The Boston Red Sox won again last night, pushing themselves to two games over .500 with a 6-4 win over the Detroit Tigers.  The offense was the star last night.  David Ortiz and Will Middlebrooks each hit a two-run home run in the juggernaut fourth inning, and Kevin Youkilis continued his “I’m going to get traded soon” tour with his own solo jack over the Monster to lead off the eighth.

Jon Lester was ok.  Another start, another middling result – four runs on ten hits in 6.2 innings – and another no-decision.  Can we just make Felix Doubront pitch every day instead?

Center fielder Marlon Byrd was the defensive star – he made a ridiculous diving catch to retire Gerald Laird on a soft pop to center, ending the Detroit eighth.  Adrian Gonzalez, not so much – the first baseman who is playing right field missed a sliding catch of his own.  He made up for it with a torrid day at the plate, hitting two ground-rule doubles.

Here’s a link to the heavy-hitting box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.  Boston finishes up its homestand tonight against Detroit, before heading to Toronto.  Josh Beckett (4-4, 4.15 ERA) takes the hill against Max Scherzer (4-3, 5.67 ERA).

OK.  Now that we’ve recapped the game, can we talk about the more interesting things that happened yesterday?

Abductor muscle (Gray's Anatomy, c/o wikipedia.com)

First, Dustin Pedroia’s thumb.  It turns out that he tore the abductor muscle in his right thumb a few weeks ago, and that’s what’s keeping him out of the lineup now.  Google tells me that your abductor muscle is the muscle in the palm of your hand, going from your thumb to your wrist (the thick part of your palm).  It controls pretty much all of your ability to move your thumb.  So, tearing it doesn’t sound like a wonderful plan.

Of course, the Red Sox are being a little indecisive about what they’re going to do about Pedroia’s sudden inability to move his thumb in any direction.  But, everyone agrees that he can’t hit right now.  The Boston Herald reports that Pedroia is trying out a thumb brace to see if he can play through the injury, but it will be a few days before anything becomes clear.  We all know that Pedroia is gritty, gutty, dusty, etc., and that he hates to sit out games – so, putting him on the disabled list is something the Red Sox appear to want to do only reluctantly.  But, because of Boston’s reluctance to put Pedroia on the DL, the Sox can’t make any roster moves to help out the sudden dearth of middle infield players.  When asked by reporters, manager Bobby Valentine said that “we’re going to let some higher beings make that decision. God hasn’t returned the phone call yet, but I’ve been promised he will.”  I’m sure that God will get right on that, Bobby.

Tito in a towel (c/o deadspin.com)

Second, Terry Francona’s towel.  Deadspin came out with this nugget yesterday.  It looks like Francona – ex-Red Sox manager and soon to be ex-husband – has been sending some pretty salacious texts and emails to some guy Rob’s girlfriend.  And Rob’s girlfriend has been sending a few pretty salacious texts and emails back.  Tito’s 53 years old, and the girlfriend is, it sounds like, in her early 30s.  The two met recently through their mutual connections to the University of Arizona (she lives in Tuscon, Francona played there).

I mean, what can we say about this?  It’s a little sketchy, since Terry’s 20 years older than her, and she has a boyfriend.  We’ve also built Tito up to be this angel on a white horse lately, and that’s just not the case.  But, people are just human, and public personas often don’t match up to private lives.  This twist is interesting, but ultimately just talk and gossip.

Deja vu all over again, right?  The Red Sox ended Memorial Day weekend by gutting out a 7-4 win over the Detroit Tigers to get back to .500… for the sixth time this season.  Felix Doubront – who, surprisingly, is quickly becoming Boston’s most reliable starter – picked up the win with a four-hit, two-run lockdown over six innings.  Alfredo Aceves (why was he in the game in a non-save situation?) gave up a two-run home run to Jhonny Peralta with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but quickly struck out the next batter to secure the Red Sox win.

“Every outing I’m learning more how to approach the hitters, and today, I think I was more focused on throwing the ball for strikes and getting the hitters out quickly,” Doubront told reporters. “I was throwing the ball where I wanted and my offspeed pitch was working pretty good.”

Scott Atchison, meanwhile, quietly put together two scoreless innings between Doubront and Aceves.  He’s thrown 29 innings this year, and only allowed three runs for a miniscule 0.93 ERA.  He’s only allowed one home run and six walks.  Where would the Red Sox bullpen be without him?  He’s the only middle reliever that I’m confident can get the outs when he gets the call.

The Red Sox also had a good day offensively.  Ryan Sweeney announced his return from the disabled list with three hits.  Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit another home run.  And, Mike Aviles had two hits, one of them a controversial one.  In the bottom of the second, and with Sweeney on second base, it looked to everyone in the stands and to everyone watching on television like Aviles struck out when Detroit catcher Gerald Laird snagged a foul tip.  But, first base umpire Tim Welke ruled that Laird had dropped the ball.  Aviles, with new life, responded by hitting an RBI single to center, scoring Sweeney and extending the inning.  Daniel Nava scored Aviles on a double, and Dustin Pedroia got lucky on an infield single that bounced off Prince Fielder’s glove and scored Nava.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland and third base coach Gene Lamont both told the umpiring crew what they thought of the foul tip call after the second inning ended, and both were ejected from the game for their efforts.

Pedroia, by the way, appears to have jammed his thumb.  He left the game after making a diving stop in the fifth inning.  Because of the Memorial Day holiday, he wasn’t able to get an MRI yesterday, but is expected to get one today.

Here’s a link to the box score, care of the Red Sox.

The Red Sox continue their homestand tonight, when Daniel Bard (4-5, 4.69 ERA) takes on Justin Verlander (5-2, 2.15 ERA) for a 7:10 start.  I’ll be at Fenway and I have to work tomorrow, so let’s hope that the threatened humidity-breaking thunderstorms stay away until later tonight.