NOW THAT'S HOW IT'S DONE

Great pitching and timely hitting. That's what I like to see. Josh Beckett has become a bona fide Ace this season.

The only Sox starter who went hitless was Drew. Ortiz appears to be getting his power stroke back as he belted his 12th homerun of the season. Cora had a good day in the place of the struggling Julio Lugo. He went 1 for 2 with a triple, an RBI Sac-Fly, and a run scored.

But let's not get too overconfident due to this solid 4-0 win. We've done pretty well against Hudson in the past, and even though we knocked him out in the 6th, we didn't exactly clobber him, especially not early on. So let's just try to keep things in perspective.

The Man of the Game is Josh Beckett. He went 6 scoreless innings before being removed after a 50 minute rain delay. He probably could have gone 7 or 8 if necessary. He allowed 4 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 3. At the plate, he was 1 for 3 with an RBI double and a run scored.

Honorable Mentions:
David Ortiz: 1/3, HR, BB
Alex Cora: 1/2, RBI, 3B

SCHILLING MRI NEGATIVE
An MRI on Tuesday showed no structural damage to Schilling's right shoulder, but he said he has not felt right all year and would be surprised if he made his scheduled start Sunday against the Padres, reports the Boston Globe. Schilling will be re-evaluated on Friday.

He hasn't really looked right all year. He's had some brilliant outings, but he's lacked consistency. Maybe his arm is simply worn down. See, this is why you don't extend contracts to 40 year old players. You never know what's going to happen.

Maybe some time off will help him return to strength. Otherwise, it seems as though Tavarez might stay in the rotation when Lester returns.

BARE MINIMUM OFFENSE

I'm a Red Sox fan, so I'm a pessimist. Yeah, 2-1 wins are sweet, and always exciting, but they also mean that you only scored 2 runs. Two run performances are fine if they are once and awhile. But the Red Sox have scored 4 or fewer runs in 7 of their last 8 games. They've scored 3 runs or fewer in 5 of their last 7. In the last 8 games, they've scored 24 runs. Ten of those runs came in Friday night's victory in Arizona. So if you take out the 10 run game, they've averaged 2 runs a game recently. No matter how good your pitching staff is, that just isn't going to cut it. We need to start scoring runs again.

But I'll take the 2-1 victory, especially since the Yankees are playing well. Just kidding. I honestly think they are a big deal when you consider the fact that the Yankees needed to win 7 in a row TO GET to .500. So let's not all get scared and start scoreboard watching because New York is "only" 9.5 games behind us.

Wakefield's looking good again, which is very very nice to see. He said Mirabelli spotted something in his delivery, and he adjusted a bit. He's looked good in Oakland and was great last night.

Tim Wakefield was last night's Man of the Game. He went 8 innings, allowing just 1 earned run off 4 hits and 1 walk.

Honorable Mentions:
Jonathan Papelbon: IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K
Aaron Cook: 7.1 IP, 2 ER
David Ortiz: 3/3, 2B

Schilling goes tonight.

SOX SNEAK A WIN BY

These are the games you're supposed to lose. No offense in the early innings, some young pitcher you've never seen mowing through the lineup. But these are the games that good teams are able to win.

This was a hard fought victory for the Sox. Down 3-0 in the 6th, Drew had a two out single which set up Varitek's two run shot. Varitek followed it up in the 8th with an RBI single to tie the game. Okajima did a good job of pitching around an error in the 9th in order to force the game into extra innings. Then in the 10th, Lowell hit a sac-fly to score Ortiz, and Papelbon finished the game off.

Very nice character win for the Sox.

This will not be Tavarez's last start of the season. Jon Lester says he feels better than ever, but he will pitch at least one more rehab start on Thursday against the Richmond Braves.

Have to give credit to Tavarez, though. Lately he's pitched well enough to give his team a chance at winning, and that's all you really want from your #5 starter.

The value of Kevin Youkilis's versatility comes through in these NL box scores. He can hit leadoff, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, he can play 1st, he can play 3rd (and if you ask he can play 2nd and the outfield).

The Man of the Game was Jason Varitek. He went 2 for 5 with a homer, a double, 3 RBI, and a run.

Honorable Mentions:
JD Drew - 3/5, 2 Runs
Micah Owings - 6 IP, 2 ER
Hideki Okajima - 2 IP, 0 R, BB, K

Unfortunately, no Pittsburgh Pirate hitter slammed a line drive up the middle into Roger Clemens in his start today.

J.D. WHO?

JD Drew kills Arizona pitching. I listened to about half of this game on the Arizona radio station (XM Radio always uses the home team's feed), and they were simply in awe of him. He's got a career average over .350 against the D-Bax.

It's funny that after a week of struggling offense, we lose the DH, Youkilis doesn't start, and we score 10 runs. Funny how that works out.

Lugo led off the game with a homer. He's got 34 RBI, and a .217 average. Those just might be the weirdest stats for a leadoff hitter I've ever seen. Drew belted a 3 run blast in the 3rd to make it 4-0. Beckett got hit around a bit in the 3rd and allowed a run. Of Beckett's 8 innings, he only allowed baserunners in three of them, the other five were perfect. We kept piling on and put the game out of reach in the 6th with another Drew 3 run homer.

Beckett pitched even better than his line suggests. 8 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 1 HR. He easily could have gone the full 9, but with a 7 run lead, there was no need to. His spot also came up in the 8th, no sense in risking an injury there. He left the game having thrown 93 pitches.

A good indicator of how well the game went for the Sox was the fact that Josh Beckett went 0 for 4. That means he was pitching well enough to hit 4 times, and the lineup was hitting well enough to turn itself over 4 times.

There were a lot of pitches inside to Red Sox hitters. Manny got hit by one in the wrist, Lugo got buzzed. I wouldn't be shocked if there was an Arizona hitter beaned by Tavarez tonight.

The Man of the Game was JD Drew. He went 3 for 5 with a pair of 3 run homers and an RBI double. He had 7 total RBI, a career high for him.

Honorable Mentions:
Josh Beckett: 8 IP, 2 ER, 8 K
David Ortiz: 2/3, 2B, BB, Run
Manny Ramirez: 2/3, RBI, 2 Runs

Tavarez vs. Micah Owings tonight. I've got a bad feeling. Owings seems like one of those young, obscure guys who always seem to shut down the Sox. We'll see.

BRILLIANCE!

Curt Schilling, ladies and gentlemen, Curt Schilling.

What else can you say about this game? The pitching did well in Oakland, but was still losing. I guess Curt figured the only way he could win was to pitch a 1 hit complete game shutout. The funny thing is, we only scored 1 run for him! He really did have to throw a shutout in order to win.

The Man of the Game was, ummmmmmmm, let's see. Well, Ortiz had a homer AND a walk. Ummmm, Youkilis had a pair of walks. Varitek had a single. Ron Flores pitched a perfect 0.1 inning. Despite all of these contenders, I think Curt Schilling deserves the Man of the Game. Nine innings, 1 hit, 8.2 without allowing a hit, 4 strikeouts, faced 2 batters over the minimum (Lugo error), threw 100 pitches, 71 strikes.

Honorable Mentions:
David Ortiz: 1/3, HR, BB
Joe Blanton: 7.1 IP, 4 H, ER

So the Sox get some momentum going into Arizona. Josh Beckett on the hill late tomorrow night.

SOX BATS SILENCED, AGAIN

We're better than this. We're much better than this. This will stop. This will all stop.

Another good pitching performance, another disappointing offensive performance. But it wasn't just us. We had some horrible luck. Now, you can never, EVER blame luck for losing a game, but you can say that bad luck makes it easier to lose and/or harder to win.

There was the double off Wakefield that hit off the base, Crisp hit a hard ball that Chavez made a nifty play on to turn two, and the umpire was shaky behind the plate.

But we still lost. A stretch like this was bound to happen. We here in Red Sox Nation have a tendency to overreact, both ways. We were all making arrangements for the World Series about a week ago, and now we're scoreboard watching as our lead shrinks.

The Man of the Game is Joe Kennedy, who went 7 innings, allowing 2 earned runs. He allowed 7 hits and 6 walks, but there really isn't any other candidate for MOTG.

Honorable Mentions:
Tim Wakefield: 6.2 IP, 3 ER
Santiago Casilla: 1.1 IP, BB, 0 R, 0 H
Kevin Youkilis: 2/4, 3B, RBI, Run

The Bitch-Goat:
Wakefield: 0.2 - 3 ER
Crisp: 0.2 - 0/3, 2 LOB, GIDP
Lowell: 0.2 - 0/4, 3 LOB, K
Lugo: 0.2 - 0/4
Pedroia: 0.2 - 0/4

FALLING FLAT

When you see four boxes on the Red Sox schedule that all say "@ OAK," you shudder. The Sox just don't do well on West Coast trips. And we can blame the flight time, and the three hour difference, but those west Coast teams have to do the same routine when they come to Boston or New York. Hell, we even scheduled the Angels for the morning Patriots Day game in April.

After losing two of three to New York, and then flying out to Oakland, you could see how a losing skid could happen. And it has. The Sox have lost three straight for the first time all year. They've lost five of their last six. That double digit lead in the division is back to single digits.

Last night was just pitiful. There's no other word for it. Daisuke pitched well enough to win: 7 innings, 2 earned runs. But the Sox could only muster three hits off Oakland's pitching, led by Lenny DiNardo. All those hits were singles. We were able to work 7 walks, but nobody came home. We left 7 men on base, 3 in scoring position, and grounded into four inning killing double plays.

Give some credit to DiNardo, he kept the ball down. He didn't strike anyone out, but he was able to induce 15 ground ball outs in 6 innings of work.

The Man of the Game was Lenny, who went 6 scoreless, kept the Sox to three hits, and worked around 6 walks. As mentioned above, he induced 15 ground ball outs out of the 18 outs he got.

Honorable Mentions:
Daisuke Matsuzaka: 7 IP, 2 ER, 8 K
Eric Chavez: 2/4, HR
Nick Swisher: 2/4, 2B, RBI

Bitch-Goat:
Matsuzaka: 0.1 - 2 ER
Crisp: 0.4 - 0 for 3, 4 LOB, 2 GIDP
Lowell: 0.2 - 1 for 4, 4 LOB, GIDP
Youkilis: 0.2 - 0 for 3, 3 LOB, GIDP
Varitek: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 1 LOB, 2 K

Wakefield goes tonight against Joe Kennedy. With the way Wakefield's been pitching as of late, my hopes for this game are very low.

JD Drew sat for last night's game and will probably sit for tonight's game as well. Not only is Kennedy a lefty, but Drew's also got that nagging hamstring business going on.

I can't wait for the team to come back to Fenway and beat up on the dregs of the NL West.

CONCESSION

This game was conceded to Oakland before it even started. Julian Tavarez, although pitching well lately, up against the best pitcher in baseball right now: Dan Haren. Lowell, Varitek, Lugo, and Crisp were out of the starting lineup. The team had just taken a red-eye flight from Boston to Oakland. Okajima, and Papelbon would also not be available.

Nevertheless, we nearly one the game. Haren pitched very well, but we scored 2 off him. Tavarez only allowed 3 in 5/2 innings. The run Pineiro allowed in the 8th was huge.

Perhaps the biggest play of the game occurred in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Tavarez walked Bubba Crosby. On a 3-2 pitch, Crosby was running, Cora went over to cover 2nd, leaving a hole in the left side, Kotsay hit a grounder right to where Cora had been, and it rolled into left for a single. Had the runner not been sent, or Cora not been the one to cover the bag, it would have been an easy double play. So instead of nobody on and 2 out for Mark Ellis, it was 2 on and none out. Ellis eventually hit a triple that gave Oakland a 2-1 lead. That entire inning, and the game itself, changed on that one play.

But we were living on the edge all night. Tavarez allowed 11 baserunners in 5.2 innings, and only 3 scored. Oakland only got 1 run out of a bases loaded situation in the 8th. They got nothing from a 0 out, bases jammed situation in the 9th. They had two on in the 10th and failed to score. Finally, Chavez ended it with a homer. Oakland left 13 men on base. Eight of those were left in scoring position.

Just a quick question. When Pineiro struggled through the 8th, and we tied it in the 9th, why the hell did he come on to pitch the bottom of the inning? And how come NOBODY was warming in the pen to begin the inning? It nearly cost us the game, because Joel couldn't get anyone out.

The past few games have exposed a weakness in the Red Sox that has been able to be hidden for most of the season: middle relief. We've got Papelbon and Okajima for the late innings, and Donnelly's been okay. But do you really trust JC Romero, Joel Pineiro, or Kyle Snyder with a close game? I don't. But we haven't seen most of these guys in such important roles, because the starting pitching has gone deep. Guys like Okajima and Papelbon have been given days off in between pitching. But our bullpen seriously lacks depth, right now. I'm not worried, though.

Jon Lester pitched a 7 inning, 1 earned run, complete game for AAA Pawtucket last night. In four starts since his forearm cramping, he has a 0.97 ERA, and a 1.26 ERA in 6 starts with the PawSox. Lester will make at least one more start for Pawtucket before joining the big club, and replacing Tavarez in the rotation. Tavarez, I think, will be a major asset in the bullpen. He has done very well against opposing hitters in their first at-bats against him. He could be a long man, a middle-reliever, and a right-handed set-up pitcher.

Also, Mike Timlin started the second game of Pawtucket's doubleheader, pitching 2 scoreless innings and throwing 21 pitches.

The Man of the Game for last night's extra inning loss is Mark Ellis. He went 4 for 5 and hit for the cycle. He very well could have gone 5 for 5 had the official scorer given him a hit, instead of giving Youkilis an error. Ellis also had 3 RBI.

Honorable Mentions:
Dan Haren: 7.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, BB, 9 K
David Ortiz: 3/4, HR, 2 2B, RBI, 2 Runs, BB
Wily Mo Pena: 2/5, HR, 2 RBI

Bitch-Goat:
Tavarez: 0.1 - 5.2 IP, 3 ER
Pineiro: 0.3 - IP+, Run, 3 BB
Snyder: 0.3 - 1.1 IP, ER, HR
Cora: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Mirabelli: 0.1 - 0 for 4
Hinske: 0.1 - 0 for 3

Matsuzaka against old friend Lenny DiNardo tonight.

The Yankees lost to the white Sox 6-4, and Baltimore fell to Seattle 7-4. The Red Sox lead in the East is down to 10 games.