeouts, 26 walks in 74 1/3 innings.

He was drafted by the New York Yankees in 2006 and traded to the Astros in 2010 for Lance Berkman. Best of all, he's very cheap ($421,000), he's not eligible for arbitration until 2014 and he won't be a free agent until 2017.

I'm psyched to say goodbye to Lowrie who is basically J.D. Drew lite, meaning he never met a minor injury he didn't milk for all that it was worth. He hit .252 in four seasons for Boston and never really found a position since he struggled defensively at third base and shortstop. The 309 at bats he had in 2011 were a career-high which tells you all you need to know. See you later Stanford guy.

It's silly at this point to say one way or another if Weiland will ever amount to much at the MLB level. He went 0-3 with a 7.66 ERA in seven appearances last season for the Red Sox. Maybe with less pressure in Houston and more time to grow, rather than being thrust into vital games right away, the former Notre Dame closer can be productive. Only time will tell on that one.

UPDATE 12/14: For once, Boston wasted no time in finding a replacement but in this case, it was one scrub for another as they signed utility infielder Nick Punto to a two-year, $3 million deal to essentially replace Lowrie.

A member of the 2011 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, Punto is 34-years-old and he's been in MLB for 11 seasons. For his career, he's played more than 250 games at three positions: second base, third base and shortstop.

He played in 63 regular season games for St. Louis and in 133 at bats last season with the Cardinals, he hit .278 with a .388 OBP and .421 SLG. Known mostly for his versatility and glove work, he also appeared in 15 playoff games so he earned his ring.

Punto's career began in Philly in 2001 before he went to Minnesota in 2003. The Twins are where he made his career, he spent seven seasons there before moving to St. Louis last offseason. Among active players with 2500 at bats, Punto has the second lowest slugging percentage (.327) which is only better than Cesar Izturis (.322).

He's dependable and tough (Lowrie's two biggest weaknesses) so there is little doubt that Red Sox fans will quickly fall in love with his style.

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Marco Scutaro Will Return To Boston In 2012

It will take years to get over the fallout from the 2010 season for the Boston Red Sox. However, at some point we all have to begin to move on.

Today was a start as the team made its first roster decision regarding one of its more notable free agents: shortstop Marco Scutaro will be back in 2012 as the Red Sox picked up his $6 million dollar team option.

There's a very short list of players that were completely unscathed by the 7-20 September. Alfredo Aceves, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon and Scutaro were from my point of view, the only players that seemed to consistently care about the results and/or put up strong individual performances admist all the Popeye's and beer stained drama.

Scutaro hit a career-best .299 for the 2011 season with seven homers and 54 RBIs. He also put up a .358 OBP with .423 slugging percentage, both career-highs. If that's not enough, he hit .387 in September which was third best in the American League.

Although Scutaro turned 36 on Sunday (shameless plug, my birthday too), he should be dependable next season (3rd in Boston, 11th in MLB) as well. Fingers crossed that Boston finally pulls the plug on the Jed Lowrie experiment (too injury prone, inconsistent, terrible defensively) while they wait for 21-year-old Jose Iglesias to learn how to become a better hitter in Pawtucket. His defense is MLB-ready, he just has no prayer at the plate right now.

The Red Sox have to decide before Monday night about a $3 million dollar team option on reliever Dan Wheeler (I think they'll let him go).

Eight other players: Erik Bedard (ha), J.D. Drew (haha), Conor Jackson (yeah right), Trever Miller (nope), David Ortiz (probably), Papelbon (most likely), Jason Varitek (please no) and Tim Wakefield (see Varitek) became free agents today and Boston has until Thursday at 12:01 a.m. to exclusively negotiate with them.

In other Red Sox news, they'll start interviewing manger candidates this week. First up, Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin and Brewers hitting coach (and former Red Sox third base coach) Dale Sveum. Granted, Terry Francona wasn't a big name when he got the job in 2004 but at least he had MLB managerial experience in Philadelphia before he took over in this pressure cooker. Please tell me they can do better than these bums.

UPDATE 10/31: The Red Sox declined to exercise Wheeler's option and he's a Type B free agent. Pap and Ortiz are Type A free agents, meaning that if they leave Boston receives a first-round pick and a sandwich pick from the club that signs them. If you lose a Type B free agent, you get a sandwich pick. Boston also declined an option on reliever Scott Atchison but he remains on the 40-man roster. You know he'll be back, making 50 trips between the Red Sox and PawSox next season and for the rest of his playing career.

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Just Calmly Admit To Yourself That It's Over And Life Will Be So Much Easier

There are two games left in the 2011 MLB regular season with the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays tied for the AL Wild Card.

Those are the facts but I'm here to tell you that's it over for the Red Sox (89-71) after tonight's 6-3 loss at Camden Yards to the Baltimore Orioles (68-92) which frittered away the last game of Boston's lead. Tampa Bay beat the Yankees 5-2.

I've never found myself basically rooting against one of the four Boston pro sports teams but that's what is has come to with this miserable operation. I want their season to be over so we can just get away from this team and hopefully make some big changes in the offseason (dumping John Lackey, Carl Crawford, etc.). They're mostly unlikable, they have no pulse and now, they're about to pull off one of the great September choke jobs in MLB history.

For the second time in less than a week, Josh Beckett (13-7) was not up to the task of beating the O's. The fraudulent Texas toughguy went six innings but he allowed six earned runs on seven hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

Boston staked Beckett to a 2-1 lead in the fourth, following Jacoby Ellsbury's RBI double in the second and Jed Lowrie's solo homer in the fourth (his sixth of the season).

Chris Davis (2 hits, 2 RBIs) tied it with an RBI single in the fifth and put his team ahead for good with an RBI double in the sixth. The biggest blow was an inside-the-park three-run homer by Robert Andino. For a team that has found new and different ways to lose since the calendar changed to September, this was a unique one even for them.

Jacoby Ellsbury had the ball in his glove in center field but it popped out as he ran basically full speed into the wall. That's the play all the old-timers will be talking about for years to come, that is assuming they are still watching this bunch of losers.

Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, walk) had an RBI single in the ninth as the Red Sox tried to rally but Adrian Gonzalez flew out for the second out and Lowrie struck out to end it when he represented the tying run with two runners on base.

David Ortiz and J.D. Drew each had two meaningless hits in the latest disastrous setback.

Matt Wieters tied it in the second for the Orioles with a solo homer. Tommy Hunter outdueled Beckett once again, proving that Beckett's big-game reputation doesn't really fit anymore. Hunter went five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

Troy Patton (2-1) got five outs for the win and four other Baltimore relievers followed him.

I would say this was a soul-crushing defeat for the Red Sox but that would be incorrectly assuming this team had one to begin with. They're an overpaid, underachieving bunch that should rightfully be taken apart this winter. Good riddance.

On the bright side, Erik Bedard faces Zach Britton tomorrow night as Boston tries to stave off all the negative momentum you could ever possibly imagine one team facing in the regular season.

Who knows who will be catching Bedard since Jason Varitek was a late scratch last night with a bruised knee (he was hit by a pitch on Sunday in New York) and Jarrod Saltalmacchia had to leave in the eighth inning after taking a foul ball off his collarbone.

Keep in mind that no MLB team has ever blown a nine-game lead (what Boston had) in September but then again, this squad hasn't won two games in a row since a day-night doubleheader vs. Oakland on August 27.

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The World Ends For A Few Hours & Then The Red Sox Crush The Orioles

The Boston Red Sox suffered one of their most soul-crushing defeats of the season this afternoon (6-5 to the Baltimore Orioles)-luckily few were probably watching-but they bounced back for an 18-9 win tonight at Fenway Park.

For my own sanity, I can't go into great deal about a pair of games started by Kyle Weiland (0-3) and John Lackey so I'll just talk about some assorted highlights for the Red Sox (88-66) and the Orioles (63-90).

The loss let New England simmer for most of the afternoon as Carl Crawford mysteriously sat out with a stiff neck (really dude?) and Boston's AL Wild Card lead fell to 1.5 games over the Tampa Bay Rays. The nightcap win allowed the Red Sox to go up two games on the idle Rays with eight games left in the regular season.

Jeremy Guthrie (9-17) a middling MLB pitcher but one of the best tweeters in baseball got the win in game one. He went six innings, allowing four earned runs on 10 hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

Baltimore grabbed an early 5-1 lead thanks to a two-run double by Matt Angle (Kurt's brother?) in the third and back-to-back homers by Robert Andino and Nolan Reimold-the 2004 Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz for the O's-in the fourth sandwiched around Darnell McDonald's solo shot.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit an RBI triple in the fourth to bring the Red Sox within 5-2 but J.J. Hardy's solo shot in the fifth turned out to be pivotal.

In the home half of the fifth, Adrian Gonzalez's (2 hits, 2 RBIs) RBI double plated Marco Scutaro (3 hits, 2 runs) and Dustin Pedroia's RBI triple scored Gonzo. Gonzalez's run-scoring single in the seventh brought Boston within 6-5 but Jim Johnson got a 1-2-3 ninth in seven pitches for his seventh save of the season.

Alfredo Aceves' three scoreless innings in relief were enough to make Ortiz wonder why his Mexican pal doesn't get some more spot starts, I don't know instead of Weiland?

The Red Sox tied a season-high for runs in the second game that like every game in the last few weeks, was a must-win. Thankfully, save for last Friday night, they actually decided to come out on top in one of those.

Lackey did his best to give it away immediately, allowing three runs in the first but the Red Sox responded with four in the first including a three-run shot by Jed Lowrie (his fifth of the season) off O's youngster Brian Matusz who has had a nightmarish season (10.68 ERA).

With two in the second and five in the third, Boston opened it up to an 11-5 advantage but as always, that wasn't good enough for Lackey. He left in the fifth with Baltimore closing to a three-run deficit (11-8). The O's added a run in the sixth before the hometown team exploded for seven in the seventh including two of the most exciting plays in baseball.

Jacoby Ellsbury (3 runs, 3 hits, 2 RBIs) hit his first career inside-the-park homer (his 28th of the season) as a shot to the triangle got away from Baltimore's center and left fielders. After RBI singles by Pedroia (4 RBIs, 3 hits, 2 runs) and Lowrie (4 RBIs, 3 runs, 2 hits), Conor Jackson cranked a grand slam (his fifth homer of the season; first with Boston) over the Monster. It only took a few weeks but Jackson finally did something for his latest club. He also made a great diving catch earlier in the tilt.

Scutaro (3 hits, 3 runs, 2 RBIs) continued to get on base, even hitting from the two-hole with Crawford MIA. Gonzalez added three more hits and Ortiz had two runs, two hits and an RBI.

Scott Atchison (1-0) got the win by cleaning up Lackey's mess with four straight outs in the fifth and sixth.

Erik Bedard returns from his own shady injury break to face Rick VandenHurk tomorrow night. Who the hell knows what to expect at this point? The Rays and Yankees have a four-game series starting tomorrow including a day-night doubleheader of their own on Wednesday, fun times. Baseball!

After losing this afternoon, I was resigned to watching my team completely fade but tonight's win gave me a temporary elixir to believe that they can do this-mostly because they play Baltimore five more times.

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CC Sabathia Finally Solves The Red Sox In 2011

It's almost impossible to win at any level of baseball when you leave 16 runners on base. Even more so when you face CC Sabathia and your team counters with John Lackey.

Sabathia (18-7) finally got over his funk against Boston (0-4) coming into tonight as the Yankees (81-52) climbed within half a game of the Red Sox (82-52) with a 5-2 win at Fenway Park.

The series opening win gave New York some early momentum heading into the last series at Fenway in the regular season between the rivals while also cutting the season series to 10-3 in favor of Boston.

It made sense that after struggling so much against the Red Sox that Sabathia would eventually pitch as well against them as he does vs. the rest of MLB. It took a season-high 128 pitches just to get through six innings. He allowed two earned runs on 10 hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts (including Adrian Gonzalez three times) in a bizarre outing.

Lackey (12-10) threw nearly as many pitches (119) in one more inning of work. That amount of pitches from the starters alone is the main reason why this contest took place at the standard glacial pace for Red Sox-Yankees (3:59). Lackey allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

Eric Chavez and Francisco Cervelli were unlikely heroes that turned in nice performances in the win. Chavez had RBI singles in the second and fourth (sandwiched around an RBI double by Robinson Cano) for a 3-0 Yankees lead.

Two equally unexpected guys cut it to 3-2 for the Red Sox in the fourth. Carl Crawford (2 hits, walk) hit a solo homer (his 10th of the season) and Marco Scutaro (2 hits) had an RBI double.

Cervelli hit a solo bomb in the fifth (his second career home run) and was going crazy around the bases which led to Lackey plunking him to start the seventh. Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild was tossed after the benches cleared (but nothing happened) and manager Joe Girardi was ejected in the ninth for arguing about Jarrod Saltalamacchia swinging when he got hit by a Mariano Rivera pitch.

It was a testy night as Jacoby Ellsbury was hit by Sabathia and Matt Albers plunked Jorge Posada.

Jed Lowrie had three hits and David Ortiz had two hits in the loss.

Cory Wade got an out in the seventh and Boone Logan had the last two outs in the frame, paving the way for Rafael Soriano (scoreless eighth) and Rivera who got his 35th save thanks in part to a bogus strikeout of Lowrie (two ultra shaky called strikes).

Albers was a bright spot as he got the last two outs of the eighth to keep Boston within three runs. He needed a positive outing like that since he's gone off a cliff in August. Alfredo Aceves also had a 1-2-3 ninth in four pitches.

Phil Hughes faces Josh Beckett tomorrow night in a matchup that clearly favors the Red Sox. Beckett has owned the Yankees this year although as Sabathia showed, things can change when you face a team so much.

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Andrew Miller Returns From Nowhere And Submits His Best Performance Of The Season

Andrew Miller hadn't made a start since July 31. He had only come out of the bullpen twice since then so it would be easy to excuse him for having a poor start tonight against the Kansas City Royals.

Instead, Miller (5-1) put up his best effort of the season as the Boston Red Sox won 7-1 at Kaufman Stadium (home of the 2012 MLB All-Star Game), their second victory in as many nights in Missouri.

Terry Francona wanted to hold Miller to a Little League World Series style 85 pitches and thankfully, the lefty was efficient with his pitches for once (departing after 83). He went 5.1 innings, allowing one earned run on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

The Red Sox (76-48) were able to get to Royals (51-75) starter Jeff Francis (4-14), like seemingly everyone else in MLB that has faced the former Colorado Rockie this year.

In five innings, the soft-throwing Canadian allowed five earned runs on 11 hits with two walks (both intentional to Dustin Pedroia) and a strikeout. What are the odds Francis and Bruce Chen's lockers are next to each other in the Royals clubhouse? They have so much in common, namely throwing junk and looking out of place at the highest level of baseball.

Despite a lineup that was without David Ortiz (heel) and Kevin Youkilis (on the DL with a back injury), Boston was able to churn out 13 hits led by Adrian Gonzalez (3 for 4, RBI), who snapped an 0-for-14 slump in style (are you listening Carl Crawford?) and Jed Lowrie (3 hits, run, walk).

Former Royal Mike Aviles added two hits, a run and a stolen base while rookie Ryan Lavarnway-a Yale product-got his first MLB hit with his family in the crowd.

Alex Gordon's sacrifice fly in the third gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead but Boston went ahead once and for all with two in the fourth. Darnell McDonald hit an RBI triple which scored Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury knocked in McDonald with a sacrifice fly.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia put it in the win column with a three-run homer (his 12th of the season) in the fifth off Francis.

The Red Sox pushed across two more runs in the eighth on Gonzalez's sacrifice fly and a Royals error.

Alfredo Aceves picked up his second save of the season after going 3.2 innings, allowing only one hit and one walk with three strikeouts. His 45 pitches means he's probably done for a few days but as always he did yeoman's work by saving the rest of Boston's bullpen in what turned out to be a lopsided win.

The Yankees smoked the Twins 8-1, meaning the Red Sox remain .5 games behind New York for first-place in the AL East and that all important division crown.

For the fifth time, Tim Wakefield goes for career win number 200 tomorrow night. Kansas City will start Felipe Paulino (1-9) but I'm not going to jinx it, just going to post his awesome win-loss record and let you draw your own conclusions.

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Three Red Sox Homers Help Them Survive John Lackey's Usual Mediocrity

The Seattle Mariners might have the worst offense in the American League but don't tell that to John Lackey.

Nope, it took everything he had to hold off the M's (50-67) as the Red Sox (73-44) won 6-4 tonight at Safeco Field in the series opener in the Pacific Northwest.

It was Lackey's (11-8) sixth straight win in seven decisions which is probably the most misleading statistic in the history of sports. Every player in Boston's lineup had a hit as they continue to dominate the woeful Mariners.

In six plus innings, Lackey allowed four earned runs on 10 hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Seattle rookie starter Blake Beaven (3-3) was shelled. In 6.1 innings, he allowed six earned runs on 11 hits with a walk and a strikeout.

Nine Mariners have made their MLB debuts this season, the highest total of any team, so clearly this is a team that's building for the future. With hitters like Dustin Ackley (2 hits, RBI, walk) and Mike Carp (3 hits, 3 RBIs), Seattle has two studs to build around. Justin Smoak will also probably be good but he caught a tough break-no pun intended-when Jarrod Saltalamacchia's (2 hits, run) grounder took a wicked hop and broke his nose in the second inning.

Carp gave the M's a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run single which scored Ichiro and Franklin Gutierrez.

David Ortiz's 24th homer of the season cut it to 2-1 in the second and Mike Aviles tied it later in the frame with a sacrifice fly (scoring Carl Crawford).

Ackley put Seattle ahead again with an RBI single in the second and Carp increased it to 4-2 in the fourth with an RBI double.

Jed Lowrie's fourth homer of the season (his first left-handed and first since April 20) brought Boston within 4-3 in the fifth and Josh Reddick provided the night's biggest hit with a two-run bomb off a window in right during the sixth.

Ortiz added an insurance run with an RBI single in the seventh that plated Adrian Gonzalez (2 hits; MLB-leading 52nd multi-hit game).

As it became a battle of the bullpens, predictably the Red Sox held on as Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon both had solid outings. Bard got four outs including three strikeouts (his 27th hold of the season) while Papelbon recorded his 27th save.

The Muddy Chicken himself-Dustin Pedroia-had two hits and a stolen base in the win as well. Great story about him in this week's Sports Illustrated, haha it explains the hilarious origin of his latest nickname.

Josh Beckett faces Felix Herandez tomorrow night in what promises to be a low-scoring pitcher's duel, in other words the exact opposite of tonight's proceedings.

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Red Sox put a bow on best nine-game road trip in 34 years

The Boston Red Sox return home from an extremely successful road trip, 8-1 over the nine games in New York, Toronto and Tampa Bay.

Last night, Boston (41-27) closed out the Rays (36-33) with a 4-2 win at Tropicana Field. The nine-game road trip was Boston's best in 34 years and they come into Fenway Park and a stretch of 15 interleague games having won 11 of their last 12 games.

The only negative things to come out of last night were the fact that Jed Lowrie is likely headed to the disabled list (not a huge deal) and Clay Buchholz's creaky back is acting up again (which could possibly shelve him).

Buchholz (6-3) was pitching well when he was forced to depart after five innings. He allowed one earned run on two hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Rays starter-and one of the my favorite pro athletes on Twitter-David Price (7-6) continued his up and down season (trust me, I have him in Fantasy Baseball). He labored through five innings, throwing 106 pitches and allowing three earned runs on five hits with five walks and five strikeouts.

David Ortiz got the Red Sox on the board in the first with a bases-loaded walk. Darnell McDonald extended the lead to 2-0 in the third with an RBI single and then Dustin Pedroia drove him in with an RBI double.

Sam Fuld (2 hits), one of the only good things to ever come out of New Hampshire, had an RBI double in the third as Tampa Bay cut it to 3-1.

Casey Kotchman (2 hits) made it interesting with a solo home run off Alfredo Aceves in the sixth to make it 3-2 Boston.

Daniel Bard secured the hold with the last out in the seventh and a 1-2-3 eighth. Adrian Gonzalez (2 hits, 2 walks) gave Boston an insurance run in the ninth with his 14th homer of the season off Rays closer Kyle Farnsworth.

Jonathan Papelbon gave up two hits to start the ninth but he recovered to get three straight outs (the last two on strikeouts) for his 13th save of the season.

The Milwaukee Brewers are coming to Boston for only the second time since they went to the National League in 1998 and I couldn't be more thrilled. The Brew Crew are one of baseball's best teams this year but they're never on national TV. Looking forward to seeing Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks and Co. up close.

Interleague play started out as a gimmick but I see it as a welcome diversion from the boring monotony of baseball's way too long regular season. After facing the Brewers, the San Diego Padres (Gonzalez's former team) come to Fenway. Then the Red Sox travel to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Houston. It also helps that Boston has the best record (97-50 since 2003) during interleague play in the last nine seasons.

This couldn't come at a better time since all the focus in New England is finally on the Red Sox after the Bruins won the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night. It's going to take some time to adjust to how boring baseball is compared to playoff hockey (and basketball) but we've got all summer to get reacquainted.

Former Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum (who is sneaky good) opposes John Lackey tonight.

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Adrian Gonzalez's first walk-off hit as a member of the Boston Red Sox

If the Boston Red Sox go anywhere this season, I can guarantee that highlights of last night's improbable victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park will be featured prominently.

Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run double off the Monster in the bottom of the ninth off Orioles closer Kevin Gregg giving Boston (21-20) its fourth straight win, 8-7 over Baltimore (19-21).

The Daisuke Matsuzaka experience was in full effect during a miserable, rainy night. He went 4.1 innings, allowing five hits, five earned runs, seven walks and two strikeouts. I don't know who they could put in his rotation spot but hopefully the Red Sox brass can come up with another fake injury and they can give him a seat next to John Lackey on the disabled list.

The Orioles built up a 6-0 lead with two runs in the first, one in the third, two in the fifth and one in the sixth.

Derrek Lee had an RBI double in the first and Vlad Guerrero (3 hits, 2 runs) drove in a run with a ground out. Matt Wieters had an RBI single in the third, Mark Reynolds had an RBI single in the fifth and J.J. Hardy drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Finally, Adam Jones had an RBI single in the sixth.

After Orioles starter Chris Tillman pitched five scoreless innings, Jed Lowrie (2 hits, 2 runs) got the comeback underway with an RBI double in the sixth. Jason Varitek and Gonzalez added RBI singles in the frame and Kevin Youkilis roped an two-run RBI double to pull the Red Sox within a run at 6-5.

Reynolds hit a solo homer to center off Boston reliever Alfredo Aceves (1-0) in the seventh to give the Orioles a 7-5 lead. It turned out to be the only mistake for Aceves as he went three innings for the win. He allowed two hits and struck out one for his first win with the Red Sox.

Varitek cut it to 7-6 in the seventh with another RBI single.

Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits) walked and stole second with one out in the ninth against Gregg. Pedroia worked a nine-pitch walk, setting the table for Gonzalez's sweet stroke off the Wall.

Tim Wakefield gets the ball tonight in place of Lackey. The O's counter with young lefty Zach Britton (5-2). Boston looks to sweep the two-game set and continue this stretch of good baseball.

Another lengthy rain delay but Red Sox decide to win this one

I don't know when Boston turned into Seattle in terms of rain but this has been a rough stretch for the Red Sox both on the field and with the weather.

They battled another rain delay over two hours (two hours and seven minutes) yesterday afternoon but blanked the Twins 4-0 at Fenway Park thanks to a nice effort from Clay Buchholz.

Buchholz (3-3) started the game and surprisingly returned to the mound in the top of the third after the rain delay ended. He threw five scoreless innings, allowing two hits, one walk and he struck out six.

Minnesota starter Brian Duensing (2-2) was yanked after two innings. He allowed three hits, one earned run, one walk and two strikeouts and picked up the loss despite throwing just 33 pitches.

Jacoby Ellsbury (2 RBIs, run), Kevin Youkilis (RBI), Carl Crawford (run) and Marco Scutaro all had two hits in the much-needed win for the Red Sox (15-18), which snapped a three-game losing streak.

Jed Lowrie gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single which drove in Ellsbury.

Youkilis drove in Adrian Gonzalez in the third with an RBI single of his own.

Ellsbury put it out of reach for the Twins with a two-run single in the eighth. Jarrod Saltlamacchia and Crawford scored on the play.

Boston's bullpen came through with four scoreless innings of work. Rich Hill (sixth), Matt Albers (seventh), Daniel Bard (eighth) and Jonathan Papelbon (ninth) combined to allow only one hit with one walk and four strikeouts.

Daisuke Matsuzaka opposes Carl Pavano today in a Mother's Day matinee.

Three aces down, Red Sox are on a roll

It took a full month for the Boston Red Sox to get on track in 2011 but thankfully baseball seasons are way too long anyways.

For the third straight night they faced an ace last night in Dan Haren. Like Felix Hernandez and Jered Weaver before him, he was decent but he couldn't completely quiet Boston's offense in a 7-3 Red Sox (14-15) win at Fenway Park.

Jon Lester (4-1) showed that his early season struggles seem to be a thing of the past. The ace in Boston's rotation went seven innings, allowing six hits, one earned run with a walk and 11 strikeouts.

Haren (4-2) suffered his second loss to the Red Sox in less than two weeks. He went seven innings, allowing nine hits, four earned runs with eight strikeouts.

Boston's lineup produced double digit hits (12) for the second straight game. Adrian Gonzalez (2 RBIs), David Ortiz, Jed Lowrie, Marco Scutaro (2 RBIs) and Carl Crawford all had two hits in the win.

Mark Trumbo gave the Angels (16-14) their only lead of the game, with a solo homer in the top of the first.

Gonzalez knocked in Jacoby Ellsbury with an RBI single in the sixth and Lowrie put Boston ahead 2-1 with an RBI single later in the frame that scored Gonzalez.

Haren started to falter in the seventh as Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit an RBI double that drove in Crawford.

There's a reason the Red Sox are 15-1 (6-0 this season) in their last 16 games against the Angels since they find every conceivable way to beat them.

Gonzalez's solo homer in the eighth knocked Haren out of the game. Ortiz and Scutaro (two-run) broke it open with homers in the inning as Boston went ahead 7-1.

Jonathan Papelbon came on in a non-save situation and did what every closer has to do in such an event: shit the bed. Erick Aybar had an RBI double and Trumbo had a sacrifice fly.

On the plus side, Daniel Bard had a scoreless eighth on nine pitches.

It's raining now and supposed to rain tonight so we'll see if Josh Beckett vs. Ervin Santana takes place as scheduled.

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.

Dice-K on Marathon Monday, the reverse lock of all-time comes through

When we last saw Daisuke Matsuzaka, he was reduced to a lonely puddle on the mound at Fenway Park after get shellacked by the Tampa Bay Rays.

So of course, when his start was pushed back and he closed out Boston's long homestand with a Marathon Monday outing against the Toronto Blue Jays, he was outstanding.

Dice-K (1-1) allowed one hit in seven innings, walked one and struck out three in one of his most dominating and mystifying starts of his Jekyll and Hyde MLB career.

As I said last season, I'm done expecting anything of Dice-K or trying to predict what he'll do since he's the ultimate trick or treat pitcher.

Yesterday's 9-1 Red Sox (5-10) win on Patriot's Day, allowed them to win three of four from the Blue Jays (7-9), and hit the road (9-game, 10 day trip) on a good note.

For whatever reason, Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero (1-2) is a very good pitcher against everyone but Boston. Like always, the young lefty struggled. He gave up eight hits, five earned runs, five walks and four strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work.

The Red Sox pounded out a season-high 13 hits led by Jed Lowrie (4 hits, 4 RBIs, 2 runs), Kevin Youkilis (2 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) and Jacoby Ellsbury, who all hit home runs.

The red hot Lowrie continued to crush the ball, get started early with a two-run single in the first that scored J.D. Drew and Dustin Pedroia for a 2-0 lead.

David Ortiz's RBI single in the third made it 3-0 and scored Youk.

Lowrie hit a two-run homer in the fifth (scoring Ortiz) over the Monster.

Earlier Youk had a double off the top of the bullpen wall in right so it was only fair that he hit a two-run homer in the sixth (that scored Adrian Gonzalez). Carl Crawford broke his horrendous slump with an RBI double that scored Lowrie and made it 8-0 later in the sixth.

Ellsbury's solo shot in the seventh opened it up to 9-0.

Yunel Escobar broke the shutout with a garbage time solo home run off Tim Wakefield in the ninth.

Boston has two games in Oakland, four in Anaheim and then three in Baltimore. It's a long trip but against three teams that they should beat.

John Lackey gets the ball tonight against A's young stud Brett Anderson. Lackey last pitched on Opening Day at Fenway so hopefully seeing an old AL West foe will allow him to be half decent. It's asking a lot, I know.

A new and improved Jed Lowrie

When you get off to a 2-10 start, tying the worst start in franchise history, you will take any spark you can get.

Jed Lowrie stepped to the forefront yesterday for the Red Sox (3-10) as he led off and continued his run as Boston's only hot hitter in a 4-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays (7-7) at Fenway Park.

After an early career littered with crazy injuries and sicknesses (mono?), Lowrie has earned his playing time and deserves to play every day at shortstop over the useless, worn out Marco Scutaro.

Yesterday, Lowrie had three hits (including a two-run homer), two RBIs and two runs.

Coupled with another fine start from Josh Beckett (2-1) and that was enough to get the win. Beckett went seven innings, allowing three hits, one earned run with two walks and nine strikeouts.

On a freezing cold afternoon at Fenway (game-time temperature 39 degrees), Toronto starter Jo-Jo Reyes (0-2) struggled with his control. He could only go three innings, allowing seven hits, four earned runs with five walks and three strikeouts.

Beckett's work allowed Terry Francona to line up his bullpen in the best possible fashion with Daniel Bard pitching a scoreless eighth (1 hit, 1 strikeout) and Jonathan Papelbon (1 hit, 1 strikeout) wrapping it up for his second save of the season.

Adrian Gonzalez gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with an RBI single which drove in Lowrie. Kevin Youkilis followed that with an RBI double which plated Gonzalez.

Travis Snider cut it to 2-1 in the top of the second with an RBI double for the Blue Jays which scored Aaron Hill.

Lowrie hit his two-run homer in the bottom of the second, just over the Monster. Jacoby Ellsbury scored ahead of him.

The Red Sox look to start their first win streak of 2011 today as Jon Lester takes on Jesse Litsch.

Getting worse by the day

You can't win a pennant in April but you can lose one if you dig yourselves too deep of a hole.

The Boston Red Sox in 2011 are currently a case study to see how poorly they can start and still compete for the AL East title.

For the second time in a row, Jon Lester (0-1) pitched well enough to win but didn't since his teammates couldn't score him enough runs in a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park last night.

Lester went seven innings, giving up seven hits and three earned runs with two walks and eight strikeouts.

Tampa Bay (3-8) ace David Price (1-2) was just a notch better going 7.1 innings and giving up five hits and two earned runs with two walks and three strikeouts.

Boston (2-9) has the worst record in MLB and they're living up to that billing by finding a million different ways to lose every game.

Daniel Bard pitched a scoreless eighth and Bobby Jenks threw a 1-2-3 ninth with a strikeout but the Red Sox couldn't get to Joel Paralta (1 out) or Kyle Farnsworth, who struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save of the season.

Terry Francona loaded his lineup with righthanded bats to face Price and it paid off when Darnell McDonald hit a solo homer in the third for a 1-0 Boston lead.

Granite State folk hero Sam Fuld tied it up in the fifth with a ground out and Johnny Damon (2 hits) had the game-winning hit, a two-run double following Fuld in the fifth.

Jed Lowrie (2 hits) cut it to 3-2 with an RBI double in the sixth but that's all Boston could muster.

The series finale is scheduled for tonight with John Lackey facing James Shields but I doubt it happens since it's been pouring all day.

Don't know which is better for the Red Sox right now: to sit around for a day and here how bad they are or try to get a game in with Lackey pitching. Either way, not good options.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia is no Russell Martin

Over the winter, the Boston Red Sox had the chance to pick up former Dodgers All-Star catcher Russell Martin.

Coming off injury-plagued seasons, he could have been had for cheap money but the New York Yankees snatched him up and gave him the starting job as Jorge Posada was shifted to DH.

The Red Sox chose to go with Jarrod Saltalamacchia (don't ask me why) and Jason Varitek as the backup.

Only eight games into the 2011 season and that seemingly minor decision has already completely blown up in Boston's face.

Martin had two home runs yesterday and four RBIs as New York (5-3) beat Boston (1-7) 9-4 yesterday afternoon at Fenway Park.

Saltalamacchia doesn't call a good game as far as I can tell and he can't hit a lick. So yeah, don't ask me what Theo Epstein and Co. were thinking there.

Clay Buchholz (0-2) faced Ivan Nova and surprisingly, Buchholz was worse. He only went 3.2 innings, giving up eight hits, five runs (four earned), three walks and two strikeouts.

Nova wasn't much better: 4.1 innings, seven hits, four earned runs, three walks, three strikeouts.

The Yankees jumped ahead 2-0 in the second inning on a groundout by Nick Swisher and an RBI double by Eric Chavez (3 hits).

Kevin Youkilis' groundout cut it to 2-1 in the third but Martin's three-run homer made it 5-1 in the fourth.

Boston had one last comeback attempt with three runs in the fourth. Jacoby Ellsbury had an RBI groundout and Dustin Pedroia (3 hits, 2 RBIs) added a two-run double. Once again, Pedroia is the only Red Sox hitter that was able to come through with a big hit in a big spot. Hopefully his clutchness becomes contagious soon.

Three more homers from the Yankees ended it. Curtis Granderson had a two-run bomb in the fifth while Robinson Cano (3 hits, 2 runs) and Martin had solo shots in the sixth and seventh respectively.

Josh Beckett takes on CC Sabathia tonight in a Sunday night game that is basically must-win for the Red Sox. That's not good news either since the pitching matchup is really shaky for Boston.

Does this look like the face of the bozo that leads MLB in blown saves?

Once upon a time Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon was one of the best in baseball at his position.

Those days seem long gone as he continues to scuffle, blowing his AL-leading sixth game yesterday afternoon in Toronto as the Blue Jays (60-54) shocked the Sox (66-50) 6-5 in the series finale at the Rogers Centre.

It's hard to overstate how important this game was: Boston led 5-2 going into the ninth and they had the chance to sweep a pretty decent team on the road and gain half a game on the idle Rays.

For once John Lackey deserved better: he went eight plus innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits with a walk and four strikeouts. With a low pitch count, he went back out to start the ninth but promptly gave up a solo homer to Jose Bautista (who's your dealer bro?).

Enter Papelbon (4-5) who gave up three earned runs on four hits before he was mercifully pulled by Terry Francona.

After Vernon Wells (2 hits) double on the first pitch by Papelbon, Adam Lind (2 hits) singled up the middle to cut it to 5-4. Edwin Encarnacion tied it up with a double down the left field line. After a strikeout and an intentional walk, Daniel Bard came on but Fred Lewis delivered a sacrifice fly which scored Aaron Hill with the winning run.

Against scrub minor leaguer (a spot starter) Brad Mills, the Red Sox teed off. Victor Martinez (2 hits) began the barrage with a sacrifice fly in the third. David Ortiz made it 2-0 in the next at bat with an RBI single.

Toronto got one back in the fourth when a run scored on Lind's double play ball.

Jed Lowrie and Ortiz hit solo shots in the fifth to get Mills out of the game.

Another run scored for the Blue Jays in the sixth on Bautista's double play.

Things looked fine though as Darnell McDonald (2 hits) had an RBI triple in the eighth which scored Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2 hits) to make it 5-2.

Boston wraps up this road trip with three in Texas, beginning with Josh Beckett vs. 9-1 Tommy Hunter tonight. The Rangers are a very good team and it's always though to play in the Texas heat this time of year.

It'll be interesting to see what happens if the Sox find themselves in a save situation tonight. Bard only threw two pitches yesterday while Papelbon labored through 19 that felt like 40. Francona will stay with a player until his arm falls off so don't expect him to do anything drastic for a long time.

New York (who won last night) are six games ahead of Boston and Tampa Bay is four games ahead of the Sox in the AL wild card.

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.