Atrocious pitching, horrible error lead to heartbreaking loss for Sox

Detroit 10, Sox 9
WP: Jones (1-0)
LP: Papelbon (2-1)
SV: None
HRs: BOS-Youk, 2 (6), Lowell (2); DET-None

SUMMARY:
Boston came back from deficits of 5-1 and 8-4 to take a 9-8 lead in the 8th inning, only to see all that hard work thrown away. Jonathan Papelbon blew his first save of the year, allowing two runs in the bottom of the 9th, but it was another error by Julio Lugo that prolonged the inning and led to the loss.

SUPERSTAR: Placido Polanco 5-6, 2R, 3BI, GW RBI
The man with the cranium of a T3000 came through in the clutch all night, no more so than when he blooped a broken bat single over Lugo's head to drive in the game winning run in the 9th.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Lugo 1-2, 2B, BB, E
Let's just say there's a certain poetic irony to the fact that the ball Lugo booted for his major league-leading 10th error was hit by the last man who was a complete and unmitigated bust at the shortstop position for Boston - Edgar Rentanerror.

Welcome to the club, Julio.

RECAP:
Boston's five game winning streak and Detroit's five game losing streak both came to a stunning end in a wild game at Comerica Park that had more ups and downs than Robert Downey Jr's career.

If you like horrid pitching and video game-like hitting this game was for you, because it sure had plenty of both. The starting pitchers for both sides, Clay Buchholz and Armando Galarraga, did not pitch nearly up the the level they had been recently, and the relievers for both sides weren't much better.

The result? Detroit slammed a season-high 18 hits, the most Boston has allowed all season, although only two went for extra bases, and Boston clubbed a dozen base knocks, including three more homers and four doubles, in a game that was nearly delayed by rain but still took almost four hours to complete.

I guess the Tigers really are trying to be the new Stankees.

Anyway, I'm too worn out from coaching my son's third baseball game in three nights and then watching this maddening ballagame to write a coherent synopsis right now, so I'm going to head to bed with visions of Julio Lugo bobbling yet another routine ground ball dancing in my head.

Maybe when I wake up I'll read that he's been traded to Chicago for Orlando Cabrera.

Bring back the OC, please Theo!

Goodnight now.
------------------------------------
Well, just as I though, the light of day hasn't made the pain of last night's loss any easier to take. I don't believe Lugo was demoted, traded or castrated overnight either, making matters even worse.

It was a game that resembled one of my son's Little League games in many ways, filled with odd plays, miscues, crazy comebacks and final-inning drama. The only things missing were a pitch count and a "no leading" rule.

As I said both staters were less than impressive, especially Buchholz (4IP, 10H, 5ER, 1BB, 6K), who had his worst outing in almost a month. He was in trouble in every inning, none more so than the 3rd, when he allowed four runs on five hits and a walk.

After a leadoff double by Pudge Rodriguez, Polanco rapped a one-out double to left for the Tigers first run, then Carlos Guillen follwed with a single to center to score Polanco for a 2-0 lead.

Buchholz gave up a single to Magglio Ordonez and walked Miguel Cabrera to load the bases, and slumping Gary Sheffield, who had three hits on the night, singled to left to score Guillen. An RBI groundout by rookie Matt Joyce completed the scoring, and probably should have completed Buchholz' night, but he was allowed to come back for more abuse.

Boston sliced the lead in half when Kevin Youkilis hit a towering homer to left with Mike Lowell aboard with two outs in the 4th, but Buchholz gave one run right back when Detroit got three straight hits with two out in the bottom of the inning to run the score to 5-2.

Boston again cut the deficit in the nexct inning when they parlayed a walk, hit by ppitch, fielder's choice and a stolen base into a pair of runs, the first comeing home on a sac fly by Jed Lowrie and the second on an opposite field bleeder from Big Papi (2-5, BI), and suddenly the score was 5-4 and Boston had hope of winning a game that seemed unwinnable just a few innings earlier.

And then Julian tavarez relieved Buchholz to start the 5th and Julie immediately gave three runs right back as Detroit put together four more hits and a sacrifice, the big blow being a two-run double by Rodriguez that was followed by an RBI single by PPolanco, and with the score 8-4 it looked like it was lights out time for Boston.

Not so fast my friends.

Another longball from Youk cut the deficit to 8-5 in the 6th, and after Galarraga (5.1IP, 7H, 5ER, 1BB, 6K, 2HR) was removed in favor of Zach Miner to start the 7th, Botson got all the way back in the game with one swing of the bat.

Jacoby Ellsbury (2-5, 2R) started the rally with a leadoff single and then he stole second for his 2nd steal of the game and 22nd straight to start his career, and after a couple of outs Manny walked, forcing Leyland to bring rookie righty Francisco Cruceta to face Mike Lowell with the game in the balance.

Lowell made the decision look foolish when he crushed a 2-1 offering from Cruceta deep into the left field seats for a game-tying, crowd-silencing 3-run homer, and just like that it was a new game, 8-8.

Who knew then that the best - and worst - was still yet to come.

The best part happened when Dustin Pedroia lined a clutch pinch hit single off Cruceta in the top of the 9th that scored JD Drew with the go-ahead run that gave the Sox a 9-8 lead with 6 outs to go. Knowing that Boston had Hideki Okajima lined up for the 8th and Papelbon raring to go in the 9th brought a sense of calm to the Nation, and a feeling that the comeback kids would aadd another notch to their belts.

Ah, no.

Oki, who has been shaky lately, barely survived the 8th after he allowed a one-out singles to Ordonez and Cabrera, but fortunatley he got Sheffield to strike out and Leyalnd made a boneheaded decison to send the runners, and Mags was easily gunned out at third to end the inning.

Whew!

Boston had a chance to pad the lead in the 9th when Lowell doubled and Drew walked, but ancient Todd jones escpaed the inning unscathed, setting up the 9th inning dramatics for Detroit.

Papelbon, who had been the only reliable member of the pen all season, had coverted saves in his last two appearances and hadn't allowed a run since April 17th against the Stanks, so there was no fear in the hearts of sox fans that this would be another routine save of a game that was anything but routine.

Turned out that was mere wishful thinking.

Things started ominously when Joyve beat out an infoeld dribbler to short for his first major league hit, and they got worse when one batter later Rentanerror hit a tough hoper to Lugo that might not have been a double play ball but should definitely resulted in an out somehwere.

Instead Lugo got caught up thinking two instead of getting the sure out (another Little League no-no), and after he lost the ball in the transfer, both runner were safe and the tension was suddenly ratcheted up to full peak.

Rodriguez' sacrifice moved the runners up and then Granderson's groundout tied the game, but Boston still had hopes for extra innings if Paps could just retire Bigheado Polanco.

Unfortunately after battling to a full count, Polanco chuncked a broken bat blooper over Lugo's head (appropraitely) and Rentanaerror came around to score the winning run (ditto), and Boston had snuck a loss out of the jaws of victory after fighting so hard to come back and take the lead.

But we just have to put this one behind us and hope Beckett comes out like the Beckett of old tomorrow night and the Sox can at least take the series from the Tigers, and pray that Detroit doesn't use this win as a springboard to a long winning streak that salvages their sinking season.

And pray that Lugo comes up with a sudden injury that will enable Boston to bury him on the DL until they can find a way to unload the latest incarnation of Edgar.

RECORD: 22-14
AL EAST: Up 3.5 gms
STREAK: L1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Thu @ DET 705 Beckett vs. Verlander

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Back to life, back to reality...Sox win again

Sox 4, Tampa Bay 1
WP: Matsuzaka (10-5)
LP: Kazmir (5-5)
HRs: TB-Pena (19)

SUMMARY
Nothing like a visit by the D-rays to get everyone in the nation to start feeling warm & fuzzy again.

Daisuke Matsuzaka continued his streak of quality starts, and he got all the run support he would need from--of all people-- slumping Julio Lugo, who did in his former mates with a clutch 2-run single in the second.

#1 STUNNER Dice-K 8IP, 4H, 0R, 1BB, 9K
The rookie has reached 10 victories midway through his first MLB season, and he has now fanned at least 8 batters in six consecutive starts.

PAN's FAUN Wily Mo 0-4, 4Ks
Dude has now struck out in a staggering 40% of his at bats this season (44Ks, 111ABs); just call him Wily Mo Windmill.

RECAP
I know in my preview I went on and on about how these two teams always play rough & tumble, crazy, highlight-reel games against each other, so wouldn't you know in this first meeting of 2007 between them it was just a straight-up domination by a hot pitcher over a struggling team.

Ho hum.

The reeling Rays, losers of nine straight games, came into Fenway not having played any games against its testiest division rival for the first time ever this late in the season, but Boston may be catching the once-respectable Rays at just the right time.

After getting swept at home by the White Sox despite striking out at least 10 batters in all four games, the Rays went to Cleveland and got poleaxed by the Tribe, losing four more by a combined score of 23-11 to fall a season-low 16 games under .500.

Despite these clouds of negative energy trailing the team from city to city, Tampa Bay did have reason to be optimistic tonight--starter Scott Kazmir has fared well in his brief career vs. the Sox, and last season the Rays won 9 of 19 games against Boston, including an 11-0 pasting at Fenway last Sept. 27th in Josh Beckett's final start of the season.

Ah, too bad this is 2007.

The Sox got to Kazmir (6IPp, 6H, 4R, 3ER, 3BB, 6K) right away, throwing a three-spot on the board in the second inning while only registering one hit. That's cause Kaz is the King of Walks, and the ML leader added to his total when he issued free passes to Manny, Youk and Lowell to start the frame.

Tek followed with an RBI groundout that put the first run on the board, but after Wily Mo whiffed for the first of his four times on the night, all hope of adding on to the lead looked lost when Lugo stepped to the plate, dragging his 0-33 streak behind him.

But there's something about the power of playing against your ex-teammates that gets the old adrenaline flowing like no other regular season game, and wouldn't you know even a man in the depths of a god awful, season-long slump isn't immune to that kind of karma.

Lugo took the first pitch he saw from Kazmir and lined it into center for a slump-busting base hit, but not only did he finally get off the schneid, his hit drove in two key runs for a pitcher who had only been averaging two runs of support a game for the past month.

The crowd was still buzzing and cheering when Coco flied out to end the frame, because the faithful had finally witnessed someone from their team do to another like many ex-Sox had done to them.

The score would remain 3-0 for a few innings as Kaz settled down and Matsuzaka was plowing through the Rays with the ease and precision of a Ginsu.

How dominating was he? No Rays batter reached second base until the sixth inning and only two did so in the game against him; only one batter reached third; and Tampa Bay got the leadoff batter on base in just one inning, and he was erased on a double play one pitch later.

At one point, from the beginning of the third through the top of the sixth, Dice set down 9 of 10 Rays hitters, five by way of strikeout.

And when the 11th batter, fellow Japan league vet Akinori Iwamura, the Rays talented third baseman, reached second base on single and an error by Pedroia, Matsuzaka got Carl Crawford to line out to first and then deftly snagged Brendan Harris' wicked liner back to the box as he walked off the mound like the cat who caught the canary.

Boston would put an unearned run on the board in the sixth when Youk singled, Lowell followed with a single and Iwamura threw wide of first allowing both runners to advance, then Tek hit a sac fly to right to score Youk with the sox final run of the night.

Uncharacteristically, the horrid Rays pen held the fort after Kazmir exited following the sixth, while it was Boston's normally unflappable closer who came in and blew the shutout for the Sox.

After Dice escaped a mini-jam in the eighth, getting Iwamura to strike out with Jonny Gomes on third, Jonathan Papelbon took over in the 9th just to get some action; with all the losses and deficits Boston has had lately, Paps has only pitched three times in the last nine days.

Perhaps that explained why Carlos Pena, a member of the Sox briefly last season, curled a 2-0 offering from Papelbon deep into the rightfield seats for his 19th homer of the season that disappointed the crowd who were longing to see another shutout.

Alas they had to settle for the win, and with two in a row under their belts and a couple of favorable pitching matchups on tap for the next two games, it looks like the boys could be headed into the break with a healthy division lead and a team that should be 100% healthy soon after the break.

Now that's a scary thought for the rest of the league.

NOTES

• No more Lugo-fer: not only did Lugo notch his first hit since June 14th in the second, he also leadoff the seventh with a single but was cut down trying to steal for the second time in a row (we all remember the first time) after 20 straight successful attempts
• Coco comeback: Crisp returned the the lineup and his center field position after sitting out four games to rest his bruised thumb and went 1-3 with a double; he also assumed his leadoff spot, with Lugo dropping back to 9th
• Manny & Papi combined to go 0-7 with a run, a walk and three Ks; Ramirez fanned twice, once looking to end the seventh with two men on base
• Iwamura was 1-3 with a double against his former JL adversary, where he was 2-8 against Dice-K in his brief career
• Youk also returned after his quad strain kept him on the bench for a couple of games; he went 1-3 with a walk and two runs scored
• Pena's homer gave him as many as he had in the last two season combined (18 in 2005, 1 in 2006)
• There was some comic relief in the sixth when Kazmir was briefly injured covering first base and reliever Jason Hammel, who had been warming up, thought he had been called in; upon realizing his services were not yet needed, Hammel high-tailed it back to the pen, much to the delight of the bleacher creatures behind the bully; even Hammel couldn't suppress a smile at his own expense on that odd play

QUOTES

"I don't think that it's complete, but I do feel like I'm getting back to a good spot." --Dice-K; I'd have to say that 'good spot' is damn near great

"You can't not think about things like that. They've been very supportive, especially Manny."--Lugo on "The Slump" (note another player saying what a great teammate Manny is, often the unheralded aspect of MBM)

"Take away the second inning and it'd be a whole different ballgame."--Kazmir; yeah, and take away that iceberg and the Titanic is a floating museum off the coast of Dubai

RECORD: 51-31
AL EAST: Up 11 on TOR
STREAK: W-2
LAST 10: 4-6
UP NEXT: Wed vs TB 1:05

Happy July 4th!

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One bad inning dooms Beckett, Sox

Texas 5, Sox 4
WP: Mahay (1-0)
LP: Beckett (11-2)
SV: Gagne (9)
HRs: BOS- Youk (9); TEX- Sosa (14)

SUMMARY
Boston was cruising with an early 4-0 lead before the wheels fell off for Josh Beckett.

Beckett allowed Texas to tie the game by allowing four runs in a sloppy fourth, then gave up a tracer to Sammy Sosa with one out in the fifth that proved to be the game- winning run.

#1 STUNNER Sosa 2-4, 2R, RBI, HR
One day after whiffing three times including once with the bases loaded, the resurgent slugger gave his team a big boost with his 5th inning Monstah shot, career homer #602.

PAN'S FAUN Julio Lugo 0-0, CS
Beckett should've grabbed this honor, but it was The Man Who Can Do No Right who earned it for his brief cameo in this one.

Pinch running for Dustin Pedroia, who doubled with two outs in the 8th, Lugo picked a bad time for his first 'caught stealing' of the season as his boneheaded decision to swipe third with Youk at the plate ran Boston right out of a potential game-tying rally.

When it rains...

RECAP
The game just ended and I'm still not really sure what happened.

One minute Boston was throwing runs on the board like crazy and threatening to blow the game open, the next thing I know Beckett is making like Julian Tavarez, and with one swing of Sosa's (supposedly) uncorked bat the Sox turned what looked like a sure win into a disappoining loss.

Yet despite the early cushion the signs were there for another potential Sox collapse, as once again the team's maddening tendency to leave large amounts of men on base prevented what could have been a comfortable victory.

Boston may have scored two times in each of the first two innings off shaky starter Robinson Tejada, but with six men left stranded and a gut-punching double play thrown in, the boys missed out on a couple of big opportunities to put this one out of reach early.

Tejada (4IP, 5H, 4ER, 6BB, 4K, HR) was nowhere near the pitcher he was when he shut out the Sox for seven innings on two hits back in early April; two problems have plagued him since that start-walks and home runs- and tonight he got burned by both once again.

Boston batters wasted no time getting to Tejada in this one as Pedroia, leading off in place of Coco, walked to open the game and Youk followed with the first of his three walks on the night.

Three pitches later Papi deposited a single to right to plate Pedroia, and just minutes into the game the Sox did something they weren't able to do at all last time they faced Tejada-score a run off of him.

But after Tejada wild pitched Youk and Papi over to second & third, Boston couldn't capitalize; Manny grounded out without advancing the runners, and after Drew was walked to load the bases, Lowell hit a deep sac fly to score Youk, but Varitek struck out to let Tejada off the hook allowing just two runs.

Boston really had a chance to chase Tejada in the second when five batters reached base, but they could only score two more runs despite Tejada's rising pitch count and inability to find the strike zone.

Alex Cora, making his second straight start for the slumping Lugo, led off the frame with a triple, and after Jacoby Ellsbury, in his first major league at bat, tapped out meekly to the catcher and Pedroia struck out swinging, Youk followed with his 9th homer of the season, a deep blast to the back row of the Monstah seats that made the score 4-0 Boston just 11 batters into the game.

So when the Sox left the bases full after Tejada walked two and hit one following Youk's homer, it didn't seem like a big deal the way they were spanking the ball.

Little did we know that those would be the final runs Boston would score on the night, or that Josh Beckett wouldn't be able to hold a four-run lead for the first time this season.

Things went sideways in a hurry in the fateful fourth. After Michael Young grounded out to start the inning, Sosa followed with a single to left, and when notorious Sox killer Frankie Catalonotto (3-4, R) beat out an infield single, Nation members started to get that queasy feeling deep in their guts.

Those feelings proved justified when Marlon 'member me? Byrd lined a single to right to score Sammy, and after Brad Wilkerson ripped a double to deep center that scored the Cat & Byrd, all of a sudden that once commanding lead was sliced to a single run, 4-3.

But not for long.

After Gerald Laird popped up to his counterpart Tek on a foolish bunt attempt for the second out of the inning, it looked as if Beckett & Boston might escape the frame with the lead intact.

Then Ramon Vazquez ripped a grounder to second that Pedroia muffed for a questionable hit, sending Wilkerson to third, and instead of being out of the inning Beckett had to face the red-hot Kenny Lofton, who was coming off a four-hit, four-steal night and had struck out looking on a questionable call to open the game.

This time Lofton had the last laugh as he drove a single into rightfield to score Wilkerson with the tying run, and just like that Boston's once luxurious lead had melted away before anyone watching even knew what happened.

As if blowing a four-run lead and potentially a starting spot in the All Star game weren't bad enough, Beckett (5IP, 10H, 5ER, 0BB, 4K) ruined the whole schlamiel by becoming the 365th pitcher to allow a homer to Sosa on a 2-1 fastball that gave Texas the lead and would signal the beginning of the end for Becks.

With both starters gone after that it was up to the bullpens to keep the score where it was, and with Boston & Texas posessing two of the top five bullys in the American League, it came as no surprise that the relief corps did just that.

Ron Mahay, Joaquin Benoit and Akinori Otsuka combined to shut the Sox down, allowing just three hits and a walk over four innings of work, while Boston got quality outings from Javier Lopez, Kyle Snyder (3Ks in 2 inns) and Mike Timlin to hold the Rangers at five runs and give the Sox a chance to pull out the win.

And they had a good chance to do just that when Pedroia lined a double into the leftfield corner with two outs in the 8th against Otsuka.

Needing speed on the bases to get the tying run home should Youk rope one to the outfield, Tito removed Pedroia and pinch ran Lugo, who was ice cold not only at the plate but as far as not having played in three days.

That iciness showed when he decied to tempt fate and steal third despite the fact that Youk was having a big night and he could've scored from second if the hit was deep enough.

No matter. Lugo cruised into third looking like a man who lost his mind, clumsily stopping then barrelling into the third baseman Travis Metcalf, finally flipping over the base before removing his foot and getting called out stealing for the first time this year.

Nice timing, Ice Man.

After that it was up to the artist formerly known as Eric Gagne to shut the door, and the guy who looks like "Knocked Up"s Seth Rogan on an all-Twinkie diet set the Sox boppers, Youk, Papi & Manny, down in order to close out a tough loss for the Sox, who have now lost five of seven and finished June under .500.

Not exactly the uplifting, winning streak-starting victory we had hoped for from Beckett, and with Tavarez going tomorrow afternoon it would have been nice to win this one and ensure at least a series split.

Now we've got to rely on Julie and Gabby to pull the series out for us.

Uh, when does Schill get back again?

NOTES

• Texas is now 28-0 when leading after eight innings, and the recovered Gagne is suddenly a hot trading cvommodity for a contending team
• June swoon: Boston's late losing skid cost them a shot at finishing each of the first three months over .500; they ended the month 13-14
• Welcome to the Show: Ellsbury had a difficult debut, check-swinging into an out in his first ML at bat and failing to get the ball out of the infield, plus he misplayed Wikerson's double off the wall. But he did notch his first ML hit when Young underestimated his blazing speed and nonchalantly threw to first on a grounder to short in the third. Kudos, kid
• More Ellsbury: he's believed to be the first Native American of Navajo descent to play in the majors. Kudos, again, kid!
• Coco crushed: the thumb injust he incurred on that ill-fated dive in Seattle is proving to be more serious than originally thought, and if it doesn't heal soon, look for a retro DL stint to span the AS break
• Cora had a triple and double in his first two at bats, and that combined with Lugo's baserunning blunder will hopefully keep him in the lineup for a few more games
• Lugo had been 20-20 in steals on the season, about the only thing he had been doing right-until now
• Youk had a wild game; along with his homer he had three walks and was standing at the plate facing Otsuka when Lugo got nailed. He then had to lead off the ninth against Gagne (he flied out.)

QUOTES

"When they give me four early runs like that, I've got to go out and shut the door."--Beckett. Ah, yeah, that's what we expect the best pitcher in baseball to do.

"Our bullpen has been outstanding and they came in and did a great job." --Texas manager Ron Washington

"We don't want to put ourselves in that situation too many times, but we're showing a lot of confidence that we can come from behind and fight to the end."--Wikerson, on facing Beckett and being down by four runs

RECORD: 49-30
AL EAST: Up 10*
STREAK: L-1
LAST 10: 5-5
UP NEXT: Sun vs. TEX 2:05

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Sox drawer: Lugo demotion long time coming

Tito made a move yesterday that was much deserved, but also long overdue.

Great grabs like this is one reason teams have been snowed by Lugo's talents

Julio Lugo, the struggling veteran shortstop with the ginourmous contract (4-years, $36 million) and microscopic batting average (.215), was dropped from the leadoff spot all the way down to #9 in the order in favor of the hotter, younger, and much cheaper bat of rookie Dustin Pedroia.

Let's go over why this was the right decision, and why it should have happened sooner:

1. He's NOT a leadoff hitter. The guy is many things-alternately slick & sloppy in the field, alternately hot & (mostly) cold at the plate- but one thing he is not is a leadoff batter. He's always been more of a slap hitter/RBI guy, and in 8 seasons he has never come close to walking more times than he strikes out (okay, in 2005 he had nine fewer.) Plus his lifetime OBP is an anemic .335; by comparison, Kenny Lofton's is .371, Judas Demon, .344, and even Randy Winn has a career OBP of .344.


2. He's NOT worth the mega bucks. Look, for some reason Theo & the boys have been enamored with him since his days in Houston and then throughout his 2+ seasons here in Tampa Bay. Why? That is the mystery. Sure he has some pop (career high 75 ribbies in 2004, 15 homers in 2003), but so what? He's always been more of a defensive liability than a plus (20+ errors in a season four times, 16 last year in 81 games), has struck out more than 100 times in a season three times, and then there's that whole lousy OBP thing, which is pretty important if you want the guy to hit leadoff


3. He's NOT an upgrade at either position. A couple of guys who have manned the SS position since Nomah departed in mid-2004 have had equal or better stats than Lugo, yet were jettisoned for one bad reason or another:

• Orlando Cabrera (2004) has only had one 20+ error season in 11 years, has had over 70 RBIs three times, including a career-high 96 in 2001 w/ Montreal, and has the exact same career batting average as Lugo (.272); he'll make $3 mill less than Lugo in '07


• Alex Gonzalez (2006) career batting average (.247) & OBP (.293) may be awful, but he is a far better fielder (30 fewer errors in 24 more games from 2003-06), has had two 70+ RBI seasons compared to Lugo's one, and is owed $22 million less than Lugo over the next three years. Plus he was batting 8th & 9th, not first.

And we all know there is no comparison to him and Demon as far as leadoff batting goes, and there's no need to go into the 2006 disaster that was Edgar Rentanerror.

Look, I haven't been a fan of this guy since the former D-Ray regime fell hard for him in 2004, wooing him away from the Astros, and it had nothing to do with his ugly spousal abuse charge that paved the way for his early departure.

In my opinion he's always been a lot of sound & fury signifying nothing. Boston and Tampa Bay were enamored with is wiry, limber body that allows him to get to many tough balls, his occasionally streaky bat that has led him to hit over .280 three times, and his enthusiastic personality & energetic play.

I'm not saying that Pedroia is the answer; he may not be. But now the truth is out- Lugo isn't either. He attempted to man a high profile position on a team with the best record in the game, and he came up empty with a pathetic batting average, paltry on base percentage, and just 21 walks in 242 ABs while committing eight 8 errors in 59 games and knocking in 33 runs.

All that points to a bottom of the lineup player.

But there were $36 million reasons why Tito didn't do it sooner.

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Drew's career night fuels huge Sox win

Sox 10, Arizona 3
WP: Beckett (9-0)
LP: Davis (4-7)
HRs: BOS-Lugo (4), Drew, 2 (3,4); ARI-Montero (4)

The number seven was certainly lucky for Drew tonight

SUMMARY:
J.D. Drew had the game of his life, blasting two 3-run homers plus an RBI double, Josh Beckett was awesome in his second start since coming off the DL, and Julio Lugo pulled the play of the year as the Sox rolled the young & restless D-Backs.

HERO: Drew 3-5, 2B, 2HRs, 2R, 7RBI
The $14 million dollar man finally came through with a monster game; I guess it just took playing against his little brother to bring out the best in the slumping right fielder.

GOAT: D. Davis 4IP, 6H, 5ER, 5BBs, 2Ks, 2HRs
The journeyman had been on a hot streak coming in, but the Sox batters cooled him off quick. The fact that he couldn't throw strikes from the start was bad enough for Arizona, but when he did find the plate the Boston hitters torched his belt-high meatballs for blistering hits.

RECAP:
So this is why the Sox invested $70 million in J.D. Drew; here I thought they had merely acquired the world's foremost authority on grounding out to the right side of the infield.

Drew had the game of his life while in the midst of a horrific slump, smacking a career-high two homers and seven ribbies in the first game he's ever played against his younger brother, Arizona rookie shortstop Stephen. He has always hit the D-Backs well going back to his days with Atlanta, but even this kind of night was totally unexpected with the way he had been scuffling.

Boston grabbed an early lead in the first thanks to Julio Lugo's 4th homer of the season and with Josh Beckett mowing down 'Zona batters with a fastball that topped 101 mph and a knee-buckling curve, Drew went to work on supplying him with his league-leading 8.5 runs of support per game.

Who knew he would nearly knock in that total himself?

After Lugo walked to open the third, Pedroia and Papi hit sharp outs before Manny lined a single to center. Drew then took an 84-mph flutterball from Doug Davis and deposited it over the wall in right center about 415 ft. away give Boston a 4-0 lead.

He whiffed on a Davis curve in the dirt his next time up, but in the sixth, after Papi had just doubled in Pedroia with run #6, Drew did something no one who had been following this team all season would have ever expected him to do- hit another three-run homer to effectively put the game out of reach.

This time it was a titanic shot to right off Arizona reliever Edgar Gonzalez (4IP, 6H, 5ER, 5K) that turned a five-run game into a 9-1 rout, and just when you though his night couldn't get any sweeter, he laced a double to right in the 8th that plated Boston's 10th and final run of the game and put a bow around Drew's present to Red Sox Nation.

As Drew was filling his highlight reel, Beckett (8IP, 5H, 2ER, 0BB, 8Ks) was nearly as dominant as Schill was the day before, and his dazzling display of command and velocity put to rest any thoughts of him being hampered by that blister problem-at least temporarily.

One at bat in particular summarizes Beckett's night; after a 1-2-3 first, he quickly got two outs in the second when left fielder Scott Hairston stepped to the plate. Strike one was a 101-mph laser that nearly blew the ump's cap off; strike two was a filthy 76- mph breaker that froze Hairston in place, and after a ball Beckett broke him off with a 96- mph heater that left him muttering under his breath all the way till the timeout.

It was that kind of night for Arizona, a team that had been red-hot coming into the series but played like a bunch of over-matched, overwhelmed little leaguers at the plate, in the field and on the basepaths.

Nothing signified the level of their futility more than the rare play turned in by Julio Lugo in the third inning. After the immortal Alberto Callaspo singled to right to open the frame, he advanced to second on a single to right by Chris Snyder, and almost got himself picked off over-running the bag.

But as he got up to dust himself off after the close play, Lugo waited behind him like a cheetah tracking a zebra, and as soon as Callaspo removed his hand from the base, Lugo tagged him out on a modern version of the hidden ball trick that left the D-Backs stunned and signified the kind of wild night it would be in the Arizona desert.

So after a 4-game losing streak the Sox have won two in a row in dramatic fashion, on a near no-hitter and an this one an offensive explosion. And the string of wacky, weird, and rare plays continues to swirl around this team like a cosmic cloud of championship karma.

'Cause when J.D. Drew is matching his uniform number in RBIs, there's a whole lot of freaky shit going down.

NOTES:

• A few eye-popping numbers to put Drew's night into perspective: he tied his season total for homers, and hit his first longball since April 22nd against New York; he had almost as many ribbies tonight as he had in the entire month of May (9-6); and he had as many hits tonight as in his last 20 at bats, spanning seven games. Oh, and it was his first three-hit game since April 20th and only his second of the season.
• Boston rapped 12 hits including two doubles and three homers.
• Manny's solid night (2-3, 2R RBI) pushed his average to a season high .293 and he now has 33 ribbies, one less than Lugo
• Speaking of Lugo (1-4, 2R, RBI, BB), it was his second leadoff homer of the season and seventh of his career. Still, he's batting just .217!
• Papi played first while Youk sat this one out, and he handled himself adequately, as usual, plus he hasd two hits and scored a run; he's now up to a sizzling .337
• Beckett's streak is the 5th best in Sox history, but he's got a ways to go to catch Roger's record of 14 wins without a loss
• Arizona's Eric Byrnes extended his hitting streak to 14 games with an RBI single in the third
• Red Sox Nation was in full effect in Boston's first trip to the desert; it seemed like about half the 28,000+ appeared to be cheering for the Sox, sorta like a Rays game

QUOTES:

"I think there's always going to be that sibling rivalry going on. He does well, I want to do better. "--Drew about Stephen; ah, good luck matching this performance, lil bro!

"I'm on a great team. I can't take all the credit for being 9-0. These guys have done an unbelievable job behind me."--Beckett, taking the championship line that it's all about the team

RECORD: 39-21
STREAK: W-2
LAST 10: 4-6
AL EAST: Up 10.5
UP NEXT: Sat @ ARI 9:30

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And the beat goes on; Sox crush Stanks again

Sox 11, New York 4

WP: Dice-K (3-2)
LP: Pettitte (1-1)
HRs: BOS-Lugo (1), Youk (2)

R.O.I.? The Sox are paying Lugo $8 mil a year to have games like he did tonight

SUMMARY:
The Red Sox continued its 2007 Feast o' Stankee Pitching with another bludgeoning of the New York staff, this time in the Bronx.

Daisuke Matsuzaka survived a rough 4th inning to register the win, Julio Lugo and Kevin Youkilis homered to power a 13-hit attack and the Sox pushed New York's losing streak to seven games with this laffer over the Bronx Bummers.

HEROES:

1. Julio Lugo: 3-4, 3R, 3RBI, 2BBs, 2SBs, E, DP, HR- he began the game with a groundout but tore it up after that; singled & scored on Youk's homer in the 3rd; homered in the 6th to give Boston breathing room at 6-4; doubled in the 8th to make it even more comfy at 7-4; and his bases loaded walk in the 9th made it a laugher, 9-4
2. Dice-K: 6IP, 5H, 4ER, 4BB, 7K- he was dominant at times (7 strikouts) and dubious (3 straight walks in the 4th) others, yet he stayed focused despite that one rough patch and found a way to win in his Yankee Stadium debut
3. Boston batters: four guys had at least 2 hits (Lugo, Youk, Papi, Coco), three had at least 2 ribbies (Lugo, Youk, Papi), five knocked in at least 1 run and seven Sox scored runs

GOATS:

1. Stankee pitchers: six hurlers, 13 hits, 11 earned runs, 25-minute innings, 4+hour games and 197 pitches: these are your 2007 New York Stankees ladies & gentlemen
2. Bobby Abreu: 0-5, 2Ks, GIDP, 7 LOB- the career .300 hitter is now batting .262 and is in the midst of a horrendous 2-26 slide with 11 Ks during the 7-game losing streak
3. Robinson Cano: with his 0-4, 3-strikeout, 5 men left on base performance the man named after Jackie more resembled another Robinson- Crusoe, as in lost.

RECAP:
Another Sox/Stankees game, another Boston come-from-behind blowout win. So far that has been the pattern in 2007 as Boston has won all four meetings by an average score of 8-5 while outhitting New York 50-36.

The main difference, as it has been all year for both teams, was the pitching. Boston's starter, Dice-K, was making his big league debut in the hallowed stadium, yet he pitched like a seasoned veteran of the big stage. He had one bad inning- the 4th- when he walked 3 batters in a row and gave up 3 bloop hits which led to all four of New York's runs, but he overcame that troubling frame to right the ship and keep his team in the game.

His New York counterpart however, Andy Pettitte, who became a World Series hero in this very stadium, couldn't duplicate Matsuzaka's poise under pressure. Staked to a 4-2 lead after his team's 4th inning uprising, the lefty immediately gave it back in a wild inning-the 5th- of his own.

Lugo got it started with a 1-out walk, stole second, then Youk singled him to third. Ortiz followed with yet another opposite-field single that scored Lugo, and after Manny walked to load the bases and J.D. Drew struck out, Pettitte walked Mike Lowell to force in the tying run. Papi would then "scamper" in and score the go-ahead run on a Pettitte wild pitch (should've been a passed ball on Georgie), and before anyone even knew what happened Boston was well on its way to yet another come-from-behind win over the devastated Stanks.

But not before they rubbed some salt on the wounds, just for good measure. Lugo's homer & double made it 7-4 after 8, but things went from bad to worse in the 9th as New York was just trying to close it out and get the hell outta there. Joe Torre brought in seldom-seen but often-hit Mariano Rivera for some much-needed work (after all, the club doesn't have a save yet this season and has had very few opportunities to get one), but his outing ended up being a sad sight for the legion of Stankee fans worldwide.

The former dominating closer looked like a shell of his former self. He allowed 3 hits, a walk and 4 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning, and when Torre pulled him in favor of Mike Myers you could almost sense the end of an era was happening right before your eyes.

I tell ya if I didn't hate this friggin' team with every fabric of my being I might have almost felt sorry for the guy.

The way the Stanks are playing right now, sorry is the only word that comes to mind though.

NOTES:

-Drew (0-5) was the only starter not to record a hit; he is now in a 7-31 skid that has dropped his average from .375 to .293 (guess I missed him in my 'who's not hot' preview)

-Mike Lowell's 9th inning single extended his hitting streak to 13 games

-Cap'n Tek did get a hit, a walk and scored a run, but he struck out 2 more times; that makes 9 Ks in his last 14 ABs

-Jeter extended his hit streak to 15 games, although it was delayed when he had the day off Thursday to recover from various bruises

-A-Rod had a very quiet night: 0-3 with a walk and a run and a strikeout

-Ball Stealer had a rough night as well; he fell into the camera well chasing a fly ball and went 0-4 with 2 Ks, both looking. Plus he had the nerve to dispute both calls- idiot, you're batting .142, sit down and shut up

-Boston left a ton of men on base again (18), but the Stanks topped that with 22 ducks left on the pond

-the losing streak is New York's longest since 2000. The team record is an unlucky 13 games in a row back in, appropriately enough, 1913

QUOTES:

-"We're just not a good baseball team right now." -Jason Giambi, a.k.a. Captain Obvious

-"It's as frustrating as you can get. It's embarrassing is what it is."-Pettitte, ditto

-"If I got into all the things that happened in the fourth inning, it would be a very long story. So to keep a long story short, I think there are technically a few things I need to work on."-Dice-K summing up his performance

-"It's good for us to beat them."- Lugo, fully comprehending the scope of the rivalry

RECORD: 15-7

AL EAST: Up 4 gms on TOR, 6 1/2 on NY

UP NEXT: SAT @ NYY 3:30 on FOX HD

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