Edward Mujica Picked the Right Day to Shit The Bed

If ever there was a day for the Red Sox to fall apart in the ninth inning with very few repercussions, this was it. You see today was the final celebration of the 2013 World Champions as Boston faced Milwaukee in its 2014 home opener at Fenway Park. It was a perfect celebration with the ring ceremony while Boston Marathon victims and the Boston firefighters that were killed last week were all honored as well.

A 2-2 game heading into the ninth turned into a 6-2 win for the Brewers (2-2) after they hung four runs on Edward Mujica in the ninth. In truth, the Red Sox (2-2) had no business winning this game anyway as they only managed five hits as a team. They continued to struggle with runners on base, going 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and leaving five on base.

Jake Peavy still looked very hittable but he went six innings and only allowed two earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Something called Marco Estrada basically matched him (5.2 innings, 2 runs, 4 hits, 6 strikeouts, 3 walks). Milwaukee's underrated catcher Jonathan Lucroy (double, 2 walks) hit a solo homer in the second inning and Carlos Gomez (4 singles) added an RBI single for a 2-0 Brewers lead.

Boston tied it on an RBI single by Ted Williams I mean Grady Sizemore in the second followed by a solo homer for Will Middlebrooks in the third. His first homer of the season went over the Monster, no doubt somewhere Jenny "Boom Boom" Dell smiled while shooting a show on NESN that'll never air. Former Brewers reliever Burke Badenhop (fantastic name) pitched two scoreless innings in his Red Sox debut. Mujica had pitched a scoreless frame at Baltimore on Wednesday but today he simply didn't have it as Milwaukee knocked him around to the tune of four earned runs on four hits.

Bet you didn't know that Lyle Overbay (who was cut in spring training last year with the Red Sox) was still in MLB. He had the go-ahead two-run double in the ninth for the Brewers while Gomez and Aramis Ramirez-who I think has played for every NL Central team-kept the line moving with RBI singles.

Francisco Rodriguez is Milwaukee's closer and even though it wasn't a save situation, he was summoned for the ninth. He got a 1-2-3 inning including one strikeout in 13 pitches.

Boston's enigmatic fifth starter (really) Clay Buchholz makes his first start of 2014 tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) vs. Wily Peralta. As always with Buchholz, he could pitch a no-hitter or also be out for the rest of the season with a sore throat or broken nail. I guess we'll have to wait and see, the good news for the Red Sox is that they don't have any more openers (0-2) this season as far as I know.

UPDATE 4/6: Will Middlebrooks went on the 15-Day DL with a Grade 1 calf strain (whatever that means). Brock Holt was called up from Pawtucket to take his place.

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Just another afternoon in the City of Champions

Yesterday was a formerly rare occasion that has happened all too often in the last decade in Boston: one of our local teams celebrated the championship of another one.

With the Boston Bruins parading around Fenway Park on Duck Boats during the pregame, holding the Stanley Cup, I can say that you're an extremely lucky bastard if you were at yesterday's Red Sox-Brewers game. The Bruins wore their jerseys and Red Sox hats, then threw out the ceremonial first pitches.

There's not much cooler than the synergy between the four pro sports franchises in Massachusetts and that's also one of the best parts about living in this area, at this time. The unscripted scene at Fenway is something that people in most other parts of the country can't even imagine and we've been witness to that a bunch of times. It's also a symbol of how much we love all our teams, not just one or two. If you win here, you'll be extremely popular.

The Red Sox (43-28) certainly didn't spoil the good times as for the second time in three games, they smoked Milwaukee (40-33), this time it was 12-3 as Boston took two out of three in the series.

Brewers ace Yovani Gollardo (8-4) was knocked around for eight runs (five earned) on nine hits with two walks and four strikeouts in three innings.

Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield (4-2), who had just turned 40 the last time the Bruins won the Cup in 1972, was the third straight Boston pitcher to throw eight innings. Wake allowed three earned runs on three hits with a walk and six strikeouts. With Clay Buchholz placed on the DL with back trouble, Wakefield's spot in the rotation is locked in for at least the next few starts.

Carl Crawford was also placed on the DL (on Saturday) with a hamstring strain but that didn't stop the Red Sox from getting 14 hits including three homers.

Boston put up six runs in the first inning to take most intrigue out of it on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits, 2 RBIs) scored on Gallardo's error, Kevin Youkilis crushed his 11th home run of the season (a three-run bomb) and Ellsbury delivered a ground-rule two-run double in his second at-bat of the frame.

Crazy Nyjer Morgan got the Brewers on the board with a two-run homer in the second.

Boston added two more runs in the fourth including a solo home run by Dustin Pedroia (his sixth).

Pedroia's sacrifice fly in the fifth made it 9-2 and Marco Scutaro hit a two-run shot (his 2nd of the season) in the sixth.

Prince Fielder hit a solo homer in the seventh and Adrian Gonzalez closed out the scoring with an RBI triple (the 1000th hit of his career) in the seventh.

The San Diego Padres, Gonzalez's former team (and his hometown), come to Fenway for three games beginning tonight. Andrew Miller was called up from Pawtucket to make his first start for the Red Sox. Padres left-hander Wade LeBlanc takes the ball for the worst team in the NL West.

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You can't stop the Red Sox' offense, you can only hope to contain it

John Lackey is about the last guy I'll ever praise on the Red Sox but last night, I'll give him credit for once: he gave up four runs in the first three innings and looked destined to get shelled but he recovered and was able to go eight innings as Boston beat the Milwaukee Brewers 10-4 at Fenway Park.

It was the 12th win in the last 13 games for the Red Sox, who are the undisputed best team in the American League at this moment.

Lackey (5-5) gave up four earned runs on eight hits with no walks and five strikeouts. Jonathan Papelbon began serving the first of his two-game (it was reduced by a game) suspension so Boston's (42-27) bullpen was notably shorthanded.

The Brewers (39-32) were put behind the eight ball early as starter Shaun Marcum left after throwing 44 pitches in an eventful first inning. He hurt his left hip but it also has to be noted that Boston was very familiar with him from his days with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Casey McGehee gave Milwaukee a 2-0 lead with a two-run single in the top of the first.

Jacoby Ellsbury answered with a leadoff homer (his eighth homer of the season, one shy of his career-high). David Ortiz (3 hits) tied it with an RBI double that scored Adrian Gonzalez. Carl Crawford beat out an infield single in the first but he left with a strained hamstring, let's hope he's not out for too long.

Kevin Youkilis had a two-run single in the second off Brewers reliever Marco Estrada. Youk left in the fifth due to illness, poor guy must have eaten some bad Mexican or something pregame.

Milwaukee tied it in the third on an RBI single by Prince Fielder (2 hits) and a run scored even though McGehee grounded into a double play.

Adrian Gonzalez (3 hits, 3 runs) put the Red Sox ahead for good with a solo homer, his 15th of the season, in the fifth.

Jason Varitek had an RBI double and Dustin Pedroia added an RBI single in the sixth. A run scored on Darnell McDonald's ground out in the seventh and J.D. Drew made it 10-4 with a two-run single later in the frame.

The Red Sox rightly moved their game today from the afternoon to tonight to accommodate the Bruins parade. Jon Lester faces Randy Wolf.

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Bernie Brewer will be pitching anyday now

The Milwaukee Brewers had a nice season last year until things fell apart in September. This year, they've come out of the gates pretty slow. Their pitching (not a strong suit to begin with) is a complete mess right now. Starter Charlie Villanueva could only give them four innings while allowing six runs yesterday.

The Brewers (20-24) can score with the best of them but there will probably be a lot of games like yesterday at Fenway for the next few weeks. The Red Sox (27-19) won 11-7 in a slugfest. Both team had four homers.

David Ortiz (3 hits, 4 RBIs) homered twice while Dustin Pedroia (3 hits, 3 runs, 2 RBIs) hit a solo shot and Kevin Youkilis (3 hits, 2 RBIs, 2 runs) cranked a two-run bomb.

Josh Beckett had a vintage '06 start as he gave up four homers yet still won. Beckett (5-3) went seven innings, giving up six runs (all earned) on six hits with one walk and nine strikeouts.

Ryan Braun continued to impress as he had two homers and four RBIs off Beckett. JJ Hardy had a two-run homer and Prince Fielder hit a solo shot.

Milwaukee was up 2-1 after one but Boston came back to make it 3-2 in the third. The Brewers climbed back to make it 4-3 in the fourth before the Sox took a 6-3 lead which they never gave up. Boston later had leads of 8-4 and 11-6.

Say goodbye to the National League. The Red Sox go back to playing American League foes for the next three weeks. The Kansas City Royals come to town tonight for a four-game set. Justin Masterson is starting tomorrow and Bartolo Colon is making his Red Sox debut on Wednesday.

Who drinks Miller Lite anyway?

After a rain-out on Friday night, the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers played a day/night doubleheader yesterday at Fenway.

The Red Sox (26-19) snapped their four-game losing streak in style by taking game 1, 5-3 and game 2, 7-6.

Dice-K (7-0) became the second pitcher in the AL (Joe Saunders was the first) to reach seven wins and he's the first to do it while unbeaten.

He went 6.2 innings, giving up two runs (0 earned) on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts. With two outs in the seventh, Kevin Youkilis (playing third) made an error on Ricky Weeks' hot-shot. Mike Cameron followed that with a two-run bomb.

The other run by the Brewers (20-23) came in the ninth when stud Ryan Braun (3 for 5) hit a rocket over the Monster off Jonathan Papelbon.

Three defensive changes paid huge dividends for the Sox in the ninth as Youk (over at first), Mike Lowell and Alex Cora all many solid plays to end it and give Pap his 12th save of the season.

J.D. Drew had a bases loaded walk in the first to put Boston up 1-0 before David Ortiz (2 hits, 2 runs) hit an opposite-field, three run homer off Jeff Suppan (2-3) in the second to give the Sox a 4-0 lead.

Jason Varitek and Sean Casey each had two hits in the win while Jacoby Ellsbury knocked in Varitek with a RBI double in the eighth.

In the nightcap, the Red Sox once again jumped on the Brewcrew early. Boston led 4-0 after three and 5-0 after five innings.

Mike Lowell accounted for the first four RBIs. He had a two-run double in the first and a two-run homer in the third.

No word if the teams were doing shots or chugging beers in the clubhouse between games as the Brewers committed four errors and the Red Sox had three in the second contest.

Corey Hart (2 hits, stolen base) hit a solo homer off Tim Wakefield in the sixth which started a Milwaukee rally. Ricky Weeks (2 hits) added a two-run single later in the inning to cut it to 5-3.

Mike Rivera's fielder's choice and Craig Counsell's two-run double gave the Brewers a 6-5 lead in the seventh.

David Ortiz had an RBI groundout in the home half of the seventh and Youk (2 hits, run, RBI) finished the scoring with an RBI single that plated Dustin Pedroia (2 runs, hit, stolen base).

Craig Hansen (1-0) was credited with the win despite giving up three runs (all unearned) on two hits.

With Pap unavailable and Okajima nursing a sore wrist, Javier Lopez (eighth) and Mike Timlin (ninth) teamed up to pitch two scoreless innings. It was Timlin's first save of the season.

Boston and Milwaukee wrap up their first interleague series this afternoon.