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…

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…

The Red Sox completed a 2-game sweep of the Orioles with a 7-5 win at Fenway Park on Wednesday night.  Victor Martinez came through with the clutch hit – a 3-run pinch-hit double with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th inning that broke a 4-4 tie.

Billy Wagner pitched a perfect top of the 7th inning with 2 strikeouts, to notch his 1st win in over 2 years.  It was his 1st ever decision in the American League.  Wagner has been nothing short of brilliant since being traded from the Mets.  In 6 2/3 innings in 7 appearances, Wagner has given up just 1 ER (a solo home run) on 2 hits and 2 walks.  Wagner has racked up 13 K’s, striking out at least 2 batters in all but one appearance.  This is all good for a 1.93 ERA and a 0.64 WHIP, and he has clearly earned the confidence of Manager Terry Francona and all of his teammates.

Daniel Bard tried to get the game into the 9th inning, but after he got into a 2-on, 2-out jam, Francona called upon Jonathan Papelbon to finish off the job.  He got out of the 8th inning unscathed, and although Papelbon gave up a run in the 9th inning, the Red Sox held on for the 7-5 win.

The Red Sox offense had another productive night at Fenway, slugging out 15 hits and drawing 6 walks.  Jason Bay had 3 hits, 2 RBI’s and 1 run scored, while Dustin Pedoria, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and Jason Varitek each had 2 hits.

The Red Sox stayed 2 games ahead of the Rangers for the AL Wild Card lead.  They continue to fall behind in the AL East race, as the Yankees are now 9 games ahead.

The Blue Jays roughed up Josh Beckett again, but the Red Sox rallied for a 6-5 win Friday night at Fenway Park.  It was the Red Sox 4th win in 5 games, and their 8th win in 11 games.

Beckett struggled with his control all night long – needing 108 pitches to labor through 5 innings. Beckett gave up 5 earned runs on 5 hits and 5 walks.  He served up a 3-run HR to Aaron Hill and a 2-run HR to Rod Barrajas and was constantly working out of jams.  Takashi Saito, Daniel Bard and Hideki Okajima combined for 3 scoreless innings to get it to Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th inning.  And although he gave up 2 singles and hit Randy Ruiz to load the bases with only 1 out, he beared down to strike out Rod Barrajas and Travis Snider to notch his 31st save of the 2009 MLB schedule.

After trailing 5-3 in the top of the 5th inning, the Red Sox rallied to tie the game at 5 on Jason Bay’s 2-run HR in the bottom of the inning.  The Red Sox scored the go-ahead run in the 8th inning by playing small ball.  David Ortiz walked and moved to third on J.D. Drew’s double to center field.  The Blue Jays intentionally walked Jason Varitek to face Alex Gonzalez, but Manager Terry Francona pinch-hit Casey Kotchman for Gonzalez.  Kotchman delivered the game-winning RBI with a fielder’s choice groundout that plated Ortiz with the go-ahead run.

The Red Sox are back to 20 games over .500 at 74-54.  Although they still trail the Yankees by 6 games in the AL East, the Red Sox have built a little cushion in the AL Wild Card race – 2.5 games over the Rangers and 4.5 games over the Rays.

Jon Lester took another frustrating no decision on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.  Lester thought he got out of a 2nd and 3rd, 1 out jam in the top of the 7th inning when he struck out Alexei Ramirez for what should have been the 3rd out.  But the ball bounced away from Jason Varitek and Paul Konerko was able to score from 3rd base with the tying run.  Jayson Nix then followed that up with a scorching line drive single to Mike Lowell at 3rd base, plating Jermaine Dye with the go-ahead run.  Just like that, the White Sox took a 3-2 lead and when Manager Terry Francona replaced Lester with Hideki Okajima, Lester was either going to get saddled with the L or a no decision.

Fortunately for Lester (10-7 record, despite a 1.23 WHIP and 3.60 ERA) and the Red Sox, the Red Sox immediately rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the 7th inning on a Jason Varitek double and an RBI pinch-hit single by Victor Martinez.  And with the game tied at 3, the Red Sox knocked around Scott Linebrink in the bottom of the 8th inning, scoring 3 runs to take a commanding 6-3 lead.  Jason Bay gave the Red Sox a 4-3 lead with his 26th HR of the season – a solo shot with 1 out.  With 2 outs, Nick Green singled and Victor Martinez came through again with an RBI double to left field.  Martinez came around to score the 3rd run of the inning on Jacoby Ellsbury RBI single.  And just like that, the Red Sox had re-gained the lead for closer Jonathan Papelbon.  Papelbon notched his 30th save of the 2009 MLB schedule with 2 K’s in the 9th inning.

At 72-53, the Red Sox are 6 games behind the Yankees in the AL East race.  They still have a 1/5 games lead over the Texas Rangers and a 3 games lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Wild Card race.

Kevin Youkilis will be back in the Red Sox lineup against the Blue Jays on Tuesday night in Toronto.  Youkilis decided to serve the 5 game suspension handed down for charging the mound against Rick Porcello last week at Fenway Park after Porcello plunked Youkilis early in the game.  It was the 2nd night in a row that a Tiger pitcher plunked Youkilis, and he had had just about enough.  Manager Terry Francona had this to say about Youkilis not appealling the supsension issued by MLB: “Certainly, we gave everything thought… But when we leave Arlington, we have some games that are important, too… It’ll be very nice to have him back.”  Youkilis is hitting .311 on the 2009 MLB schedule, with 20 HR’s and 66 RBI’s.

The Victor Martinez is looking to be another solid acquisition by GM Theo Epstein and his staff.  Since coming over from the Indians, Martinez has hit in 9 of 14 games with a .311 batting average.  He has reached base in 11 of the 14 games.  He has started 9 games at 1st base and 5 games at catcher, including each of the last 2 games started by Clay Buchholz.  This has allowed Catcher Jason Varitek and 3rd baseman Mike Lowell to get a little extra rest to be ready for the playoff push.  Overall on the 2009 MLB schedule, Martinez is hitting .288 with 18 home runs and 78 RBI’s.  Martinez likes his new team and his new teammates love him.  Martinez: “It’s a big difference when you play with the atmosphere that we play here with. Every game means something, every pitch means something, every play means something.  It’s a lot better to play like this than the way we were in Cleveland.”  Dustin Pedroia has this to say about Martinez: “He’s been great.  We’re happy to have him here.  He’s a great offensive player.  He gives us another middle-of-the-order bat you can rely on.”  Throw in his defensive prowess and his versatility, and you have a clear keeper…

WOW!!!  It didn’t look good there going into the 9th inning, but the Red Sox rallied for 6 runs off of Rangers Closer Francisco Rodriguez to win 8-4 in Arlington.  Unbelievable.  Here’s how the 9th inning played out – David Ortiz lead-off double; Jason Varitek single; Jacoby Ellsbury RBI single that scored Ortiz to cut the lead to 4-3; Chris Woodward struck out; Duston Pedroia doubled to deep left but Clay Buccholz (who came in to run for Varitek) was thrown out at home for the 2nd out of the inning; Victor Martinez doubled home Ellsbury and Pedroia to give the Red Sox a 5-4 lead; Jason Bay singled to score Martinez for a 6-4 lead; J.D. Drew homered to deep right field to cap off the 6-run 9th inning.  Go Sox!

Jonathon Papelbon came on to close out the game.  Although he gave up a 1-out double to Omar Vizquel, Papelbon rallied to strikeout Michael Young and Marlon Byrd to end the game.  Jon Lester pitched effectively – 3 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks in 6 innings of work – but left the game trailing 3-2.  Lester struck out 11 Rangers hitters.  Daniel Bard had another rough outing, giving up 1 ER on 1 hit and 2 walks in the 7th inning.  Takashi Saito picked up his 3rd win of the 2009 MLB schedule by pitching a scoreless 8th inning.

David “Big Papi” Ortiz hit a game-tying 2-run bomb to deep right center field to tie the game at 2 in the top of the 6th inning.

The Red Sox are now 66-49, but still trail the Yankees by 6.5 games in the AL East race.  The Red Sox now have a 1.5 game lead over the Rangers in the AL wild card race.  The Tampa Bay Rays – in the midst of a 5-game losing streak – now trail the Red Sox by 5 games in the wild card race.

All in all, it was a successful series for the Red Sox – taking 3 of 4 games from the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park.  After a disastrous end to their 9 game road trip on Sunday – 6 straight losses to the Yankees and Rays, winning more than losing this week was a welcome feeling.

Josh Beckett dominated Wednesday night’s 8-2 win – 7 innings, 2 ER on only 3 hits (2 solo home runs) and 1 walk. Beckett struck out 6 Tigers batters.  And the offense did more than enough to back up his solid performance.  The Red Sox had 11 hits and 6 walks, getting 3 hits from each of Jason Bay and Mike Lowell.  Bay and Lowell each hit home runs, and the Red Sox blew the game open with a 5-run 5th inning that gave the Red Sox an 8-1 lead.

Justin Verlander one-upped Beckett in Thursday’s matinee, tossing 8 scoreless innings and allowing just 4 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 8 Red Sox batters.  Francisco Rodney struck out the side in the 9th inning to pick up his 24th save on the 2009 MLB schedule.  Manager Terry Francona gave some of his regulars a day off – Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, J.D. Drew and Jason Varitek – but the Red Sox still had a formidable lineup.  Victor Martinez had 2 hits in the loss, while Jason Bay and David Big Papi Ortiz each struck out 3 times.  Clay Buchholz tossed a nice game – 7 innings, 2 runs (only 1 earned) on 5 hits and 3 walks, but he suffered his 3rd straight loss.

With the loss, the Red Sox have a 1/2 game lead over the Rangers for the AL wild card lead.  The Rangers and Red Sox play a big weekend series in Texas this weekend.  The Red Sox still trail the Yankees by 6 games, pending their game in Seattle tonight.

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.

Finally – the Red Sox ended their 5-game losing streak with a big 3-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night at Fenway Park.  Closer Jonathan Papelbon picked up his 25th save of the 2009 MLB schedule, but made it interesting in the 9th inning.  After giving up back-to-back singles to start the 9th inning, Papelbon got Aubrey Huff to popout but walked N Reimold to load the bases with only 1 out.  But Papelbon buckled down, and struck out Luke Scott and Melvin Mora to end the threat and preserve the win for the desperate Red Sox.

Kudos to Brad Penny – maligned as of late for some poor performances, Penny pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing just an unearned run on 5 hits, no walks and 4 K’s.  Penny notched his 7th win of the season, and more importantly helped the Red Sox get back on the winning side of the tracks.  Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima retired each of the 5 batters that they faced in the 7th and 8th innings to get the rock to Papelbon.

Event the Red Sox bats came to life.  Although the run total wasn’t where it should have been, the Red Sox stroked 9 hits and drew 3 walks to give the Red Sox offense plenty of good chances to score.  Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia each had 2 hits, while the bottom of the order produced the runs – J.D. Drew had an RBI and run scored; Mike Lowell had a run scored; and Jason Varitek and Jed Lowrie each had an RBI.

It wasn’t a completely perfect win for the Red Sox, but at this point, we’ll take it.  Jon Lester looks to give the Red Sox a mini 2-game winning streak on Saturday night against the O’s at Fenway.  He has a career 9-0 record against Baltimore and has already notched 2 wins against the O’s in 2009.