Lester Roughed Up In Series Opener (22-23)

Lester didn't pitch well

Just when things were looking good for the Red Sox-- they blew it again and fell below .500 once more. The Red Sox would start off the bottom of the first by putting runners at first and second with two outs. Kevin Youkilis delivered for them by scoring Mike Aviles with a line drive single into center field. There would be a scoreless second for each team before the Rays really made a mark in the third. They loaded the bases with two outs, on a single and two walks, and Matt Joyce came up. Joyce took a low pitch and just drove a high fly ball to dead right-center which just evaded Marlon Byrd and Scott Podsednik into the bullpen for a grand slam to give the Rays a 4-1 lead early on. They kept going in the fourth-- powered by a leadoff single for Drew Sutton (former Red Sox utility man). With one out and Sutton still on first, Elliot Johnson put a charge into a fastball and drove it over the deepest part of the monster for a two-run homer and a  6-1 lead. Immediately afterwards, Carlos Pena homered down the line and just out of Marlon Byrd's reach for a homer.

Aviles had a run and RBI

That would give the Rays a 7-1 lead after just four innings and things were looking demoralizing for the Red Sox. To start the fifth inning, Jon Lester was taken out of the game with a miserable 4 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 4 K line that would raise his ERA all the way to 4.72 on the season. However, the Red Sox would begin to eat away at the Rays' lead in the fifth when they put runners on first and second with two outs. Adrian Gonzalez hit a ball off the green monster in left to score a run and put runners at second and third with two outs. However, Gonzalez's double would be all the Red Sox got as they'd leave the inning still with a 7-2 deficit. In the bottom of the sixth, the Red Sox got off to an even better start by putting runners at first and second with no outs. Marlon Byrd kept it going by hitting a sharp line drive past the second baseman to make it 7-3. A sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly, while resulting in one run, would basically ruin the rally as the Red Sox lost 7-4.

Bright Spots:
Scott Atchison- 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Matt Albers- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R
Franklin Morales-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K
Adrian Gonzalez- 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Kevin Youkilis- 1-4, 1 RBI
Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 0-2, 1 R, 2 BB
Marlon Byrd- 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Scott Podsednik- 1-3, 1 R

Dull Spots:
Jon Lester- 4 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 4 K
Dustin Pedroia- 0-4, 1 K, 2 LOB

Player of the Game:
Marlon Byrd- This game was pretty miserable on every facet, but Byrd had a decent day-- going 1-3 with a walk and an RBI single, he is now .206/1/9 on the year.

Ross Drives In Four As Sox Edge Rays (18-20)

Doubront threw the 7th straight
 quality start for the Red Sox

It's very very comfortable to have a one or two run lead against the Rays, who always seem to have a knack to beat the Sox, but the Red Sox edged a close game last night. The Red Sox got going strong off of Matt Moore, loading the bases on two singles and a hit by pitch with just an out. Will Middlebrooks struck out looking on an outside fastball to put the Red Sox' scoring chances in jeopardy. However, Cody Ross came through by working an excellent at bat-- walking despite starting with an 0-2 count-- to push in the Sox' first run. The second run would come leading off the second inning when Marlon Byrd put a charge into a 3-2 fastball and hit his first Red Sox home run into left center field. Matt Moore appeared to have settled down after that, though, retiring five of the next six hitters before Cody Ross came to the plate. Ross belted a low change into dead center field for his seventh homer of the year, giving the Sox a 3-0 lead. However, the Rays would answer with a little rally in the bottom of the third.

Cody Ross had a homer
and four RBIs last night

With two outs and nobody on, B.J. Upton swung at the first pitch and popped it up to Adrian Gonzalez at first. A weird call took place though, as apparently Kelly Shoppach's glove interfered with Upton's swing, and they awarded Upton first base. The Rays made a rally out of this, eventually culminated in a Jeff Keppinger single to score Upton and make it 3-1. The Rays took another in the fourth when rookie Rich Thompson singled up the middle to drive in a run. The Rays would load the bases in the inning but the Sox would escape on a Luke Scott lineout. The next few innings were scoreless, and Felix Doubront was eventually pulled with a line of 5.2 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 7 K. The Red Sox were in scoring position again in the eighth when they put two runners in scoring position with two outs. Cody Ross came up and drove them both in on a soft single up the middle to make it 5-2. The Rays scored in the eighth, but the Red Sox would edge this game out by a score of 5-3.


Bright Spots:
Alfredo Aceves- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R
Dustin Pedroia- 2-5, 1 R
David Ortiz- 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB
Cody Ross- 2-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 4 RBI
Marlon Byrd- 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI

Dull Spots:
Vicente Padilla- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 K
Adrian Gonzalez- 0-3, 1 K, 2 LOB
Will Middlebrooks- 0-4, 2 K, 5 LOB
Daniel Nava- 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K, 3 LOB
Kelly Shoppach- 0-3, 2 K

Player of the Game:
Cody Ross- Ross came up with all the big hits (and walks) last night, driving in four runs, and the Red Sox would not have won without him-- he is now .262/7/27 this season.

Slugfest Over A's Returns Sox To .500 (11-11)

Buchholz pitched well for all
but one inning

Just one game after their offense being completely shut out by Gavin Floyd and the White Sox, the Sox came on strong again last night. The A's took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Daric Barton got into a rundown between second and third, allowing Kurt Suzuki to score. However, the Sox quickly answered in the second when David Ortiz homered on a line drive into right field. Darnell McDonald got on base with a ground rule double with one out, later in the inning, and Marlon Byrd drove him in with a single to make it 2-1. Mike Aviles proceeded to drive in Byrd with a single and he would score later in the inning when Jemile Weeks committed a bad error. In the third, Darnell McDonald crushed a two-run homer into left-center field and over the monster to make it a 6-1 game-- it was Darnell's second of the season. In the fifth, David Ortiz crushed his second homer of the game (sixth of the year) to right. Later in the inning, Marlon Byrd drove in a run with a double high off the wall and Mike Aviles knocked a three-run homer to left for an 11-1 lead.

Ortiz hit two home runs

The A's would load the bases with two outs in the seventh inning-- Clay Buchholz had been cruising along so far, but here he would falter. Coco Crisp proceeded to knock a little ground ball to Adrian Gonzalez's right. Gonzalez deflected it off his glove and two runs would score to make it 11-3. Former Red Sox Josh Reddick then came up and promptly knocked a low pitch into the bullpen for a three-run homer to make it 11-6. As you may have guessed, Clay Buchholz was removed from the game after this. One bad inning completely ruined his line and he finished with 6.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 BB, 5 K, W (3-1). After Junichi Tazawa came into the game, the A's quickly loaded the bases before Vicente Padilla came on and struck out Daric Barton. The A's loaded the bases again off Scott Atchison in the eighth, but no harm done as Franklin Morales got the final two outs. Finally, Alfredo Aceves allowed only a double in a shutdown ninth, nailing down an 11-6 win.

Bright Spots:
Alfredo Aceves- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K
Mike Aviles- 2-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI
Dustin Pedroia- 2-5
David Ortiz- 2-3, 3 R, 2 HR, 1 BB, 2 RBI
Darnell McDonald- 3-4, 3 R, 1 HR, 1 2B, 2 RBI
Marlon Byrd- 2-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI

Dull Spots:
Cody Ross- 0-4, 1 K, 3 LOB

Player of the Game:
David Ortiz- Ortiz lifted the Red Sox with a pair of home runs last night, he also scored three and went 2-3 to add to a brilliant .405/6/20 season for Ortiz.

Red Sox Acquire Marlon Byrd For Michael Bowden

It's very rare to see a team make a legitimate trade involving major league players so early in the season, but yesterday the Cubs and Red Sox pulled one off. The Red Sox will acquire Marlon Byrd for Michael Bowden and cash. Now I'm no expert, but this trade appears to ridiculously favor the Red Sox. They are getting a serviceable outfielder to replace Jacoby Ellsbury and are only paying $400K of his contract, plus they are only giving up a reliever who is 0-0/3.00/3 this season. Now, Byrd has gotten off to a rough start to the year at just .070/0/2-- yes, you did read that right-- he is batting .070 (3 for 43) so far this year. However, I have no doubts that he can turn it around to become, as I said earlier, a serviceable outfielder. Last season he batted .276/9/35 in 119 games and the year before was .293/12/66 in 152 games. If Byrd can do that in the month or so before Jacoby Ellsbury returns, this was a great trade, and if not... well, they didn't give up much.