The end product was great – 4 straight wins over the Indians to close out the season – but there are still a few areas of concern.  The Red Sox clubbed 5 home runs in Sunday’s 12-7 win – 2 from J.D. Drew and 1 each from Dustin Pedroia, Jed Lowrie and Alex Gonzalez.  But Clay Buchholz struggled in his final tuneup before the ALDS against the Angels later this week.  Buchholz lasted just 3 innings, giving up 6 ER on 5 hits and 2 walks.  It was his 2nd bad outing in his last 3 starts.

Manager Terry Francona will definitely have a starting pitching decision to make after Jon Lester and Josh Beckett pitch in Games 1 and 2 of the series.  Will he go with Buchholz who has pitched more consistently during 2009 in Game 3, or Daisuke Matsuzaka who has had a humbling 2009, but has proven himself before in October.  It won’t be easy for Francona, but if anyone has a good beat on his players and their ability to pitch effectively in October, it is Francona.

In Saturday’s 11-6 win, Josh Beckett had a rough start giving up 4 ER in the game’s 1st 2 innings.  But he battled through it to pitch 5 innings and notch his 17th win of the season.  Beckett’s back is fine and he will be ready to go in Game 2 against the Angels in Anaheim.

All in all it was a good season for the Red Sox.  Anytime you’re still playing in October, it’s a good thing…

Should we start to panic in Beantown?  The Red Sox just dropped their 6th straight game – 12-0 to the Blue Jays.  Wakefield looked bad (5 ER on 7 hits and 2 walks in just 3 innings).  The bullpen did not fare much better – Fernando Cabrera, Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima and back-up catcher Dusty Brown each gave up runs in their inning of work.

The lone bright spot – Dusty Brown – back-up catcher, pitching the 9th inning in relief.  Brown threw 13 pitches – 9 for strikes – and gave up 1 earned run on a single, double and RBI groundout.  Not bad for a back-up catcher.

Now I know that all but 2 of the regulars (David Ortiz and Alex Gonzalez) were on the bench against Roy Halladay, but I’d really like to see the Red Sox win a game or 2 against the Indians this weekend. It looks like Manager Terry Francona is going with his starters in tonight’s game to support Jon Lester in his final tune up before the playoffs.  Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Bay and Mike Lowell (in addition to Ortiz and Gonzalez) are back in the lineup tonight.  Let’s hope the team comes to play and puts an end to this frustrating 6 game skid.  Go Sox!

Clay Buchholz made sure that the Red Sox wouldn’t lose the series to the Royals in Kansas City.  Buchholz pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up just 5 hits along the way.  Buchholz had 8 K’s and no walks and has really impressed of late.  Buchholz is now 7-3 on the season with a 3.21 ERA.  He has won 6 straight decisions over an 8-start span.  Not bad for someone that has had his ups and downs in 2009.

David Ortiz continued his hot hitting for the Red Sox – 3 for 5 with 3 RBI’s, 1 run scored and a walk.  He clubbed his 26th HR of 2009, a solo shot that started a 3-run 4th inning which gave the Red Sox a 4-0 lead.  Jacoby Ellsbury also had 3 hits for the Red Sox with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.  Ellsbury continues to lead the American League with 66 steals.  Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez, Casey Kotchman and Alex Gonzalez each had 2 hits in the Red Sox 15 hit attack.

The Red Sox now have their sights set on the Yankees in the Bronx this weekend.  Trailing the Yankees by 5.5 games in the AL East race, this will be their last shot to make a run at the division crown. The match-ups look like this:

Friday Night – Jon Lester v. Joba Chamberlain

Saturday Afternoon – Daisuke Matsuzaka v. CC Sabathia

Sunday Afternoon – Paul Byrd v. Andy Pettitte

The Red Sox are all but assured of making the playoffs even if they don’t overtake the Yankees.  The Red Sox have an 8 game lead over the Rangers for the AL Wild Card and their magic number is 3 games to qualify for post-season play.

The Red Sox defeated the Orioles 9-3 on Sunday completing a 3-game weekend series sweep.  The Red Sox won 16 of 18 games against Batimore during the 2009 MLB schedule.  The Red Sox scored in each of the 1st 4 innings of the game to open up a 7-0 lead.  And Daisuke Matsuzaka did the rest – picking up his 2nd straight win since coming off the DL.  Dice-K pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up 3 ER on 8 hits and 1 walk.  He struck out 5, but didn’t have the same crispness that he had in a win last week.  This week, he needed 110 pitches before running into trouble in the 6th, but at least 73 of them were strikes.

Jacoby Ellsbury had 3 hits, 3 RBI’s and 2 runs scored to pace the way for the Red Sox.  Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez, Jason Bay and Alex Gonzalez each had 2 hits.  Ellsbury and Bay each hit home runs.

With the sweep, the Red Sox increased their AL Wild Card lead over the Rangers to 8 games.  And even more interesting, the Red Sox have chipped into the Yankees hold on the AL East lead.  The Red Sox now trail the Yankees by only 5 games, and with the Red Sox playing 4 games against the Royals this week before next weekend’s tilt in the Bronx, could that lead be even smaller by Friday night?  We’ll have to keep a close eye on the race as the Yankees play 3 games against the Angels in Anaheim before heading back east…

Wah, wah, wah… That’s the noise you heard coming from the Angels dugout after the Red Sox rallied for a 3rd time to win 9-8 in the 9th inning at Fenway Park.  Gimme a break – don’t put your team in a position to lose, and then you don’t have to bitch about “bad umpiring”.

The Red Sox won for the 7th straight game and for the 10th straight time at Fenway Park.  The Red Sox now lead the AL Wild Card race by 6.5 games over the Texas Rangers and they close out the series with the Angels on Thursday night at Fenway.

The Red Sox trailed the Angels by 3-0, 7-5 and 8-7.  The final rally came when closer Brian Fuentes got into trouble with 2 outs in the 9th inning.  Fuentes walked David Ortiz, and then gave up infield singles to J.D. Drew and Jed Lowrie to load the bases.  Then came the drama.  Fuentes got 2 quick strikes on Nick Green.  Green then offered at the 3rd pitch, but 1st base umpire ruled it was not a swing, so the count went to 1-2.  Green fouled off the next 3 pitches to keep the inning alive, and then Fuented threw 3 straight balls to walk Green and allow the tying run to score.  Then Alex Gonzalez followed that up with a bloop single down the left field line that Juan Rivera decided not to dive for – Drew scored with the winning run and we were left to listen to the Angels bitch about the bad umpiring during Green’s at-bat.

Hey Scioscia, Fuentes – if you didn’t walk Ortiz with 2 outs, if Rivera dove for the ball in left, or if you didn’t give up the lead 2 times before the 9th inning – you wouldn’t need to bitch about things “not going your way” in the 9th inning.

In any event, it really wasn’t a pretty win for the Red Sox.  Paul Byrd had another mediocre outing – 3ER on 9 hits and 1 walk in 5+ innings.  Ramon Ramirez lost his cool in the 7th inning after he struck out Kendry Morales for the 3rd out in the inning, but he reached base because of Jason Varitek’s passed ball error.  Instead of buckling down with 1 on and 2 outs, Ramirez imploded, giving up a single and 2 straight doubles to allow the Angels to re-take the lead at 7-5.  And while the Red Sox did pound out 13 hits and were patient enough to earn 7 walks, the Red Sox scored “only” 9 runs and left way too many men on base – 18.  Jacoby Ellsbury, Jason Bay and Alex Gonzalez each had 2 hits, but they never seem to have that clutch hit to blow an inning wide open.

But a win is a win, and the good news is that the Red Sox are in the heads of the entire Angels organization.  The Angels have never beaten the Red Sox in 4 playoff series and they have lost 12 of 13 games to the Red Sox dating back to 1986.  With the 2 teams likely meeting in the 1st round of the playoffs, that is a HUGE advantage for the Red Sox, even if the Angels have home field advantage.  The Red Sox have won in Anaheim/Los Angeles before, and they will likely do so again in October…

I didn’t see this one coming – 6 scoreless innings from Dasiuke Matsuzaka as he pitched into the 7th inning – - unbelievable!!!  If Matsuzaka is truly healthy and really has his stuff figured out, the Red Sox could be ready to roll right into the Fall Classic in October.  I am giddy!

Loved the strikes, loved the low pitch count, loved seeing Daisuke pitching into the 7th inning. And although it didn’t start pretty – leadoff walk to Chone Figgins who then immediately stole 2nd base – Dice-K buckled down to retire the next 3 batters to end the threat.

Manager Terry Francona pulled Daisuke after a lead-off walk in the 7th inning, but I’ll take 6 scoreless innings from Matsuzaka any day, especially with only 93 pitches (52 for strikes).  He still has an ERA over 7 and a WHIP over 2, but let’s throw the 1st 2 months out the door at this point.  Start #2 will come Sunday afternoon against the Orioles in Baltimore, so let’s hope we see another solid outing from Daisuke to give us a little more confidence.

The bullpen did the rest – Ramon Ramirez, Billy Wagner and Daniel Bard held the Angels scoreless in the 7th and 8th innings, while Jonathan Papelbon pitched the 9th inning in a non-save situation, giving up a run on a 2-out double by Erick Aybar.

The Red Sox pounded out 9 hits and 3 walks against John Lackey and Jose Arredondo, and Lackey actually worked out of trouble until the 6th inning.  With 1st and 2nd and nobody out, Dustin Pedroia reached base on a throwing error by Lackey which allowed Alex Gonzalez to score.  Lackey then retired J.D. Drew and Jason Bay, but Big Papi David Ortiz came through with a clutch 2-out single that drove in Jacoby Ellsbury to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.  The Red Sox then tacked on 2 insurance runs in the 8th inning on a Bay RBI single and an Ortiz solo home run – his 24th of the season.

With the Rangers continued collapse, the Red Sox have now opened up an AL Wild Card race of 5.5 games.  The Yankees have even lost 3 of 5 games, so the Red Sox trail the Yankees by 6.5 games.  With 3 games against the Yankees still to be played in New York, a shot at the division title is still not out of the question…

Ouch… Looks like the Rays have officially given up.  The Red Sox swept the Rays on Sunday (3-1; 4-0), sending the Rays to their 11th straight defeat.  The Rays now trail the Yankees by 19.5 games in the AL East race and the Red Sox by 12.5 games in the AL Wild Card race.  This is your Rays team that won the AL pennant just last year.

Clay Buchholz got the Red Sox off on the right track with 7 innings of 1-run ball in the opener.  Buchholz limited the Rays to just 5 hits and 3 walks and a lone run on Jason Bartlett’s single that tied the game at 1 in the 7th inning.  The Rays Matt Garza was equally as good through 7 innings, but he got into trouble in the 8th inning.  After a David Ortiz pinch-hit double and a Jacoby Ellsbury sacrifice, Dustin Pedroia won the game with a clutch 2-run home run to deep right field.

Hideki Okajima won his 6th game without suffering a loss with a perfect 8th inning, and Jonathan Papelbon picked up his 36th save of the season by striking out the side in the 9th inning.

In the night cap, Jon Lester continued the Red Sox pitching dominance over the Rays in the weekend series. Lester allowed just 2 hits and 3 walks over 8 scoreless innings, while racking up 7 K’s.  Lester is 13-7 on the season, with a sparkling 3.29 ERA. The Red Sox managed just 7 hits, but they seemed to make them count.  After Mike Lowell’s RBI groundout gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning, Jason Varitek’s 2-run single in the 6th inning increased the lead to 3-0.  Jason Bay tacked on the game’s final run with his 32nd home run of the season, a solo shot in the 8th inning.

The Rangers split their Sunday double-header with the Mariners in Texas, so the Red Sox opened up a 4-game lead in the AL Wild Card race.  The Red Sox are also in the driver’s seat with an easy schedule down the stretch.  After 3 games against the Angels this week at Fenway Park and 3 games against the Yankees in New York next weekend, the Red Sox play their other 14 games against 4 teams with losing records – the Kansas City Royals, the Cleveland Indians, the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays.  Pretty sweet…

Josh Beckett finally looked like himself again, and the Red Sox used an 8-run 3rd inning to pick up a rain-shortened 9-1 over the Rays on Saturday night at Fenway Park.

Josh Beckett picked up his 15th win of the 2009 schedule, and got credit for a complete game as the game was called after 5 innings of play.  Beckett gave up just 1 ER on 4 hits and a walk.  He struck out 4.

With the score 4-0 in the 3rd inning, Alex Gonzalez broke the game open with a 3-run bases-clearing double to deep center field.  Gonzalez had 2 hits and 2 runs scored in the inning.  Kevin Youkilis had 2 hits, 2 RBI’s and 2 runs scored in 3 at-bats, including his 25th HR of the year in the 4th inning that gave the Red Sox a 9-0 lead.

Seattle crushed the Texas Rangers 8-3 in Texas, so the Red Sox increased their AL Wild Card lead to 3 games over the Rangers.

The Red Sox sure love playing at Fenway Park!  With their 10-0 win over the Orioles on Tuesday night, the Red Sox are now 46-21 at home.  Only the New York Yankees (48-20) have a better home record during the 2009 MLB season than the Red Sox.

Clay Buchholz didn’t have trouble holding onto this big lead against the Orioles this time (he pitched only 4 innings and did not qualify for a win afer the Red Sox staked him to a 14-6 lead in Baltimore on August 2nd).  Buchholz worked 7 scoreless innings, giving up just 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 5.  Buchholz is now 5-3 on the season.

The bats finally woke up as well after they looked dazed against the White Sox in Chicago over the weekend.  The Red Sox hit 5 home runs in the game’s 1st 3 innings.  Dustin Pedroia hit home runs in the 1st and 3rd innings.  Kevin Youkilis hit a solo shot in the 1st inning; Alex Gonzalez hit a solo shot in the 2nd inning; and Jason Bay crushed a 3-run bomb in the 3rd inning.  By that point, the Red Sox had opened up an 8-0 lead.  David Ortiz rounded out the 6-homer attack with a solo shot to deep center in the 7th innning.  The Red Sox punded out 11 hits and 5 walks en route to the 10-0 shutout.

Despite the dominant win, the Red Sox actually lost ground to the Rangers who swept the Indians in a double-header.  The Red Sox now lead the Rangers by just 2 games in the AL Wild Card race.

WOW – talk about a solid emergency start from Paul Byrd – 6 shutout innings, only 3 hits and 3 walks with 83 efficient pitches.  Holler!  The bullpen also shined in the Red Sox 7-0 win over the Blue Jays, as they complete a weekend series sweep of the Jays and a 7-3 home stand overall.  Manny Delcarmen, Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.  All eyes were on Billy Wagner – who made his 1st appearance as a member of the Red Sox.  Wagner did give up a double to Adam Lind, but he struck out the side and received a standing ovation after his inning of work.

Byrd had made 4 minor league starts before starting for the Red Sox on Sunday.  Byrd had this to say about the win: “I’m throwing to a 13 and under team and the Red Sox called and I say, ‘I don’t know how long I’ll take to get ready…’ I’m just so excited to be back, I want a World Series ring.  Hopefully I can help this team get there.  I’ll clean toilets if I have to, and I told them that.”  Wish there were more guys out there like that.

The Red Sox continued to have a balanced offensive attack.  8 of 9 Red Sox starters had hits.  Kevin Youkilis went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI’s.  Alex Gonzalez went 2 for 3 with 1 run scored and 1 RBI.  Gonzalez is now hitting .296 since joining the Red Sox.  Rocco Baldelli also hit a solo home run – his 6th HR on the 2009 MLB schedule.

It’s a little really frustrating playing well and not gaining any ground on the red-hot New York Yankees – still 6 out in the AL East race.  But the Red Sox have to keep playing well with a big 7-game road trip coming up against the Rays and White Sox.  The Red Sox have a 3.5 games lead over the Rangers and a 4.5 games lead over the Rays in the AL Wild Card race.