Papelbon struggles but seals 2-1 Red Sox win

Well, the Red Sox are back in the division lead. That was an awkward couple of weeks. The Red Sox won 2-1 on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park. J.D. Drew again got the Red Sox off to a fast start, as he doubled in Dustin Pedroia in the first. Dustin Pedroia would drive in the Red Sox' second run of the game in the 4th inning. Daniel Cabrera struggled, pitching only 4.1 inning and walking 6. Dennis Sarfate pitched well in relief. The Red Sox held the shutout until the 9th inning, when Jonathan Papelbon gave up a 2 out RBI single to Aubrey Huff. However, Paps was able to finish off the game and strand 2. Melvin Mora lined out to Pedroia, who made a nice play to seal the win for the Sox. Dice-K picks up his 10th win of the year, pitching 6 innings. He gave up only 5 hits but walked 5, another so-so performance. He also struck out 7. Luckily the Red Sox were able to come up with a few runs to get him the win.

The All-Star Break is upon us. Youk, Pedroia, and Manny will start for the Red Sox. Paps, Tek and J.D. Drew will be on the AL bench. The Home Run Derby is tomorrow on ESPN, and the ASG is on Tuesday on FOX.

Good luck to the Sox all-stars! Make those Yankees fans mad!

Nick


Yoooouk has career day as Sox rout the O's


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Kevin Youkilis has been my favorite player for a while now. Even though he sometimes goes over the top with his frustration, you can't deny his passion for the game. On Saturday, he had the best game of his career. Youk went 2-4 with 6 RBI's and his first career grand slam. He was robbed of an extra base hit by a diving Nick Markakis early in the game. The Red Sox easily won the game in a 12-1 laugher. Wake was very efficient, throwing another quality start. He pitched 7 innings of 2 hit ball, only allowing 1 run (a HR to catcher Ramon Hernandez). Craig Hansen and Mike Timlin pitched clean innings of mopup.

The win was huge, because the Rays lost their 6th straight. Their lead in the East is down to half a game. A win today and a Rays loss would put the Sox back on top of the division. The ever-inconsistent Dice-K goes today for the Red Sox, against the passionate Daniel Cabrera. Should be an interesting matchup. Cabrera, in his career, has either pitched very well against the Sox or struggled. Remember that game last year where he threw behind Pedroia I believe, and the benches cleared? That was wild. I think he almost went at it with Lowell.

Another update after the game. GOOOO SOX! And to a lesser extent, go Indians! ;)

Red Sox vs. Orioles Series Preview

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Friday, July 11th- Clay Buchholz vs. Brian Burres
Expect for Buchholz to try his hardest to impress the Red Sox in his return to the bigs.

Saturday, July 12th- Tim Wakefield vs. Radhames Liz
The knuckleballer takes the mound against the hard throwing rookie. Should be a good matchup with quite a few long balls involved!

Sunday, July 13th- Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Daniel Cabrera
Here's to hoping the Dice's good start against the Twins wasn't a fluke.

This series will be yet another very important one for the Sox. They are 1.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays as I write this, with the Rays losing tonight against the Cleveland Indians. It will be interesting to see if Buchholz has improved his command through the time he's spent in the minors. Even if he struggles, expect him to remain in the rotation at least until Bartolo Colon is healthy. A sweep against the Orioles would be very possible. The only game I really see them possibly having trouble with is the finale vs. Cabrera. Seems like sometimes he gives us fits.

Expect another post after the first game of the series. Go Sox!
-Nick