Home cookin', sure sounds good, to a country boy like me

To say the Boston Red Sox limped home after losing all six games on their road trip (to Tampa Bay and New York) would be an insult to cripples and drunks everywhere.

The Sox (63-48) can't hit and the bullpen is falling apart but all those troubles were forgotten for an evening as they beat Detroit (59-52), 6-5 last night at Fenway in the start of a four-game series.

The Yankees lost to the Blue Jays last night and the Rangers were idle so Boston moved up to 5.5 games behind New York in the AL East and a half game up in the Wild Card.

It only took two innings for Boston to double its output from the last three games combined against the Yankees.

Dustin Pedroia hit a two-run homer in the first off Tigers All-Star Edwin Jackson. In the second, Nick Green hit a solo shot and David Ortiz knocked in Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits, 2 runs) with an RBI single.

Brad Penny gave his usual six inning performance and it was better than most of his recent outings: six innings, three earned runs on six hits, one walk and two strikeouts.

Magglio Ordonez (3 hits) tripled home Miguel Cabrera in the fourth and Brandon Inge scored Ordonez with a single.

An inning later, Detroit cut it to 4-3 when Marcus Thames knocked in Curtis Granderson with a sacrifice fly.

Jason Bay hit a solo homer in the fifth that just stayed fair down the line in left.

What would a Red Sox game be without the bullpen giving up a lead? Manny Delcarmen did the honors last night in the seventh. Placido Polanco (3 hits) had an RBI single and Marcus Thames' RBI double tied the game at five.

Nick Green, who has been an automatic out for the last month and a half, knocked in the winning run (J.D. Drew) with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Jonathan Papelbon came on in the eighth with runners on second and third, two outs and Granderson at the plate. Papelbon got him to pop out to catcher Victor Martinez and then he recorded a 1-2-3 ninth for his 28th save of the season.

23-year-old rookie Junichi Tazawa gets his first MLB start tonight against Tigers rookie Rick Porcello.

Where did it all go wrong?

I can't say I saw this one coming. The Boston Red Sox are completely falling apart and in any given game, either their pitching or hitting is terrible. They can't put both parts together in the same contest anymore. Or so it seems.

Once again, they lost to the Oakland A's, 8-6 last night at Fenway as the Yankees won their series in Tampa.

Brad Penny (7-5) gave up five runs in the first inning and though the Sox (58-42) made a decent comeback attempt, it fell short.

Adam Kennedy hit the first pitch of the game over the Monster as the A's (43-57) took a 1-0 lead. It got much worse as a run came home on Ryan Sweeney's groundout then Rajai Davis had a three-run double.

Mike Lowell (2 hits, 5 RBIs), one of Boston's only hot hitters, cut the Oakland lead to two when he hit a three-run bomb in the first.

Penny settled down for a couple innings but he later gave up a solo homer to Kurt Suzuki (2 runs, 2 hits) in the fifth. He threw 100 pitches in five plus innings, allowing seven earned runs on seven hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

Justin Masterson relieved Penny and gave up a two-run double to Eric Patterson in the sixth that put the game out of reach (8-3 Oakland).

The rotation which was one of the Red Sox's biggest strengths has now become woefully imbalanced. Josh Beckett and Jon Lester are aces but Penny, John Smoltz and Clay Buchholz are pretty useless. Dice-K is fighting with the Sox over training methods and Tim Wakefield is on the DL. Ugh.

Boston chipped away with single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth. Dustin Pedroia's (2 hits, RBI) groundout drove in Jacoby Ellsbury (3 runs, 2 hits, steal). Mike Lowell's sacrifice fly scored Jason Bay and finally, Lowell got an RBI single off A's closer Andrew Bailey.

For the second time in a month, A's starter Brett Anderson (6-8) won at Fenway. This outing wasn't nearly as dominant but it was still a win. He went six innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits with four walks and eight strikeouts.

Despite allowing a run on three hits, Bailey struck out two and recorded his 13th save.

I don't believe in must-win games in July but this afternoon's series finale is mighty close to that for the Red Sox. It's Gio Gonzalez vs. Jon Lester and Boston needs to win to gain some semblance of momentum. Losing three of four to the A's at home would be a real bad sign.

DC has a baseball team?

The Red Sox made their first trip to see the Washington Nationals in our nation's capital and game one last night was a complete success. Up 4-3 in the eighth, Boston (43-27) exploded for six runs en route to a comfortable 11-3 win.

As expected, Red Sox fans filled the stands at Nationals Park, accounting for a record sellout. The three-game set is supposed to be the only sold-out series of the season for the hapless Nationals (20-48).

The Sox banged out 17 hits, led by Jason Bay (4-for-6, 3 runs, 3 RBIs), Jacoby Ellsbury (4-for-4 including his first two-triple game with 3 RBIs, a walk and steal), Dustin Pedroia (3 hits, 2 runs) and Kevin Youkilis (2 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs).

Boston starter Brad Penny was far from great but it didn't matter. He lasted 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits with three runs and six strikeouts.

Manny Delcarmen (2-1) got the win in relief even though he only recorded one out.

Adam Dunn gave Washington a lead in the first with an RBI double which scored Ryan Zimmerman (2 hits, 2 runs).

Bay added to his AL-leading RBI totals with a solo homer in the second to tie it at one.

Ellsbury's first triple, in the fourth, scored Bay to make it 2-1 Red Sox.

Zimmerman scored on a Penny wild pitch in the fourth to tie it at two.

Youkilis' RBI single in the fifth scored Pedroia but a pair of bum ex-Sox tied it up as Willie Harris hit an RBI double in the sixth which plated Josh Bard.

Jason Varitek gave Boston the lead for good with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

The Sox went wild on a bunch of the Nationals terrible relievers in the eighth. Bay began the damage with a two-run single. Varitek added an RBI single and Ellsbury's second triple scored two. Nick Green ended the big inning with an RBI single.

Youkilis made it 11-3 in the ninth with an RBI double.

Jon Lester goes for Boston tonight.

Red Sox take care of Marlins on record-breaking night

The weather in New England has been garbage so far this "summer" but the Red Sox are playing like a team cruising in July or August. Last night in Fenway Park's 500th straight sellout, Boston beat the Florida Marlins, 6-1.

Everyone's favorite trade rumor, Brad Penny, picked up the 100th win of his career. In the first, Penny (6-2) was drilled by a ball hit right at his ample bosom but he recovered to get the out and go five innings. He gave up one unearned run (on Jacoby Ellsbury's first career error) on three hits with four walks and three runs.

Florida (32-35) took a 1-0 lead in the first when Hanley Ramirez scored after Ellsbury's error on Jorge Cantu's sinking liner to center.

The Sox (40-25) didn't waste much time as they grabbed the lead in the second with two runs. Rocco Baldelli (2 hits) singled home Mike Lowell and David Ortiz (double, three runs, two walks) later scored on Jason Varitek's double play grounder.

After a brief slump, Dustin Pedroia (3 hits, 3 runs, 2 steals) is back to his old tricks. He added to Boston's advantage with a two-run single in the fourth.

Ellsbury (2 walks, steal) made up for his fielding mistake in the seventh when he crushed a solo shot to right.

Pedroia wrapped it up with an RBI single in the eighth.

Justin Masterson (sixth), Hideki Okajima (seventh), Ramon Ramirez (eighth) and Jonathan Papelbon (ninth) combined for four scoreless innings after Penny had departed to the clubhouse for the comfort of his feedbag.

A red-hot Jon Lester is on the mound tonight as the Red Sox go for the sweep against the Marlins and struggling starter Ricky Nolasco.

Goodnight and Good luck (not really) Yankees

8-0 in 2009. The Boston Red Sox continued their incredible stretch against the New York Yankees with a come-from-behind 4-3 win last night at Fenway.

Yankees ace CC Sabathia (5-4) threw 123 pitches over seven plus innings in a very impressive effort but New York (34-26) was done in by its sub par bullpen. I seem to remember saying back in April that the bullpen was the difference between these teams (pats self on back).

Brad Penny in a likely job audition for the Mets, Phillies, etc. was great as he threw six scoreless innings. Penny gave up six hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

David Ortiz continued to return to life as he hit an opposite field homer in the second to give Boston (36-24) a 1-0 lead. It was Big Papi's third bomb in the last five games.

Yanks rookie catcher Francisco Cervelli tied it with an RBI double in the seventh off Manny Delcarmen. Later in the inning, A-Rod delivered with a two-run double off Delcarmen to make it 3-1 New York.

In the eighth, the Red Sox do what they do best: wear out pitchers. It all started with Dustin Pedroia's 10-pitch at bat (resulting in a walk) against Sabathia that pushed him closer to leaving the game.

J.D. Drew singled home Nick Green to cut it to 3-2 Bombers. Jason Bay tied it with an RBI single which scored Pedroia and Mike Lowell got the job done with a sacrifice fly that brought home Drew.

Jonathan Papelbon got a 1-2-3 ninth for his 16th save and the Sox took a two-game lead in the AL East. The Yankees and Red Sox won't meet again until August 6th.

Starting tonight, Boston travels to Philly to meet the World Champion Phillies. Citizens Bank Park is a glorified little league park and the Phillies can crush the ball, plus they're one of the National League's best teams, so it should be a fun three game series.

Ortiz finally hits a home run and the peasants rejoice

Remember those halcyon days when David Ortiz was the most clutch player in major league baseball? When he was the most feared hitter? I'm afraid to say those days are long gone my friend.

It only took Big Papi 135 at-bats this season (and 149 dating back to last season) to finally hit a bomb. It came at a good time too as the Red Sox (24-16) hit four homers in the fifth inning off Blue Jays starter Brett Cecil (2-1) on their way to a 8-3 pounding of Toronto (27-16) last night at Fenway.

After getting standing ovations on Tuesday night before every at-bat, Ortiz got a curtain call for his shot to deep center field. A little much? Yes but the unwashed masses of Red Sox fans are nothing if not loyal. Ortiz looks completely lost at the plate (off the juice?) but as long as he is stuck in the three spot in the lineup, he needs all the support he can get.

The subplot that probably nobody but Alyssa Milano (former cum dumpster) and Chuck Lidell (his karaoke partner) noticed was that Sox starter Brad Penny improved to 4-1.

In 6.2 innings, he gave up just two earned runs on nine hits, with a walk and two strikeouts.

Toronto still leads the AL East by 1.5 games but Boston has taken two straight in their first meeting of the season.

The Sox grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second when Jason Varitek hit a solo shot and Jacoby Ellsbury scored when Dustin Pedroia knocked into a double play.

In his first game back from the DL, Kevin Youkilis continued to rake, going 3-for-5 which put his average at .404.

Ortiz's home run seemed to set off a chain reaction as Jason Bay and Mike Lowell also hit bombs in that inning. Varitek had hit his second earlier in the frame.

Boston looks for the sweep tonight (on a beautiful summer-like night) as Jon Lester takes the mound.