NICE AND EASY

Jacobey Ellsbury, Marco Scutaro, and Ryan Kalish went hitless. That's about all that went wrong for the Sox last night, as they cruised to a 10-1 victory behind Clay Buchholz's arm and Bill Hall's bat.

Buchholz has truly been the Ace of this staff. He has the lowest ERA in the League at 2.49. He's tied for 4th in Wins with 13. And a lower WHIP than Sabathia or Price. I think he should at least be considered for the Cy Young, even though his 86 strikeouts are only 38th in the AL. More importantly, he's been reliable, steady, and capable of going 7+ innings. And with the Sox' bullpen, that makes him especially valuable.

The Sox abused Shawn Marcum, then the Blue Jays bullpen. The 10 runs was the most the Sox have scored since July 9th, when they tallied 14, also against Toronto. The afore mentioned Hall was the biggest hitter. He cranked 2 homeruns, went 3 for 5, and knocked in 4. Drew and Beltre also homered.

With the Rays losing, the Sox are now only 3.5 games behind them for the Wild Card. That makes those losses to Cleveland sting even more.

John Lackey will try to complete the sweep this afternoon at 12:30. He opposes Brad Mills, who's `1-0 with a 4.09 ERA in 2 starts this season.

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I'LL TAKE THE W

It wasn't the prettiest of Wins, but you can't complain about victory at this point of the season. Daisuke was his typically odd self, requiring 110 pitches to get 17 outs. It was his 8th non-Quality Start. It wasn't awful, but it did mean the Sox had to rely on Felix Doubrant. I know I'm critical of starters whenever they fail to get the ball to Bard-Papelbon, but 5.2 innings is insufficient. And 4 runs in such a short start is also dangerous. Thankfully the Sox got to Romero, then Shawn Camp.

Jacoby Ellsbury has seemingly settled back into the groove. It's almost tempting to keep him in the 9 spot since he's done so well down there. And the pitch-count working Drew might be better suited as a #2 hitter than a #5 or $6.

Tonight brings a very nice pitching matchup as Buchholz opposes 10-5 Shawn Marcum.

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SALVAGE OPERATION

The Red Sox needed a win yesterday afternoon. They needed guys like Lester and Ellsbury to emerge from their respective funks. And they got what they needed.

Lester took the mound having not logged a Quality Start since July 18. But he gave the Sox 6.1 innings of scoreless work. He slowed down as the game progressed, which still has me somewhat concerned that this season is getting too long for him, but he got deep enough to give the ball to Bard. I felt like Francona pulled him at precisely the right moment, just as the top of the Yankees' order was coming up again.

Ellsbury got his first hit since May 23rd. He also walked, got hit by a pitch, and stole 4 bases. That tripled his season total in one afternoon, and equaled a Red Sox record for SBs in one game.

Before we get too giddy, we do have to remember that the Sox are 4-4 in their last 8. Their infield defense has looked atrocious. The offense was 1/8 with runners in scoring position yesterday. This team has a two man bullpen. But things aren't as doom and gloom as they seemed yesterday morning.

The Sox have a difficult and vital stretch of games ahead of them. They go up to Toronto for 3, then go down to Texas for 3. The Blue Jays have been hot, winning 7 of their last 10, and they're only 4 games behind the Sox. And the Rangers have a stranglehold on the AL West.

Matsuzaka opposes 9-7 Ricky Romero, who has a 3.37 ERA. As happy as this latest win over New York has made me, I have a bad feeling about this road trip.

IS THE AL EAST BEYOND REACH?

The Red Sox are very close to being officially out of the race for the East. Last night the Yankees tapped Josh Beckett for 11 hits, while the Sox offense made Dustin Mosely look like someone who wasn't 28 with under 200 career innings of MLB experience. And the Sox weren't exactly in full run prevention mode on defense, as two errors made Beckett's job even harder.

Josh Beckett is not an Ace. He's too inconsistent. He wasn't smashed around last night, but the Yankees regularly got solid contact off him. There were errors, but 11 hits is 11 hits is 11 hits.

Jacoby Ellsbury still has yet to get a hit since coming off the DL. I'd like for Francona to drop him to 9th until he gets some sort of rhythm.

If the Sox lose this afternoon, then it'd be an 8 game deficit. That's not impossible to close with nearly 50 games left, but it's very unlikely, especially with no Youkilis or Pedroia.

What really hurts is that the Sox are missing a chance to gain ground on the Rays. Tampa Bay's lost 5 in a row, but the Sox haven't been able to gain much ground on them for the Wild Card.

We need to see something special from Jon Lester this afternoon. He faces 13-4 Phil Hughes at 2.

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HIGHS AND LOWELLS

The day started with bad news, as Kevin Youkilis was placed on the DL. But the silver lining was that Mike Lowell was waiting in the wings. And before the fans at Fenway could sit down from the standing ovation they gave Lowell, he'd hit the ball out of the park.

That's the sentimental story of this game. The more concrete story was Josh Beckett's superb outing. He went an efficient 8 innings, only needing 103 pitches to do so. He struck out 8, walked none (I love seeing that 0 under BB in box scores), and allowed 3 hits. One of those hits was a solo homerun, but that's all Cleveland could manage.

With all the injuries, the struggles to score consistently, and the downright crappy bullpen; the Sox need to win with excellent starting pitching. Josh Beckett is a key part of that winning equation. He's been a very inconsistent variable the past few seasons, but if he can give the Sox 10 really good starts down the stretch, then there's a chance.

11-6 Jon Lester faces 3-10 Justin Masterson tonight.

SOX FALL TO ANOTHER BAD TEAM

The Red Sox are now 14-14 against the four worst teams in the AL. That inexcusable mediocrity against the dregs of the League has become all too predictable.

So you thought John Lackey had turned a corner, eh? Well he's dominated AL West teams, going 3-0 with a 2.96 ERA. But against everyone else, he's a disappointing 7-5 with a 4.84 ERA. He allowed 9 hits and walked 5 last night, in 5.1 innings of work.

Beltre continues to hammer the ball. He belted his 18th and 19th homers of the season. I wasn't too keen on the Sox' signing him, but he's been indispensable. Offensively, not defensively. Run production > Run prevention.

Marco Scutaro was 2 for 5, and is now 13 for his last 28 (.464). That's pretty hot. His hits have predominantly been singles, and he's been left on base too often. The Sox have resumed their RISP struggles, and were 2 for 11 last night in such situations.

The Sox should win tonight. Beckett faces David Huff, who's 2-9 with a 6.04 ERA. But since Huff sucks, and the Indians suck, the Sox will lose 7-4.

DRAMATIC DEADLINE WEEKEND

Well acquiring Jarrod Saltalamacchia is hardly stop-the-presses news, but the Sox more than made up for their lack of transaction thrills with some exciting late inning action. Think about how close the Sox were to three straight walkoff wins. This weekend, the Sox scored 10 of their 14 runs in the 7th inning or later.

Having Clay Buchholz back in the rotation has been a huge lift for this team. An 8 inning, 2 run performance should have given Buchholz his 12th Win of the season, if not for Papelbon blowing his 5th Save.

The Major League debut of Ryan Kalish was another storyline of the weekend. He was 2 for 4 on Saturday, and had an RBI both Saturday and Sunday. He showed good patience and discipline at the plate.

The Sox welcome a crappy Cleveland team (aren't all of Cleveland's teams now crappy?), which actually has me a bit nervous. The Sox are 2-2 against the Indians, and 14-13 against the AL's sub-.500 teams.

Lackey faces Carmona tonight.

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SOX BEAT LA (OF ANAHEIM)

The Red Sox improved to 7-0 against the Angels on the season, and still have 3 games remaining against that charitable team. Someone tell Mike Scioscia to hit-and-run, or try a squeeze play or something.

Beckett had to work his way through this one, but improved as the game progressed. That's a really good sign. This is similar to how Buchholz performed the other day. He finished with 3 earned runs in 7 innings. It's nothing short of remarkable how the Sox have done so well considering this only their 2nd win from Beckett, and only his 4th Quality Start.

The offense eventually broke through against the Angels' array of relievers (Scot Shields had to start as Pinerio was scratched). Scutaro had the big game, going 3 for 4 with the big Grand Slam in the 8th. He was 7/14 in the series with 4 runs and 4 RBI.

Eric Patterson was a homerun shy of the cycle.

The Sox were still only 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position, and left 13 men. Scutaro's Grand Slam made up for this inadequacy, but it still wasn't a great day for the Sox' bats against a series of middle-relievers.

But pitching is how this team will either win or lose. And Beckett's back to form. Maybe. We'll see 2 starts from now how consistent he is. Buchholz is back. Lackey's apparently turned a corner.

I'm not going to get too giddy. The Angels are mediocre at best. And remember the weekend? When the Sox split 4 with the godawful M's?

The Sox have an off-day then host the Tigers. Lester opposes Armando Galarraga Friday night.

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AP Photo