Red Sox decide to finally win a road game in 2011

It doesn't get any uglier than the 0-6 and then 2-10 starts for the 2011 Boston Red Sox.

However, going 0-7 in their first seven road games was similarly unforgivable. Boston (6-11) finally notched a road win yesterday afternoon, 5-3 against the A's (9-9) at Oakland Coliseum.

Clay Buchholz (1-2) picked up his first win of the season too after his first two starts were nothing short of disasters. He wasn't great yesterday but he got the job done. He went 5.1 innings, allowing six hits, one earned run, four walks and two strikeouts.

Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez (2-1) came in on the opposite end of the spectrum after being basically unhittable in his first two starts. The Red Sox got to him though somehow as he went six innings, allowing eight hits, four earned runs, one walk and nine strikeouts.

Boston's offense righted itself with three home runs: by Kevin Youkilis, Jed Lowrie and J.D. Drew.

The real star of the game was reliever Daniel Bard who inherited a bases loaded situation in the sixth with one out and the Red Sox clinging to a 4-1 lead. He got out of that unscathed and also pitched a scoreless seventh. That made up for Bobby Jenks and Jonathan Papelbon who each allowed an earned run. Papelbon settled down and recorded the last two outs in the ninth with runners on first and third.

Coco Crisp gave Oakland an early (and I mean early 1-0 lead) as he homered on Buchholz's first pitch of the game.

Carl Crawford answered with an RBI single in the top of the second which tied it at 1. Youkilis' solo shot in the fourth, Lowrie's two-run bomb in the sixth and Drew's solo homer in the seventh gave Boston some breathing room.

They were able to withstand Crisp's RBI single in the eighth and Landon Powell's RBI single in the ninth.

From here, Boston travels to Anaheim with four games scheduled against the Angels. Josh Beckett faces rookie Tyler Chatwood tonight in the series opener.

Will the Red Sox be toast by the trade deadline?

If you've learned anything from fantasy baseball (and hopefully I have since I currently run an obnoxious five teams), it's that when a starting pitcher returns, it always takes him at least a few starts to find his form. I don't know why hitters can seemingly adjust faster but Clay Buchholz proved this point once again yesterday afternoon.

He was at the top of his game on June 26 when he left a game in San Francisco with a strained hamstring (running the bases, don't get me started with the JV NL rules).

The Sox (53-42) desperately needed a win from him and a series victory over Oakland (48-47) but he couldn't deliver as the A's won 6-4 to take two out of the three from the free-falling Sox.

You can't blame Buchholz (10-5) for his sub par performance: 4 innings, 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts.

The A's have won seven of eight and they were able to scratch away despite an average start by Gio Gonzalez (9-6): 6 innings, 7 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts.

Adrian Beltre (3 hits, 3 RBIs, run, stolen base) continued to show why he's been the Sox MVP, keeping their patchwork lineup intact during all the lineup shuffling.

Shortstop Jed Lowrie (2 walks, hit, run, RBI) made his 2010 debut for Boston and he played well. To say the guy has been cursed with injuries and other problems (mono) would be an understatement. Hopefully he can stay healthy and get his career back on track.

Beltre gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single which knocked in Lowrie.

Buchholz had only given up three runs this season coming into yesterday but Matt Watson hit a solo shot in the second to tie it up then Jack Cust put Oakland ahead 3-1 in the third with a two-run bomb that scored Kurt Suzuki (2 hits, 2 runs).

Lowrie cut it to 3-2 A's in the fifth with an RBI single but Oakland added three in the home half of the inning. Mark Ellis had an RBI single and Rajai Davis knocked in two with his two-run single.

Beltre closed out the scoring with a two-run blast in the sixth.

Michael Wuertz had a 1-2-3 ninth with a strikeout for his second save of the season.

Rumors are swirling about who the Red Sox are trying to acquire: Jayson Werth, David DeJesus, Chris Snyder, relievers. Theo Epstein has to go for it now or else he can raise the white flag ala 2006 and admit this season is going nowhere fast.

Boston begins a four-game series at Safeco Field in Seattle tonight. The Mariners are one of the worst teams in baseball so realistically the Red Sox need to win at least three of these games even though it seems like they always struggle in the Pacific Northwest. The good news is that they miss King Felix who pitched last night.

John Lackey opposes Ryan Rowland-Smith tonight at 10:10 p.m. EST.