McCain is not happy: Diamondbacks lose their 12th straight road game

There is still one more day before people start paying attention to the Red Sox, or maybe a few more weeks if you count the 2010 World Cup in South Africa but they're playing well at the moment.

Boston (39-28) beat Arizona (26-40) 6-2 last night at Fenway, handing the Diamondbacks their franchise record 12th straight loss.

Jon Lester (8-2) won his eight consecutive start. Since losing his first two games of the season, he's 8-0 with a 2.01 ERA. He went seven innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.

Dustin Pedroia (2 runs, 2 hits, steal) has been heating up and he continued to swing the bat well, notching a two-run homer in the first which scored Marco Scutaro (2 hits).

Justin Upton (2 hits) tied it up with a two-run bomb of his own in the second inning but you knew it wouldn't hold with Rodrigo Lopez (2-6) on the mound for Arizona.

He went seven innings but gave up six earned runs on 10 hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

J.D. Drew had an RBI double in the third (scoring Pedroia) and the next batter, Adrian Beltre (2 hits), drove in David Ortiz with an infield single.

Finally, Kevin Youkilis crushed a two-run homer in the seventh off Lopez which scored Ortiz.

Daniel Bard pitched a scoreless eighth and Ramon Ramirez started the ninth with the 6-2 lead. He got two outs but after throwing only 10 of 19 pitches for strikes, he allowed a hit and walk which made Jonathan Papelbon come in for one out.

Paps got the out and his 15th save.

Boston goes for the sweep with John Lackey taking on ace Dan Haren, an hour earlier (6:10 start to accommodate the NBA Finals). Haren has a 7-4 record and 4.61 ERA so he hasn't been up to his usual level but he can always spin a gem.

Wonder who Big Schill is rooting for?

With the Celtics and Lakers playing Game 7 on Thursday, it's guaranteed that nobody outside of Pink Hats and old people will pay attention to the Red Sox for at least two more days.

Boston (38-28) started off a three-game interleague series last night at Fenway with the Diamondbacks (26-39) and won 6-3 behind Clay Buchholz's (9-4) eight strikeouts.

Buchholz wasn't economical with his pitches, throwing 113 in 5.2 innings but he was mostly effective. He gave up three earned runs on seven hits with a walk.

Former Sox great Adam LaRoche gave Arizona the early 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single which scored Stephen Drew (J.D.'s brother).

The Red Sox answered with two in the first on David Ortiz's two-run shot to right center. Dustin Pedroia (3 runs, 2 hits) had an RBI double in the third which scored Mike Cameron, Daniel Nava scored on Ian Kennedy's wild pitch and Pedroia came around on Victor Martinez's infield single.

Justin Upton cut it to 5-3 in the fourth with a two-run double but that's as close as the Diamondbacks would get. Kevin Youkilis added an RBI double in the fifth for Boston and some fine bullpen work drew the curtains on the game.

Kennedy (3-4) was knocked around for six earned runs on nine hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out six.

Hideki Okajima (2 outs), Manny Delcarmen (2 outs), Daniel Bard (1 inning) and Jonathan Papelbon (1 inning) only gave up one hit combined, no walks and two strikeouts. Papelbon got a 1-2-3 ninth for his 14th save.

Jon Lester faces former Oriole Rodrigo Lopez tonight.

Haren outduels Beckett as D-Backs win 2-1

Since baseball is so slow-paced by nature, it gives old-timers and rock-headed announcers plenty of time to get all whimsical. No sport has as many tired sayings as America's Pastime. One of my favorites is "good pitching always beats good hitting."

For one night at least, that was prophetic as the Arizona Diamondbacks led by Dan Haren outlasted Josh Beckett and the Boston Red Sox, 2-1 last night at Fenway.

Haren (8-4) was just a little bit better than Beckett and he had luck on his side. Haren went seven innings, giving up just two hits and a walk while striking out five.

Beckett (7-5) lasted eight innings but he gave up two runs on five hits with two walks and eight strikeouts.

Playing without Sean Casey (who started serving his three-game suspension), Boston (47-32) was in a pickle when Kevin Youkilis took a ball off his eye in between innings. A throw from Mike Lowell took a bad hop and struck Youk on the eye. He wasn't one of People's 50 most beautiful people to begin with but the shiner really added something to his ugly mug.

Youk had to depart so Brandon Moss came in and wouldn't you know, a big play revolved around his inexperience at first.

In the seventh, Chris Young had doubled in Conor Jackson to give Arizona (40-37) a 1-0 lead before Chris Snyder hit a grounder to first. Moss bobbled it-allowing Mark Reynolds the runner at third to score-before recovering and getting the out at first.

The Red Sox' offense finally awoke in the eighth, forcing D-Backs reliever Tony Pena to throw 26 pitches. J.D. Drew drove in Julio Lugo with a sacrifice fly to cut it to 2-1.

David Aardsma continued his fine recent work as he danced around two walks and a hit to strike out two and record a scoreless ninth.

Former Sox pitcher Brandon Lyon promptly recorded his 16th save of the season on five pitches.