Red Sox take a dump on the Cleveland Indians, leave town with a series win

I was all set to watch the series finale yesterday afternoon between the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. However, when I flipped the game on the radio (while I was on the computer), I listened in amazement as they hung seven on Indians (30-16) starter Mitch Talbot in the first inning, en route to a 14-2 ass kicking.

Thanks to the blowout, I felt comfortable going to the gym and catching bits and pieces of the game when I could. The Red Sox (27-22) won the series and their 10th game out of their last 12 thanks to a season-high 20 hit attack including four homers and six doubles.

Jon Lester (7-1) was the lucky recipient of the ridiculous output from his offense. Lester threw six scoreless innings, allowing three hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. After a couple subpar outings in a row, it was nice to see him be lights out once again.

Talbot (1-1) deserves some sympathy since he was making his first start off the DL, against a red-hot team, but thems the breaks sometimes. In three innings, he allowed 12 hits, eight earned runs with two walks and a strikeout.

Carl Crawford led the Red Sox, going 4 for 4 in his best game so far in an underwhelming season in Boston. He had a homer, two doubles, three runs and two RBIs. Jacoby Ellsbury (2 walks) and Drew Sutton (2 runs) had three hits while Dustin Pedroia (3 RBIs), Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia (3 RBIs) and Mike Cameron all had two hits.

Pedroia, Ortiz and Saltalamacchia had the other homers in this joke of a game.

Boston travels to Detroit for a four-game series beginning with an afternoon game today. Alfredo Aceves takes on Max Scherzer.

Red Sox finally top the world beating Indians

After four tries in 2011, the Boston Red Sox (26-22) finally beat the Cleveland Indians (30-16) 4-2 last night at Progressive Field.

Josh Beckett (4-1) picked up his first regular season win in Cleveland (who could ever forget his legendary start there in the 2007 playoffs?) after 6.2 innings. He allowed five hits, one earned run with three walks and six strikeouts.

Fausto Carmona (3-5) went eight innings for the Indians but he allowed five hits, four earned runs with one walk and seven strikeouts.

The unlikeliest of heroes stepped up at the plate for Boston as Jason Varitek hit a two-run homer, his first in almost a year (May 30, 2010).

Jonathan Papelbon gave up a solo homer to Travis Buck in the ninth but recovered to get his ninth save of the season.

Some Amish guy named Ezequiel Carrera gave Cleveland a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the second which scored Buck.

Jed Lowrie tied it up in the third with a sacrifice fly which drove in Carl Crawford. The Red Sox went ahead for good later in the frame on Adrian Gonzalez's RBI double (scoring Jacoby Ellsbury).

Varitek's two-run bomb in the seventh plated David Ortiz.

Jon Lester takes on Mitch Talbot this afternoon in the series finale.

Cleveland rocks (or so I've been told)

Sooner or later in 2011, the Cleveland Indians will come back to Earth. Right? Maybe not for MLB's surprise top team.

For the fourth time this season in four games at Cleveland's Progressive Field, the Indians (30-15) beat the Red Sox (25-22). Last night, the Tribe rallied for a 3-2 win as Daniel Bard (1-4) once again failed to get the job done.

Bard deserves blame since he you know, threw the pitches. However, Red Sox manager Terry Francona should get some heat too since he had Bard face Asdrubal Cabrera (who was 5 for 5 on Sunday and had hit a solo homer earlier last night) with first base open and a struggling Shin-Soo Choo up next.

Cabrera hit an RBI double off Bard which scored Michael Brantley (who had tied it with an RBI single) with the winning run in the eighth.

Indians closer Chris Perez worked around two hits in the ninth to get his 13th save of the season. Carl Crawford ended the game by grounding into a double play.

Clay Buchholz started for Boston and yet again, he shut down the opposition enough to earn a win. He went 7.1 innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs and two walks with four strikeouts. He was pulled after 94 pitches since he threw an obscene 127 in his last start.

Former Red Sox pitcher Justin Masteron (who went to Cleveland in the Victor Martinez trade on July 31, 2009) continued to baffle his old team. He also got a no decision but he pitched well. He went 7.2 innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs with two walks and three strikeouts.

Dustin Pedroia gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the third with an RBI single that scored Crawford.

Cabrera tied it up with his 10th homer of the season in the fourth inning.

Crawford answered with just his second homer of the season-solo of course-in the fifth.

Tonight figures to be another pitcher's duel as Josh Beckett opposes Fausto Carmona.

OK this is starting to get funny

At this point, you have to laugh. The Boston Red Sox are off to their worst start since 1945 and they seem to find a more ridiculous way to lose each day or night.

Yesterday afternoon, Jon Lester and Fausto Carmona had a classic pitcher's duel in the series finale at Progressive Field.

Cleveland (4-2) pushed across a run in the eighth inning as Asdrubal Cabrera put down a squeeze bunt which scored Adam Everett. That 1-0 lead turned out to be the only run that was necessary as the Indians held on for a 1-0 win and a series sweep of the Red Sox (0-6).

Lester (0-1) deserved a better fate in his second start of the season. He went seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and three walks while striking out nine.

Carmona matched him. He also went seven innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out four.

Daniel Bard (0-2) took the loss after walking Everett, who stole second base then advanced to third on a sacrifice by Orlando Cabrera (small ball!).

This excruciating loss wouldn't be complete with a baserunning gaffe to end it.

David Ortiz walked with two outs against Indians closer Chris Perez and Darnell McDonald pinch ran for him. J.D. Drew hit a hot shot off Perez but McDonald took a big turn around second base and fell down. He couldn't recover in time and was thrown out at second on a heads up play. Haha, that's how it ended.

Perez earned his second save of the season with that big mistake.

Well things can only get better, right? The Red Sox come home for Opening Day at Fenway Park (your favorite theme park). All the frauds and big money bozos will be in the house so I wouldn't be surprised if those clueless idiots don't even really boo the team like they should.

John Lackey takes on Phil Hughes this afternoon. Look at it like this: if New York wins two of three this weekend, Boston will be 1-8. God forbid if the Yankees sweep, Boston will be 0-9. Oh my. Needless to say, it's long past the time to wake up and start playing.

Will the Boston Red Sox ever win in 2011?

At this point, the Boston Red Sox in 2011 are the car crash of Major League Baseball. You can't help yourself but look at the carnage as this superstar-laden team is still winless going into the second week of the regular season.

If all goes right, in the dog days of summer, we'll all sit back over our Fenway Franks and Sam Adams beers and laugh about this nightmare start. However, at the moment, there's nothing funny about a team that's now 0-5 (only three winless teams left in MLB-Tampa Bay and Houston) after an 8-4 loss last night at Progressive Field.

Like Josh Beckett the night before him, Red Sox fans were forced to abandon all rational thought (not a tough concept for us) and pretend that Daisuke Matsuzaka would spin a gem against a bad Cleveland (3-2) team.

Instead, Dice-K was exactly as maddening as you remember. He lasted only five innings (like Beckett) and departed after giving up six hits, three earned runs, three walks and two strikeouts. Congratulations to him since he only needed 96 pitches and about four hours to get that far.

Indians starter Mitch Talbot wasn't any better (4.1 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts) since he left after 102 pitches.

It turned into a battle of bullpen's and Boston's JV trio of Dennys Reyes (3 earned runs), Dan Wheeler (earned run) and Tim Wakefield (earned run) predictably couldn't get the job done.

Another loss overshadowed nice games from Carl Crawford (2 hits, 2 steals) and Adrian Gonzalez (double, two-run homer).

Shin-Soo Choo gave Cleveland a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run bomb.

Boston tied it up with a pair of runs in the second: Marco Scutaro's chopper scored David Ortiz and Jacoby's Ellsbury groundout drove in J.D. Drew.

Asdrubal Cabrera put the Indians back on top with an RBI single in the second.

Michael Brantley's fielder's choice in the sixth scored Travis Buck but it was all Jason Varitek's fault as he made a Little League type brain cramp. Kevin Youkilis got the force at third base and tossed it to Varitek covering home. He forgot he had to tag Buck so he just harmlessly stepped on the plate.

That run looked big at the time but it didn't matter as Wheeler allowed a three-run homer to Cabrera in the next at bat.

Gonzalez cut it to 7-4 with his first homer for Boston. A two-run shot to right that scored Crawford. Should be the first of 35+ this season for Adrian.

Matt LaPorta tacked on an insurance run with a solo homer off Wakefield in the eighth.

The Red Sox are off to their worst start in 15 years. They'll look to avoid a disastrous 0-6 start this afternoon as Jon Lester gets the ball for his second start of the season. Fausto Carmona opposes him and ironically both got shelled on Opening Day.

Needless to say, Boston needs a win to salvage some pride. Otherwise, Opening Day tomorrow afternoon at Fenway against the New York Yankees could be rough.

Let's all kick the Boston Red Sox while they're down

Well another game went by last night and the Boston Red Sox are still 0-for-2011 in the win department.

This latest installment was perhaps the most embarrassing since the Red Sox (0-4) lost to the Cleveland Indians and something named a Josh Tomlin completely shut them down for seven innings in a 3-1 loss at mostly empty Progressive Field.

Josh Beckett (5 innings, 5 hits, 3 earned runs, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts) proved once again that he'll never be anything close to the stud that he was in 2003 and 2007. He racked up 106 pitches in five innings against Cleveland's (2-2) Triple A lineup and his night was over.

I can't say that Tomlin had great stuff (7 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts) since Boston helped him out by nervously swinging early in counts (see: 91 pitches in 7 innings of work).

The lone highlights (if you can call them that) for Boston's neutered offense was two hits from Dustin Pedroia and Jarrod Saltalamacchia's RBI single in the second inning (his first hit of the season) which gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. David Ortiz scored the run but J.D. Drew got thrown out at the plate by a money throw from Shin-Soo Choo.

The Indians got Beckett's pitch count up and scrapped for two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth. Old friend (especially to Red Sox wives) Orlando Cabrera had an RBI single to tie it. Then Jack Hannahan had an RBI single and Carlos Santana hit a sacrifice fly.

Boston wasted three perfect innings from Matt Albers, Bobby Jenks and Daniel Bard (who combined for eight strikeouts and no hits).

Cleveland reliever Tony Sipp only needed seven pitches (are you kidding me?) to get through the eighth before closer Chris Perez nailed down his first save of the season.

The Red Sox looked like they might rally in the ninth as Pedoria got a single and Youkilis walked with two outs but Ortiz flew out to left on Perez's 27th pitch.

It has come to this: Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Mitch Talbot tonight as Boston still searches for its first win of the 2011 season.

Beltre and Dice-K help Red Sox split with Indians

The bad news seems to come daily for the Boston Red Sox and yesterday was no different as Kevin Youkilis will miss the rest of the season with his random thumb injury.

Every time you want to bury this team you can't though as they emerge from their shallow grave with a nice win. Last night, the Sox (62-47) earned a split with the Indians (46-63) thanks to a 6-2 win at Fenway Park.

There were basically two reasons why Boston won this game: Daisuke Matsuzaka and Adrian Beltre. Dice-K (8-3) had probably his second best start of the season (behind the near no-hitter at the Phillies) as he went eight impressive innings, allowing one earned run on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

For much of the game, Cleveland rookie Josh Tomlin matched Dice-K, starting out the first three innings with a perfect game. However, with one swing, Beltre gave Boston all the runs they would need as he crushed a fourth inning grand slam over the Monster.

Shin-Soo Choo had given the Indians an early 1-0 lead in the first with a solo homer to center.

J.D. Drew added two important insurance runs in the eighth with a clutch two-run single.

Even a 6-1 lead at home isn't safe for Hideki Okajima (2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk). Luis Valbuena hit an RBI single in the ninth and when two runners were on base, Terry Francona had to go to Jonathan Papelbon since they needed this game bad.

Papelbon made it interesting as usual, walking the bases loaded (putting the tying run at the plate in the form of nobody Trevor Crowe) but striking out two batters to end it. It was his 26th save of the season.

For the first time since before Memorial Day (it's an absolute joke that it's been that long), the Red Sox will play the Yankees. The two teams have four in the Bronx this weekend, starting tonight and ending Monday afternoon.

Clay Buchholz faces Javier Vazquez tonight at Yankee Stadium. The Bombers come in six games ahead of Boston and half a game ahead of Tampa Bay (the wild card leaders). Needless to say, the Red Sox have to win at least a couple games in the series to stay alive. They simply can't afford to be swept.

Red Sox lose to the Indians, again

If he pitched against only the Boston Red Sox, former Sox pitcher Justin Masterson would have a hell of a career.

Following his shutout against Boston in June, he came to Fenway Park last night and beat the Red Sox again, 9-1 in one of the worst losses in a season that's teetering on the brink of being completely over.

With the win, Cleveland (46-62) has already earned at worst a split of the four-game series as Boston (61-47) fell 6.5 games behind the Yankees and Rays for the AL East/wild card.

Masterson (4-10) only lasted five innings: four hits, one earned run, four walks, three strikeouts but that was a much better effort than Jon Lester (11-7), who lost his fourth start in a row. Lester has been the brunt of plain bad luck (the Sox have scored three runs when he's been in the last three games) but last night he went five innings, allowing seven hits, four runs (two earned) with two walks and four strikeouts.

It was an ugly game as Boston committed three fatal errors, beginning when Lester botched a throw to third on a bunt in the third inning. That allowed the Indians to score a run for a 1-0 lead and they added two in the fifth on Asdrubal Cabrera's sacrifice fly and Shelley Duncan's RBI double.

After Jayson Nix's solo homer in the sixth off Fisk's foul pole, Lester was pulled.

David Ortiz hit his 23rd homer of the season in the sixth, solo of course, but that was the only highlight for the home team as Cleveland pushed across five more runs in the seventh thanks to two errors by Marco Scutaro and Victor Martinez. Andy Marte capped it with a three-run homer.

Jacoby Ellsbury returned and batted leadoff while playing center field. Unfortunately, his performance (0 for 5) was completely forgettable.

Daisuke Matsuzaka takes on rookie Josh Tomlin tonight as the Red Sox try to salvage a split before they head to the Bronx for a pivotal four-game series at Yankee Stadium.

Mike Lowell says "I'm not dead yet"

After losing on Monday night to the Indians and having Kevin Youkilis placed on the DL with a thumb injury (that might keep him out for the rest of the season if he needs surgery), the Red Sox needed a boost of energy or else they're done.

Last night, that came in the form of Mike Lowell who returned to the field, playing first base, and hit a two-run homer as Boston (61-46) beat Cleveland (45-62) 3-1 at Fenway Park.

Josh Beckett (3-1) had his third straight good start, actually this was his best one in a long time. He went eight innings, allowing one earned run on three hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.

Jonathan Papelbon got a 1-2-3 ninth for his 25th save of the season. He also became the first closer to get 25+ saves in his first five MLB seasons.

Lowell cranked his two-run bomb off David Huff (2-10) in the second, taking the first pitch he saw in months in the big leagues over the Monster.

Lou Marson cut it to 2-1 in the third with a solo shot and Bill Hall (2 hits) pushed across the last run in the fourth with a solo homer of his own.

Ryan Kalish continued to impress, adding two more hits out of the ninth spot in his fourth MLB game. He's hitting .538.

Things got crazy in the eighth when Indians reliever Jensen Lewis threw behind Adrian Beltre. Beckett came out of the dugout and started barking at anyone in a Cleveland uniform, especially Shelley Duncan, who he plunked earlier in the game.

Beckett, Lewis and Indians third base coach Steve Smith were all ejected. Terry Francona was fired up too, yelling at Smith. However, it was a typical baseball "fight" with both benches emptying but not much actually happening other than some pushing and name-calling.

Former Red Sox Justin Masterson takes on Jon Lester tonight at steamy Fenway.

Sox choke away game in Cleveland

Up 5-0 and with Jon Lester on the mound, the Red Sox were in perfect position to take three out of four in Cleveland.

For some reason, Lester didn't have it (6 innings, 6 earned runs, 9 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts) and the Indians (23-36) won 8-7 on a walk-off two-run single by Russell Branyan.

Boston (35-27) had gone up 7-6 in the top of the ninth when Adrian Beltre (2 hits) crushed a two-run homer off Indians closer Kerry Wood. Yes, he's still alive, barely. J.D. Drew was hit by a pitch and he scored on the bomb to left center, Beltre's eighth homer of the season.

The Sox scored four runs in the first, on a Dustin Pedroia (2 hits) RBI single, Victor Martinez's sacrifice fly and two runs scored on a Andy Marte error. The former Sox prospect had three errors in the inning, tying a MLB record.

Martinez's RBI double in the second, which scored Marco Scutaro (2 hits, 2 runs), made it 5-0 and it looked like it would be a happy late-night flight back home for the Red Sox.

The Indians scored three in the third on Trevor Crowe's RBI double, Shin-Soo Choo's (2 hits) sacrifice fly and Austin Kearns' RBI single.

Cleveland went ahead for the first time with three more runs in the sixth on Marte's RBI single and a two-run single by Lou Marson.

With Jonathan Papelbon unavailable for one more day (on the bereavement list), closer in waiting Daniel Bard proved that he's not quite ready for primetime. He loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth before striking out one and getting a popout before Branyan came through with the bloop single to right just over Pedroia's glove.

Interleague play starts back up this weekend with the Philadelphia Phillies invading Fenway Park for three games. The Sox won two of three at Citizen's Bank Park a few weeks back.

Jamie Moyer, a former Sox pitcher, takes on John Lackey tonight.

Old friend completely shuts down Sox

If the Sox are going to lose, and in such one-sided fashion, it might as well be to a former teammate.

Justin Masterson was the main part of the trade to get Victor Martinez last summer and nobody can second-guess that lopsided deal. Still, Masterson was a likable young guy that was just started to find his way in the major leagues (see: 2007 playoffs).

Going to the wasteland that is the Cleveland Indians, he has not surprisingly fallen by the wayside and seen his career go off the tracks.

For one night, all that was forgotten as he pitched the best game of his career: a two-hit shutout, his first in MLB.

Cleveland (22-36) won 11-0 last night at Progressive Field as Masterson outdueled Clay Buchholz and the Indians tacked on eight runs in the eighth off Boof Bonser and Joe Nelson who would never be confused with Ramiro Mendoz and Mariano Rivera in their prime.

Buchholz (8-4) pitched decently: seven innings, three earned runs, three hits, four walks, one strikeout.

Boston (35-26) didn't have an answer for Masterson (2-5): two walks and six strikeouts.

The Indians got the three off Buchholz with a sacrifice fly by Jhonny Peralta in the first, a run that scored on a double play ball in the third and Peralta scored on a wild pitch in the fourth.

The shit truly hit the fan in the eighth as Bonser (4 earned runs, 2 hits, 2 walks) was miserable in his return to the big leagues. Nelson wasn't any better (1 inning, 4 earned runs, 5 hits, 3 walks, 1 strikeout) and he gave up a grand slam to Travis Hafner.

Order should be restored to the universe tonight as Jon Lester opposes Mitch Talbot, another talented lefty.

Just Manny being Manny

Somehow it all seems fitting that Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez still overshadows the Boston Red Sox, even during a memorable game like last night.

The reports surfaced yesterday afternoon that Manny was suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball for taking a performance enhancer, a drug that was used to up testosterone levels after a steroid cycle. It was the biggest name and incident since baseball started this steroid witch hunt.

I love baseball but I'm not surprised by anything that comes out these days. Can't we just assume if A-Rod and Manny were juicing that everyone except maybe David Eckstein was in the same boat?

It is MLB's fault for not policing it at the time and letting it get way out of control. And here we are.

The Sox (18-11) did everything they could to let fans forget about Manny's public relations disaster. Boston tied a major league record by scoring 12 runs in the sixth as they smoked the Cleveland Indians, 13-3 at Fenway.

Tim Wakefield continued his hot streak as he improved to 4-1. He went six innings, allowing two runs on four hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

Boston led 1-0 in the first after Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, 2 runs, 3 RBIs, walk) knocked in Julio Lugo (3 hits, 3 runs) with an RBI single.

Cleveland (11-18) jumped ahead 2-1 in the fifth as Matt LaPorta scored on a Wakefield wild pitch. Then Asdrubal Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly which scored Luis Valbuena.

It's still obviously early in the season but the Indians bullpen came into this two-game series with the worst ERA in the league and they didn't disappoint.

In the sixth, Jason Bay (2 runs, 2 hits, 4 RBIs) hit a RBI double, Rocco Baldelli hit a two-run single, Jeff Bailey (2 hits) added a two-run double, George Kottaras produced a two-run single, Pedroia hit a two-run single and finally Bay capped it off with a three-run bomb over the bullpen in right center.

Ryan Garko completed the scoring for the Indians with an RBI double in the eighth.

The Tampa Bay Rays (Boston's biggest obstacle in the AL) come to Fenway starting tonight for three games.

The Red Sox are playing some decent ball

Busy times in New England. The weather has been amazing lately and there's been plenty of actions in the arenas, fields and war-rooms of our favorite teams.

For the reasons just outlined, it has been overshadowed by the Celtics' mediocrity, the Bruins' dominance and the Patriots' 2009 draft class but last night at Progressive Field (no longer Jacobs Field?), the Sox (13-6) won their 11th game in a row.

Everyone's new favorite player Jason Bay provided all the offense in the 3-1 win as he bashed a three-run bomb off Indians (7-13) closer Kerry Wood in the ninth.

He had three of Boston's eight total hits. David Ortiz added two hits although he's still looking for his first homer of the season.

2008 Cy Young winner Cliff Lee pitched eight shutout innings, allowing just five hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

Tim Wakefield had his third straight outstanding start as he departed after seven scoreless innings. Manny Delcarmen (he of the 0.00 ERA) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win and Jonathan Papelbon was shaky in the ninth but recorded his fifth save of the season.

Mark DeRosa's RBI single in the ninth plate Shin-Soo Choo with the Indians' only run.

Boston looks to make it twelve in a row tonight as Brad Penny opposes Anthony Reyes.

Lester is a stud; no homo!

The Red Sox' hopes of stealing the AL East out from under the Tampa Bay Rays lived for at least one more night as Boston (94-65), won its third straight against the Indians (79-80), 6-1 last night at Fenway.

Jon Lester (16-6) wrapped up his breakout regular season with one last solid start. It's almost guaranteed that the Red Sox will travel to Anaheim in the first round of the playoffs to face the Angels. If Beckett can be anything like he normally is in October, coupled with Lester and a decent start or two from Dice-K, I like this team's chances.

Lester went six innings last night, allowing one run on two hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

Jed Lowrie, Kevin Youkilis and Jacoby Ellsbury led the offense-something you'll be reading for five years-with two hits apiece. Ellsbury continued his career-high 15 game hitting streak while each guy scored two runs. Youkilis even crushed his 28th homer of the season.

The New York Yankees come to Fenway for three basically meaningless games this weekend. It's pouring right now and rain is forecasted tomorrow as well so who knows what they'll do if they have to cancel?

Slowly but surely, everything is coming together for the 2008 Red Sox.

For the fifth time in six years, the Red Sox will play in October

Not to get all Bill Simmons on you (my friends and dad are the coolest!) but I thought the text I received from my buddy last night perfectly summed up the Sox' playoff clincher: "Ortiz out for two months, Manny shipped off, Beckett hurt and not himself, Drew lost on August 7, Lowell fucked for much of the year, no depth in the bullpen....How are we going to the playoffs again??" The fact that my friend Will (from Belmont, MA) currently lives in Chicago, just proves how much of a fan that he is since he summed up the season better than I could have and I've been writing about them for months!

Boston (92-65) beat Cy Young favorite Cliff Lee (22-3; it was his first loss since July 6) and the Cleveland Indians (79-78) last night at Fenway, 5-4, to clinch a playoff spot.

The celebration may have been a bit over the top but as the past Wild Card winners have shown, if you can make the playoffs in baseball, you have as good a shot as any other team to advance deep into it and maybe even win the World Series. This Sox team has been held together by band aids and supporting players for the past few months but if Lowell and Drew can comeback, not to mention if Beckett can continue to rebound in his favorite time of year no less, Boston just might be celebrating another World Series title in a little over a month.

Kevin Youkilis (three walks) hit a two-run homer in the fourth to give his team a 2-0 lead. Cleveland scored four runs off Tim Wakefield in the fifth, to temporarily go up 4-3. Grady Sizemore had an RBI single, Jamey Carroll had an RBI groundout while Shin-Soo Cho and Jhonny Peralta added RBI doubles.

In the fifth, Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, 2 RBIs, run) knocked in Jacoby Ellsbury (who extended his career high 14 game hit streak) and Coco Crisp. Jason Bay knocked in Pedroia with an RBI single that turned out to be the winning run.

Wakefield (10-11) wasn't great but he got the win after six innings of work. He allowed four earned runs on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts.

The Red Sox bullpen stepped up as Manny Delcarmen got two outs, Hideki Okajima made Victor Martinez pop up with the bases loaded and two outs to end the seventh. Justin Masterson recorded the first two outs in the eighth before running into trouble. No problem though as Jonathan Papelbon retired Carroll on his first pitch, stranding the bases loaded again. Papelbon struck out two in the ninth with some gas as the 1-2-3 inning gave him his 41st save of the season.

Jason and Jed Get it Done for BoSox

The ninth inning was once again the Red Sox' best friend last night in Cleveland, as they broke a tie game (3-3) with two runs in the ninth.

Hideki Okajima got a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth for the save as the Red Sox (9-6) beat the Indians (5-9), 5-3.

Jed Lowrie made his major league debut, he played third base and collected his first career hit (a two-run single). He also had another RBI on a ground out.

Tim Wakefield started and had a good outing: six innings, seven hits, two runs (both earned), four walks and four strikeouts.

Cleveland starter Paul Byrd shut down the Sox, allowing just one run on six hits in six innings. He struck out six with no walks. He only threw 78 pitches so it was surprising that Eric Wedge yanked him so early when he was clearly effective.

David Aardsma (1-1) picked up his first win in a Red Sox uniform and it only took two pitches in the eighth.

Jason Varitek pinch hit and hit a solo home run in the ninth off Jensen Lewis before Kevin Youkilis (two hits) singled home Coco with the insurance run.

Boston goes to New York tonight for another of these dinky two-game series. Sox-Yankees in April, does it get any better?

Joe Borowski, Still Dealin'

On a freezing cold night in Cleveland, the Sox rallied in the ninth and beat the Indians, 6-4.

Julio Lugo (haha, I know!) started the ninth by doubling off Cleveland's joke closer-Joe Borowski. Coco sacrificed him over and then Dustin Pedroia hit a sac. fly to deep left to easily score Lugo to tie it at four.

David Ortiz recorded his second hit of the game, a bloop to left to keep the inning alive. From there, Manny Ramirez unloaded on a Borowski meatball that was right down the pipe.

Jonathan Papelbon struck out two in the bottom of the ninth for his fifth save of the season.

The Sox (8-6) didn't wait long to get things started as Kevin Youkilis (3 hits, 2 RBIs) doubled home Pedroia in the first.

Cleveland (5-8) got two in the fourth and two in the fifth to knock Jon Lester out of the game. Like Dice-K the night before, Lester's bad habits from last season crept up in an early season start. He could only go 4.1 innings, giving up five hits, four runs (all earned), five walks and three strikeouts. In all he threw 97 pitches which won't cut it in that short an outing.

The unsung hero of the game for the Sox was Freddie Kruger, I mean Julian Tavarez, who went 2.2 innings, giving up no runs, two hits and striking out four. Tavarez inherited the bases loaded in the fifth from Lester and amazingly, struck out two Indians to end the inning.

Mike Timlin was credited with the win after he put up a scoreless frame as well. I guess I was a little too early in writing Timlin's obituary.

Boston chipped away with one in the seventh and one in the eighth. Pedroia's infield single scored Lugo and then Youkilis hit his first home run of the season.

This mini-series concludes tonight as Tim Wakefield and Paul Byrd are scheduled to appear.

The Indians announced today that Borowski is on the DL so they'll have to move the bullpen guys around. Shouldn't be a problem though since Borowski is probably the worst closer in baseball. How the guy had 45 saves last year will go down as one of life's great mysteries.

We're going back to the World Series

Three years after breaking 86 years of misery, the Boston Red Sox find themselves back in the World Series. No comeback will ever top the 2004 ALCS but the 2007 Red Sox submitted a pretty nice comeback of their own. Down 3-1 to the Cleveland Indians, Boston roared back, winning the last three by a combined score of 30-5.

Game 7 actually was pretty tight for a while. The Sox scored single runs in the first three innings off Indians starter Jake Westbrook but it could have been much worse as they grounded into three double plays (they set a playoff record with 14). Dice-K came out and retired the first eight men he faced. The Tribe struck back with a run in the fourth and one in the fifth to cut the lead to one. Dice-K left after five (two runs, six hits, three strikeouts) and gave way to Okajima, who pitched two scoreless innings of his own. The Indians squandered its chance when the 3rd base coach held Lofton on what would have been the tying run. Blake grounded into a double play on the next at bat.

Pedroia was the hero of the night as he hit a two-run homer into the monster seats in the seventh. He followed that with a three-run double in the eighth. Youk knocked him in with a bomb off the Coke bottles. Game over. Papelbon pitched the final two innings for the save.
This had to be the most predictable comeback in Red Sox history. They just seemed to have nothing going right in games 3-4. The Indians are a worthy team but they're too young and inexperienced in the playoffs to get the job done in the ALCS. Once Beckett won and the series shifted back to Boston, they were cooked. Their bats were silenced and the bullpen was taxed. Plus, Carmona and Sabathia produced zero wins between them in the series.

Beckett deservedly received the ALCS MVP but it also could have gone to Youkilis, who is smoking the ball or Manny. The World Series starts Wednesday at Fenway. Who knows what to expect from the Rockies? They're legit and they have that absurd run but predicting what'll happen in the World Series is nearly impossible. Beckett will start on normal rest in game one.

game #172

Get your cliche book ready, it all comes down to this game sports fans. After 162 regular season games and nine playoff games, the Sox and Indians face-off tonight in a do-or-die game seven at Fenway. The Sox rolled over the Tribe, 12-2 last night in a game that didn't even seem that close. J.D. Drew was the hero (no joke) as he hit a first inning grand slam and later added another RBI. It was 10-1 Boston after three innings, meaning they took all the intrigue out of this one. Carmona couldn't get out of the third inning and the Indians bullpen that had been so dominant suddenly looks tired and very vulnerable. The only lineup change was Ellsbury (finally!) played for Crisp. Hopefully the rookie gets back out there tonight.

It's like I said a few days ago, playoff series can change in the blink of an eye. The Sox were dead in the water, down 3-1 while Cleveland had all the momentum in the world. However, the Indians failed to slay the Red Sox while they were down. Instead they've been pounded the last two games as Boston's lineup looks fearsome top to bottom while most every Indian outside of Victor Martinez looks to have no confidence at the plate. Travis Hafner might as well just take game seven off, he's of no use to the Tribe at this point.

Schilling shook off some early shakiness (a solo shot by Martinez) and went seven innings, giving up both runs on six hits and striking out five. As usual with Schill, he didn't walk anyone. He got a great ovation from the Fenway crowd when he walked back to the dugout after the seventh. You hope for his sake, he gets another chance to pitch (in the World Series) before his Sox career is likely over. Looks doubtful that the club will bring him back after this season but that's a matter for another day. Game two of the ALCS was a hiccup for Big Schill, last night he proved once more that he lives for the big moment. You can love him or hate him but you have to give the guy credit: he's the greatest big game pitcher of his generation.

Dice-K gets the ball tonight against Jake Westbrook. Common sense says that Westbrook, who pitched well and won in game three can't possibly repeat that performance. He's just not that good and the Sox have simply worn out much better pitchers-Sabathia and Carmona. While it would be great to see Dice-K pitch well tonight, the thing the Sox have going is that they can call on a host of pitchers-Wakefield, Beckett, Okajima, Papelbon, et. all to relieve Matsuzaka as soon as he shows he's done/doesn't have anything. I'm not a betting man but you have to like the Sox' chances tonight. They seem to have everything going in their favor at the moment but you can never what will happen in huge situations like this one. Should be a dandy.

They're shipping up to Boston (whoooooaaaaaaa)

In the playoffs, things change quickly. The Sox rolled in game one vs. Cleveland and looked poised to win game two after Manny and Lowell went back-to-back. Things turned in game two as the Indians came back and finally won in 11 innings. They beat Dice-K on Monday and knocked around Wakefield and Delcarmen on Tuesday to go up three games to one.

I would have written a blog before last night's game but I forgot/didn't want to jinx things/was too depressed. Now, after watching Beckett pitch another gem, the series is coming back to Boston for the last two games (if necessary). After last night, I think you can say without a shadow of a doubt that Josh Beckett is the most dominant starting pitcher in baseball right now. It's not even close really. Who else is up there? Peavy, Webb, Zambrano, Hamels, Wang, Sabathia, Carmona? Those guys all had solid regular seasons but almost all of them have faltered in the playoffs while Beckett has been just filthy (1.17 ERA in three postseason starts). Don't forget, he was also the only 20 game winner in baseball this year. If he doesn't win the Cy Young this year, it's a joke.

Sabathia has had three straight bad starts in the playoffs (one against the Yankees and two vs. the Sox). What's the deal with him? Not a good clubhouse spread? Or maybe that's the problem, it's really good and he is daydreaming about all the food he is going to dominate when he hits the showers. Whatever the case, ole' C.C. hasn't done anything special when it's counted. He throws hard but he's lost his control and he also doesn't seem to have secondary pitches to lean on. Major league hitters will eventually catch up to a fastball, no matter how hard it is.

Youkilis got things started with a solo homer in the first but Cleveland came back with one in the bottom of the first to tie it up. It was the first time all series that the Sox had scored first. Still, things didn't look promising as the Sox couldn't get any bounces to go their way: Manny missed hitting another home run by inches and Lowell hit a sure double that just went foul. The Sox finally scored two in the top of the seventh off Sabathia, who was shaky all night but somehow managed to make it to the seventh. Pedroia hit a double then Youk got a triple that Sizemore and Gutierrez misplayed in the outfield. Boston added three in the eighth to make the final score, 7-1.

The key to game obviously was Beckett, who went eight innings and only allowed five hits while striking out 11-which tied a playoff career high. The other most important factor was that Pedroia had two hits and Youk had two hits while Kielty, Varitek, Lugo and Drew all had a hit. Our lineup had been seriously exposed in the series as nobody outside of Youk, Ortiz, Manny or Lowell-to a lesser degree-could do anything. Drew, Crisp, Lugo and Varitek have pretty much been automatic outs. The media and fans freaked out about Francona pitching Dice-K (who had no shot) in game 4 over Beckett. The other main concern was not shaking up the lineup which had completely fallen apart. Ellsbury had played so well in limited time, why not throw him in there? He's not much of a drop-off defensively from Coco.

We'll have to wait and see 'til game six if stubbornly loyal Tito changes anything. It's Schilling against Carmona on Saturday night (a rematch of game 2) at Fenway. Should be a classic. Schilling didn't have much last time out so odds are that won't happen again. Oddly enough, you'd have to say the pressure lies on the Indians now. They're a great team and they proved that by jumping out the 3-1 lead. However, you get the feeling that they were playing over their heads a bit during the three game win-streak while the Sox were barely treading water. We're not unbeatable but I think we resemble last night's performance more than the garbage on display in game 3 and 4. The bottom line is that the Sox need a starting pitcher other than Beckett to last longer than 4.2 innings. If we can decent outings out of Schilling and Dice-K (holding my breath) in a possible game seven, then you have to like our chances. No question, Cleveland did not want to come back to Fenway for another game(s). Tomorrow night should be fun, first pitch is at 8:21 pm.