Nick Green, more than just a temporary solution?

Somehow between our month-long rain showers, the Red Sox and Atlanta Braves managed to wrap up their series at Fenway yesterday afternoon.

Nick Green made sure it was a memorable Father's Day for all the rich dads in attendance as he hit a walk-off home run on the first pitch he saw from Braves pitcher Jeff Bennett in the ninth. It wrapped around Pesky's Pole in right, traveling probably about 305 feet but the degree of difficulty with the swirling winds and mist made it much harder than usual.

Boston (42-27) won 6-5 to take two of three from Atlanta (32-36). Coupled with the Yankees' loss in Florida, the Sox have a four game lead in the AL East.

Brian McCann gave the Braves a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run double off Boston starter Tim Wakefield.

Boston responded with three in the bottom of the first from a Jason Bay sacrifice fly and a two-run shot by David Ortiz over the Monster. Again, with the crazy weather, Papi truly crushed the ball to get it out.

George Kottaras added to the lead with a sacrifice fly in the fourth to give Boston a 4-2 lead.

Wakefield didn't factor into the decision but he gave the Red Sox 6.2 innings. He allowed four runs on nine hits with four strikeouts.

Gregor Blanco and Nate McLouth (2 hits, walk) with RBI singles in the seventh.

After some controversy, J.D. Drew gave his team a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the seventh. He looked at a 1-2 pitch that was clearly a strike from Braves pitcher Eric O'Flaherty but umpire Bill Hohn called it a ball. O'Flaherty, Chipper Jones and Bobby Cox all lost it and consequently were tossed. On the next pitch, Drew lined the single off the Monster that scored Kottaras.

Garret Anderson (2 hits) tied it up with an RBI single in the eighth off Hideki Okajima.

Jonathan Papelbon loaded the bases in the ninth with two walks and a hit but managed to strike Matt Diaz out. Papelbon earned the win (1-1) after Green's heroics.

The Sox are off today and they fly to our nation's capital to play the Nationals, starting tomorrow. Washington is the worst team in baseball so there should be plenty of Red Sox fans in attendance and John Smoltz makes his Red Sox debut on Thursday (Dice-K was placed on the DL).

Fitting time for a day off, hopefully it's filled with Thai hookers

Well this has gotten ugly fast, eh? The Boston Red Sox' 2008 season is going down faster than a line of coke at a party in Hollywood.

The Angels (67-40) embarrassed the Sox one last time at Fenway, 9-2 last night to sweep the series and take eight out of nine against Boston (61-48) this season.

Left-hander Joe Saunders (14-5) joined Cliff Lee, Brandon Webb and Aaron Cook as the only 14-game winners in MLB. Saunders went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

Sox starter Josh Beckett (9-8) had a disastrous outing as he allowed eight runs (seven earned) on 11 hits in 5.1 innings with eight strikeouts and a walk.

Vlad Guerrero (2 hits, run, RBI) started it off with an RBI single in the fourth. Garret Anderson-who has absolutely killed the Sox this year-added a two-run single to make it 3-0 in the fourth. Anderson finished 4-for-5 with four RBIs.

Boston's only sign of life was provided by Coco Crisp as he knocked in Jason Varitek with a two-run homer over the monster in the fifth.

The Angels scored five runs in the sixth to knockout Beckett and the Sox. Anderson had a two-run bomb that just wrapped around Pesky's Pole. Jeff Mathis had an RBI double. Mathis scored on Jed Lowrie's error and Maicer Izturis knocked in Chone Figgins (3 hits, run, steal) with a sacrifice fly.

Torii Hunter (2 hits, 3 runs, RBI, walk) homered in the ninth off Justin Masterson.

Boston has today off and the Oakland A's come to town tomorrow night for a three-game set. Hopefully everyone can get away from Fenway for the day and try to regroup. The Red Sox are three games behind the Rays and only a game ahead of the Yankees.

Tampa Bay has yet to add a bat-which is imperative-but the Yankees have made two great trades in the last week. First they got Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady from the Pirates in exchange for four minor-leaguers and then yesterday they traded Kyle Farnsworth for Pudge Rodriguez. With those, they addressed a bunch of needs: lefty reliever, outfielder, catcher.

Today is baseball's trading deadline and the Manny Ramirez rumors have reached a fever pitch. Last night, there were reports that there was a three team deal that would send Manny to the Marlins and Pirates outfielder Jason Bay and reliever John Grabow to the Red Sox.

Despite Manny's latest verbal assaults yesterday, claiming that the Red Sox "don't deserve a player like me," I think they'll realize they can't get enough value in return and keep him around for the rest of the season. The question is if he's going to stay interested and not bail out on the team in the middle of a pennant race? In a perfect world, everything will work itself out and Manny will decide to play for Boston the rest of the season. Otherwise, pick up his option in the offseason and trade his ass.

Slippin', Fallin', I can't get up

The 2008 Red Sox are hitting a crossroads in the season as they lost to the Angels, 6-2 last night at Fenway.

Los Angeles (66-40) starter John Lackey (9-2)-formerly a complete bum against the Sox-came two outs away from throwing a no-hitter. Dustin Pedroia broke up the no-no and Kevin Youkilis followed that with a two-run bomb to make the score respectable but make no mistake about it: Boston (61-47) is reeling right now.

Lackey walked two and struck out four while throwing a manly 120 pitches.

The Angels got two in the third and fourth off Sox starter Clay Buchholz (2-6). Chone Figgins had an RBI single and Maicer Izturis walked with the bases loaded in the third. Garret Anderson hit a two-run homer to right in the fourth.

Howie Kendrick added a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Izturis reached on a bases loaded, infield single. Buchholz left after 6.1 innings, having allowed six runs on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

The loss, coupled with the Angels' acquisition yesterday of Mark Teixiera, quickly vaulted Los Angeles to frontrunner status in not only the American League but all of baseball.

You name it and the Angels have it now. Starting pitching? Yes. Bullpen? Yep. Good lineup with some pop? Yes sir. Manager? Sure. The AL West is all but wrapped up so we know the Angels will be playing in October.

The question is who will join them? The Rays, Red Sox and Yankees appear to be pretty much on the same level. All good teams that can get hot but each has a big weakness(es). The White Sox and Twins are in another heated race in the Central so it'll take some work for Boston to make the playoffs.

The pieces are there of course for the Sox, they simply need a little tinkering and some more arms in the bullpen. It would be a big mistake for management to stubbornly stick with exactly the same cast in the bullpen that they currently have. It seems like the latest Manny Ramirez melodrama has effected the rest of the team. There's no fire.

This could all change with a win tonight and the A's coming to town this weekend. The trade deadline is tomorrow and the Sox can't stand pact when teams around them (New York and Los Angeles) have gotten noticeably better through deals.

Clay Buchholz: Still as erratic as Andy Dick with a room full of teenage girls

With Scott Boras and Theo Epstein sitting separately in baller seats behind home plate, the Boston Red Sox started the second half of the season with a whimper as the Los Angeles Angels thumped them, 11-3 in Disneyland last night.

Making his second start since returning from Pawtucket, young righty Clay Buchholz once again looked like a college freshman at a party: lost and in over his head. Blessed with great stuff, Buchholz is struggling at the moment to find consistency on the mound.

The Angels (58-38) scored three in the first and touched Buchholz up for eight runs (four earned). Clay (2-5) lasted 4.2 innings, giving up eight hits, two walks and two strikeouts. It was a good sign when he had quick second and third innings but the fifth inning ended his night early.

Shortstop Alex Cora's error with two outs in the fifth didn't help Buchholz as it extended the inning, allowing the Angels to score the four runs. Anaheim added three more in the sixth to wrap it up.

With David Ortiz doing his thing at Pawtucket-a homer in two consecutive games-Boston's (57-41) lineup looked shaky at best against John Lackey, who is normally batting practice against the Sox.

Boston tied it at three with two in the second on Kevin Youkilis' two-run homer and one in the fourth on Manny Ramirez's solo shot. After that, Lackey (7-2) shut them down and lasted seven innings. Lackey gave up five hits, walked two and struck out six.

Manny and Dustin Pedroia each finished with two hits apiece. For the Angels, Casey Kotchman, Maicer Izturis and Vlad Guerrero all had two hits, Los Angeles totalled 14 as a team.

Before the game, Garret Anderson took a time machine back to somewhere between 2000-2003. As a result, he went 4-for-5 with a homer, two runs and five RBIs.

The beautiful thing about baseball is that as ugly as last night was, things could completely change today. And if not, I will stubbornly hold onto the fact that the Sox have won nine straight over the Angels in the playoffs. The Angels look like they'll be in October once again but with Vlad looking somewhat human for once, you can't tell me this team is any different from the 2004 or 2007 versions, with slight tweaks.