Remind Me Again Why Franklin Morales Isn't In The Red Sox Rotation Full-Time?

Never fear folks, Franklin Morales (3-2) won't let the Red Sox get swept by the lowly Twins in the worst series so far of the neverending 2012 season.

He went six superb innings (1 run, 3 hits, 4 strikeouts, 3 walks) in his first start since July 13 as Boston (54-55, 28-32 home) held on for a 6-4 win vs. Minnesota (47-61, 24-29 away) this afternoon at Fenway Park. The Red Sox snapped a four-game losing streak overall and they had lost the first three games to the Twins.

Vicente Padilla did his best Alfredo Aceves impression from Saturday's night's debacle as he allowed a solo homer to Josh Willingham (28th of the season) and a two-run bomb to Ryan Doumit (11th of the season) in the ninth that made a 6-1 game 6-4 in the blink of an eye. Luckily, Aceves shook off his struggles to get a 1-2-3 ninth (on 9 pitches) for his 23rd save of the season. That ability to bounce back sums up his main talent-he's fearless and incredibly durable.

Birthday boy Carl Crawford (who turned 31 on Sunday) had a solid performance, going 3-for-5 with two runs, an RBI and a stolen base. Best of all for the impatient Crawford, he saw a team-high 22 pitches. Adrian Gonzalez (3 RBIs, run, walk), Cody Ross, Will Middlebrooks (stolen base) and Mike Aviles (run, walk) all had two hits in the win as Boston outhit Minnesota 14-6.

The Red Sox scored twice in the third on Crawford's groundout and Gonzalez's RBI single. Ben Revere (hit, stolen base, 19-game hitting streak, 1 incredible over-the-shoulder catch) got the Twins on the board with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, cutting it to 2-1.

Gonzalez hit a two-run homer (his 11th of the season) over the Monster in the fifth, Ross had a run-scoring single in the seventh and Jacoby Ellsbury tacked on a sacrifice fly in the eighth. Is it too soon to lock up Ross with a multi-year deal before he becomes a free agent this winter? He's earned that pay day.

Things are about to get real at Fenway as the American League's best team-tied with the Yankees-comes to town. The Texas Rangers (63-44, 1st in AL West) play the Red Sox three times to end Boston's longest homestand (10 games) of 2012. The Red Sox lost two of three in the Lonestar State two weeks ago and looking at the pitching matchups, I fully expect a sweep by the two-time defending AL champions.

Aaron Cook (2-5) faces Yu Darvish (11-7) tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., NESN), Jon Lester (5-9) gets new Ranger Ryan Dempster (5-5) on Tuesday night (7:10 p.m., NESN) then the Texas Toughguy (5-9) is scheduled to oppose Matt Harrison (13-6) on Wednesday afternoon (1:35 p.m., NESN) if his bad back and fat ass will allow it.

In other Twins-Red Sox news, the teams made a minor trade this afternoon as Minnesota dealt third baseman Danny Valencia to Boston for Single A outfielder Jeremias Pineda. Valencia had a promising rookie season in 2010 (7 homers, 40 RBIs, .311 batting average in 85 games) and reasonably productive 2011 (15 homers, 72 RBIs in 154 games) but he fell off the map this season (.198 in 34 games). He will report to Pawtucket and look for him to get called up September 1 when the rosters expand.

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Red Sox Win A Laugher Over The Twins, 11-2

Can you imagine how many games the Red Sox would win every season if they played in the AL Central?

That's all I can think about after they pounded the Minnesota Twins (5-13, 2-6 home) 11-2 tonight at Target Field for their second consecutive win in the series. The funny part is that the Twins aren't even the worst team in their division, that would be the Royals who have already lost 12 straight.

If Boston (6-10, 3-5 away) played Cleveland, Chicago, Minnesota and Kansas City way more every year, it wouldn't even be entertaining. I guess in a perverse way, I'm happy that they are the AL East-still MLB's best division-since I enjoy good competition. Blowouts might be cool when you are a kid but not when you get older.

Led by new lead-off hitter extraordinaire Mike Aviles (4 hits, 3 runs, 2 RBIs), the Red Sox pounded out 18 hits meaning that they have 30 over the last two nights. Adrian Gonzalez was 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs, David Ortiz had three RBIs, two hits and a run while Ryan Sweeney (run, RBI), Kevin Youkilis and Marlon Byrd (run) all had two hits. Dustin Pedroia scored two runs.

Josh Willingham (who's going on paternity leave tomorrow) had two doubles, Denard Span had two hits and Jamey Carroll scored twice.

Josh Beckett (2-2) was staked to a 3-0 lead in the first and he benefited from two more in the third and two more in the fourth against Nick Blackburn (0-2). The Texas Toughguy struggled with his command and lost his composure with home plate umpire Adrian Johnson but only allowed one run in the first despite throwing nearly 40 pitches.

After an even 100 pitches, Beckett was done after six innings. He allowed two earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks.

Blackburn was rocked; in three innings, he allowed five earned runs on eight hits with two strikeouts and a walk.

Sweeney and Ortiz had RBI singles in the first and Cody Ross drove in a run with a ground out. Justin Morneau got a run back by walking with the bases loaded in the home half of the first but Beckett managed to strike out Ryan Doumit and get Danny Valencia to ground out. Commence barking at Johnson.

The Red Sox really opened it up as Ortiz crushed a two-run homer to right in the third, his third of the season, then Aviles roped a solo shot just fair to left in the following frame to make it 6-1. Gonzalez also had an RBI single in the fourth.

Aviles, Pedroia and Gonzalez all had RBI doubles in the fifth before the Twins finally scored another lone run in the fifth on Willingham's RBI double.

Pinch hitter Lars Anderson scored in the eighth on Darnell McDonald's (another pinch hitter) ground out.

This was exactly what the Red Sox needed after last night's nail-biter, an easy win against an overmatched opponent. Their lineup dominated, Beckett worked through some early trouble and the only relievers used were Scott Atchison and Matt Albers.

Boston will go for the sweep tomorrow night with another pitching matchup that really favors them: Clay Buchholz (1-1) faces rookie Liam Hendriks (0-0). Yes, Buchholz has been awful and no I don't know one thing about Hendriks but this is a layup against a pathetic lineup and team. It is a game that Clay has to win if he wants to start getting his season on the right path.

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Well This Has Certainly Become Painful, Wakefield Goes Sixth Straight Start Without Picking Up Win No. 200

At what point do we agree that the novelty of reaching a milestone in baseball has worn off and it's time to pull the plug on a player's seemingly futile quest?

In the case of Tim Wakefield and the Boston Red Sox, that day gets closer and closer as he started his sixth straight game on the cusp of 200 career wins and once again he couldn't get it done.

This would be one thing if Dr. Creepy and Co. were trying to milk some more money out of Red Sox Nation but this team is in the middle of a pennant race (that means so much for determining playoff opponents).

This one was over early tonight as the Oakland A's (60-71) put a damper on what should be a long couple days with a 15-5 win over the Red Sox (80-51).

Boston got a run in the first as Adrian Gonzalez drove in Jacoby Ellsbury (2 runs, 2 hits, stolen base) for a 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately, Oakland didn't let yesterday's ridiculous loss to the Yankees affect them as they scored twice in the second inning and six times in the fourth. David DeJesus (3 RBIs, 2 runs, 2 hits) and Cliff Pennington (3 hits, 2 RBIs) had RBI singles in the second before the roof completely caved in on Wake and the Red Sox.

Scott Sizemore and Josh Willingham had two-run homers, sandwiched around a two-run single by Hideki Matsui.

That was it for Wakefield (6-6) as he departed after four depressing innings. He allowed eight runs (four earned) on eight hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

Dustin Pedroia (17th of the season) and David Ortiz (3 hits; 26th of the season) went back-to-back in the fourth, giving Boston some hope that they could comeback on Gio Gonzalez (11-11) and the A's but it wasn't to be.

Gonzalez wasn't particularly good but compared to Wakefield, he looked like Cliff Lee. In 5.2 innings, he allowed four earned runs on seven hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Things got even more embarrassing in the late innings as Oakland piled up insurance runs (1 in the seventh, 4 in the eighth) on Scott Atchison (recalled from Pawtucket) and Matt Albers (4 earned runs). It was so bad that Darnell McDonald was summoned to pitch in the ninth and Willingham greeted him with a two-run double.

Josh Reddick got a two-run double of his own in the ninth, maybe that will get him going at the plate again. He's been lifeless lately.

Tomorrow promises to be a long day at Fenway, weather permitting. Jon Lester faces Guillermo Moscoso at high noon while Erik Bedard and rookie Graham Godfrey will try to conclude the shortened series at 5 p.m. before Hurricane Irene wreeks havoc on Massachusetts.

The Yankees similarly got smoked tonight, at Baltimore, so the Red Sox are still up a game on their main rivals in the AL East.

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