Red Sox take a split, series sweep over Texas and on par to take series from LAA

Got so much catching up to do! Lets just say that the Yankees pummeled the Sox in a 15-9 loss on April 16 - and the Sox haven't lost since. No lead is to large to overcome, and every player has contributed. Our versatility is incredible!

Last night, opener against the Angels, Ellsbury hit a lead off homer in the first. Then with Beckett out with the flu and stiff neck (and Varitek out with the flu, as was Manny D., Coco out, Lowell...etc) David Pauley was called up to pitch. He was knocked around for 5 runs early on. But 5-1 deficit is easy for Boston to overcome. By night's end Pedroia will have 3 doubles, Ellsbury will have 2 homers (!), and a great bunt single (of which he scores from first). Papelbon had three perfect outs on what NESN called 98-100 mph fastballs. He maybe threw 9 pitches. 8 saves for Papelbon, 15-7 record for Boston.

Some great material from the game recap:

"When Ellsbury first stepped to the plate in the eighth, he wasn't thinking bunt. But after taking the first pitch for a strike, Ellsbury noticed first baseman Casey Kotchman take a few steps back. Ellsbury then pushed a bunt past Shields, and the Angels never had a chance.

Then he went to work on distracting Shields. And with Pedroia's hard grounder rolling all the way down the line, Ellsbury went into his 270-foot sprint.

"I was thinking 'score' right as I took off," said Ellsbury. "I ran to second like I was going to score the whole way, and I saw [third-base coach] DeMarlo [Hale] wave me in, and I knew I'd be scoring from there. It feels great to help this team win and to do whatever you can to win. That's what we're here for, is to win ballgames and it's been fun so far.""

Sox Win past three series against Detroit, New York Yankees & Cleveland

I've got to catch up here now. So once the Sox got home to Fenway - they start playing great ball.

They won the home opener against Detroit, then lost the middle game 2-7, and won the rubber game 12-6. Notes: The 3rd game was actually as close as 8-6 Red Sox and Papelbon finished off the inning. The Red Sox then tacked on 4 more runs in the bottom of the 8th to win 12-6. I believe Papelbon finished the game.

On to the Yankee Series! Well, the first game - you may know - Chien-Ming Wang threw a 2 hit complete game with the only run being a home run from JD Drew. All my Yankee friends were rubbing the 4-1 Yankee win in my face - but I told them that what the Red Sox got out of that game was a solid start by Clay Buchholz. He completed 6 innings and only gave up 1 run and 4 hits. So even if the Yankees did win - and who would lose after throwing a 2 hit complete game - the Red Sox got a consistent, solid start out of an improving Clay Buchholz. He'll get his chance to get that game back when he faces Wang again tomorrow (Wed 4/16) at Yankee Stadium.

The second game of the Yankee series ended up being a close game that endured 2 hour 11 minute rain out. Top of the 8th inning, with two outs to go and a 4-3 Boston lead, Papelbon is called out too pitch as it starts to pour. Papelbon warmed up three separate times and never wavered from his game mentality for the whole 2 hours. He was also to face A Rod upon return to the mound. Needless to say, after the rain delay ended, Papelbon threw A Rod three pitches and struck him out. Francona was worried about sending Papelbon back out for the top of the 9th but he did and Papelbon earned his third save.

The rubber game on Sunday, the Yankees were short Jeter, and Posada had a tired arm and was DH'ing instead of catching. The Red Sox sat Ortiz (who was batting .070), were short Lowell (Sean Casey played 1st, Youk played 3rd), and Okajima and Papelbon were not available. The rest of the team carried the Sox to a 8-5 win. The Sox actually had 7-1 lead on the Yankees which they whittled down to 7-5 at one point.

In Cleveland The Sox won Monday 6-4 and Tuesday 5-3. Both nights the Sox fell behind and came back in 7,8,9 innings. In fact both games were won in the 9th. Monday the score was 4-3 Cleveland and after Pedroia hit a sac fly to bring Julio Lugo home to tie the game at 4-4, Ortiz hit a single and Ramirez homered to take the lead 6-4. Tonight, the Sox were tied 3-3 and Varitek came off the bench to hit a solo home run to take the lead 4-3. After a few more hits, baserunners and walks - Youk knocked in Crisp for an insurance run. Sox win 5-3 and head to NY for two games at Yankee stadium.

Notes: Jed Lowrie made his MLB debut today, playing 3rd base, with Youk at first. He struck out first, but then knocked in an RBI on a CLE error in the 5th, and got his first hit knocking in 2 more RBI's in the 7th. Lowrie seemed pretty fearless and about as fast as Ellsbury, as he just beat the ball to the bag on the 5th.

Papelbon is still the greatest pitcher on the Sox roster right now and Ortiz is hitting a healthier .113 with 4 hits in the CLE series.

Off to NY!

Detroit Tigers @ Red Sox: Sox home opener; Sox win 5-0 shutout

First I want to mention how odd it is that the last post I posted the Sox also won with a 5-0 shutout. It was also their last win before today. Either way...
Red Sox were presented their 2007 World Series rings today! Very momentous occasion with several key people on hand - Bill Buckner who helped unveil the 2007 banner at Fenway and threw the first pitch. Johnny Pesky was on hand to say "Play Ball!"

Good News: Yankees lost to Kansas City. Ironic News: Toronto falls apart for a 9-8 loss to Oakland, just after the Red Sox leave town. Yankees and Red Sox share a 4-4 record for now while Baltimore is sittin' pretty at the top of the division 6-1.

Red Sox @ A's: Sox win 5-0 shutout

Well, the Sox take the first two games in the U.S. making their final series total 3-1 vs. the Athletics this season.

Today the Sox started out in an unfortunately, familiar manor - stranding 3 men, bases loaded with no outs in the first. A's Rich Harden arguably pitched very well for 5 innings with 4 hits, 4 walks and 6 K's through 86 pitches. Jon Lester turned out a very nice outing, 6.2 innings, 94 pitches with 3 hits, 3 walks and 3 K's.

The game was scoreless up until the 7th inning. The Sox, ended in a better, familiar scenario - knocking around the A's bullpen. Ortiz finally made his first hit of the season in the 7th, where the Sox loaded the bases with no outs and managed to score 2 runs. For more firsts, Ortiz followed up with a 2 run homer in the 8th to set the score at 4-0. Varitek, who very likely scored a home run last night that the referees missed, hit a solo home run to right field.

Final score 5-0 Sox

Notes: Lugo played well yesterday, but Cora played today. Crisp played and Drew was back in the line-up. Ellsbury went out for Manny in the 9th. Manny was very Manny today - who started out watching a hit ball and when he finally started to trot - suddenly stopped when the ball was caught near the track. He looked in disbelief, while we were all annoyed he wasn't running anyways. I love how Youk is a fantastic first baseman. He forces his teammates to throw to him, on the base. and once they get used to it, it's almost foolproof.

Sox have an off-day tomorrow and resume their road trip in Toronto. I'm glad to leave the Oakland announcers behind.....simply terrible!!!!

Up Next:

Friday, April 4 - Wakefield vs. Marcum 7:15 PM
Saturday, April 5 - Buchholz vs. Litsch 1:07 PM
Sunday, April 6 - Beckett vs. Halladay 1:07 PM

Becket is scheduled to be back in action on Sunday. Still waiting for Timlin.