GM Theo Epstein had this to say about Martinez: “We think Victor Martinez is a great fit for our club and provides a significant offensive boost, and he does it with some versatility that complements our roster really well… He can catch and give Tek a little bit of a rest behind the plate, and he can play first base and get some at-bats there.  He can DH a little bit, so we thought it was a good fit for our roster, and he provides some offensive support and some depth at the same time.”

Martinez, although sad to be departing the only only MLB organization that he has ever played for, had this to say:  “I think everybody know… I play to tin.  I love this game, and I just play to win.  I would love to go out there and do the same thing.  I want to get a World Series wing.  As soon as I cross those lines, I’m all about winning.”

The Red Sox gave up Justin Masterson, as well as young pitchers Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price.  It will be sad to see Masterson go as he done whatever the Red Sox have asked of him the last 2 seasons, but the move will likely give him an everyday starter’s role in Cleveland.

In an even more last minute deal, the Red Sox traded recently acquired Adam LaRoche to the Atlanta Braves for Casey Kotchman.  Kotchman is a great 1st base defender and he has a sneaky good bat.  He played in 87 games for the Braves this year – .282 batting average, .354 on-base percentage, 6 HR’s, 41 RBI’s, 32 walks and only 28 K’s.

Josh Beckett is just being Josh Beckett.  When Beckett is in the “zone” he is one of the best pitchers in baseball, period.  Beckett struck out 10 A’s batters in 7 innings of work to notch his 12th win of the 2009 MLB schedule.  Beckett did give up 8 hits and 3 ER, but held the A’s scoreless through the game’s first 5 innings as the Red Sox built a commanding 6-0 lead.  Not much more you can ask from your starting pitcher than this.

The Red Sox bats lit it up as well, scoring 8 runs on 14 hits.  Jacoby Ellsbury led the way with 3 hits, an RBI and a run scored.  Dustin Pedroia went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s and a run scored, including a solo HR in the 1st inning that gave the Red Sox the early lead.  Jason Bay got on base 3 times with 1 hit and 2 walks and scored twice, while J.D. Drew had 2 hits and 2 runs scored to break out of a bad hitting funk.  Adam LaRoche continued his torrid hitting, going 2 for 4 with an RBI and run scored.  He is hitting .417 in a Red Sox uniform, and more importantly, he has become a viable option for Manager Terry Francona when he needs to give the ailing Mike Lowell some time off (with 1st baseman Kevin Youkilis moving over to 3rd base).

The Red Sox seem to have righted the ship for now.  They are still 18 games over .500 (despite losing 6 of 10 games) and still only trail the Yankees by 2.5 games in the AL East.  The Yankees are THE hottest team in baseball and will have to cool off at some point in the near future.  Let’s just hope that we get hot when the Yankees cool off so that we can take over the lead in the AL East!

Good news Red Sox fans.  The Red Sox have already made 2 useful trades and it doesn’t look like anything will get in the way of the team making more moves to bolters the 2009 playoff push.  Last week, the Red Sox acquired Chris Duncan from the St. Louis Cardinals in a swap for released shortstop Julio Lugo, and Adam LaRoche from the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor league prospects.  LaRoche had an immediate impact with a 2-run home run in his 1st game action in Saturday night’s win and Duncan has been sent to Triple-A Pawtucket until the need arises for another outfielder at the major league level.

Club Owner Tom Werner and GM Theo Epstein have already said that the club will continue to pursue other options.  While Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay is a long shot, the Red Sox are seriously pursuing 1st baseman / catcher Victor Martinez from the Cleveland Indians.  Should be an interesting stretch run leading up to the trading deadline to see if the Red Sox pull off any more moves.  They may need to if they expect to overtake the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East…

It wasn’t a perfect sweep, but at least the Red Sox took 2 out of 3 from the lowly Orioles at Fenway Park this weekend.

Jon Lester continued Brad Penny’s pitching dominance from Friday night with a stellar outing of his own on Saturday night.  Lester threw 7 1/3 innings of 2-run ball – he did give up 8 hits and 2 walks, but he struck out 9 and picked up his 9th win of the season.  Going-forward, Lester will be a key to the Red Sox success.  After starting the season by losing 4 of his 1st 6 decisions, Lester has has had several good starts in a row, allowing more than 3 earned runs only once since May 15th.  Lester has won 6 of his last 8 decisions and the Red Sox are 9-3 as a team in the games Lester has started since May 21st.

Newly acquired Adam LaRoche also delivered in his 1st 2 Red Sox starts over the weekend.  LaRoche went 3 for 8 with a 2-run HR on Saturday and 2 hits on Sunday.  David Ortiz got the Red Sox off to a good start with a 3-run HR in the 1st inning and the Red Sox banged out a double-digit 10 hits in the 7-2 win.

Bad news followed Sunday, however, as John Smoltz endured another rough outing.  Smoltz lasted just 5 innings giving up all of the Orioles 6 runs and 9 of the Orioles 10 hits on the day.  Smoltz did have 6 K’s, but his ERA rose to 7.04 and his WHIP rose to 1.53.  With Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield still on the DL, Smoltz will still have a spot in the starting rotation, but once either of those pitchers returns, Manager Terry Francona and GM Theo Epstein will likely have a tough decision on their hands.

The Red Sox are 57-40 and they trail the 1st place Yankees by 2.5 games in the AL East.  The Red Sox do, however, have a wild card lead over the Texas Rangers of 2.5 games and the Tampa Bay Rays by 4 games.