Red Sox are finally getting used to this winning thing

Rain, mist or fog can't stop the Boston Red Sox right now as they won their fifth straight game last night, 1-0 against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park.

Clay Buchholz got a no-decision but he had his fourth straight superb start for Boston (22-20). He went seven scoreless innings with a season-high 127 pitches. He allowed four hits, walked one and struck out seven.

Phil Coke was the unlikely Detroit (22-20) pitcher that matched Buchholz pitch for pitch. He also went seven scoreless innings, gave up three hits, one walk and struck out four.

It was a weird night with terrible weather, including a 26-minute rain dealy in the eighth inning, so it makes perfect sense that Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia came up with the biggest hit of the game.

After Carl Crawford walked in the eighth, Saltalamacchia delivered with an RBI double which plated the winning run.

Daniel Bard (1-3) picked up his first win of 2011 with a 1-2-3 eighth, including a strikeout.

Jonathan Papelbon gave up a leadoff double to former Red Sox Victor Martinez to start the ninth but settled down to get the last three outs (including two strikeouts) for his eighth save of the season.

Justin Verlander and Josh Beckett is the exquisite pitching matchup tonight in the series finale. It's too bad Bruins-Lightning Game 3 is tonight as well (starting at 8 p.m.) since this could be one of the best games of the year.

Goodnight Red Sox, see you next spring

Going away on vacation for a week to the Cape allowed me to fully withdraw from the 2010 Boston Red Sox (even though I still paid attention to their games) and admit that this season is over, on to the next one (with apologies to Swiss Beatz).

I faithfully kept up with this ill-fated team from the beginning but from the start (even before all the injuries), you had the feeling that this edition couldn't go anywhere based on their shortcomings and the fact that they play with two of the best teams in baseball in their division (New York and Tampa Bay).

Most will remember this Red Sox season for the injuries but mostly it was about the failure of GM Theo Epstein and the owners to spend money on the right players or make the right moves befitting of such a big market, high spending team.

Their bullpen was a joke all season and that never really changed. They threw money at John Lackey and Mike Cameron and predictably both have been busts based on performance and getting injured respectively.

In a season full of bad losses, yesterday might have taken the cake. The Red Sox (76-51) took a 5-3 lead into the ninth and it looked like they might avoid the sweep at Fenway Park by the White Sox (76-60).

Not so fast my friend. After entering in the eighth, Jonathan Papelbon blew his seventh save of the year and threw a career-high (out of the bullpen) 48 pitches as Chicago won 7-5.

Josh Beckett (6.1 innings, 3 runs, 1 earned, 9 hits, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts) was better than Mark Buehrle (7 innings, 4 earned runs, 10 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts) but Chicago's superior bullpen was the difference. Other than the fact that they're in the inferior AL Central, the White Sox are still alive thanks to a solid bullpen, Boston's biggest flaw.

Alexi Ramirez put Chicago up 1-0 in the second with an RBI single. David Ortiz made it 2-1 in the third with a two-run double.

In the seventh, two Chicago runners scored on Daniel Bard's throwing error. That appeared meaningless in the bottom of the seventh when Victor Martinez blasted a two-run homer over the Monster. Bill Hall added an RBI groundout in the eighth.

However, Carlos Quentin's (3 hits, 2 RBIs) two-out, two-strike bloop double cut it to 5-4 in the ninth and Ramon Castro's RBI single tied it at five. After Papelbon was pulled, PawSox bum Robert Manuel came on and walked two White Sox with the bases loaded. Thanks for playing, season's over.

Darnell McDonald and Adrian Beltre both had three hits in the loss. They've been two of the only brightspots this whole season.

Telling ourselves that the Red Sox had any chance to make the playoffs the last few weeks (months really) has been avoiding the obvious. With college football underway and the NFL kicking off for real on Thursday, now is a fitting time to bid adieu to the Red Sox.

Sure I'll still follow them for this last pitiful month but barring a crazy win-streak or choke job by the Yankees or Rays (both unlikely), the Red Sox will be done in less than a month. It's the first time since 2006 that they'll miss the playoffs.

Red Sox improve to 9-0 against hapless Angels

Other than the playoffs last season, it's safe to say that the Boston Red Sox own the Los Angeles Angels (or whatever you want to call him).

John Lackey (11-7) tried his hardest to lose to his former team: seven innings, five earned runs on ten hits, five strikeouts but he was overshadowed by Scott Kazmir, who got a no-decision.

Do you remember how good Kazmir was with the Devil Rays (when they weren't just the Rays)? He's my age but he's already washed up, pretty sad. He went five innings, allowing four earned runs on eight hits with three walks and two strikeouts. It's obvious why Tampa Bay dumped him last season, they could see he didn't have anything left.

This was a back and forth game with both offenses running wild on bad pitching. Adrian Beltre gave Boston (69-52) a 1-0 in the first inning with an RBI single.

Mike Napoli tied it up with a solo homer in the third and Howie Kendrick put Los Angeles (60-61) up 2-1 in the fourth with an RBI single.

Bill Hall made it 2-2 with a solo homer in the fourth before Alberto Callaspo crushed a three-run bomb in the fifth.

No problem though as the Angels and their B-squad of relievers couldn't hold the lead. Beltre cut it to 5-4 with a two-run homer in the fifth before Boston scored two runs in the seventh without getting a hit.

Victor Martinez (3 hits) scored on a wild pitch and then Daniel Nava drove in a run by getting hit by a pitch.

The Sox added an insurance run in the eighth when V-Mart hit an RBI single.

Jonathan Papelbon struck out the side in the ninth, probably his best outing of the season. It was a historical feat too since with that he became the first closer with 30+ saves in his first major league season.

Josh Beckett takes the mound tonight as the Red Sox look to sweep the Angels, Ervin Santana will pitch for Los Angeles.

Does this look like the face of a bozo that leads MLB in blown saves?

Once upon a time Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon was one of the best in baseball at his position.

Those days seem long gone as he continues to scuffle, blowing his AL-leading sixth game yesterday afternoon in Toronto as the Blue Jays (60-54) shocked the Sox (66-50) 6-5 in the series finale at the Rogers Centre.

It's hard to overstate how important this game was: Boston led 5-2 going into the ninth and they had the chance to sweep a pretty decent team on the road and gain half a game on the idle Rays.

For once John Lackey deserved better: he went eight plus innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits with a walk and four strikeouts. With a low pitch count, he went back out to start the ninth but promptly gave up a solo homer to Jose Bautista (who's your dealer bro?).

Enter Papelbon (4-5) who gave up three earned runs on four hits before he was mercifully pulled by Terry Francona.

After Vernon Wells (2 hits) double on the first pitch by Papelbon, Adam Lind (2 hits) singled up the middle to cut it to 5-4. Edwin Encarnacion tied it up with a double down the left field line. After a strikeout and an intentional walk, Daniel Bard came on but Fred Lewis delivered a sacrifice fly which scored Aaron Hill with the winning run.

Against scrub minor leaguer (a spot starter) Brad Mills, the Red Sox teed off. Victor Martinez (2 hits) began the barrage with a sacrifice fly in the third. David Ortiz made it 2-0 in the next at bat with an RBI single.

Toronto got one back in the fourth when a run scored on Lind's double play ball.

Jed Lowrie and Ortiz hit solo shots in the fifth to get Mills out of the game.

Another run scored for the Blue Jays in the sixth on Bautista's double play.

Things looked fine though as Darnell McDonald (2 hits) had an RBI triple in the eighth which scored Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2 hits) to make it 5-2.

Boston wraps up this road trip with three in Texas, beginning with Josh Beckett vs. 9-1 Tommy Hunter tonight. The Rangers are a very good team and it's always though to play in the Texas heat this time of year.

It'll be interesting to see what happens if the Sox find themselves in a save situation tonight. Bard only threw two pitches yesterday while Papelbon labored through 19 that felt like 40. Francona will stay with a player until his arm falls off so don't expect him to do anything drastic for a long time.

New York (who won last night) are six games ahead of Boston and Tampa Bay is four games ahead of the Sox in the AL wild card.

Bill bleepin' Hall

Remember when you wrote the Boston Red Sox off this season?

Well it's time to jump back on the bandwagon because this team is playing well and they're inching closer and closer to an improbable playoff spot.

The Sox (66-49) smoked the Blue Jays (59-54) 10-1 last night at the Rogers Centre.

Clay Buchholz (13-5) just did what he's been doing for the last year: embracing his role as the best Red Sox starting pitcher.

He allowed Jose Bautista's sacrifice fly in the first (scoring an unearned run) but other than that, he went eight innings, allowing five hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Shawn Marcum (10-6) is a good pitcher but he was no match for Buchholz or Boston. In four innings, he allowed eight earned runs on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts. A 36-pitch first inning was a sign of ominous things to come for Marcum.

I don't know what it is about the Rogers Centre but the ball is flying out of there for the Blue Jays (most homers in MLB) and the Red Sox (second most homers).

Boston slugged four home runs last night, including two from Bill Hall (3 hits, 4 RBIs).

Mike Lowell (3 hits) walked with the bases loaded in the first as the Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead.

Hall hit two towering shots to left field in the second (solo) and fourth inning (two-run). The Sox knocked out Marcum and sewed up the result with five runs in the fifth: J.D. Drew had a solo homer, Adrian Beltre had an opposite field three-run bomb and Hall had an RBI single.

Victor Martinez (2 hits) closed out the scoring with an RBI single in the eighth.

Adam Lind had three hits for Toronto in the one-sided loss.

John Lackey opposes rookie Brad Mills this afternoon as the Red Sox look for the sweep. They enter today, 3.5 behind Tampa Bay in the wild card and five games behind the Yankees.

Ortiz's bombs get Red Sox off to good start in Disneyland

Last night in Anaheim, Clay Buchholz was back to his All-Star form and David Ortiz looked like the guy who won the 2010 Home Run Derby.

Buchholz (11-5) went seven innings, allowing one run on five hits with a walk and seven strikeouts and Ortiz hit two home runs as Boston (56-44) won 6-3 against the Los Angeles Angels (52-50).

Dan Haren's Angels debut was a dud as he had to leave in the fifth after Kevin Youkilis' (3 hits, stolen base) line drive went off his arm. He left the game with a contusion. Haren went 4.2 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.

Bobby Abreu put LA up 1-0 in the first with a solo homer.

In his first game back in almost a month, Victor Martinez tied it up with an RBI single in the second inning.

Ortiz put his team in front with a solo homer in the third and then a clutch two-run shot in the eighth.

The 4-1 cushion came in handy as Scott Atchison served up a two-run bomb to Hideki Matsui (2 hits) in the eighth.

Jonathan Papelbon got the final four outs for his 23rd save of the season.

John Lackey makes his return to Angel Stadium of Anaheim tonight, facing Jered Weaver, who's leading the AL in strikeouts and is having a great season even though he somehow wasn't in the All-Star game in his home park.

Jimenez has worst start of season but Rockies win on Giambi's walkoff HR

After losing 2-1 to the Rockies in the series opener on Tuesday night (the first meeting since the 2007 World Series), the Sox (43-30) looked poised to pick up a big win last night at Coors Field as they knocked around ace Ubaldo Jimenez for a season-high six earned runs.

A 6-5 lead in the ninth inning wasn't enough as closer Jonathan Papelbon (2-4) gave up a solo home run to tie it then a two-run walkoff homer by Jason Giambi aka the Giambino.

The Rockies (38-33) are a decent team but this was a bitter loss given the lack of his A stuff from Jimenez. He gave up six earned runs on 10 hits in 5.2 innings with no walks and seven strikeouts.

Once again, John Lackey was not good but he hung around. In 6.2 innings, he allowed five earned runs on 10 hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.

Colorado led 4-0 after three on Miguel Olivo's two-run homer in the second, Brad Hawpe's groundout in the third and Seth Smith's sacrifice fly.

Rookie sensation Daniel Nava cut that lead in half for the Sox with a two-run double in the fourth.

Jimenez helped his own cause with an RBI single in the fourth (Lackey also had two hits off Jimenez after being 1 for 31 in his career) to make it 5-2.

The Sox went ahead with four runs in the sixth inning on Nava's RBI double, Darnell McDonald's two-run homer and Scutaro's RBI single.

Victor Martinez had three hits in the loss and survived a scary collision at the plate where his arm got bent back at tried to prevent a run.

Dice-K opposes Jason Hammel tonight as Boston looks to avoid the sweep before taking off for San Francisco.

Sox take pity on Orioles, lay down in extra innings

For the second series in a row, the Red Sox (33-25) had the chance to sweep but they couldn't do it.

Yesterday afternoon at Camden Yards, they lost 4-3 to the Orioles (16-41) in 11 innings. The win broke a 10-game losing streak for Baltimore and also gave new manager Juan Samuel his first MLB win.

Nick Markakis' bloop single in the 11th off Hideki Okajima (2-2) scored Cesar Izturis with the winning run.

Boston also fell to 1-7 in extra innings this season.

For the third time in a row in Baltimore, the Sox got a nice start from its starting pitcher. John Lackey had one of his best starts in a Red Sox uniform: seven innings, two earned runs on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts. He threw a Justin Verlander-esque 124 pitches so he deserved a better fate.

Orioles youngster Brian Matusz acquitted himself well, going 5.2 innings and giving up two earned runs on four hits with four walks and seven strikeouts.

Boston went ahead 2-0 in the second on Victor Martinez's two-run blast. Baltimore tied it up with two in the bottom of the inning on Izturis' RBI single and Julio Lugo's ground out.

Scott Moore put the O's up 3-2 in the eighth with an RBI double but the Orioles bullpen did what it does in the ninth, blowing its MLB-leading 11th save of the season.

Dustin Pedroia tied it up with a sacrifice fly which scored Mike Cameron.

Boston plays its next four games in Cleveland against the lowly Indians, probably baseball's worst team. Dice-K gets the start against Fausto Carmona.

V-Mart goes 5-for-5 in Sox win

For most of the season, Victor Martinez has been a forgotten man. His bat hasn't really shown up and his defense is still somewhere slightly above Little Leaguer.

That all hopefully changed for the better last night as he went 5-for-5 with a MLB tying record four doubles, two runs and two RBIs and Boston (30-23) rallied to beat the Oakland A's (28-25) 9-4 at Fenway Park.

The opener of a three-game series was a strange one as it was delayed 20 minutes by rain and then John Lackey struggled out of the gate, leading to a 4-0 Oakland lead heading into the bottom of the fifth.

Daric Barton hit a two-run homer in the third while Jack Cust (RBI single) and Mark Ellis (RBI double) gave the A's the 4-0 advantage in the fifth.

Adrian Beltre (3 hits) started the comeback with a three-run bomb off Gio Gonzalez in the bottom of the fifth. It was a tie game as a run scored on Dustin Pedroia's double play ball in the sixth then Martinez put the Sox ahead for good with a ground rule double later in the inning.

Bill Hall had an RBI triple in the seventh then Boston tacked on three more in the eighth with Martinez smacking another ground rule RBI double, an RBI single by Kevin Youkilis and an RBI single by J.D. Drew.

Lackey improved to 6-3 but in his six innings, he gave up four earned runs on twelve hits with two walks and four strikeouts. The bullpen work of Manny Delcarmen (7th), Daniel Bard (8th) and Joe Nelson (8th) was stellar as they combined for three scoreless innings, only one walk and three strikeouts.

Things figure to slow to a crawl tonight as the oft-injured Ben Sheets takes on Dice-K.

Yanks win on walk-off bomb in epic fashion

After being down 5-0 in the first inning last night at Yankee Stadium, the Sox were poised to pull off their best win of the season.

Boston (19-20) led 9-7 going into the ninth but one-trick pony closer Jonathan Papelbon couldn't end it as he gave up the tying two-run bomb to A-Rod and a walk-off two-run homer to Marcus Thames.

The swing of emotions was dramatic as the best win turned into the worst loss , something that the Sox might not recover from this season that always looks fated.

In true Dice-K fashion, he gave up one run in the second but settled down enough to get into the fifth inning.

David Ortiz's solo homer cut it to 6-2 in the fifth and J.D. Drew made it 6-5 New York (25-13) with a three-run homer off Phil Hughes.

Marcus Thames showed Dice-K the door in the fifth with an RBI double, giving the Bombers a 7-5 lead. Matsuzaka gave up seven earned runs in 4.2 innings with three walks and three strikeouts.

Hughes wasn't good either: five earned runs on six hits in five innings with a walk and three strikeouts.

The long ball was Boston's friend as Victor Martinez hit a solo shot in the sixth (7-6 NY) while Youkilis (two-run) and V-Mart went back to back in the eighth to give the Sox a 9-7 lead.

It was Papelbon's first blown save of the season but he fell to 1-3. He gave up four earned runs on three hits and threw 19 pitches so who knows if he's available tonight.

I'm not feeling good about Josh Beckett's chances tonight when he faces C.C. Sabathia. Beckett has been nothing short of pathetic this season and this does not look like the night to get untracked.

Finding new ways to beat average teams

The 2010 Boston Red Sox-the most boring team in recent Sox history-continues to play its unique version of .500 baseball.

Boston (17-16) won their second straight at Fenway last night, 7-6 over the equally average and dull Blue Jays (19-15), 7-6.

This was an ugly game as symbolized by winning pitcher John Lackey's (4-1) line: six innings, eight hits, six earned runs, three walks, six strikeouts.

Brandon Morrow had a horrorshow of a start for Toronto: 1.2 innings, three hits, six earned runs, six walks, four strikeouts. Is it possible that he's related to Dice-K with that nibbling junk?

The Sox went up 2-0 in the first inning on Victor Martinez's two-run single.

Toronto quickly responded with four runs in the top of the second. John Buck had an RBI double, Travis Snider had an RBI single and Fred Lewis had an RBI single.

Boston scored four in the bottom of the second with a Little League special. A bases loaded walk by Dustin Pedroia, a fielder's choice by Martinez that scored two (with an error) and an RBI single by Big Pop-Up.

Pedroia added to the laser show of singles with an RBI single in the third.

The Jays cut it to 7-6 with a two-run bomb by Jose Bautista but Hideki Okajima (7th), Daniel Bard (8th) and Jonathan Papelbon (9th, 9th save) settled things down with three scoreless and hitless innings of work.

Dice-K faces Dana Eveland tonight meaning the bullpens should be getting warmed up right about now. Are you ready for another four hour snoozefest? I thought so.

Look out for the laser show

The Sox (15-14) finished off a four-game sweep of the Angels (12-18) with a 11-6 comeback win last night at Fenway Park.

Dice-K (1-1) gave up four runs in the first innings and threw 39 pitches but like only he can, he stuck around for 5.1 innings and ended up getting his first win of the season. He allowed five earned runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

Scott Kazmir, formerly a great pitcher on the Rays when they're were terrible, has become a scrub. In 4.1 innings, Kaz (2-2) allowed seven earned runs on six hits with five walks and three strikeouts.

Victor Martinez (remember him?) led the Sox offense with four RBIs on a two-run homer and a two-run double.

The Yankees come to Fenway for three starting tonight but sadly nobody will be watching tonight as they go up against Celtics-Cavs Game 3 and Bruins-Flyers Game 4. Josh Beckett opposes Phil Hughes.

Darnell McDonald, your 2010 Red Sox MVP

For a lifeless team that was burying itself before the season had even really started, Darnell McDonald was a breath of fresh air.

The journeyman outfielder was called up from Pawtucket earlier in the day when Jacoby Ellsbury went on the DL (retroactive to April 12).

Nobody except his family, friends and people that work for the Pawsox had ever heard of him but he came to Fenway last night for his first game with Boston and delivered not only a pinch hit two-run homer in the eighth to tie it but also a walkoff RBI single as the Sox (5-9) finally snapped its five game losing streak with a 7-6 win over the Rangers (5-8).

He is in the lineup tonight in center field but at 31-years old odds are last night will be his biggest MLB highlight. If so, oh well. Baseball is great at providing those memorable moments for scrubs (Morgan Burkhart, Creighton Gubanich, Rico Brogna, etc).

McDonald's heroics overshadowed what began as another very ugly night at Fenway. Texas tied a MLB record with nine stolen bases. The combination of Tim Wakefield on the mound and Victor Martinez, who has the defensive prowess of a little league catcher, led to the perfect storm on the bases.

The Rangers jumped out to a 6-2 lead thanks to timely hitting and the aforementioned stolen bases. Martinez (3 hits) finally came through with an RBI single in the first, breaking a teamwide 0-for-32 stretch with runners in scoring position.

Boston's other run was in the fourth on Jeremy Hermida's solo homer. Wakefield as always was a good soldier and he toiled away for six innings and 114 pitches to save the Sox' bullpen. All six runs were earned on seven hits with five walks and three strikeouts.

Another Pawtucket callup, Josh Reddick, fueled the comeback with a two-run double in the sixth which cut it to 6-4 Rangers.

Manny Delcarmen got five outs and Hideki Okajima wiggled out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth to preserve the two-run deficit.

After McDonald tied it in the eighth with his two-run shot, Jonathan Papelbon (1-1) worked a scoreless ninth before McDonald stepped up again.

Rangers star Nelson Cruz (3 steals, 2 hits, run, hit, walk) left in the bottom of the ninth with a hamstring injury.

Josh Beckett is on the bump tonight against Matt Harrison. Beckett has pitched well in his last two starts and the Sox need more of that to calm their MLB worst rotation down for a night.

You can always count on J.D. Drew

Fielding probably their best lineup of the season last night in Toronto, the Red Sox swept the hapless Jays with an 8-1 win.

The most frustrating athlete on the planet J.D. Drew was the star of the game, going 4 for 4 with two home runs and three RBIs.

Jon Lester (10-7) was outstanding after he escaped a bases loaded, no outs jam in the first while only allowing a run. That would be the only run he gave up in eight innings of work. Toronto (55-64) had three hits off him, he walked two and struck out five.

Drew hit a solo shot in the third to give Boston (69-51) a 1-0 lead.

Mike Lowell's RBI single in the fourth and Drew's two-run blast put the Red Sox ahead 4-1. They added two more runs in the fifth, one in the seventh on a Victor Martinez homer and one more in the eighth before departing from their neighbors to the North.

The red-hot Yankees are in Boston for the weekend and the Sox find themselves 6.5 games behind the Bombers and a game ahead of the Rangers in the wild card. These three games likely won't mean much since New York is almost a sure thing to win the division but taking two out of three or heaven forbid a sweep, would make things interesting coming down the stretch.

The pitching matchups in the first two games do not line up favorably at all for Boston as tonight Brad Penny goes again Andy Petitte.

Jars of Clay

Looks like Clay Buchholz might be a decent big league pitcher after all. It's still ludicrous that the Sox wouldn't trade him and other prospects to get Roy Halladay but last night Buchholz outpitched Halladay as the Red Sox won 6-1 in Toronto.

Buchholz improved to 2-3 as he went six strong innings, allowing only one run on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

Halladay (13-6) like Josh Beckett the night before, was not on his game for whatever reason. He went just five innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits with four walks and seven strikeouts.

Boston (68-51) took a one game lead in the wild card thanks to its win and the Twins comeback victory over the Rangers.
David Ortiz (2 hits) continued to swing a hot bat as he hit a solo shot in the second inning. New shortstop Alex Gonzalez (2 hits) singled home Casey Kotchman later in the inning to make it 2-0 good guys.

In the fourth, Jacoby Ellsbury tripled home Gonzalez for a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the Blue Jays (55-63) scored their only run of the game when Vernon Wells drove in Aaron Hill with a single.

Boston tacked on two in the fifth on Jason Bay's two-run bomb and one in the ninth on Victor Martinez (2 hits) solo homer.

Jon Lester takes the mound tonight as the Red Sox try to sweep the Blue Jays before coming home to face the Yankees.

Red Sox survive Beckett's clunker

Going into last night's game, Josh Beckett was shaping up as the odds on favorite to win the AL Cy Young. After last night's performance, he might have lost ground to Roy Halladay and Zach Greinke.

Most importantly, the Red Sox (67-51) held on 10-9 in Toronto (55-62) even though Beckett resembled John Smoltz.

In 5.1 bumpy innings, Beckett allowed seven earned runs on nine hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

Luckily, Blue Jays rookie Ricky Romero has been good against everyone except the Red Sox. He gave up six runs (five earned) in 3.2 innings.

This game looked over early as Boston built up leads of 4-0 and 7-3 but Beckett's uncharacteristic outing made for some tense moments.

David Ortiz's RBI double in the second scored two, Alex Gonzalez drove in a run with a ground out and Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits, 3 RBIs) singled home Oritz for a 4-0 cushion.

Recent call-ups Randy Ruiz (3rd inning) and Travis Snider (4th inning) hit solo homers to cut the Boston lead in half.

The Red Sox scored twice more in the fourth on an Ortiz solo homer and a sacrifice fly by Ellsbury.

Edwin Encarnacion made it 6-3 with a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Jason Bay (2 runs, 2 walks) hit a solo homer to make it 7-3 before Adam Lind's (2 hits, 2 RBIs) two-run double brought Toronto within two in the bottom of the fifth.

Rod Barajas (2 runs, 2 hits) tied it with a two-run bomb off Beckett in the sixth which ended Beckett's night.

The Red Sox responded once again with three in the eighth. Alex Gonzalez's bunt to pitcher Casey Jannsen was thrown away, allowing Ortiz to score. Then Ellsbury hit another sac. fly and Victor Martinez (2 hits) came through with an RBI double.

Jonathan Papelbon came to Daniel Bard's rescue in the eighth as the rookie continues to scuffle after his incredible start.

Unfortunately, Papelbon is almost as shaky as Bard at the moment. Papelbon allowed two inherited runners to score as Marco Scutaro hit a two-run double in the eighth.

The ninth was just as crazy for Papelbon who threw 33 total pitches, 17 for strikes. To get four outs, he worked around two hits and three walks. And most of the balls the Blue Jays hit for outs just fell short of being home runs. In the end, Papelbon recorded his 29th save but he obviously won't be available tonight.

Clay Buchholz for the third time in a row draws an ace, this time in the form of Halladay. After pitching great but losing to C.C. Sabathia and Justin Verlander, maybe tonight is the night his luck turns around.

Winning on the road is overrated

The Red Sox concluded their weekend series in Texas yesterday with a 4-3 loss.

Boston (66-51) has now lost three series in a row and four out of five but who's counting?

Pitching hasn't been the issue lately as the Sox' starters for the most part are having decent outings. The offense is the culprit is timely hitting seems to be a foreign concept. It seems like the only way Boston scores on the road is via solo homers.

Rookie Junichi Tazawa (1-2) made his third appearance, second start, and it wasn't as good as his first start against the Tigers last week.

In five innings, he allowed four earned runs on ten hits with three walks and no strikeouts.

With the win, the Rangers (66-50) flip-flopped with the Sox and now lead the AL wild card by half a game. The season series is over and Texas won seven of the nine games between the teams. It's also troubling that the Sox' biggest competition for the wild card, Tampa Bay and Texas, own Boston this season.

Dustin Nippert (4-1) pitched well for Texas, going six strong innings. In 95 degree heat, he allowed two earned runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

After the worst outing of his career on Friday night, Rangers closer Frank Francisco bounced back with a 1-2-3 ninth yesterday for his 17th save.

David Ortiz (2 runs, 2 walks) hit his second homer of the series, a solo homer in the second which gave the Sox a 1-0 lead.

Ian Kinsler responded with a solo shot of his own in the home half of the inning. Texas went up 3-1 in the third with a Josh Hamilton (everybody's favorite recovering addict) RBI double and Kinsler's RBI single.

Recently promoted Brian Anderson cut it to 3-2 Texas with a sacrifice fly in the fourth but Taylor Teagarden hit a bomb of Tazawa to open the sixth.

Dustin Pedroia hit a solo homer in the seventh (see the theme?) but that was as close as the Red Sox would get.

Victor Martinez (2 hits) was the only Boston player with more than one hit in the game.

An off day today is followed by three in Toronto beginning tomorrow. The Blue Jays are playing the role of spoiler as usual but the Sox will have their hands full as they have to face Roy Halladay and Ricky Romero.

Are we looking at 2006 all over again?

As the Red Sox lost 6-4 to the Rays last night at Tropicana Field, moving their record there to 2-13 since the start of last season, you had to wonder, is Boston (62-44) about to have an epic collapse?

That might seem like a stretch for a team that is in control of the AL wild card and 18 games over .500 but anyone that has watched closely realizes that this is a very flawed squad.

Nobody outside of Josh Beckett and Jon Lester has stepped up; Tim Wakefield might return at the end of next week and Dice-K possibly in September (not holding my breath on that). Clay Buchholz, Brad Penny and John Smoltz are each almost automatic losses.

Penny (7-6) went six innings last night but gave up five runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Tampa Bay (60-48) starter David Price (5-4) looked like the stud from last fall's playoffs. He went six innings, allowing two runs on six hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

Victor Martinez was a great addition but he can only do so much for a lineup that just doesn't have the juice it had in the first half of the season. Martinez was the only player from either team to have two hits, a double and a homer.

Jason Bay crushed a homer to left in the second to give the Red Sox an early 1-0 lead.

The Rays answered with Carlos Pena's two-run homer in the third and birthday boy Carl Crawford's (28) two-run blast in the third.

Martinez's solo shot in the sixth cut it to 4-2 but Penny gave up his third long ball of the night as bum Pat Burrell went deep for a 5-2 Tampa Bay advantage.

Every time the Sox scored, Tampa quickly responded. Jed Lowrie's groundout in the seventh made it 5-3 in the seventh but Jason Bartlett hit a solo homer off Manny Delcarmen.

Kevin Youkilis produced the last run with an RBI groundout in the eighth but Rays closer J.P. Howell struck out two in the ninth for his 12th save of the season.

The Sox travel to Yankee Stadium, the four-game series starts tonight and it should be a great barometer for where this team is going. New York has been the best team in baseball for months now, a far cry from their 0-8 early-season record against Boston.

New York is 2.5 games up on Boston and the Red Sox are just three games ahead of Tampa Bay. The Yankees are obviously going to win at least one game this series but the Red Sox need at least a split to show they're doing more than treading water.

John Smoltz pitches against Joba tonight, a complete mismatch if I've ever seen one. I think Boston's relievers are warming up as we speak.

Dude can rake

Nothing like a weekend sweep of the Orioles to make life feel good. After shutting out the Birds 4-0 on Saturday night, the Red Sox set a season-high in runs and hits as they destroyed Baltimore, 18-10 yesterday at Camden Yards.

Hitting in the No. 3 spot, new Sox (62-42) slugger Victor Martinez proved what a beast he is: the Ed Hardy t-shirt wearing, crying catcher, formerly of the Indians tied a career-high with five hits, four RBIs and a run.

The Red Sox had 23 hits and seven walks in this wacky game. Mike Lowell (3 hits, 3 RBIs, run), Kevin Youkilis (3 hits, 2 RBIs, 2 runs, 2 walks; in the series he reached base 12 straight times until striking out in the ninth yesterday), Dustin Pedroia (4 runs, 3 hits), Jacoby Ellsbury (4 runs, 2 hits, 2 walks) and rookie Josh Reddick (2 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) were the most notable Boston hitters.

Its not often that you score 10 runs and collect 15 hits and six walks yet still lose by eight runs but the O's (44-60) found a way.

Adam Jones (3 hits, 3 runs, 3 RBIs), Ty Wigginton (3 hits, 2 RBIs, run) and Brian Roberts (3 hits, run, RBI) padded their fantasy stats as Scott Boras (who probably represents all three of them) made 50-page reports on why they're grossly underpaid.

Lost in the domination yesterday and throughout the weekend, was the fact that outside of Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, the No. 3-5 spots in the Red Sox' pitching rotation have become a blackhole.

PawSox legend Clay Buchholz continues to struggle at the big league level. Staked to a 7-0 lead in the third, he promptly gave up six in the third. Didn't really matter though as Boston responded with seven in the fourth and after that, the Orioles pretty much rolled over.

Buchholz couldn't even last long enough to get the win. He went four innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits with four walks and three strikeouts. He also surrendered two home runs.

After the Yankees lost three of four over the weekend to the White Sox, the Red Sox find themselves on this off-day, half a game behind New York for first place in the AL East. The schedule in August is particularly difficult and that's signified by this week: the Red Sox have two in Tampa, followed by four in Da Bronx.