Hammer don't hurt 'em!

Aside from the fact that the Kansas City Royals were involved, last night's game at Fenway had all the trappings of a playoff classic.

Jon Lester and Brian Bannister dueled for seven scoreless innings before Boston was able to push a run across in the eighth. That was all the Sox (52-34) would need as they won 1-0.

Bannister (6-7) lasted 7.2 innings, giving up one run on three hits with four walks and seven strikeouts.

Lester (8-6) continued his stretch of lights out pitching with eight scoreless frames. He gave up four hits, walked two and struck out eight.

Mark Teahan was the only Royal (37-49) who could solve Lester. Teahan had three of his team's four hits for the game.

Mark Kotsay started the eighth inning rally for the Sox with a single. Aaron Bates pinch ran for him and Nick Green bunted him to second (with two strikes!). After Bates moved up on a passed ball, Dustin Pedroia came through in the clutch with a rope double off the Monster.

Perhaps the most promising aspect of last night was that Jonathan Papelbon had his best outing of the season. He got a 1-2-3 ninth (something he's been allergic to this season) with a strikeout. It only took him 11 pitches and he was hitting 97 on the juiced NESN gun.

John Smoltz looks for his first Red Sox win tonight.

Poppa, love it when you call me Big Poppa

David Ortiz's horrible April and May seem like a distant memory, no? Big Papi continued to find his stroke as we continue to get deeper into the summer.

Last night, he blasted a three-run bomb and also drove in a run with a groundout as Boston (51-33) beat Oakland (35-48), 5-4 to take the three-game series at Fenway.

Tim Wakefield continued his remarkable season as he picked up his AL-leading 11th win with a classic Wakefield outing. In six innings of work, he gave up 10 hits but only three runs as he walked one and struck out a season-high eight.

Jonathan Papelbon labored through 30 pitches (in only the ninth) to get his 22nd save. He allowed a run on two hits with a walk but he struck out two including Jack Cust (3 hits) to end the game.

Cust had given the A's a 1-0 lead in the second with an RBI single.

In the sixth, J.D. Drew hit a solo homer and three batters later, Ortiz provided a vintage Papi swing.

Kurt Suzuki (3 hits), who should have been Oakland's All-Star representative instead of Andrew Bailey, cut it to 4-3 with a two-run single in the seventh.

Ortiz's groundout in the seventh gave Boston the two-run cushion that Papelbon would desperately need.

Scott Hairston crushed a ball to center in the ninth with two guys on but Jacoby Ellsbury caught it near the wall in center and it was only a long sacrifice fly.

The still hapless Kansas City Royals come to Fenway tonight for a four-game set that wraps up the first half of the season. The Red Sox lucked out that Royals ace (and probable AL All-star starter) Zach Greinke pitched last night so they'll miss him this time around.

I'm in the club howling "A Bay Bay, A Bay Bay"

After their bats slept through Monday night's game, the Red Sox woke up last night and beat the A's 5-2 behind their All-Star contingent.

Josh Beckett (10-3) joined teammate Tim Wakefield in the 10-win club. Beckett went 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

Jason Bay broke out of his slump with a double, homer, two runs scored, a walk and two steals. Dustin Pedroia, who missed Monday night's game to be with his wife in the hospital (she's about to give birth), returned last night with an RBI single and walk.

Closer Jonathan Papelbon gave up one hit but still struck out the side in the ninth for his 21st save of the season.

Oakland (35-47) took a 1-0 lead in the first when Scott Hairston hit a solo home run off Beckett.

Boston (50-33) took a 2-1 lead in the second on Bay's homer (a bomb to the light tower in center) and a run came home when Nick Green grounded into a double play.

In the third, Jason Varitek (2 hits) plated two runs with a single.

Adam Kennedy cut it to 4-2 Boston in the fifth with an RBI double but Pedroia drove in the last run with the single in the sixth.

The Red Sox look to take the rubber game of the series tonight with Wakefield getting the start.

The Pink Hats respond appropriately to a legend's return

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeah, Hell Yeah

It might be a pain in the ass to buy tickets and get in and out of the city but on a sunny summer day, there's few places in the world I'd rather be than at Fenway Park.

I was reminded of this fact yesterday as my parents, buddy and myself took in the series finale of the Sox-Mariners series. It was my first Red Sox game in two years.

Boston (49-32) won 8-4 but what I'll remember most when I look back on yesterday is a specific moment that had nothing to do with the outcome of the game.

In the middle of the third inning, as the Mariners (42-39) took the field, the Red Sox PA announcer read off the six players that made the 2009 All-Star game. We had missed the announcement show since we were en route to Fenway at the time.

Jason Bay, Dustin Pedroia, Josh Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon and Kevin Youkilis were all expected to be All-Stars but they saved the most deserving choice for last: Tim Wakefield. In his 17th season in MLB, the knuckleballer made his first All-Star team. He got a standing ovation and on the jumbotron in center, they showed him in the dugout. It was a wonderful moment.

After losing the first two games of the series, Boston really needed yesterday's contest, especially considering that the Yankees were only a game behind.

A diverse offense and stellar relief gave the Sox a much-deserved win.

Dustin Pedroia (3 hits, 2 runs) and David Ortiz (2 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) gave Boston an early 2-0 lead as they both hit solo homers in the first off Seattle starter Brandon Morrow.

The Mariners took a 3-2 lead in the fourth on Ronnie Cedeno's bases-clearing triple. Ryan Langerhans made it 4-2 in the fifth with a sacrifice fly.

Red Sox starter Jon Lester threw a season-high 122 pitches to get through 6.2 innings. He gave up four runs (one earned) on eight hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.

Jacoby Ellsbury (2 runs, 2 RBIs) cut the deficit to one (4-3 Seattle) as he smacked another solo homer in the sixth inning.

Boston finally delivered some hits with men on base in the seventh, to the tune of five runs.

On a 3-0 pitch, Ortiz tied it with an RBI single. Ellsbury walked with the bases loaded and then Mark Kotsay had a clutch, two-run single. Ellsbury scored the final run on a passed ball.

Justin Masterson (1.1 innings, 3 strikeouts) and Hideki Okajima (clean ninth inning) didn't allow any baserunners and also saved Papelbon from making an appearance.

The Oakland A's come to Boston for three games and then the Kansas City Royals wrap up the first half with a four-game set at Fenway. These are very winnable series for the Red Sox, they need to take advantage of this break in the schedule before the All-Star game.

Major League Baseball: where yesterday doesn't mean shit

I'll be the first to admit that Major League Baseball's season is way too long, the games are usually pretty boring and the whole organization is run with an idiocy that rivals the last Bush administration. Haha, with those barbs out of the way, I will also say that one of the reasons I have always stuck by baseball is because it delivers so many thrills and moments that you cherish if you're lucky enough to witness them as they unfold.

After the worst loss of the season (thus far), the Boston Red Sox regrouped yesterday in Baltimore for one of its most rewarding wins of the season, 6-5 in the series finale.

Orioles (35-43) rookie Brad Bergesen completely kept the Sox off-balance for eight innings and departed with a seemingly insurmountable 5-1 lead.

Wouldn't you know, Boston (48-30) tied it up with four in the ninth (two-run homer by Kevin Youkilis and two-run single by Rocco Baldelli), and won it going away with an RBI single by Julio Lugo in the 11th.

Oh and Jonathan Papelbon set a Red Sox record with his 133rd save of the season. So just another day at the office.

I predicted that Josh Beckett would be the stopper for Boston that he usually is and through the first four innings yesterday afternoon, I was not even close.

The Orioles scored a run in the first, run in the second, two in the third and one in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead. Even when he's not on top of his game, Beckett can still find it in the midst of a subpar start. In the fifth-seventh innings (when the Sox just needed stability), Beckett set down Baltimore three times in a row, in order.

In seven innings, he gave up five runs on six hits, with two walks and five strikeouts. He didn't factor into the decision and neither did Bergesen which is a joke. The rookie gave up one run on four hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

Losing yesterday would have been bad for the Sox, especially with the Yankees (seven straight wins; 2.5 games back) and Rays (8-2 in their last 10; 5 back) breathing down their backs.

With an off-day today back in Boston, the Sox can relax (assuming their mansions aren't floating away in the rain) in preparation of the Seattle Mariners who come to Fenway for the holiday weekend.

Sorry, I just puked a little in my mouth

When you look up what the fuck in your baseball dictionary (Red Sox edition), chances are a picture of last night's game in Baltimore will be front and center.

It had a little bit of everything: a rain delay, a historical comeback and a bullpen implosion which all added up to the worst loss of the season for the Red Sox, 11-10.

Behind John Smoltz and a locked in offense, Boston (47-30) led 9-1 in the top of the fifth when the rains came. After a delay of an hour and 11 minutes, the game restarted.

The Sox actually pushed across another run in the seventh to go up 10-1 before the O's (35-42) scored five in the seventh and five in the eighth against the best bullpen (statistically) in baseball. It tied for the second-worst loss in Red Sox history, in terms of largest lead blown.

Smoltz deserved better. He cruised through four innings, allowing a run on three hits with a walk and two strikeouts. He only threw 52 pitches so he looked poised to record his first win for Boston.

Rich Hill didn't stand a chance against the Red Sox' lineup. He gave up nine runs (seven earned) on nine hits in 3.1 innings. He walked three and struck out three in what might be his final start for Baltimore.

Kevin Youkilis (3 hits, 3 RBIs, 2 runs) gave Boston a 2-0 lead in the first as he hit a two-run shot to center just out of the reach of Orioles center fielder Adam Jones. On Monday, Jones had robbed Youkilis of another home run and it looked like he caught the ball last night, but after running into the wall he dropped his glove over the wall. He was shaken up and left the game after the second inning.

Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, 3 RBIs, steal) increased the Red Sox lead to 4-0 in the second with a two-run double.

Felix Pie (2 hits, 2 RBIs) replaced Jones and delivered an RBI triple in the bottom of the second to make it 4-1 Boston.

It looked like it was going to be a laugher as the Red Sox scored five more runs in the fourth. Jacoby Ellsbury (3 hits, 2 RBIs) crushed a solo homer to right center, Youkilis had an RBI double, David Ortiz added an RBI single, Jason Varitek pretended to be hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Ellsbury closed it out with an RBI single.

Pedroia produced the Sox' last run with an RBI single in the seventh which scored Jeff Bailey (3 hits, 3 runs).

After two scoreless innings (with five strikeouts), Justin Masterson was knocked around big time in the seventh. Luke Scott hit an RBI double, Oscar Salazar (2 hits) hit a pinch hit, three-run bomb and Pie closed it to 10-6 with an RBI single.

Manny Delcarmen settled things down and got the final two outs of the seventh but Hideki Okajima was also completely ineffective, giving up four runs on five hits.

Orioles rookie Matt Wieters had an RBI single, Ty Wigginton hit a sac. fly, Brian Roberts hit an RBI single and finally, against Jonathan Papelbon, Nick Markakis (2 hits) hit a two-run double to the gap in left center.

Papelbon came in (after Takashi Saito) and was trying to get a five-out save, with runners on first and second in the eighth.

Boston couldn't do much in the ninth vs. Orioles closer George Sherill. Bailey led off with a single and Youk was hit by a pitch with two outs but Sherill got Jason Bay to strikeout for the third out and his 17th save of the season.

There's no question that this was a terrible loss that could stick with the Red Sox for a while but the good news is that they get right back at it this afternoon with their ace Josh Beckett on the mound in the series finale.