Red Sox 2 Blue Jays 1

Clay Buchholz deserves an award for what he did last night. Boston's bullpen has been so overworked they have had to cut guys just so they can bring in a fresh arm (Boston relievers came in having worked an AL-high 70 innings this season). Clay gave the bullpen a much needed break pitching 117 pitches over 8 strong innings, and to make it even better he was able to hold the Jays to just 1 run.

Buchholz allowed 1 run on 7 hits to win for the first time in 3 starts. He walked 2, struck out 4 and lowered his ERA to 2.19. Like I said in the preview, Clay has been by far our best starter this season.

The Jays struck first, as Vernon Wells continues to crush the ball with an RBI double in the 1st inning. Luckily for the Sox that would be the last time anyone from the Jays would cross the plate. Boston answered quickly with an RBI single by Hermida. Mike Lowell drove in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 8th inning, and Ramon Ramirez was able to give Papelbon the night off and rack up a save.

Listen, the Sox aren't scoring runs still, and there is no reason to get overconfident, but there is still a lot of hope for this team. You have to remember they are playing without 2 of their starting outfielders, and Dice-K is just making his way back. As long as their starters (Lackey, Lester, Beckett) begin to pitch better this team will be alright, though I still don't know how they are going to score many runs.

With the win Boston is still 5 1/2 games back for the Rays, but only 3 games back from the Yankees.

Red Sox 10 Royals 3

Once again Buchholz proved why he is going to be the #3 starter for the Red Sox going into the playoffs. Buchholz went 6 2/3 allowing 0 runs 5 hits with 8 Ks. Sure it was against the Royals, but you can't take away what this kid has been able to do for over a month now.

Basically exactly what I said in the preview happened. The Sox offense struggled for the first 2 innings before lighting up the relatively unknown Anthony Lerew for 4 runs during the 3rd and 4th innings. Boston once again got production for Ortiz (3-5 with a HR and 3 RBIs), who looks like he will finish the year with about 30 HRs and 100 RBIs, which is impressive considering how this season started for the big guy.

The only thing that is scaring me right now is the Sox bullpen. Last night the Sox gave up another 3 runs (all charged to Ramirez), which is starting to make me wonder who they can rely on in the playoffs. Is Bard getting tired? Can Ramirez or Delcarmen step up before the season ends? What can we expect out of Wagner? I still think of all the teams in the AL the Sox are the most prepared for the postseason, but I do have my worries about this bullpen.

Red Sox 5 Rays 8

Another tough outing for Beckett as he has now allowed 27 runs in his last 31 1/3 innings. Not good for a guy who is supposed to be this teams ace. It started in the very first inning when Carl Crawford went deep, and it was followed by a 2nd inning bomb by Pat Burrell. By the end of the 3rd inning he had already let up 5 runs, and I was going to turn off the game.

Then the Sox got pissed. Down 4 runs the Sox battled back to tie the game in the top of the 8th. You'll notice that after Beckett's terrible 3 innings he was able to right the ship and pitch 3 scoreless innings to at least give the Sox a chance. That chance was short lived as Delcarmen and Ramirez got lit up for 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th, which ended the game.

If you are like me and like to be optimistic then you would say Beckett has something to build on with those 3 scoreless innings, and the Boston offense showed some heart coming back for their ace. Yet if you are not like me then you will focus on that fact that the Sox bullpen sucks, their ace has been horrible, and the team in general looks lost. I can't fault either way of looking at it...

With the loss the Sox are now just 2 1/2 games ahead of Texas for the Wild Card spot.

White Sox 2 Red Sox 3

Wow, felt like old times last night...

Tim Wakefield came off the DL, and casually threw 7 innings of 1 run baseball. That is fucking unreal. V-Mart didn't seem to have too much trouble catching the knuckleball. Funny thing is people won't be talking about how awesome the Wake was last night. Heck he didn't even get the win. Nope, last night was all about Ortiz.

It started in the 2nd inning when Ortiz went deep off Gavin Floyd to tie the game at 1. Boston took the lead in the 6th when Alex Gonzalez hit a solo shot, but the White Sox tied the game in the 8th, when Scott Podsednik took Ramirez deep stealing the win from Wakefield.

In the bottom of the 9th thing did not start well as Youk struck out. Ortiz came to the plate, and you could just feel the excitement in the crowd. It hasn't been like that in a couple years for Ortiz. He quickly smashed the ball to the right field stands, and the game was over.

Oh and it seems Ortiz has a new friend...

"Victor, man, he just pushed me for every at-bat," Ortiz said after curling his second homer of the game around the Pesky Pole to break a ninth-inning tie and give the Boston Red Sox a 3-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night. "He got in my face and started screaming at me. I liked it. It got me in the mood."

Tigers 5 Red Sox 6

Well the losing streak is finally over. The Sox didn't make it easy, but a win is a win, and the Sox really needed this one. Boston jumped all over Edwin Jackson in this game. They made him throw 104 pitches in only 4 innings.

Pedroia started the Sox off right hitting a 2 run HR, but unlike so many other games recently the Sox kept putting runs on the board. In the very next innings Nick Green hit a solo shot and Ortiz had an RBI single. Like I said before Boston didn't make it easy as Brad Penny was solid, but not great going 6 innings allowing 3 runs on 6 hits. Detroit scored 2 runs between the 4th and 5th, so Boston's lead shrank to 4-2. Bay, who was dropped to 7 in the batting order, did his best Fisk impression barely keeping a HR fair as it went into the Monster.

Things got rocky in the 7th as Delcarmen, who has been terrible of late, let up another 2 runs and the game was tied at 5-5. Nick Green once again became the savior in this game hitting a sac fly in the bottom of the inning. Boston tried to close out the 8th with Ramiriez, but when he started to struggle Boston had to lean on their closer to get the last 4 outs of the game, which he did easily. That gave Papelbon his 28th save of the season.

With the win Boston is now 5 1/2 games behind the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East, and since the Rangers did not play last night the Sox have a 1/2 game lead in the race for the Wild Card.

Royals 8 Red Sox 6

What a disappointing game. It started off so well with the Sox up 4-0 going into the 4th inning. Then the Royals got hot, and crushed Penny, and then the Sox bullpen which used to be a strength, but has become more of the Achilles heal of this team over the last 10 games.

Boston was all over the Royals through 3 innings. Ortiz went deep again (his 11th of the year), and Youk even got it going with an RBI double. Penny was doing fine, but in the 4th inning he let up 3 runs, which raised his pitch count so he couldn't go more then 5 innings. The Sox bullpen then came in and were just awful. Delcarmen let up 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning. Masterson then followed with 2 runs of his own in just a 1/3 of an innings, and Ramirez was nothing special going 1 2/3 innings letting up a run.

This was a terrible game for the Sox. The good news is that Ortiz is officially back, but that won't mean anything if Bay, Youk, and the Sox bullpen can't get it going. With the loss the Sox are now tied for 1st place in the AL East with the Yankees.

Blue Jays 1 Red Sox 5

Well the Sox have done what no other team has been able to do so far this year...sweep the Jays. Jon Lester rebounded from two bad outings going 6 1/3 letting up 1 run. He still doesn't look like himself from last year (gave up 8 hits last night), but at least he is showing signs of improvement.

The big thing was the middle of the lineup did their job. Bay, Pedroia, Ortiz and Youk all had at least 1 RBI (Bay had 2). It is amazing how dangerous this lineup is if Ortiz does anything at all. Jason Bay right now looks like he could take the AL MVP (which I predicted), but the man that might give him his biggest run for it could be Youk, who is still batting around .400.

After the Sox got out to a big lead, you know they were going to win this game, since the Sox bullpen is just unstoppable right now. Ramirez and Papelbon combined to throw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball. Those guys ERA are amazing ( Paps .95, Ramirez .79). It is really crazy hoe good this bullpen is, and with Masterson heading back that way it could get even better.

Boston is now only 1/2 game back of the Blue Jays for 1st place in the AL East.

Sox 2 Mariners 3

Another heart breaking loss for the Sox, as they just can't seem to win on the west coast. A costly error late in the game now make the Sox just 2-4 on their west coast trip, and whatever road problems the Sox had last year seem to have followed them into this season.

Masterson pitched well as he went 6 1/3 letting up only 2 runs, but he did let up 9 hits, and if Seattle had any good hitters at all this could have been a really bad outing. Boston tied the game at 2 in the 4th inning when J.D Drew hit his 6th HR of the season, and it was a bomb. Then once again the Boston bats feel quiet. Ramon Ramirez came in to pitch the 9th. He didn't pitch bad, but a throwing error by Nick Green let the game winning run on base. He then scored on an RBI single by Gutierrez to hand Ramirez his first loss in a Red Sox uniform.

Boston has to find a way to get the bats going. They benched Ortiz for this series, and it will be interesting to see what they do when they bring him back. Does he still bat 3rd? If not then where? He is supposed to play on Tuesday so I guess those questions will be answered then. Boston is now 3 games back in the AL East and are just 9-12 on the road this season (13-4 at home).

Red Sox 4 Angels 5

It is time to take Ortiz out of the 3rd spot in the lineup. Ortiz went 0-7 and left 12 people on base. Whatever is causing it (steroids, bad wrist, bad knee, weight), it really doesn't matter. What does matter is the fact that he can't get the job done anymore, and at minimum he needs to be put down lower in the lineup. Overall the Sox didn't play bad yesterday, but when Ortiz and Tek combine to leave 19 men on base it is tough to win a game.

Penny had an OK outing going 6 1/3 allowing 4 runs on 7 hits with 4 Ks. The bullpen once again was amazing. Ramon Ramirez has been a stud. He pitched another 2 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball which lowering his ERA to .45, and with Ellsbury playing well that Coco trade looks better and better. Okajima and Papelbon also pitched a scoreless inning each as the Sox charged into extra innings after trying the game at 4 on a Pedroia RBI single.

The good times wouldn't last though. In the bottom of the 12th when Jeff Mathis hit the game winning RBI single off Manny Delcarmen. You can't blame the bullpen for this loss. They gave the Sox every opportunity to win and the Sox just could not knock in runs. Ortiz struck out 3 times, and once again a decision on him needs to be made. In my eyes they should put him on the DL with some kind of injury, and then let him do a rehab stint for a while....

The good news is once again Toronto lost, so the Sox are still only a game back in the AL East.

Coco Traded To Royals

According to Brian McRae reporting for Sports Radio 810 in Kansas City, the Royals acquired Coco Crisp from the Red Sox for reliever Ramon Ramirez. I emailed McRae to confirm, and he said, "It's a done deal." The Royals get speed and a capable center fielder, while the Red Sox receive a quality late-game reliever.(cbssportsline)

I like the move. We needed bullpen help and Ramirez could be the late inning guy that Timlin was. Last year Ramirez who is 27 years old, threw 71 innings and had a 2.64 era while striking out 70. He also isn't a free agent until 2012.

Crisp never turned out to be the player that everyone thought he could be, but pulled his weight at the end of last year and in the play-offs. This was a necessary move by the Sox.