I know, I know, it’s nearly impossible these days to take both games of a day night double header.

I know I shouldn’t have been expecting much with Tim Wakefield going up against Felix Hernandez.

I know that complaining about gaining only a half game on the Yankees and Rays is annoying.

But…

Don’t ask me why, but I just had this feeling all night long that we would some how pull this game off. Like I wasn’t worried one bit when the Mariners went up 3-0 or 4-1 because I knew (well, thought I knew) that the Sox would come back. Even when it got to the ninth and there were two outs I was convinced that Jed Lowrie was going to single and Ryan Kalish was going to hit a bomb to send it into extra frames.

I was wrong.

And I shouldn’t be as disappointed as I am, but god dammit we could have picked up a game and a half on BOTH teams ahead of us. Instead, we are still 5.5 back with six weeks remaining. They have Thursday off and head to Tampa for a weekend series that could make or break the season. The Sox have six games remaining with both the Rays and the Yankees. This is where they need to do some serious damage if they want to make up what otherwise would be an insurmountable number.

Notes…

Whenever Bill Hall gets a huge hit, he always seems to make some bonehead play in the field. It’s really like clockwork. He had a big lead off pinch hit double in the eighth inning and when he went out to second for the top of the ninth he couldn’t get the ball out of his glove and botched a throw on what would have been a double play. No damage was done because of it, but it is really getting silly. We need two or three DH spots for this team because we got a lot of guys who can hit but can’t field worth a damn (Papi, Lowell, and Hall to name a few).

I can’t decide whether watching Josh Beckett yesterday pissed me off more or gave me hope. It was awesome to see him pretty much throw six no hit innings, don’t get me wrong. But watching him in the seventh did nothing more than serve as a reminder about how much he has sucked this season. Knowing he has that kind of stuff and still has an era over six really blows. There is no better way to put it. Forget all of the million other injuries they have had this year. If Josh Beckett was the real Josh Beckett, they would probably be winning the division.

Felix Doubront hasn’t given up a run in his last five innings. He is officially the first guy I want coming into the game leading to Bard and Papelbon. And where did this filthy curveball come from? I watched him pitch in spring training and last year and it was average at best. He is making lefties look silly out there.

Figures, no more than six hours after I make a post that includes comments about how I am starting to feel good about this bullpen, Papelbon comes in a screws up what should have been an easy win. What makes it even worse is that he has been pitching great of late. It’s rare that the Red Sox are in a position to win a game that John Lackey starts these days so to let one slip away really is a kick in the balls. Now, instead of climbing to only 3 games back of the Rays we sit at 4 back and lose any momentum we had built during the three game win streak. It’s was likely a real long plane ride to Texas, but at least they can look forward to not having to face Cliff Lee this weekend. It could be worse though, Paps could have beat the shit out his father in law like Francisco Rodriguez of the Mets.

Notes…

- David Ortiz hit his 25th home run of the year yesterday marking the seventh time he has done it during his time with the Red Sox. Only Jim Rice (7) and Ted Williams (14) have as many 25 home run seasons for the Sox.

- Jarrod Saltalamacchia made his debut in the starting lineup and boy did he impress. Not only did he have no problems getting the ball back to the pitcher, but he gunned Aaron Hill down at second base, and went 2-4 at the plate with two doubles. Sure, it’s only one game, but it’s hard not to think we may have gotten a future all star in this deal.

- When Pedroia comes back, Lowrie needs to play first base. He is now batting .313/.441/.500 on the season and is hitting everything in sight. He doesn’t need to play every day, but he can’t simply go back to not playing at all, not when Mike “I have no lateral movement” Lowell is first on the depth chart. Maybe have him play once or twice a week at short and second and than two games at first. Marco has only had four days off this year so odds are he would welcome a few breaks here and there.

- Despite yesterday’s performance, I’m still not impressed with John Lackey. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but this just isn’t his year. His velocity is down, his location is off, his strikeouts are down, and he is giving up way too many hits. I know it’s kind of stating the obvious, but I had still been holding out hope for him. Not anymore. Consider me officially off the John Lackey bandwagon. When we make the playoffs I want Lester for game 1, Buchholz 2, Beckett 3, and Daisuke 4 (wow, that was hard to write).

Beckett picked up only his 2nd win in 10 starts yesterday, hopefully he can build on this momentum

A week and a half ago, the night before this west coast swing started, I wrote a state of the nation address. The main thing to take out of it was that the Red Sox were starting to get players back and all they needed to do was stay within striking distance of the Rays over the next ten days. Although it seems like they went 2-8 over the past three series, the Sox actually fared pretty well and won six of ten. I just happen to have each of the losses firmly entrenched in my brain due to the ridiculousness of them. Regardless, the Sox entered the trip only 3.5 games back of Tampa and came out of it 4.5 games back. And that is fine by me.

What excites me most about the coming weeks is the way the starting pitching has performed of late. Other than Clay Buchholz struggling in his first game back from the disabled list, the starters have been lights out. Of the six wins, the starter accounted for four of them and only two of the four losses. Hell, there were even two legitimate no hit bids (although one of them turned into a loss and the other took 13 innings to finish off). What we now have is everyone on fire at the same time. There is not a single weakness on this staff. Ignore the bullpen issues if you may. The way the last ten days have gone you should be disappointed if the starter goes less than seven innings making it difficult for even this bullpen to screw up too much, especially with Bard and Paps ready to go on most nights. I’m telling you, the way this team is now positioned they have the ability to win games in bunches. Do not be surprised if they win 20+ games in August and September. Call me optimistic, but (starting) pitching wins championships, and I’ll take this starting rotation combined with Paps and Bard over any team in the league. Enough said.

You saw yesterday that Mike Lowell was about a 7-10 days away from returning to big league play, so how about the important players?

Dustin Pedroia has been seen taking ground balls from his knees, taking batting practice from a chair, and playing catch while on one leg. The guy is doing everything he can to stay in shape and be ready for an immediate return to the lineup. He has recently been allowed to bear weight on his broken foot after it was determined that it was healing ahead of schedule and has been all over the field as a result. While the foot is still in an air cast, it is a good sign that the crutches are gone and he is acting as if it wasn’t there. Pedroia will be reevaluated soon, and there is no time table for his return, but I would expect to see him in the lineup no later than two weeks from now.

Victor Martinez has been out longer than anyone expected from the get go when the consensus was that he would miss only a week or two. A couple days ago he played catch but described the glove as fitting tight. Things seemed better yesterday during batting practice as he took swings from both sides of the plate. He looked good from the left side, but still wasn’t entirely comfortable from the right. It was said that he didn’t have his hands completely together on the bat. Joe McDonald of ESPNBoston thinks a realistic target is next monday, lets hope he is right.

Clay Buchholz is schedule to pitch tonight. He made a rehab start last week and seemed healthy. The Sox were likely being overly cautious and it is in my opinion that he could have been pitching in the big leagues right out of the all star break. Look for Clay to be 100% tonight throwing with no restrictions.

Josh Beckett has been out since the beginning of May after slipping on a wet mound in Yankees stadium and straining his back. It has been a long hard road back, but it looks like Beckett is ready for the stretch run. Knowing how important he is to the Sox they took it extra slow with him. He no doubt could have been back on the mound a couple of weeks ago but there was really no rush with the amount of depth this organization has. At the end of the week we will now have our top five starters for the first time in two and a half months. If they can all stay healthy there is no doubt in my mind these guys will make the playoffs, even if they have AAAA players up and down their lineup.

Jed Lowrie should be activated from the disabled list either today or tomorrow. Always a promising you player, his career has been riddled with injuries. First, the nagging wrist injury and most recently his bout with mono. He has gone 11-30 (.367) in 10 minor league games this season playing short, third, and second. He should finally provide a decent utility infielder that this team has desperately needed. No disrespect to Bill Hall and Eric Patterson, but they just aren’t good. It’s uncertain how quickly Jed will be worked back into the lineup but he feels great and claims to be 100% healthy, so hopefully we see a lot of him, quickly.

I just got this e-mail from WEEI acting like this dirt was the greatest thing in the world and if I don’t sign up I would be an idiot. I guess they kind of have to be right, right? Why would they be using Fenway dirt as an incentive to sign up for their auction if there wasn’t a market for it. My question is this, what the hell is wrong with you people? What are you going to do with a capsule of dirt? I remember when I was 12 I went on a tour of Fenway park and got to walk the warning track. It was pretty neat being on the field and such and at the end the tour guide said if we wanted to take some of the dirt and place it into a little plastic baggie to take home than I could. To my surprise, practically every person there got on their hands and knees looking for the best dirt they could find. Even at 12, I knew these people were acting like idiots. Now, ten years later, the Red Sox are still profiting of dirt and anything else they can sell to these fans. It’s hard to fault them because this dirt probably pays for 1/2,098,290,190th of Josh Beckett’s salary so it works out in the end, but it’s kind of embarrassing that the fans completely buy into this joke. It’s dirt people, come on!

(Photo via Boston.com)

During my weekend away from the hustle and bustle of the Boston sports world I only heard rumors of the damage that the injury bug was doing to my beloved Red Sox. I caught wind Saturday morning that Pedroia fouled a ball off his foot, but thought nothing of it. I knew Sunday that Buchholz only pitched one inning the prior day after coming up lame running into second base but figured it was all precautionary. Finally, I read briefly Sunday night that V-Mart broke the tip of his finger, but it looked like a DL stint was unnecessary. Now, I sit here Tuesday morning baffled and dumbfounded as our two most important position players hop on the express train to the disabled list and arguably our best pitcher thus far could miss a start or two.

The fact that the Red Sox are only two games out of first place after what they have had to go through is amazing in itself. If they can make it these next two months and still are in a position to make the playoffs this will have to go down as one of the all time greatest seasons in Red Sox history. I don’t think people fully appreciate what it is this group of misfits have accomplished. Remember, your opening day pitcher has a 7.29 era and hasn’t pitched since May 18th; your starting center fielder has only 1 HR, 8 RBI, and 94 total at bats; your starting left fielder, also your backup center fielder, has played in only nine games; David Ortiz didn’t hit anything for the month of April; Jon Lackey is struggling to keep his era south of 5.00; Daisuke Matsuzaka has had multiple DL stints, and the bullpen has been suspect at best. The problem the Red Sox are going to run into now is that it was guys like Pedroia and V-Mart who carried this team during such a rough period.

Luckily for the Sox, the sudden rash on injuries couldn’t come at a better time (if such a thing is possible). To start, the Sox have six off days in July when you combine scheduled days off and the All Star festivities. And the opponents when they are forced to play a game don’t exactly make you quiver in your boots. Starting tonight there are five games with the faltering Rays, three against the pathetic Orioles, and three each against Toronto, Oakland, and Seattle. The only games against legitimate teams are four game series against the red hot Rangers (who I am still not sold on), and two against Detroit, both series at home. Then a three game series in LA against the Angels.

Now, more than ever, this team is going to need to win using the mantra they entered the season with, “pitching and defense.” I’m not too worried about Buchholz. With two off days this week the Red Sox should be able to give him the time off he needs without screwing up the rotation. Him, coupled with Lester, will need to continue leading this team. Even without Josh Beckett, the rotation has been strong despite a slow start. As long as they remain healthy they are perfectly capable of carrying this team. The fact that the Red Sox are among the league leaders in most of the offensive categories is a luxury. This team was built on pitching and defense and come the post season that is what they are going to need to rely on in order to win it all. If the Sox can play .500 baseball through the month of July then they will be setting themselves up perfectly for when the reinforcements start coming off the DL. That, however, is a big if when you have the heart and soul of your team injured and on the bench.

Is there anything that can stop a hot streak faster than back to back nights of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield on the mound? Sure, each of them were fantastic their last time out but that was more of an aberration rather than the norm. Wake gave up 9 earned runs on 12 hits 3 walks and only one strikeout while only making it two outs into the fourth inning. This just one day after Daisuke failed to make it out of the fifth allowing 8 total walks and three earned runs. Talk about bullpen killers.

The Red Sox now have a two game losing streak and have to face the great Zack Greinke tomorrow (Saturday). Buchholz is on the mound so we will probably win 1-0 but there is also a good possibility that we lose our third in a row. Fucking Kansas City. When you see a team come into town with a 19-28 record you are definitely not expecting them to step in front of a fast moving train and stop it in it’s tracks, but that’s pretty much what they have done.

It’s a good thing the Celtics have been on to distract people. Hopefully by the time they finish off the NBA Finals everything will be back to normal around here. Otherwise, it could get real ugly, real fast.

Notes…

* Wake now has a 1-3 record and a 5.28 era on the season. When are people finally going to wake up and realize this guy is no longer a quality major league pitcher. Sure, he still has his moments, but in the long run he will be exposed if left in the rotation.

* I have tickets to next Wednesday’s game. Earlier this week I looked ahead to see who was pitching and it ended up being Wakefield’s turn. As you can tell, I was severely disappointed. Well apparently I am an idiot because there is no game Monday night meaning Wake isn’t scheduled to pitch until Thursday leaving me Daisuke on Wednesday. Not the best, but better than Wake IMO. But again, my stupidity got the best of me because Josh Beckett is actually taking Wake’s spot the next time through. While Beckett is frustrating in his own right, he is still more fun than Daisuke. So to recap, Wake < Daisuke < Beckett and I am an idiot.

* Victor Martinez continues to rake going 2-4 with a home run, double, and four RBI. He is now batting .262 and for whatever reason is looking a lot more comfortable in the fifth spot in the order. This is strange because he was so good batting third for us last year. As long as Papi continues to produce I can see this becoming permanent, but if he struggles again, Martinez is going to need to step in like he did so well last year and help carry the load in the heart of the order.

* Dustin Pedroia is struggling, big time. He went 0-5 tonight and is now batting .259 on the season after getting off to a ridiculous start. On May 15th Pedroia twisted his knee against the Tigers. The injury has been downplayed the entire time but since that day he has been terrible.  ESPNBoston.com does a good job breaking down the numbers.

He has had a couple of games where he has hit the ball hard just right at people. I don’t think we need to make too much out of this injury, but it is telling. Especially after the whole Ellsbury debacle, one might question whether or not Pedroia is healthy enough to be out there playing.

* Speaking of Ellsbury, I may have been a little harsh on him yesterday, but the fact remains that he doesn’t have the best history with injuries.

* Are people finally starting to appreciate what Adrian Beltre is doing for this team. Theo Epstein deserves a lot of credit for this signing, and myself as well for saying how much I wanted him all winter. This is just one thing that I wrote:

The Red Sox are in love with this guys defense, and for good reason. The two time Gold Glove winner has gotten rave reviews from scouts and managers alike. Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon says he is the best defensive third basemen he has ever seen. Even if his bat continues to be slightly below average, bringing him in to play third, along with the addition of Marco Scutaro, will give you one of the best defensive infields in the game, if not the best.

Even I didn’t think he was going to come here and bat .340, but after a shaky start, his defense has been as good as advertised. He obviously isn’t going to continue at this pace but .290-.310 is not out of the question. He is certainly lining himself up for a big time contract next year and good for him. The dude plays the game right.

I have been saying this for over three years now since the day I saw him pitch up in Portland during the summer of 2007; Clay Buchholz is a special pitcher. Sure, the road to big league glory has been up and down but I’m telling you, this kid is a future ace and currently is far and away the best starting pitcher on the team. On a night where Jonathan Papelbon, Daniel Bard, and Hideki Okajima were all unavailable the Red Sox needed a big start from Buch. Clay responded by throwing 8 innings allowing only one run while striking out four. The strong effort brought his record to 2-2 on the young season and lowered his era to 2.19. He also has 22 strikeouts in 24.2 innings to only 9 walks. His era is now less than half of John Lackey’s 5.09, the second best on the staff.

When Beckett, Lester, and Lackey finally get their shit together the Red Sox are going to be able to trot out by far the best rotation in the game. I honestly believe that the Red Sox can be 15 games out of first place come June 1st and still be in good position, that is how good this pitching staff is going to be. Yes, it blows watching Lester and Beckett pitch like they are little leaguers getting their tips wet for the first time on a regulation sized field but the reality is that they were both just as bad last year to start the season. Soon they will both go on a run where they are practically unhittable and the Sox will win 25 out of 30 games in a month. Call me a homer, but I am not even close to panicking. Especially after watching Buchholz come into his own to start the season.

So can anyone tell me what has happened to Josh Beckett? He was masterful two starts ago in the rain and now all of the sudden he sucks again? Geesh. Give a guy $80 million bucks and I guess it’s hard to expect too much out of him. Sadly, Clay Buchholz and Tim Wakefield are the two best pitchers on this staff, and the later just got kicked to the pen. Go figure.

What I Liked:

John Lackey Impresses – It took three games but the vaunted Red Sox starting rotation finally lived up to all the off season expectations. Lackey was everything we expected and more last night going six innings allowing only three hits, two walks, no runs, while striking out three. He worked quick and pounded the zone throwing a perfect mix of fastballs and curve balls. After seeing Beckett and Lester struggle it was nice to finally see one of our aces step up.

New Guys Can Hit Too – All winter we talked about pitching and defense and how the additions of Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre, and Mike Cameron would improve the defense enough to make up for their lack of offense. It is still early, but I said from the beginning that these guys are going to bring more offense to the table than expected. That being said, Beltre is batting .364 with 2 RBI while Cameron and Scutaro are both batting .300 with a .417 OBP.

Beltre Is The Real Deal At Third – Again, it has been a small sample size but you got to like what you have seen out of Beltre defensively. The most recent example being a double play he turned in the sixth inning last night ranging to his left on a hard grounder making a quick throw to second on the move allowing plenty of time for Pedroia to turn the double play at first.

I Love The Middle Of Our Lineup – I don’t care that there is a possibility that none of them hit 30 home runs, I’ll take Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez, and Kevin Youklis batting 2, 3, and 4 any day of the week. All three of them in a row like that will wear down opposing pitchers working deep into the count waiting for the right pitch to hit. Just because we don’t have Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz in the middle of our order doesn’t mean it isn’t just as dangerous. Just wait and see.

Dan Bard Is A Bad Man – Three and a third innings pitched, one hit, two strikeouts, no runs. Right now the only bright spot in a questionable bullpen Bard is easily the most reliable arm they have out there. He looks like the Dan Bard of early 2009 when he threw 20+ scoreless innings in a row. He is locating his fastball, throwing his slider for strikes, and straight out blowing away batters. Plus, you know you are dirty when your change up is 89 mph and guys are still way out in front of it.

What I Didn’t Like:

This Bullpen Is Wack – Beyond Danny Bard I have no faith in anyone right now. Talk to me tomorrow and I’ll add Papelbon to that list, but right now I am still too pissed. But other than these two, there are question marks with everyone:

• Manny Delcarmen – when he is up in the 95-97 mph range and pounding the strike zone he is effective against both right and left handed hitters. When he is in the 89-93 mph range and all over the place he is useless. It was encouraging seeing him not get lit up on Tuesday, but he has a long way to go to win my trust.
• Ramon Ramirez – was dominant in the first half of last season. Then he lost it and had no control over the strike zone anymore. He was still effective against righties but struggled mightily against left handed hitters. When he is on his game he is a top notch 8th inning man but we haven’t seen that player since June 2009.
• Hideki Okajima – still effective against lefties, but struggled in the second half of 2009 against righties. Will he regain his dominant form or is he becoming nothing more than a lefty specialist?
• Scott Atchinson – it is never a good sign when you come into the game for the first time and I have no idea who you are.
• Scott Schoenweiss – used to be awesome but is going to need to show me a lot before I trust him. He sucked last year, got cut in spring training, and was only in Sox camp for a week.

Slow Starts For Beckett and Lester – Jon Lester has a losing record in April-May for his career and Josh Beckett sucked for the first five weeks in 2009 before turning it on going into the summer. Maybe it has something to do with the way the Red Sox prepare their pitchers for the season, but both were not sharp this week. Lester was hitting 98 in the first inning and threw a couple of nasty curves and cutters. But after that he was down in the 93-95 range and couldn’t locate to save his life. Beckett, like Lester, couldn’t locate and had no feel for his curve ball allowing hitters to sit on his fastball. I’m hoping we don’t have to wait until June to see both of these guys at the top of their game, but this was not a good star.

What’s Next:

A three game series at Kansas City

Friday: Tim Wakefield vs Kyle Davies @ 8:10pm

Saturday: Josh Beckett vs Zack Greinke @ 7:10pm

Sunday: Clay Buchholz vs Gil Meche @ 2:10pm