7 Red Sox, 6 Twins

The Red Sox eked out this win and I'll take the win here, but Clay Buchholz is the worst. This was the guy that was untradeable? He's completely hittable, walks a lot of people and just overall bad. Luckily for the Red Sox they were facing Liam Hendricks who's even worse than Buchholz. The Sox bats jumped on Hendricks early and often by an RBI knock by Cody Ross and then a 3 run homerun in the 2nd. And then Salty knocked in 2 more in the 3rd and A Gon knocked in pedroia in the 5th.

The 6th inning was tough for Clay as he let up 4 of his 5 runs. Albers, Morales and Padilla all held down the fort getting into the 9th and of course Aceves did his best to blow it by walking a man and letting up a hit, but was able to get the job done with his 4th save of the season.

Red Sox @ Twins Preview

The Red Sox are going for the sweep tonight over the Twins, as Buchholz will try to right the ship against 23-year-old Liam Hendriks. This will be Hendriks first start against Boston in his career, which isn't all that shocking since this is only his 7th career start. He has yet to win a start yet in his young career, but has pitched decently in his 2 starts this year going a total of 11 2/3 innings allowing 5 ERs. Still, this is yet another pitcher that the Twins throw out there that is a righty and not overly impressive. That should mean Boston puts some serious runs on the board again tonight.

This has been a horrid start of the season for Clay Buchholz. He is 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA. He has let up at least 5 ERs in each of his 3 starts. If you want to try to stay positive this is a guy who missed the whole 2nd half of last year, and has had to go against 3 very good offense so far (Yankees, Rays, Tigers), so maybe this is just him shaking off some rust.

It would be really nice to see Buchholz have a night where he goes 6-7 innings allowing no more than 3 runs. Just something to build on, and give the Red Sox a little more confidence that he can turn back into the pitcher he once was.

I think the Red Sox offense is rolling, I think they pitcher they are going against is subpar, and I think the Twins lineup is poor. This will be the last time the Red Sox play the Twins until August, which is too bad.

Red Sox win 9-4
Player of the Game: Ortiz
Game starts at 8:10pm


Sox Lineup:

Mike Aviles SS
Ryan Sweeney RF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
David Ortiz DH
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Jarrod Saltalamacchia C
Cody Ross LF
Marlon Byrd CF

Red Sox 11, Twins 2

The day after Alfredo Aceves gave us all heart attacks and the day before the Bruins play in a Game 7, it was nice of the Sox to provide some low stress entertainment. The Sox scored early and often, Beckett pitched well enough, and the bullpen didn't blow an 8 run lead.

It was another demolition of an opposing pitcher. The Sox have scored 9+ runs five times already this season. They are very good at capitalizing on a struggling opponent. Three fourths of the total runs they've scored have come in those 5 games.

Thrashing the Twins isn't an amazing accomplishment, but you have to start somewhere. And the Sox need wins. Badly.

Ortiz hit his 3rd homer of the season, and knocked in 3 to retake the Red Sox RBI lead with 15. Cody Ross knocked in a run himself and now has 14. Aviles was 4 for 5, Youkilis had a nice 2 for 4, and even Marlon Byrd got in on the fun with a pair of singles.

Beckett was good enough. He gave up a lot of baserunners, but didn't let the Twins put up a crooked number. He got big outs when he needed them.

The Sox go for the sweep tonight as Clay Buchholz faces Australian Liam Hendriks, who is 0-0 but hasn't been bad in his two starts. Buchholz on the other hand... Well, he usually has a slow start to the season.

-The Captain

Red Sox @ Twins Preview

They didn't lose last night, but they certainly didn't make me feel a lot better either. The Red Sox won, and it was Bard getting 2 clutch outs in the 8th inning. It worked beautifully, but there were certainly some problems surrounding it.

Once again, the Red Sox starter was average at best, and Aceves was able to get the save, but it was a very shaky save. On top of that, it is rumored Bard will no longer be pitching till his start on Friday. So we are back to that bullpen that currently has an 8.06 ERA (worst in the MLB).

Lets try to stay positive though. Cody Ross has been a very nice pickup and already has 5 HRs on the year. Ortiz is hitting the cover off the ball, and looks like he is in the best shape of his career. The Red Sox pitcher tonight is Beckett and he has looked very good in his last start going a total of 15 innings allowing only 4 ERs with 8 Ks, and that was against two good lineups in Texas and Tampa Bay. Also, Beckett is 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA against the Twins in his career.

The Red Sox get to face another righty today, which they always seem to do better against. Nick Blackburn is 0-1 with a 5.56 ERA so far this year, but is 2-1 with a 3.21 ERA against the Red Sox in his career (1-0 with a 1.35 ERA in his last four starts versus Boston). Blackburn isn't a great pitcher, this is the kind of guy the Red Sox should light up.

I know it was a stupid moment of the game, but I liked when Bobby V came out to the mound when Aceves let up what everyone thought was going to be a HR in the 9th. He got everyone to just laugh for a second, and I know it probably pissed off some fans, but this team needed to relax a bit. It's been a terrible start to the season, made worse by the way last season ended. Hopefully they can relax and play to their abilities. I think they do tonight, and beat the Twins.

I don't care that Blackburn has owned the Red Sox over his last 4 starts, no reason not to crush this guy tonight.

Red Sox win 8-3
Player of the Game: Ortiz
Game starts at 8:10pm

Red Sox 6, Twins 5

Daniel Bard wants to be a starter. And I can't blame him. But by doing such a good job as a reliever last night, he might have eliminated himself from the rotation.

He inherited a tough situation: a runner on third with 1 out in a 5-5 game. And he worked out of it. Cody Ross homered in the next half inning, and Bard got the win.

I was a little puzzled with Valentine's decision to take Bard out and put Aceves in to pitch the 9th. I know Aceves is the temporary closer, but Bard only threw 11 pitches in the 8th (4 were part of an intentional walk), and he's clearly the best option to pitch the 9th. Taking Bard out and putting Aceves in was tempting fate.

With the Sox struggling, Cody Ross has been somewhat overlooked. He hit homeruns number 4 and 5 of the year. And knocked in 3 runs, giving him a total of 13 RBI. He leads the Sox in both categories. He's also hitting .283. I don't know if this production will last, but the Sox desperately need it at the moment.

Jon Lester looked off, especially going through the Twins' lineup a second time. He allowed 5 runs in 7 innings. And if not for the 3 double plays the Twins grounded into, things might have gotten really messy. I'm not worried, though. He had bad Aprils in 2009 and 2010. And a bad May last year. Give him a few starts to warm up and he'll revert to his usual self.

The Sox needed the win. But there's still lots to work on. Morales looks awful. Aceves is unnerving. The Sox still make inexcusable little mistakes like screwing up a relay from right-field.

Those problems seem more manageable after a win, though.

Beckett faces Nick Blackburn tonight, who struggled in his first start, did well in his second, but hasn't pitched since the 14th.

-The Captain

Red Sox @ Twins Preview

The Red Sox are off to a historically bad start, especially in the pitching department. If there was ever a team to turn it around it against it's the Twins.

Lester is looking to rebound from that horrific start against Texas when he let up 7 runs over 2 innings of work. Before that game he had actually been playing pretty damn well, but he is still 0-2 on the season and that's not going to cut it for the "ace".

Going against Lester is Jason Marquis who has pitched in just one game so far. It was against the Yankees and he let up 4 runs over 5 winnings, but got the win.

If the Red Sox don't win tonight I am really going to lose all faith. Lester is 50 times the pitcher that Marquis is, and the Red Sox lineup puts the Twins the shame. No excuses, no reasons for the Sox to lose this game.

Red Sox win 8-1
Player of the Game: Lester
Game starts at 8pm