Swamigp’s Weblog

Jon Lester dominated, making the most of his first appearance in Yankees Stadium by tossing a complete game shutout in a 7-0 Boston win. This triumph ended a five game losing streak in which the team had a tough time getting both solid pitching and hitting. In this contest they finally found a way to get both, as the offense came alive against Yankee starter Andy Pettitte. As Lester mowed down the Yankees, seemingly with ease, the Red Sox lineup did something New York has had a tough time doing, score runs.

Dustin Pedroia continued to be a hitting machine, starting a quick offensive attack with a single. J.D. Drew followed with a line drive single of his own, leaving Manny Ramirez a chance to drive in the game’s first run. He hit a slow grounder right to Robinson Cano, who started a attempt at a double play by flipping to Derek Jeter for the second out of the inning. Manny Ramirez was hustling down the first base line, which made Jeter’s throw that much difficult. He threw wide of the bag, allowing Pedroia to score and Manny to reach second on the error. Mike Lowell then made Jeter suffer even more for the error, as he laced a rni single to drive in Manny. It gave Jon Lester a cushion even before he went on the mound, and a lead that the Red Sox would actually be able to hold onto.

Lester got into trouble in the bottom of the first by walking the first two batters, but got out of the inning unscathed, striking out both Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi to end the threat. Boston’s offense quickly went back to work against a ineffective Pettitte, scoring two more times in the second frame on a Jacoby Ellsbury two-run double.

That support was more than enough for Lester, who continued his very solid year with this extraordinary performance. His control was very sharp, as he didn’t walk anyone after allowing two straight to start his outing. The Yankees offense mustered only five hits off the left-hander, leading to Joe Girardi, New York’s manager, holding a closed door meeting with his players following the game.

Not only was this a must win for the team to get back on track, it gave the struggling bullpen a night off (it didn’t allow relievers like Delcarmen, Hansen, Aardsma or Okajima to find a way to give up the lead). The night went so well for Boston that Jason Varitek, who has been awful at the plate so far this season (9 for his last 83 and is batting .217 overall), broke out his much maligned slump with a rbi single in the 8th to end the game’s scoring.

Though the offense woke up for the Red Sox, the night belonged to Lester, who was coming off one of his worst outings with the team (he allowed 9 hits and 6 earned runs in 5 innings in the teams’ 11-10 loss to the Astros). His fastball was lively, and his off-speed pitches were used to perfection, contributing to his 8 strikeouts. Not bad for his first trip to Yankees Stadium.

Every baseball team seems to fall into one of these phases during the duration of the season: either a combination good hitting but bad pitching, bad hitting but good pitching or the worst of all, both bad hitting and bad pitching. Boston is in the bad hitting/good pitching stage, evident in their 5 combined runs in the teams’ pivotal two straight losses to the unbelievably good Tampa Rays. The Red Sox have the big name players to muster enough runs to win the majority of the games played: Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis and others. They just haven’t been able to help the team win consistently.

Ellsbury’s June was a nightmare, as he hit only .245, and only walked three times in the months’ 27 games. As the teams’ lead-off man and table setter, Jacoby needs to find a way to get on base. Since he is struggling mightily at the plate, he needs to be patient as a hitter, therefore taking pitches, and if necessary, walks.  He is only 24 and part of Red Sox bright future, but he needs to be consistent enough to get Boston’s offense on the right page. In May, the former Oregon State standout was what Red Sox fans expected, as he got in base nearly 40% of the time, stole 18 bases and scored 21 runs. In June he got on base at a just a 26% clip; he scored just 13 runs; stole only 8 bases; struck out 20% of the time (20 out of 98 at bats). Every player goes through these types of stretches, but for lead-off man, it is critical for him to get back on track.

Dustin Pedroia was a rookie last year and encountered a horrid slump to start his major league career. He couldn’t hit during the first two months of the season, but the Red Sox stuck with him and it paid off (won rookie of the year; was a pivotal part of the second half of the season and the postseason). Ellsbury should learn from Pedroia’s experience and known that the team has confidence that he will hit himself out of his slump. That’s what Ellsbury should take with him heading out of June and into July. Pedroia hit like crazy in June, batting .356 with 21 runs scored, 36 hits, and only 6 strikeouts. His numbers could have been better in the month, especially in the rbi category (he drove in just nine runs in the month), if he had players like Ellsbury getting on base in front of him. Even without the production from Ellsbury, Pedroia helped relieve the pressure on players behind him like Drew, Lowell, and Youkilis. Now all those three players had to do was hit.

J.D. Drew hit .337 in June, but hit even better before he ended the month 5-31 from the plate. He was proclaimed as a savior early in the month because of his production in the absence of David Ortiz, but went down with the team over the final 10 games (the team went 4-6 in those 10 games). His .161 batting average during that stretch hurt the team considerably. Without his production the teams offense became stagnant.

Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis were very good during the month, batting .351 and .337, respectively, but without players on base their production can only do so much to help the team win. They made the most of it when Pedroia and Drew got on base when they combined for 40 rbi’s (25 of which by Lowell) and 11 homers.

With all of these individual numbers mentioned, it brings up the question: what is consistency? A players’ continuous productivity during a year? Or is it just how much the team wins? The way I see it is that Ellsbury, Pedroia, Drew, Lowell and Youkilis can put up great numbers during the course of a season, but if they don’t amount to the team winning the majority of games played, what point do they make? The main difference between the Red Sox and Rays is that Tampa Bay is doing more to win games. Maybe that is what consistency is.

In the early 1840’s William Overton saw great potential for a piece of land that was called “the clearing,” halfway between Oregon City and Fort Vancouver, but he lacked the funds that were required to file a land claim. He struck a bargain with a partner by the name of Asa Lovejoy, of Boston, Mass.: for 25 cents he would share the 640 acres he had claimed. Overton later sold his part of the claim to Francis W. Pettigrove of Portland Maine. Now both Pettigrove and Lovejoy wanted to name the new city after their respective hometowns, which was to be decided with a coin toss. Pettigrove won in a best two out of three contest. So therefore the city was to be named Portland, forever linking the two cities.

To go along with the naming of Portland, Oregon, there is a more recent link between the two cities. Kevin Pritchard, the Portland Trail Blazers General Manager since the start of the 2007 season, has been very aggressive during his tenure as the leader of the team. His aggressiveness started even as a interim manager of the team in 2005, when he took over of a bad team after the firing of Maurice Cheeks. He spent the remainder of the season as manager evaluating talent, and in that off-season advised then-GM John Nash to select Chris Paul with the 3rd overall selection in that particular upcoming draft, but was overruled by Nash and his partners, as the team eventually traded the pick to the Utah Jazz (which they used to take Deron Williams). In the 2006 off-season, Nash was fired (probably after the team saw Paul win rookie of the year), allowing Pritchard to move on up the ladder. The team not only promoted him to the Assistant GM position, but gave him full control to orchestrate their 2006 draft, a draft in which he was very busy. He traded the teams’ fourth overall selection, Tyrus Thomas, along with Victor Khryapa to the Bulls for the 2nd overall pick, LaMarcus Aldridge, who is now a prominent part of the current team. Pritchard wasn’t done though, as he then traded the 7th overall pick (they traded Sebastian Telfair and Theo Ratliff to Boston for the pick prior to the draft) which they used on Randy Foye to the Timberwolves for Brandon Roy (who won rookie of the year that upcoming season). Both Aldridge and Roy are currently center-pieces for the teams future, and have already gained a lot of notoriety around the league for their outstanding play in their two years in the NBA. In 2007 Steve Patterson was fired, allowing the Blazers to give the reigns to the GM position to Pritchard. He didn’t stop his aggressive play, as he not only picked Greg Oden with the top pick in the 2007 draft, but made two more significant deals. He traded Zach Randolph, who had overstayed his welcome with the team, to the Knicks and acquired James Jones, and the 24th pick in the draft, Rudy Fernandez (who is now going to be another big part of the teams’ future) for cash in a separate deal with the Suns. Every one of these moves have been very good decisions by Pritchard thanks to his aggressiveness and determination to make this team better.

Now the Blazers are the youngest team in the league, and even though their players are immensely talented, that could be a bad thing if the team wants to go deep in the playoffs as soon as next season. The good thing about the lack of experience is that from here on the players will only gain experience with every game they play, especially incoming players like Oden, Jerryd Bayless and Fernandez.

The sports are different, but MLB’s General Managers have the same task: improve the team the way you see fit, and build towards the future. This is where the Portland-Boston connection comes in with Red Sox GM, Theo Epstein. He, like Pritchard, is very aggressive when it comes to making the team better. In the 2003 off-season Boston made a huge run at one of the games best players, Alex Rodriguez. Major League Baseball wouldn’t allow the trade to be completed, but it was his aggressive mindset allowed the trade to be a possibility. His determination to get the players he saw fit continued in 2006 off-season when he spent an obscene amount of money 52 million dollars just to talk to Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, whom they eventually signed for 50+ more million dollars. This is how Pritchard and Epstein are connected. They have the ability to look at every possibility to make their respective teams better whether it be by trade or free agency.

What allows Epstein to be aggressive is the amount of money at is disposal. The Blazers payroll for this past season was $57.6 million dollars compared to $133 million dollars for the Red Sox. The payrolls are drastically different, but so are the yearly salaries for the players in the two sports. Though the roster size is in baseball’s favor, 40-15, the teams go about making moves in similar ways, because of the amount of money each team has available. In spite of the difference in salaries and roster size, both the Blazers and Red Sox have the same opportunities to trade for high paid players, and be aggressive in their own ways, primarily because of the difference between yearly player salaries between sports.

One thing that helps Epstein is that he has a farm system, something Pritchard and the NBA do not. Though having a farm system for the Red Sox is a luxury, it is also tough to maintain.It has produced players such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Justin Masterson, Clay Buccholz, Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon, all of whom have played critical roles towards the teams’ success. A farm system for Epstein is the equivilant to draft picks for Pritchard. Some successful players in the minor leagues are trading chips for big name players in baseball, just like some draft picks are trading chips for big name players in basketball. Though Pritchard doesn’t have the advantage of having a minor league team, nonetheless four like Boston, he, and his team, still find a way to make bold trades, like the one recently to acquire Jerryd Bayless.

Pritchard’s agressiveness is shown in the trading of draft picks (they traded all five in this years’ draft) to get the right players for his team while Epstein’s aggressiveness is shown by paying high dollar for players that fit. Though the way they go by being aggressive is different, their primary goal is making their teams better not only for the present, but for the future as well.

The connection between the two cities started with Pettigrove and Lovejoy, but because of the aggressive style of Kevin Pritchard and Theo Epstein in modern time, the link continues.

Kevin Youkilis was frustrated, like the rest of his teammates. They had continued to leave men on base throughout extra innings, squandering many opportunities to end the game. The Sox first baseman ended the frustration that the entire organization had been feeling the past few days (Schilling done for year, Dice-K rocked, lose first two games against Cards) with his second homer of the game, a two-run round-tripper over the monster, to send Boston to a victory in 13 innings, 5-3.

The game was delayed 55 minutes on the inset, but that didn’t stop both starting pitchers, Joel Piniero for St. Louis and Jon Lester for Boston, from delivering solid outings for their respective teams. Piniero, a former Red Sox pitcher, threw seven sharp innings, but his effort was all for naught. Youkilis’s first homer brought Boston to within a run after St. Louis had gotten two runs of their own in the sixth. Lester, despite giving up two runs, delivered yet another solid performance, and a much needed one for a suddenly inconsistent staff. Though Piniero scattered 7 hits and didn’t walk anyone, he allowed Boston to tie the game in the 8th.

Coco Crisp started off the 8th by knocking out the Cardinals starter with a triple to dead center. Julio Lugo proceeded with a sacrafice fly to tie the game at 2. The Red Sox weren’t done though as they took advantage of a wild Chris Perez. The real fun started when two were out, as Perez suddenly had a tough time finding the strike zone. He allowed a single to Pedroia who then stole second. J.D. Drew walked, the start of Perez’s ineffectiveness. He then proceeded to walk Manny Ramirez, loading the bases for Mike Lowell. The final out of the inning was a tremendously difficult one to get for the 22-year old right-hander as he then threw four striaght balls to Lowell to force in a run, giving the Red Sox the lead.

Jonathan Papelbon came in to close out the ninth as he has done successfully so many times before. One of the league’s top closers couldn’t hold the lead as he allowed a two-out, rbi pinch-hit double to Adam Kennedy to keep the Cardinals alive. Although the hard-throwing righthander has 21 saves, he has blown four, including his debacle in this contest. The Sox offense couldn’t do anything in their half of the ninth, sending the game into extra innings.

The play by both teams was exhilirating in extra innings, with each team having multiple chances to win the game. The Cardinals didn’t take much tiime getting a rally started in the tenth, but left runners on first and second against Sox reliever Hideki Okajima. Jacoby Ellsbury knocked a lead-off double in the bottom of the inning off Kyle McClellan, and it seemed the Red Sox would make quick work of St. Louis in extras. But no. After Dustin Pedroia moved Ellsbury over to third with a sacrifice, J.D. had a chance to end the game with a measly single, but he couldn’t take advantage of the great run scoring opportunity, striking out. Sean Casey ended the threat by flying out, squandering the first of many game ending opportunities that would come in exras. The contest went to the eleventh, an inning in which it seemed like the Cardinals would pull through and score, but again they couldn’t, leaving the bases loaded after Craig Hansen struck out Ryan Ludwick. Boston once again got a runner on to start off an inning, another double, this time by Mike Lowell. Kevin Youklis proceeded by working a walk, only to see the next hitter, Jason Varitek weakly ground into a force-out to the pitcher, Jason Isringhausen who got the lead runner, Lowell at third. Coco Crisp drew a walk of his own to keep the rally going, loading the bases but the chance was squandered as Isringhausen got out of damage by striking out both Alex Cora and Ellsbury. The game continued to the twelfth where the Red Sox finally retired the Cardinals in order, thanks to Hansen’s two strikeouts. Bostons’s offense ruined another perfect opportunity after they got their third straight lead-off double, this one off the bat by Pedroia. J.D. Drew decided he would go back to his form last season and do his best to make an out as he nubbed a weakly hit grounder to the pitcher, who then got Pedroia out an third. Well done Drew. Sean Casey then made sure his team wouldn’t score by grounding into a double play. As if the first 12 innings weren’t enough fun, the thirteenth was the clincher. The Cardinals got a one-out double in the top of the inning by Chris Duncan. Adam Kennedy then lined a single to J.D. Drew that would have tied the game if Duncan wasn’t slow of foot (that description is putting it mildly). Duncan was gunned out by Drew cannon of a arm. He would have had a better chance of scoring if he actually tried to make a hook slide to get around Varitek rather than trying to bowl him over. After all of this excitement throughout the 4 extra innigs, the game was still tied, which was pretty hard to believe. That tied score didn’t hold for long as the Red Sox finally mustered offense that didn’t turn out to be worthless as Mike Lowell singled to setup the game ending bomb by Youkilis.

This game had it all: a comeback by the home team late in regulation, an implosion by a reliever on both sides, multiple extra inning rallies that fell short, a play at the plate, and a game winning homer. All this amounted for a much needed Red Sox win.

J.D. Drew’s $14 Million Dollar Grand Slam during last years’ Title run put the right fielder into the hearts of Red Sox fans. But his recent stretch has solidified his position as not only another good move by GM Theo Epstein but as a fan favorite. Even with slugger David Ortiz out of the lineup, and on the disabled list, the Red Sox offense hasn’t missed a beat. Sure they are still somewhat inconsistent with their run production from game to game, but what team isn’t. J.D. Drew has been the spark this team needed, as he has done a remarkable job filling Ortiz’s spot in the lineup. He has hit over .400 since Big Papi left the batting order, hammering 9 homers in the process.

Since Ortiz injured his wrist on June 3, Boston has gone 11-4, thanks in large part to Drew’s production. Including J.D.’s 4-5, 4 rbi day in the teams’ most recent victory (a 7-4 win over the Phillies in inter-league play), he has raised his numbers drastically over this current 16-game stretch. He is now his .327 on the year with 13 homers and 43 rbi’s while getting on base at a 43% clip. Thanks to his hot streak he has not only raised his average by 31 points, but made an already potent offense even more so. Once Ortiz gets back and Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis return from their respective hamstring and back injuries, all of which should be pretty soon, the teams play will only get better.

Tim Wakefield continued to baffle hitters with his tumbling knuckleball, but reliever Hideki Okajima made Wake’s effort all for not, coughing up a lead in an eventual 6-3 loss. Wakefield tossed 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits only to see Okajima, who is usually reliable, implode, giving up 4 runs in the 8thinning to give the Orioles the lead and the game. Three of those runs came on a base clearing 3-run double by Adam Jones with two outs. Okajima, who regularly handles business with a deceptive motion and a filthy assortment of pitches, was out of sync from the beginning. He allowed three straight singles to start the inning to load the bases before getting Kevin Millar on a deep sacrifice fly that tied the game at three. Two were out after Melvin Mora was gunned out at the plate on a grounder by Luke Scott. The Sox had a chance to get out of it with minimal damage, but Okajima couldn’t finish the job, walking the next hitter, Ramon Hernandez to load the bases once again. Adam Jones, who has been inconsistent all year long, took advantage of the two out walk, driving in all three base-runners to take a commanding three-run lead, knocking Hideki out of the game.

The problem of late for Boston hasn’t been pitching, but hitting in key spots. Even though they were going for a three game sweep of the Orioles, they hadn’t been hitting soundly during the series. Jacoby Ellsbury has been tremendous, especially over the last week, using his speed to steal bases by the bunches, getting on base and in scoring position continously. He has had 8 steals in his past 5 games, but has only scored 2 times during that stretch despite his agressiveness. Manny Ramirez has also been hot over the past week-ful of games. He has hit homers in three straight games, including this one. Despite the efforts of Ellsbury and Ramirez, the offense as a whole isn’t clicking on all cylinders. For example, in the middle of May the team had a 7 game win streak going, sweeping Kansas City and Milwaukee, only to lose 5 of their next six. For a team with as much talent as they posess, and as a defending World Series Champion nonetheless, they should have the consistency to run away with the AL East. I know that the Rays are very impressive this year, currently leading the division at 35-22, but the Sox have the veterans and mindset to pull away, especially from the woeful Yankees, which they obviously haven’t taken advantage of yet.

One major concern for the Sox is the absence of David Ortiz, who was hitting a hot bat before recently going on the DL with a partially torn tendon in his wrist. This could be devastating because you need full stength in your wrists to be a powerful hitter like Ortiz has been. This could be just precautionary and he could be back in 2-3 weeks, but this definitely doesn’t help Boston. If they play valiantly in Ortiz’s absence, like they are capable of, they should cruise through the first three series of this month, during which they face Tampa, Seattle and Baltimore. With the way their not so clutch offense is going, this games won’t be pieces of cake.

Manny Ramirez added another credential to his already Hall of Fame career, becoming the 24th player in history to reach the illustrious 500 home run club. Manny hit the first offering he saw against Orioles reliever Chad Bradford into the right field seats to give Boston a comfortable 6-3 margin. Of those 500 homers hit by Ramirez, 264 of them have come during his current tenure with the Boston Red Sox. He has been one of the best right handed hitters baseball has ever seen, and has not based his career on hitting home runs. He has driven in 1639 rbi’s and socked 484 doubles in his 16 year career, numbers that will continue to climb if he lives to his word “I want to be in a Red Sox uniform until I’m 40″. He is a pure enough hitter to do so, and the Red Sox will most certainly renew his contract after this season (he does have club options for 2009 and 2010 but can opt out after this season). Manny, who grew up a Yankees fan and short distance from the stadium itself, has been known throughout the years, particularly those with the Red Sox, as a Yankee killer. He has hit 55 homers against Yankees pitching, the most against any team he has faced.

This was a player that was put on waivers by Boston after the disappointing finish to the 2003 season, a player that all 29 other teams passed on. “Manny being Manny” had gone too far, at least for the Sox front office, during a season in which he had 37 homers, 104 rbi’s and batted .325. Since no one took him despite his monstrous numbers, the Red Sox were stuck with the first ballot Hall of Famer (what a great player to be stuck with). Although he continued to have his moments that disgruntled the front office, he and David Ortiz led Boston to their first world series title the next year. I don’t know what the team would have done without Manny, not only on the field but in the clubhouse. They wouldn’t have won a title that’s for sure. Manny continued to get the job done on the field, posting the kind of numbers that make up for some ill-advised antics through the years, as the team won another title with him in 2007.

Sure I am in awe of the incredible numbers that Manny has put up through the years, but what I’ve really been impressed with is his plate discipline. He has a eye at the plate that I have never seen before. This alone has made him a dangerous hitter because pitchers don’t know where to find a flaw. He has hit anything and everything thrown his way, resulting in over 2600 career hits and now 500 home runs.

Jon Lester became the 18th Boston Red Sox pitcher in history to throw a no-hitter, doing so against the Kansas City Royals in a 7-0 Boston win. The first no no of this young season couldn’t have been achieved by a pitcher more worthy. He survived cancer, lymphoma, in 2006 and won the final game of last season’s world series title. The first complete game of the 24 year old’s career happened to be a dominating performance for the ages. In the first no-hitter since teammate Clay Buchholz’s last season, Lester struck out nine while walking just two. Twenty out of the twenty-nine batters he faced, he started out by firing a first pitch strike, allowing him to get ahead of the hitter as well as forcing the opponent to be overly aggressive. His 130th pitch of the night was a 96 mph fastball past hitter Alberto Callaspo, as he punched his fists into the air in triumph. He threw 86 pitches for strikes, possessing impeccable control all evening long. He got some help, like Buchholz did, from his defense, including a diving catch by Jacoby Ellsbury.

The Red Sox hitters helped Lester out greatly, bursting for 5 runs in the 4th inning. After Julio Lugo drove in a run with a double play, Ellsbury tripled to keep the inning alive. Luke Hovechar, the Royals starter, walked three straight hitters, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez to drive in the second run of the game. Mike Lowell proceeded to drive in two runs on a rare error by second baseman Mark Grudzielanek, dropping a pop-up after a strong wind pulled the ball away from him. Kevin Youkilis, one of the best hitters in the American League, made the Royals pay even more for the error, driving in the fifth run of the inning with a double. That was more than enough for Lester, who had his assortment of pitches working superbly. His fastball was live with plenty of movement, baffling hitters, making him literally un-hittable. Jason Varitek, who also hit a two run homer in the seventh, his first at Fenway since last season, was great behind the plate, calling a great game by allowing Lester to show a great pitch distribution. Since the start of the modern era, 1900, Varitek has caught the most no hitters with four (Buchholz in 2007, Derek Lowe in 2002, Hideo Nomo in 2001 and of course now Lester). This was not only a great achievement for Lester on the mound, but a great personal triumph for the left-hander.

Daisuke Matsusaka kept his stellar season going, improving to 7-0 on the year in a 5-3 win in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday. What was most surprising about this game was that the Sox actually held an early lead. In previous games they had three 3-0 leads in a row early in games, and lost each game. This game was much needed by Matsusaka to quell Boston’s recent slide. He pitched 6 2/3 innings of solid baseball, allowing two unearned runs on seven hits while striking out six. He was given a 4-0 lead, 3 coming on a home run by the red hot David Ortiz with two outs in the third. Unlike the rest of the pitchers on the staff, Daisuke persevered with the lead, allowing runs via a rare error by Kevin Youkilis at third base. Jacoby Ellsbury had two hits, driving in a run and scoring another. Ortiz, was on base all 4 times, including a single at two walks. Jonathan Papelbon acquired his 12th save, but not before allowing a solo homer to Ryan Braun, who like Ortiz, has been hitting like crazy.

The Sox proceeded to sweep the doubleheader from the vastly inconsistent Brewers, winning the second game in a not so easy fashion, 7-6. Once again the Sox starter, this time Tim Wakefield, was staked a 5-0 lead, yet couldn’t hold it. The Brewers scored 3 runs in consecutive innings, the sixth and seventh. Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks drove in the the three runs charged to Wakefield, via homer and a two run single. Craig Hansen, who relieved the starter, wasn’t helped out by the Sox defense, allowed three unearned runs, thanks to back-to-back errors by Mike Lowell and Alex Cora. With the lead now in Milwaukee’s favor, Boston’s offense went back to work. The Red Sox scored two runs of their own via two of Milwaukee’s four errors in the game. Ellsbury reached on a error by Weeks and was safe at third on a throwing error by thid baseman Bill Hall, allowing Pedroia to reach first. Boston tied the game on a groundout by Ortiz and tacked on the go-ahead run on a rbi single by Kevin Youkilis. Javier Lopez and Mike Timlin pitched the final two innings scoreless to seal the win.

Game three of the series was an absolute slugfest as both teams combined to hit eight homers. Josh Beckett, Boston’s ace and starter, allowed 4 homers over his seven innings of work. Ryan Braun, the Brewers left fielder, started the scoring in the first, hitting a 2-run homer over the Green Monster to take an early two run lead. Boston struck back quickly off Brewer starter Carlos Villanueva, as Ortiz hit a rbi double to cut the lead in half. Boston added two more runs in the 3rd to take the lead, 3-2, on back-to-back homers by Pedroia and Ortiz. That lead didn’t last long as J.J. Hardy, Milwaukee’s shortstop, clubbed a two run homer of his own to take the lead right back. Jacoby Ellsbury’s two run single in the 4th allowed the Red Sox to keep the lead for good. David Ortiz hit his second homer of the game for good measure, a two run shot to make the score 8-4.Despite having the lead Beckett continued to struggle, allowing back-to-back homer to Braun and Prince Fielder in the sixth to cut the lead in half. In the end though Boston wasn’t going to relinquish the lead again, completing the sweep with a 11-7 win.

While the Brewers offense is struggling, the Red Sox aren’t. After being marred in the a slump for a couple of weeks, Boston turned on the afterburners in this series, with everyone contributing on the offensive end. It’s a good sign for a team that they can still pull out a win even though their top starter is struggling. If they continue to win these kinds of games, they will go a long ways. With Clay Buchholz on the DL and Wakefield struggling of late, Bartolo Colon has come to the rescue. The Sox plucked this former Cy Young winner this offseason for this reason, to add depth to an already pretty strong rotation. He will take over the fifth starter spot with the abcense of Buchholz, and will make his season debut Wednesday against the Royals. If he continues ot pitch as well as he has in the minors this no risk acquisition will pay major dividends, especially for the latter part of this long season.

The Brewers, meanwhile, are going downhill fast. Their offensive inconsistency needs to be fixed quick if they are going to make a decent run in the division. Their lone bright spot so far this year has been Ryan Braun, who is fresh off signing a 8 year deal keeping him in Milwaukee through the 2015 season. In his last 7 games Braun has hit 6 homers and driven in 10, hitting at a .345 clip. His thirteen homers on the year have carried the offense because of a struggling Prince Fielder. Braun is a budding star, but Fielder is the catalyst of the offense. His 50 homers last season was a club record and his enormous power is well documented. So with his great numbers in the past, you might be surprised to hear that he has just 6 homer this year. Though he is hitting just .268 this year, he, like Braun, is hot of late, hitting at a .375 clip over his last 7 games. Despite the recent success of these two young Brewers, their offense can only take them so far. As a team they are dead last in the division, seven games back by losing 5 in a row. Their pitching staff, other than ace Ben Sheets, in ruins. They lost Chris Capuano and Yovani Gallardo to injuries, and Claudio Vargas to the Mets, forcing them to make up an approximated 300 innings as a staff. That will be a tough task to complete, considering they don’t know what they are going to get night in night out from starters 2-5. With the Cubs surging, winners of 8 of their last 10, the task gets harder to grasp. If they are somehow still are in the race by the All-Star Break, you can bet that they will be busy in the trade market this year.

Tim Wakefield gave the Boston Red Sox another superb pitching performance, this time baffling the Tigers over 8 innings in a 5-0 win. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez hit back-to-back homers in the 7th inning to give Wake support. Manny’s crushed bomb off Detroit reliever Freddy Dolsi was the 497th in his Hall of Fame career. Boston got out of the gate early, going up 3-0 off Tigers starter Nate Robinson in the 2nd inning on an rbi single and double by J.D. Drew and Kevin Cash, respectively, as well as a ground-out by Coco Crisp to drive in the third run. Wakefield coasted through his 8 innings of work, allowing only 2 hits while striking out six and walking none. David Ortiz continued to up his average to .226 with his 7th homer of the year. Manny’s was also his 7th on the season, one of his 3 hits on the night. Cash also got three hits in the game, in the place of Jason Varitek, to help Boston to their 5th win in a row and 7th of eight.

The Tigers lost their 5th in a row, their second consecutive to Boston to start the 4 game set. Their record drops to 14-20 as their “most powerful lineup…on paper” was non-existent against another lights out outing by a Red Sox starter.