I hear there was some kind of important basketball game taking place yesterday?  Some team from Boston was trying to win its seventh game or something?  Some guy named LeBron wore fake eyeglasses?  I don’t know…

In all seriousness, it’s pretty clear that baseball was overshadowed by the Boston Celtics’ run for the Eastern Conference championship last night in a win-or-go-home game seven in Miami.  And, the Celtics went home.  Boston was buzzing all day yesterday in anticipation, and even though we might have seen the end of Boston’s big three, there’s no denying that Rajan Rondo’s made his mark as a postseason gamer.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (firebrandal, c/o flickr.com)

Anyway.  There was, in fact, a Red Sox game yesterday also.  Daisuke Matsuzaka took the mound at Fenway one year to the day after undergoing Tommy John surgery.  Matsuzaka stepped in to replace struggling starter Daniel Bard.  Bard was sent down to AAA Pawtucket after a disastrous start last week that showcased his sudden inability to get batters out, or even maintain the strike zone.

Shockingly – shockingly! – the Red Sox lost again yesterday, dipping below .500 (on June 9th, guys – that’s kind of late in the season for a so-called contender to be playing .500 baseball).  They lost to the Washington Nationals, 4-2.

Here’s the thing about Daisuke: he didn’t pitch terribly.  In fact, one could easily argue that he had a decent-to-good return debut for the Red Sox, going five innings and striking out eight while allowing four runs.  Matsuzaka’s always had a lot of hype around him: who else remembers when NESN literally tracked the live flight path of his airplane when he was flying to Boston when they signed him?  Tangent, I remember that because I happened to be innocently eating dinner at the Boston Beer Works near Fenway when I was picked to be the “(wo)man on the street interview” by some Japanese media.  My contribution didn’t make it onto tv, as far as I know, quite possibly because I had a belly full of cheeseburger and a brain full of Fenway Pale Ale at the time – but I digress.

Anyway, the thing about Daisuke is that the hype hurts him sometimes.  He’s obviously had a pretty rocky road here in Boston, and a lot of that’s due to the hype that preceded him, not to mention the contract that accompanied him.  We’ve always expected ace performances from a pitcher that’s just not an ace.  Which is fine in a vacuum: if any other pitcher came back from Tommy John surgery to take the mound a year later and give their team a chance to win a game from the fifth spot in the rotation, he’d be congratulated, welcomed back with open arms.

With Matsuzaka, though, it seems like people always want a bit more.  Do I think Daisuke’s earned his contract?  Not by a long shot.  Do I think that he can replace Bard and be a serviceable fifth starter for this iteration of the Red Sox?  Definitely.  The problem, though, is this: the Red Sox don’t need a serviceable fifth starter.  The Red Sox need better pitching overall.  Boston cannot rely on an inexplicably shaky Jon Lester, a volatile Josh Beckett, an unreliable Clay Buchholz, a green Felix Doubront, and an untested Matsuzaka if they expect to compete in the AL East, or the postseason.

For the Boston offense, Jarrod Saltalamacchia continued his recent hot streak, knocking in Boston’s only two runs with a pinch-hit single in the seventh inning off the Washington bullpen.  Besides that, nothing doing – Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez pitched a gem, allowing two runs on three hits in 6 1/3 innings. The Red Sox were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, which given the power in this lineup, is JUST a little disheartening.

Just some bookkeeping here: Marlon Byrd was designated for assignment to make room for Matsuzaka.

Here’s a link to the weak box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.  Jon Lester (3-4, 4.64 ERA – not very ace-like) takes the mound against Jordan Zimmerman (3-5, 2.82 ERA) in today’s 1:35 matinee.  The Red Sox will try to avoid a sweep at home before heading to Miami to face the retooled Miami Marlins.

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.

Friday night, the Enforcer. Last night, the ninth inning Hero! (photo by Keith Allison, c/o flickr.com)

Last night was one of those Red Sox games that leaves you breathless — a real pitcher’s duel that ends in dramatic fashion. My hero of Friday night’s loss, Salty the Enforcer, was again the hero with a pinch hit, walk-off dinger in the ninth to give the Sox a 3-2 win over those dreaded Rays.

The Rays’ pitcher, David Price, managed to keep the Red Sox bats quite through the first five innings. In the bottom of the sixth, they finally broke the scoreless tie scoring one run to take a slim lead late in the game.

Dustin Pedroia led off the inning with a walk and David Ortiz followed with a single, moving Pedroia to second. Adrian Gonzalez smacked a single to BJ Upton in center field who threw a BB to home cutting down Pedy trying to score from second. Will Middlebrooks then shot one up the middle that deflected off the second baseman and allowed Ortiz to score the first run of the game.

On the pitching side for the Sox, Josh Beckett pitched another beauty. He went seven innings, giving up four hits and two earned runs while striking out five. He pitched six innings of one-hit, shutout ball and seemed to be rolling right along. But in the top of the seventh, the Rays took advantage of a tiring Beckett and managed to plate two runs on a combination three singles and heads up base running. Rays up 2-1.

With one chance left for some do or die heroics, the Red Sox had a tough road ahead of them in the bottom of the ninth. The Rays sent in their closer Fernando Rodney who was going for his 16th save in 16 attempts. (Does it annoy anyone else that he wears he hat crooked, because in incenses me! Seriously…shouldn’t there be rule against that?)

Daniel Nava lead off the ninth with an eight-pitch walk. Pinch hitter Nick Punto came in and laid down a successful sacrifice moving Nava up to second. Jarrod Saltalamacchia came in to pinch hit for Marlon Byrd, who had been 0 for 3 with two strike outs, and hit the second pitch he saw from Rodney over the center field fence for his first career walk-off homerun. This happened to also be the first walk-off win for the Red Sox this season.

Needless to say Fenway Park went completely mental and Salty was mobbed at home plate as is the custom with the Red Sox for walk-off wins. He emerged from the pile missing his shirt which was ripped from his body by an exuberant Big Papi. Salty told reporters after the game:

“Well, obviously tonight was awesome. I met the shredder for the first time,” Saltalamacchia said.

The shredder is what the Red Sox call the mob of players who jump all over the walk-off hero.

“Well, the shredder got me good,” Saltalamacchia said. “It got my shirt and my necklace. He got it all tonight. That’s a great feeling.”

Click here for the heart-stopping box score, courtesy of the Red Sox. The Sox and Rays will finish up the series today at 1:35pm with Clay Buccholz (4-2, 7.84 ERA) facing off against Jeremy Hellickson (4-1, 2.73 ERA).

The Red Sox opened the dreaded interleague play last night on the road in Philadelphia. It would be their first meeting with the Phillies since closer Jonathan Papelbon jumped ship last off-season and took a sweet deal in the City of Brotherly Love. The Sox felt no love in game one, losing 6-4.

Daniel Bard, in his seventh start of the season, had a case of the yips in the first inning, walking three of the first four batters he faced. After a single, a sac fly and a double, the Red Sox were quickly in a 4-0 hole. Coming back from a four-run deficit is never easy, but throw in having to face (5-1) Cole Hamels and it gets a lot more difficult. Hamels struck out nine batters in his seven-inning outing.

Both Mike Aviles and Cody Ross had two hits, including a solo home run from each off Hamels. Adrian Gonzalez also went yard, although a day late on his promise to hit one out of the park. That’s ok. Better late than never, right?

With the Phillies up by two runs going into the ninth, you knew what was going to happen. Yup, the always fiery and often vocal Papelbon came in to close it out. Kelly Shoppach singled to lead off the inning and went to second on a ground out by Daniel Nava. Marlon Byrd followed with a ground out to the shortstop but when it appeared that first baseman Ty Wigginton was pulled off the bag, Bobby Valentine came out to argue the call.

Who knows if Bobby came out because he actually thought Byrd was safe, or if he was just trying to get into Papelbon’s head and throw him off his game. Whatever the reason, the only thing Bobby accomplished (besides losing his gum) was getting tossed out of the game. Nick Punto struck out to end the game. It didn’t phase Pap in the least as indicated by his post-game remarks:

“No man, Valentine can’t distract Cinco, man,’’ Papelbon said. “Cinco has ice water in his veins.’’

Evidently, Mr. Papelbon, who wears #58, now has an alter ego called Cinco Ocho. Um… yeah… that’s original. I am so glad I never heard him refer to himself in this manner when he was with the Red Sox. That’s embarrassing. Please, please, please let him legally change his name to Cinco Ocho. Because we all know how well that’s worked for #85.

The list of injuries seems to grow daily for the Sox. Jarrod Saltalamacchia was hit in the ear with a ball that ricocheted off the batter in the seventh and left the game with an ear laceration. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution to make sure he didn’t suffer a concussion. Cody Ross also got dinged up last night, fouling a ball off his foot in the eight inning. He also went to the hospital for x-rays. No word yet on whether either injury will result in a roster move.

For yet another uninspiring box score, click on over to here, courtesy of the Red Sox. Game two of the three game set with the Phills is tonight at 7:15pm. Jon Lester, coming off his best start of the season so far, will face off against Joe Blanton. Lester has had great success against Philadelphia in the past — he’s 2-0 with a 0.43 ERA in three career starts. Normally this would make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but the current unpredictability of the starting five has sent my warm fuzzies on an extended vacation.

The Boston Red Sox came back from Wednesday’s loss to Tampa Bay with a vengeance, beating the Rays 5-3 last night.  In a game that manager Bobby Valentine told the Globe he was “going after,” the Sox used five pitchers to get the last ten outs of the game.  Starter Felix Doubront went 5.2 strong innings.  He walked four, but he also only allowed one run while strking out seven.  For a fourth starter (or any starter, really), you take that every time.  Rich Hill, Scott Atchison, and Andrew Miller each took over for one out, before Vicente Padilla and Alfredo Aceves wrapped up the win.

Credit where credit is due: the Rays staff also pitched a good game.  Rays starter Matt More turned in the definition of a quality start, allowing three earned runs over six innings.  The bullpen held the Sox to one more run the rest of the way, but the damage had already been done.

There were some fireworks last night.  Mike Aviles got ejected in the seventh inning for arguing balls and strikes.  If this surprises you (it surprised me, Aviles seems like a laid-back, cool guy), it should: this was Aviles’ first career ejection.

Also, as is de rigueur these days, Twitter wars commenced.  On Wednesday night, Adrian Gonzalez – who hadn’t hit a home run since April 17 – told reporters that he would hit one the next day, in last night’s game.  A Tampa Bay fan apparently didn’t realize Gonzalez was mainly joking (if it was that easy to predict when you’d hit a home run, then Marlon Byrd – who hit his first home run of the year last night – probably would have had a lot more to say).  The fan tweeted that Moore, the Rays starter, should hit Gonzalez with a pitch.  Tampa pitcher David Price retweeted the tweet, thus supporting the suggestion according to the Unspoken Rules of Tweeting.

PS – Mom, if you’re reading this, I know you’re confused – I’ll explain Twitter to you later.

Anyway, Moore went ahead and hit Gonzalez with the first pitch of Gonzalez’s first at-bat, with runners on first and second.  The HBP loaded the bases, so it was a terrible time to hit someone intentionally.  Then in the third inning, Doubront hit Luke Scott with a pitch with two outs and a runner on first (still not a great time to hit a batter, but not as bad as the Gonzalez beaning).  Scott trotted down to first base, and yelled at Doubront from there.  The jury’s out on whether or not the Twitter wars actually escalated into grown men, millionaires and role models no less, trying to purposefully hit each other with baseballs, but Valentine seems a little mystified.  He told the Globe:

If it was [intentional], it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in baseball. But it might have been. I doubt it. If we have to resort to that kind of stupidity then maybe the game has passed me by. It might.

Oh, Bobby V. – when the team is winning, your post-game interview quotes sound more endearing and fuddy-duddy-grandfather than they sound clueless and impotent.  Let’s keep it that way, ok?

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

Tonight, the Red Sox head to Philadelphia to start an interleague set against the Phillies.  I’m not a huge fan of interleague play in general, for two reasons.  First, I think it’s unfair to American League teams who can’t use their DH in NL parks, and gives an advantage to NL teams who suddenly have an extra lineup option in AL parks.  Whether you agree with the DH or not, the AL teams structure their rosters around having a DH, and it’s not fair to suddenly make them play without the DH in games that count towards their standings.  Second, I don’t think it’s fair that the interleague schedule is unbalanced.  I compare it to how the NCAA measures strength of schedule.  Some AL teams play the Pirates, the Cubs and the Padres.  Some AL teams play the Braves, the Cardinals and the Phillies (who are a great team, despite their early-season slump).  But each game counts the same in the standings.  Unfair.

That being said, this series should be fun.  First of all, we have the natural delight of David Ortiz having to play first base (would you take the guy out of the lineup?).  Gonzalez says he’ll play right field this series, so that they can both stay in the lineup.  Ortiz and Gonzalez playing first and right?  Hold on to your hats, Sox fans.  Ortiz seems mildly confident, or at least not NOT confident, telling the Globe:

I just don’t want to be in the wrong place when it comes down to catching a fly ball or catching a ground ball.  I try to mark a territory where I can be at and after that let the guys who are out there every day take over.

Good luck, Dustin Pedroia.  I hope you stretch before the game, because I sense you’ll be making a lot of sprints towards first and right field to track down some hit balls.

Also, there’s this closer named Jonathan Papelbon.  Ever heard of him?  I think maybe he was in the Red Sox minor league system once.  He’s closing games for Philadelphia now, and he’s also getting more comfortable in the clubhouse.  Amalie Benjamin – one of the best female sportswriters out there – took an early flight to Philadelphia to catch up with Papelbon.  She has a great piece in the Globe today about the ex-Sox’s adjustment to a new league, a new team, and a new fan base.

Daniel Bard (3-4, 4.30 ERA) takes on Cole Hamels (5-1, 2.28) tonight.  Both teams are currently in last place, but I have a feeling these will be some intense games.

Carl Beane (wbur.org, c/o flickr.com)

The Boston Red Sox lost twice yesterday.

First, the Red Sox lost Carl Beane, the “Voice of Fenway Park” – otherwise known as the Fenway Park PA announcer who always gave me chills when he said certain players’ names.  ”David… Or-tiz.”  ”Kevin… Youk-ilis.”  The way he announced the Red Sox lineup made me think they were a group of Supermen, that they could do anything.  We will miss his deep voice, the way it echoed around Fenway, and the sense of grandeur he could lend to the appearance of any bullpen pitcher or pinch hitter.

The Boston Globe reports on the car accident that took his life.  At 59 years old, Beane had a heart attack while driving in Sturbridge, Mass., and his car crossed the double yellow line, drove off the road, and hit a tree and a wall.  There were no other passengers in the car, and no other reported injuries.  The Globe article has reactions from Red Sox personnel, including an anecdote from NESN play by play guy Don Orsillo, who reveals that Beane thought the two of them had the coolest jobs in New England.  I can’t disagree with that.  WEEI’s Mike Petraglia offers a more personal portrait of Beane, and recalls a veteran fatherly figure who knew the ins and outs of Boston’s minefield of a sports scene, and was always willing to lend a hand to those coming up behind him.

After the sad news of Beane’s death, the Red Sox’s second loss yesterday – a 4-3 loss to the Royals, Boston’s eighth loss in ten games – takes a back seat.  It was a frustrating loss, punctuated by poor outfield defense and a boiling-over Bobby Valentine, who had two outbursts.  Valentine blew up at the home plate umpire when, as Marlon Byrd pulled back from a bunt, the ball appeared to hit him in the hand but was ruled foul.  Valentine had more to say about the call after the game – but this is a family blog, so we can’t repeat a lot of it.

Byrd and Cody Ross also each muffed catches in the outfield, which didn’t help Jon Lester’s outing: he was only able to go five innings in the loss.  Lester allowed six hits, four of which were doubles.  Another Red Sox game, another non-quality start.  It seems like Lester didn’t really have much of substance to say after the game, either, telling the Globe:

“It [stinks].  Hell, nobody in this clubhouse came to this team, whether they were a free agent or got called up from this team or whatever, expecting to lose. Everybody in this clubhouse wants to win, everybody tries . . . We’re just not doing it, plain and simple.  It’s a cliché and it [stinks] to hear, but we need to keep showing up and keep grinding.’’

Lester also acknowledged that he threw too many pitches, 108, to Royals hitting.  The Sox did all their scoring in the third inning, when Adrian Gonzalez (finally) hit a three-run double to right field on a 3-2 pitch.

Here’s a link to the uninspiring box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.  The team comes home to Fenway tonight (if it stops raining) to take on the Cleveland Indians.  Josh Beckett (2-3, 4.45 ERA) is scheduled to take on familiar faces Derek Lowe (4-1, 2.39 ERA) (and Johnny Damon) in a 7:10 start.

The Red Sox fell back below .500 last night, losing to the Oakland Athletics 5-3.  Felix Doubront went a season-low four innings for Boston, allowing five runs on six hits with two walks, two wild pitches (one scoring a run), and eight strikeouts.  The eight strikeouts was a career high for Doubront, but overall, this was a pretty lackluster outing.

And, the weather was gross last night.  I didn’t go to the game, but it seems like half my facebook feed goes to each game.  If anyone wants a collection of misty, foggy, Scottish moor-like pictures of Fenway Park with people bundled up with forced smiles plastered onto their faces, I am happy to oblige.

Maybe this was just one of those games.  Doubront – who, let’s remember, is still young and unseasoned – had clear issues with his control against the A’s, who aren’t exactly what one would call an offensive juggernaut.  But it’s not as if the offense was putting up numbers either.  Oakland rookie Jarrod Parker pitched 6 2/3 innings, during which the Boston offense could only put up one run in four hits, with two walks and four strikeouts.

But, in the bottom of the ninth inning, the weather cleared, the sun came out, the birds started singing – almost.  The Red Sox saw a glimmer of hope when they loaded the bases against Oakland closer Grant Balfour with one out.  Cody Ross hit a double, Marlon Byrd hit a single, and Mike Aviles hit a 2-RBI single to pull the score to 5-3.  Oakland pulled Balfour with two on and one out.  Jordan Norberto struck out an overmatched Lars Anderson, and then got Dustin Pedroia to ground out to end the game.

Aviles, who sounds like he’s quickly becoming a leader on the team, saw the loss in a positive light because of the fight-back ninth.  He told the Boston Globe:

“It showed a lot about the character of this team. We’re not going to give up. We’re going to go out there and just try keep fighting. We’re down 5-1; it’s very easy to fold. Get three quick outs and take it to the house. It’s cold weather, nasty weather.’’

In other news, Jose Iglesias, the spring training shortstop phenom, was called up from Pawtucket yesterday, presumably to counter Kevin Youkilis’s third straight day out of the lineup with a back injury.  Bullpen pitcher Junichi Tazawa was sent down.

Here’s a link to last night’s box score, courtesy of the Red Sox. Tonight, Brandon McCarthy (1-3, 3.23 ERA) and Daniel Bard (2-2, 3.72 ERA) match up for a 7:10 start.

Before I delve into recapping last night’s game, I just want to throw out a big Get Well Soon to Jerry Remy who has been noticeable absent from the broadcast booth these past few games. Not that Don Orsillo doesn’t do a fabulous job, and the replacements (Nick Cafardo, Peter Abraham and Peter Gammons) have done fine providing lots of great stats and info, but I miss Jerry. It makes me nervous when he’s out — I hate the thought of him missing the majority of the season like he did a few years ago. Those were dark days… So come back soon, Remdawg!

Ok… let’s get down to business. The Red Sox beat the Oakland A’s last night 11-6, once again unleashing an offensive onslaught that bailed out some less than impressive pitching. Mike Aviles, Darnell McDonald and David Ortiz all bashed home runs (Ortiz hit two) to power the team to the win and back to .500. The Sox had two big innings – the second and the fifth.

I bet Big Papi feels like he's batting with a tennis racket!

Ortiz lead off the second inning with a solo home run. After Kelly Shoppach struck out, McDonald hit a double to right field. Marlon Byrd, Aviles and Pedroia all had singles and Adrian Gonzalez reached on a throwing error. In the end, the Sox pushed four runs over the plate in the second, and took the lead for good at 4-1. Ortiz and Aviles both homered in the fifth to finish off the scoring and giving the Red Sox a commanding 11-1 lead. Safe, right?

Well, that’s where Clay Buccholz comes in. Through the first six innings, he looked… not bad. He allowed one run on four hits while striking out five and walking three. Not horrible. But then the seventh inning rolled around and the wheels fell off the bus in a hurry. I can’t stomach reliving the mess that ensued so I’m just going to giving you the results — he gave up five runs to bring the A’s to within striking distance. Are you kidding me? According to Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe, Monday night Clay Buchholz became the first Red Sox pitcher to give up five or more earned runs in five consecutive starts in 72 years. Not a good stat to be known for and his ERA is now at 8.69.

Junichi Tazawa and Vicente Padilla finished off the seventh without further damage. Scott Atchison and Franklin Morales combined for a scoreless eight and Alredo Aceves closed out the ninth, striking out two of the three batters he faced. This entire pitching staff baffles me.

Here’s the link to the box, courtesy of the Red Sox. Felix Doubront takes on the A’s tonight, going for his second win. First pitch is at 7:10pm. Here’s hoping May kicks off a little better than April did!

In other news…

On Sunday, the Red Sox six-game winning streak came to an end in the final game of their series with the Chicago White Sox. The bats never got going enough to get Josh Beckett the run support he needed and they lost 4-1. It was a tough loss for Beckett, but again, it’s not like he’s pitching lights out either… Here’s the link to the box for this game, courtesy of the Red Sox.

Also, today is the deadline for the Red Sox to make a decision on what to do with Aaron Cook who, after five games with AAA Pawtucket, is 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA. If they don’t promote him to the big leagues, he could opt-out of his contract and go elsewhere. At this point in the season, the Red Sox can’t afford to lose a promising arm and could be used in the bullpen or as a spot starter when needed.

The Red Sox finally won a game last night, snapping their five-game losing streak and hopefully ending their early-season free fall.  Boston traveled to Minnesota and beat the Twins, 6-5.  The game wasn’t pretty – the Sox trailed for most of it, and there was a moment where it looked as if the Twins would win on a walkoff – but it worked out, and nobody got hurt, and everyone still has their job.  These days, I’ll take it.

Cody Ross (credit: Amanda Laws)

Jon Lester started the game for Boston and went seven innings.  He gave up five runs, walked four, and struck out four.  Not the textbook quality start, but the eventual no-decision kept Boston in the game long enough for the Red Sox to score five runs of their own.  Jarrod Saltalamacchia – Jarrod Saltalamacchia! – hit a two-run home run in the second inning to give Boston an early lead, and then Cody Ross hit a two-run shot in the seventh that landed in the upper deck.  The Boston bats came alive a little bit – everyone except for Adrian Gonzalez and, ahem, Kevin Youkilis, had at least one hit.  Franklin Morales started the eighth inning but allowed a hit, and yielded to Daniel Bard for the rest of the scoreless eighth.  Alfredo Aceves picked up the save.

The game almost slipped away on a Minnesota walkoff, though.  Ross launched Boston’s go-ahead solo home run in the top of the ninth; but in the bottom of the ninth, the Twins put a runner on first base before Trevor Plouffe hit a powerful shot towards left field.  Ross, though, reeled the ball in on the warning track to put the game away for the Red Sox.

“My heart stopped,” Aceves told the Boston Globe. “I thought it was out.”

So did Bobby Valentine, apparently.  At this point, he’s become used to his bullpen blowing leads, and he gathered his troops on the mound after the Plouffe out.  According to the Globe, he clustered his troops, leaned in, and quietly asked Aceves:

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

Everyone laughed, and the Sox went on to take the win on a ground ball back to Aceves.

“You need all wins but this is another good team-builder,” Valentine said. “Rather than looking for things that went well in spite of the outcome, we can build on things that well because of the outcome.”

Two interesting things about last night’s lineup: first, you’ll notice Marlon Byrd.  The Red Sox acquired Byrd from the Chicago Cubs on Saturday, in exchange for bit pitcher Michael Bowden, a player to be named later, and cash considerations.  Byrd’s 34 years old, and he was in a 3 for 43 slump when he was traded – sadly, that was an improvement for Boston, though, who had relied on Jason Repko and Darnell McDonald to hold down center field in the absence of Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford.  But his career numbers place his average at .278, which the Red Sox could use.  Interestingly, Byrd’s last trip to Fenway wasn’t a happy one – he was beaned in the left eye by Aceves on May 21, 2011, and didn’t play again until July (to be a fly on the wall during that reunion conversation in the Sox clubhouse…).

Second, Daniel Bard, who was named a starter at the beginning of the season, came out of the bullpen in relief last night.  The organization says this is because his start was skipped during the Sunday night rainout against the Yankees.  It’s kind of a double-edged sword for Bard that he did well last night: the team won, but I’m sure he can’t help but wonder what management thinks of the prospect of him shoring up a tattered bullpen in the long term.  Aaron Cook, the next starter in the wings, was called up to AAA Pawtucket, and although Bard is still scheduled to make his next start against the Chicago White Sox on Friday, the winds may start blowing in interesting directions if the Red Sox – and specifically, the Red Sox bullpen – don’t get on a hot streak before then.

Here’s a link to last night’s box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.  Josh Beckett takes the mound tonight against Nick Blackburn in the 8:10 eastern time start.