Hard to believe, but Rangers pitching held Boston scoreless over the last seven innings to win 5-4 tonight at Fenway.

The Sox jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings, but it was all Rangers after that as Josh Beckett squandered a four-run lead and left after five innings trailing 5-4.

Eric Gagne recorded the save while Ron Mahay, Joaquin Benoit and Akinori Otsuka before him shut down the Sox after their initial success against starter Robinson Tejeda.

Beckett lost for only the second time this season. His ERA rose to 3.38.

From the Portland Sea Dogs:

Clay Buchholz fired five hitless innings for the Sea Dogs but did not figure in the decision (a 3-1 New Hampshire win). Buchholz held the New Hapshire ‘Cats scoreless over five frames on two walks and four strikeouts. The righthander, who leads the Eastern League in strikeouts and ERA, lowered his earned run average to 1.69.

And Theo Epstein was at the game in Portland.

We'll have to get the full explanation after the game, but Julio Lugo was thrown out at third base trying to steal in the bottom of the eighth after he had pinch-run for Dustin Pedroia.

Judging by the reactions of Terry Francona and the Sox bench, didn't appear that they wanted him to run with Kevin Youkilis at the plate, two outs and tying run at second.

Anyway, it was the first time Lugo had been caught stealing this season in 21 attempts.

Funny, the two leading contenders to start the All-Star game for the American League have had poor outings.

Detroit's Justin Verlander was hit around for six runs, allowed five walks over five innings against Minnesota on Friday. Last night, Josh Beckett lasted only five innings, allowing 10 hits and five runs and he will not be around for his 12th win.

He squandered a 4-0 Sox lead and left the game trailing 5-4 after Slammin Sammy Sosa belted a linedrive homer into the Monsters in the fifth inning.

Javier Lopez is on in the sixth.

Rough fourth inning for Josh Beckett. He squandered a 4-0 lead allowing four runs.

The big blow was a two-run double by Brad Wilkerson off the center-field wall scoring two runs. The ball was hit har over Jacoby Ellsbury's head. But the bounce off the wall got by him.

Marlon Byrd and Kenny Lofton also knocked in runs.

Beckett even received a visit from pitching coach John Farrell.

Jacoby Ellsbury had a big, wide smile on his face after he beat out an infield hit for his first major league hit. Ellsbury showed his blazing speed down the line on the ball hit to shortstop.

The Sox retrieved the ball for him. Kevin Youkilis made like he was throwing it into the stands as a joke, before tossing back into the dugout.

The Kid received a standing-o from the appreciative Fenway crowd.

Josh Beckett is going for his 12th win tonight and is already up 4-0 in the third.

Beckett should be selected to the All-Star team tomorrow. He has a great chance of being the game's starting pitcher (with competition from Detroit's Justin Verlander).

My All-Star team will appear in my column in tomorrow's Globe and I do pick Beckett to be the All-Star game starter. Working against him might be Verlander's connection to Jim Leyland, the AL manager, but Beckett should get the nod.

For those of you who were interested in the Julio Lugo story that never made the internet last Sunday, I'm here to provide you with the quotes from Lugo. The shortstop has been mostly silent recently as his slump has grown to 0-for-31, and he has sat out the last two nights in favor of Alex Cora. I talked to Lugo last Friday in San Diego. So here they are...

How are you feeling?

"Just going through a slump. Everybody goes through it, you know. Nothing I can do. I just, right now I just, I've not been lucky that's all."

What have you been trying to do to get out of it?

"Well the only thing I can do is work, which I'm doing. I've been hitting the ball, just haven't been lucky. And there's nothing I can do about that. I've got nine people trying to catch the ball out there. Right now I'm just hitting those people. Nothing I can do. I'm doing whatever I can, trying to contribute in other areas of the game. If my hitting's not working out, what can I do?

Does it bother you?

"You try not to let it. I try to take one game at a time, one at bat at a time. That's how I'm taking it right now. I've been in a situations before, difficult situations before, and I've come out. You try not to let it drain you. You know you go out there one game at a time, one at bat at a time."

Have you ever had a slump like this?

"Not for this long. Really, not for this long. But in the minor leagues I went through a couple of things and last year I started slow, then I picked up. I've always been a slow starter. I know I'm going to come out of this."

How hard is it to start your Red Sox career in this way?

"It's hard because you're trying to come here and make a good impression. Some people don't know you. I feel bad myself because I want the people from Boston to enjoy what I can do. It feels horrible, not to be able to enjoy that, because I know I can bring a lot of excitement to the game, excitement to the team. It's just not working out right now."

Does it help to play more?

"Yeah, I like to grind it out. Play every day. Because one day I know I'm going to be like, 'Hey, I've got it now.'"

Would you rather not get a day off?

"You know what, it is amazing because when I was in Atlanta, felt real good. Then that day off kind of threw me off. It's happened a few times, you know, I feel good and then I get a day off and the next day I feel off again. You've got to play every day. I feel good. I feel good mentally and physically. That's not an excuse. I've got no excuses.

Would you tell Francona not to give you a day off?

"I think [Francona's] just doing the best for me and for the team. If he feels sometimes I should get a day off, he's been there longer than me and I'll take it."

Have you been talking to director of performance enhancement Don Kalkstein?

"I've been talking to everybody. Sometimes that's the problem, when too many people -- and this team there's a lot of people that care about you -- and everybody's calling you and everybody's filling it in and taking opinions. So many people telling you stuff, in your mind you're like, 'Hey, what's going on? Which are you going with?'

"There's a lot of guys here, always trying to help and stuff. Man, it just -- I've been unlucky. In Atlanta I could have gone 5-for-5. Instead of going 5-for-5 I went 0-for-5. I get a hit and the guy [Jason Varitek] gets thrown out on third base, there's nothing else I can do."

J.D. Drew mentioned when he was in his slump he was thinking too much. Has that happened to you?

"It happens. I think that's when you really need to relax more than ever. You think too much, that's one of the biggest problems. You go home and you can't sleep."

How much has that been happening to you?

"Yeah, then you come to the stadium and then your tired."

For how long?

"Two months."

Kenny Lofton can still play.

The 40-year-old center-fielder would make an excellent pickup for a contending team down the stretch. Lofton, after stealing four bases Friday night, has 20 on the season and has been caught only four times.

Starting the game hitting .305, he doubled in the third against Josh Beckett.

The Red Sox have really come out smoking here.

It's 4-0 in the second. Kevin Youkilis has just hit a two-run bomb into the Monsters on a 1-0 pitch from Robinson Tejeda. Alex Cora had started the second with a triple that dd theold dance around the right-field railing. But then, what a horrible debut for Jacoby Ellsbury. What looked like a half-swing on a foul ball, wound up being a fair ball, about a foot-and-a-half out of the box. He was tagged out. Welcome to the bigs kid!

Ellsbury had made his first catch in the top of the second.

After Dustin Pedroia struck out while trying to aim for the fences, Youkilis saed the day.

The Sox had jumped out to a 2-0 first-inning lead off Tejeda, who was wild from the outset. He walked Pedroia and Youkilis in the first and both scored on a David Ortiz single and Mike Lowell's sacrifice fly.

You'll note that Jacoby Ellsbury is making his major league debut tonight. Coco Crisp's sore left thumb is sprained and will need 3-5 days to recuperate so the Sox felt the need for Ellsbury to get his feet wet in the major leagues.

The Sox also placed Joel Pineiro on the disabled list. The Sox reliever was less than enthusiastic about the move.

There's no timetable on how long Ellsbury will stay with the team, but members of the Sox organization anticipate that Ellsbury will go back to Pawtucket at some point and then return in September.

With the Red Sox lineup not exactly clicking pitching and run prevention have become major issues again and Ellsbury will give the Sox good defense in center.

I asked one Sox executive who's faster, Ellsbury or Crisp? evidently it's pretty close. I was told that Double-A pitching prospect Clay Buchholz is faster than both of them.

You'll also note that Julio Lugo is spending another day working on his hitting behind the scenes and not on the stage at Fenway.

Matt Clement, who underwent major shoulder surgery last summer, threw in the bullpen at about 70 percent according to manager Terry Francona, which was pretty impressive.

Here are the lineups:

Boston:

2B-Dustin Pedroia
1B Kevin Youklis
DH-David Ortiz
LF Manny Ramirez
RF J.D. Drew
3B Mike Lowell
C Jason Varitek
SS Alex Cora
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
SP Josh Beckett

Texas:
CF Kenny Lofton
2B Jerry Hairston
SS Michael Young
DH Sammy Sosa
LF Frank Catalanotto
RF Marlon Byrd
C Gerald Laird
3B Ramon Vazquez
SP Robinson Tejeda

The Red Sox have called up outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury from Triple-A Pawtucket for tonight’s game against Texas. Ellsbury is in the lineup against the Rangers, will bat ninth, and will play center field.

To make room for Ellsbury, the Red Sox placed reliever Joel Pineiro on the 15-day disabled list with a sore ankle.

The 23-year-old Ellsbury will wear No. 46 in his major league debut. He combined to hit .323 with 29 stolen bases in 67 games at Double-A Portland and at Pawtucket this year.

What else can the Red Sox do with Julio Lugo?

They invested $36 million into the shortstop for four years, it’s late June, and he’s hitting below the Mendoza Line. Do they bench him? Rest him? Ride it out? Give him the most extensive video work and instruction possible?

Manager Terry Francona chose to sit Lugo last night but offered no timetable as to when he’ll be back in the lineup. Lugo, in an 0-for-31 skid, spent the afternoon working with hitting coach Dave Magadan. Alex Cora played shortstop against the Rangers.

Lugo, who is hitting .190, wasn’t interested in talking about his woes before the game.

‘‘I do know when a guy is really struggling that a game or two off isn’t the worst thing in the world,’’ Francona said. ‘‘Coming off an offday and working with Mags ..... sitting a guy for a day or two isn’t giving up on him. We did it with J.D. [Drew] in Oakland, and I think it helped J.D. We’re doing the same thing here. Let him work on some things, watch the game, and maybe come in and help us win late or something like that.’’

The Sox are in good position to try some alternatives with Lugo, owning a big lead in the American League East and a suitable replacement in Cora.

‘‘Again, we’re in this for the long term,’’ Francona said. ‘‘We don’t want to necessarily run from him; that’s not going to help. So you have to balance long term and short term and try to do the best with the entire situation.’’

Francona is excellent at calming players in turmoil. He did it with Drew and Coco Crisp. He’s done it in past years with Kevin Millar and Mark Bellhorn.

Asked how much he talks to Lugo, who hasn’t had a hit since June 14, Francona said, ‘‘If the guy is in the midst of throwing his helmet or something, I’m not going to get into the conversation because I don’t want to get into it. And when we say, ‘have a conversation,’ sometimes Mags is down there by the cage and I’m not going to jump in because I’ll just get in the way. Too many voices aren’t good. Mags can handle that area. They know what they need to do. They just have to go out there and do it and carry it over into a game.’’

Left unexplained was the scene captured by NESN late in Wednesday’s game against Seattle, when Lugo was pinch hit for by Cora and was seen slamming his bat, throwing his batting gloves, and looking down the bench toward Francona.

‘‘I actually told him before he came up what we were going to do,’’ Francona said. ‘‘I really didn’t see the display. There wasn’t much of a display from where I was sitting. There’s a lot of times that happens. You’d probably see it more if we invited you down, but you’re not invited. Guys are competing. So I understand. That’s the way it goes. I’d tell them to do it more if it got us runs. There are different mentalities and temperaments for everybody. But it wouldn’t affect the way I managed a ballgame.’’

Lugo has shown some positive qualities. He’s 20 for 20 in stolen base attempts and hasn’t been caught since October, and has only nine errors in 71 games.

Crisp rests

Crisp had a night off for precautionary reasons. He bruised his left thumb diving for a ball Wednesday. ‘‘I feel fine,’’ he said. ‘‘They’re just giving me the extra day, which I appreciate.’’ Crisp’s average is up to .262 and he’s hitting .368 his last 18 games. The man he replaced, Johnny Damon, was hitting .250 with 5 homers and 26 RBIs with the Yankees. Crisp has four homers and 22 RBIs. Crisp has played 122 straight errorless games, and his only error with the Sox came July 21, 2006. He has handled 215 chances in 2007, second among major league outfielders behind Ichiro Suzuki’s 231 ..... The Sox signed fourth-round pick Brock Huntzinger, a righthanded pitcher from Pendleton Heights (Ind.) High. They also signed outfielder Kade Keowen, a ninth-round selection from Louisiana State University-Eunice. Huntzinger is heading to the Gulf Coast team in Fort Myers, Fla., while Keowen is going to Single A Lowell.

Lowell improving

Mike Lowell said his wrist injury is improving steadily. The third baseman could be chosen as Alex Rodriguez’s backup for the All-Star Game, but hasn’t thought much about it. ‘‘If it happens, that would be great,’’ Lowell said. ‘‘I don’t know much about the process. I know they have to select a player from every team, so I don’t know if that plays into the decision. It would be nice, but if it doesn’t happen, it’s three days off with the family, which is also nice.’’ ..... Reliever Brendan Donnelly was scheduled to throw off flat ground yesterday after throwing off the mound two days ago. ‘‘I think he’s doing pretty well,’’ Francona said. ‘‘He’ll be reevaluated after he throws.’’ Donnelly is eligible to come off the disabled list Monday ..... Matt Clement will throw a bullpen session for pitching coach John Farrell and Francona today. ‘‘After this period of time, it’ll be fun to watch him throw,’’ Francona said. Clement has been rehabbing from shoulder surgery in Fort Myers. If Clement stays on schedule, he could return to the Sox in September ..... Curt Schilling (sore shoulder) is continuing with his program and will be reevaluated by Dr. Thomas Gill Monday. There’s been no change in the plan for Schilling to return after the All-Star break.

If you're the Red Sox you hope your home grown reliever has that defining moment when the light, which has sometimes flickered through his development, finally goes on for good.

That moment when he finally comes of age as a major league reliever.

Did that moment finally come for Boston native Manny Delcarmen last night in the seventh inning?

If it did, the Red Sox, and more specifically Delcarmen, are huge benefactors. With Brendan Donnelly on the disabled list, and Mike Timlin not what he used to be, the Sox, who have been trying to find another strong arm out of the bullpen to support Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon, got a huge lift when Delcarmen struck out Sammy Sosa with the bases loaded in the seventh to preserve a 2-1 lead and eventual win for the Sox over the Texas Rangers last night.

Tim Wakefield had given the Red Sox 6-2/3 innings, allowing one run on seven hits and four walks and left the game with two on and two outs. Delcarmen, throwing 95-97 m.p.h., let it rip but couldn't locate in walking No. 3 batter Michael Young on a 3-2 count. It was almost as if Delcarmen was over-throwing. He started out 2-0 on Sosa before Mike Lowell jogged over from third as if to say, "calm down kid..." That's exactly what Delcarmen did.

While Sosa has likely lost a little bat speed as he's gotten older, there was no question what was coming. It was Delcarmen's best fastball against Sosa's hardest swing. Delcarmen won.

The Sox bullpen excelled after that. Okajima held the fort with a 1-2-3 eighth. Papelbon secured his 19th save in the ninth - though he put two on after he recorded the first two outs - but retired Michael Young (called third strike) with the tying run on second base - and the Sox slipped out of a three-game losing streak with Wakefield cast in the role of stopper.

The Sox offense scored two measly runs on balls that never got out of the infield, one on Wily Mo Pena's infield single in the fourth and the other on a Manny Ramirez fielder's choice on a ground ball the hit off Texas starter Jamey Wright's foot and bounded to third base where David Ortiz was tagged out but after Kevin Youkilis had scored the winning run.

Delcarmen has been up twice this season and he always seems to be the guy who has to go back down to Triple-A when the veteran is ready. Delcarmen, however, has never given the Sox brass a reason to keep him here. Donnelly is eligible to return to the active roster on Monday, though that could be delayed. Delcarmen will again be vulnerable, but the fact he was asked to pitch in a 2-1 game, without question the most crucial point of the game, speaks volumes of how the Sox are beginning to feel about him.

Delcarmen allowed two runs in the fifth inning Tuesday against Seattle, but had pitched four scoreless innings for the Sox prior to that after going 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA at Pawtucket over 20 appearances. He had also thrown 15-2/3 scoreless innings in his last 10 outings at Triple-A.

The Sox took a 2-1 lead on an inning-ending grounder. That's right. Manny Ramirez' grounder up the middle hit off pitcher Jamey Wright, bounced to third baseman Ramon Vazquez, who tagged out David Ortiz for the final out. But Kevin Youkilis had already scored before the out being made. Thus, home plate umpire Andy Fletcher ruled the run counted.

Wright helped matters in the inning by throwing a wild pitch which advanced the runners to second and third with two outs.

Kenny Lofton can still run and can still play.

The 40-year-old Ranger has reached base three times tonight so far, has stolen two bases with two hits and a walk. Lofton had not stolen a base in 25 games, but is now 18-for-22 on the season. His fifth-inning steal gave him 617 for his career and is now 16th all-time ahead of George Davis who played in the National League in the 1880s.

The Rangers were able to to tie it 1-1 in the fifth as Jerry Hairston's sac fly scored catcher Adam Melhuse, who started the inning with a double to right.

Wily Mo Pena's infield single to the shortstop hole has given Boston a 1-0 lead scoring Manny Ramirez with the first run in the fourth inning.

Manny had reached base when he leaned into a Jamey Wright breaking ball, hitting him off the left shoulder. J.D. Drew then collected an opposite-field double sending Manny to third. After Mike Lowell's ground ball out to third failed to get Manny in, Pena reached base on a ball that shortstop Michael Young fielded, but elected not to make a throw.

Alex Cora, playing for Julio Lugo, grounded into a double play to end the inning. The Sox are up 1-0 as Tim Wakefield enters his fifth inning of work. He's allowed six hits so far including a leadoff double down the right field line in the fifth.

Matt Clement is here and will throw a bullpen side session for pitching coach John Farrell and manager Terry Francona today.

Clement has had a long road back from major shoulder surgery an d has spent much of his time in Florida rehabbing the shoulder. He's stuck to a very strict schedule and has had hardly any setbacks. The Sox are still hoping for a September return to the mound for Clement, who is in the final season of his contract.

It's a great night here weather-wise. Game time temperature was 71 degrees. Interesting pre-game with a race car driving around the foul territory around the ballpark with the Sox celebrating the Rousch Fenway Racing marriage.

I expected Mike Greenwell to pop out, but I guess he wasn't available.

It's 0-0 in the bottom of the third as I write this. David Ortiz has just hit a deep fly to center for the final out, stranding Dustin Pedroia at second base. Pedroia had reached on a double to right after right-fielder Marlon Byrd attempted a shoe-string catch and had the ball get by him.

You've noticed I'm sure that Julio Lugo is not in the lineup and resting and hoping to remedy his 0-for-31 slump. He spent the pre-game working with hitting coach Dave Magadan. Terry Francona said it wouldn't hurt for a player in a slump to spend a day or two on the pine, but that by no means have the Red Sox given up on him.

Francona said the team was in it for the long haul with Lugo. Truer words were never spoken - four years, $36 million. Alex Cora took his spot. Coco Crisp was also out of the lineup to give him one more day to recover from the left thumb bruise he suffered while attempting a diving catch over the weekend in Seattle.

The Red Sox are back at Fenway to face the Rangers tonight, and Coco Crisp, who jammed his thumb in Seattle on Wednesday, and Julio Lugo, who is in the midst of a horrific slump at the plate, are both out of the starting lineup tonight.

Tonight's Sox lineup:

1. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
2. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. J.D. Drew, RF
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Wily Mo Pena, CF
8. Alex Cora, SS
9. Doug Mirabelli, C
-- Tim Wakefield, SP

Today we relaunch “The Sox I Know”, a periodic audio slideshow feature on key members of the Red Sox. It’s being narrated this season by the Globe’s Amalie Benjamin.

We tackled Daisuke Matsuzaka and Mike Lowell for this first installment. Check back in mid-July for our next profile.

Just wanted to give a heads up that our "The Red Sox I Know" audio slideshow feature will be returning to these pages on Friday afternoon after a long hiatus.

Last year, the Globe's Bob Ryan shared his thoughts on members of the team. This season, Amalie Benjamin will lend her Sox expertise to the feature.

Check out last year's "The Red Sox I Know."

That's all, folks.

The Red Sox have been swept in their three-game set here in Seattle, with the final loss coming in 11 innings when Joel Pineiro allowed a double to Jose Lopez that scored Ichiro Suzuki from first base for the 2-1 score.

The Sox have a day off tomorrow to rest and recharge from their long road trip through Atlanta, San Diego, and Seattle, before facing the Rangers at home for four games starting on Friday.

Terry Francona said, after the game, that Pineiro was fine to go, despite the injured ankle that he sustained on Monday. Had he not been, the manager said he would not have been allowed to pitch. Pineiro said there was still pain in the ankle when he went out to the mound, but that it wasn't a factor.

Thanks for all the questions, guys. Sorry I didn't get a chance to answer more of them. We'll be back on the blog in force from Boston.

Until then, don't panic too much. (Yes, I know you, Boston fans...)

Alex Cora has come in to replace Julio Lugo with one out in the top of the 11th inning with Jason Varitek on first base.

This is a departure from Terry Francona's decison, in the eighth, to let Lugo hit for himself with men on first and second. In that at bat, Lugo worked the count to 3-0 before striking out swinging to end the inning.

With two strikeouts, of Jose Guillen and Adrian Beltre, Jonathan Papelbon got the Red Sox to the 11th inning. (He also got a fly to left field from Yuniesky Betancourt on the first pitch to him.)

It's the bottom of the order up in the 11th.

Five pitches, two outs, extra innings.

Though Hideki Okajima had put the Sox in a tough spot, with a single leading off the ninth from Ichiro Suzuki, a sacrifice bunt by Jose Lopez, and a single by Jose Vidro that left two on (first and third) with just one out, they were rescued by Jonathan Papelbon

It took just one pitch to pop up Richie Sexson in foul territory on the first base side, then four more strikes to get Ben Broussard to send a pitch to Dustin Pedroia for the third out of the inning.

Still 1-1, heading to the top of the 10th.

Pretty good, huh?

Could Julio Lugo be going any worse right now?

From a 3-0 count with two outs and runners on first and second (J.D. Drew was walked intentionally) to a swinging strikeout for Lugo's 31st consecutive at bat without a hit. Not exactly what the team was looking for. After it was over, Lugo flipped his bat up the third base line, and dropped his helmet and batting gloves at the plate. He walked calmly (at least outwardly) into the infield.

Julio Lugo's sacrifice bunt didn't get him a hit, but it did help get the Red Sox a run. With J.D. Drew on first on a single to right field, Lugo put down a bunt that looked immediately like it would result in something happening -- and it did.

Pitcher Sean Green made a poor throw to first that resulted in an error on him, Lugo reaching, and Drew moving to third. Drew, hitting for Wily Mo Pena, then scored on a sacrifice fly to centerfield that had Ichiro Suzuki running quite a long way to pick it up.

That ground ball out that David Ortiz made, second to first, to end the fifth inning with the bases loaded was the first ground ball out of the game off Ryan Feierabend. Before that pitch (on a 3-2 count), everything else had been either a strikeout or a fly ball out, most of them smoked.

By the way, that 3-1 pitch to David Ortiz was borderline, but wasn't a ridiculous call by home plate umpire Brian Knight. (Yes, that's the same Brian Knight who got two calls wrong in Saturday night's game against San Diego.)

Deion Branch just got an ovation when his image was shown on the video board in centerfield.

I'm going to guess that was from the Mariners/Seahawks fans, rather than any Sox/Patriots fans who made the trip to Safeco Field.

Just a thought..

Catchers for the Mariners have seemed to have good luck off Daisuke Matsuzaka. First Kenji Johjima, now Jamie Burke.

Burke sent a fly ball to centerfield that was missed by Coco Crisp on a dive. That was followed by a flair to center off the bat of Ichiro Suzuki that scored Burke. All this happened with two outs. It's now 1-0, Seattle.

After Daisuke Matsuzaka was questioned about his decision to start off Ichiro Suzuki with a breaking ball in their last meeting, Matsuzaka went with a fastball this time.

He struck Ichiro out on three pitches.

And, by the way, that out by Manny Ramirez to centerfield just now was a loooong fly ball, caught on a dead run by Ichiro on the warning, with his momentum taking him into the wall. Kevin Youkilis's fly ball to right was caught on the warning track as well.

We had a question about the minor league reporting we do for the Globe. (By the way, I have no idea why I always use "we" instead of "me." Perhaps I'll have to change that.)

Yes, it's quite a job to make sure I'm up on the minor league happenings while on the road with the major league club, but it's also a great way to be prepared to report on them once they make it up to Boston. The Red Sox PR staff gives us reporters a roundup of the day before each day at the park, but sites like milb.com give me a chance to check on the day's performances. There are certain guys -- the Buchholzes, the Bowdens, the Ellsburys, the Lowries -- who I try to keep up with on a daily or near-daily basis.

But I also want to make sure that I'm not ignoring the guys a little lower in the system, even guys who might not eventually make the club but are making a name for themselves in some way. If there's someone you think I'm missing, feel free to send me an email.

I've been to see half of the six Red Sox farm teams in person so far, and I'm hoping I'll end up at virtually all before the season's up.

By the way, some of the questions I've gotten are ones even I don't have an answer to, but I'll try to check them out and present my reporting at a later date.

I've gotten a few questions about Julio Lugo, and his ongoing struggles at the plate.

From what we've seen and been told, this is nothing more than an absolutely epic slump. He had that game in Atlanta where he easily could have had four hits instead of yet another 0-fer. But sometimes it just goes like that for a player. Terry Francona said he was at the park at 9 a.m. this morning, trying to figure out a solution. Lugo is working hard to get things down to their simplest form, before trying to get more technical.

In baseball, you never know what's going to finally get a hitter started. One slump -- even one as bad as this one -- does not mean a guy can't hit. That's something that needs to be remembered.

For those who missed it, I had a story about Lugo in some of the early editions of Sunday's paper, though it didn't end up online. In it Lugo said he has had trouble sleeping for the past two months because the problems have been weighing on him so much. That can't help, either.

OK, it's not earth-shattering.

But I'd thought some of you would like to know that outfielder Brandon Moss and pitchers Craig Breslow and Travis Hughes have been selected to the International League All-Star team.

We had a question about Coco Crisp and the leadoff spot, whether his emergence will give Terry Francona a chance to move J.D. Drew back up to fifth in the order.

I think Crisp's hot streak is nothing but good for the Red Sox (well, obviously). With Julio Lugo's epic struggles, and demotion to the bottom of the order, I think Francona would love to have Crisp force himself back into that leadoff spot. Moving Drew back down in the order would allow the team to break up the righty-heavy middle of the order (Ramirez, Youkilis, Lowell), which would help with matchups.

Before the game starts -- and while I'm busy writing this week's minor league notebook -- I'd be happy to take some questions. I won't get a chance to get to too many, but feel free to ask anything.

Meanwhile, Joel Pineiro probably won't be available today, though Terry Francona said, he's trying his best. He said he thought the ankle was pretty puffy this morning, after Pineiro was injured by stepping on Eric Hinske's heel on Monday during the mobility, stretching drills they do before games.

We've got an update on Big Schill for you, as well.

"Basically the program stays what it is and he will be reevaluated on Monday at home, with the hope that things are progressing to the point where he can throw," manager Terry Francona said. "He can throw now, but I think they want him to reach certain levels with testing. All the things we said the other day remain true. We want him to be able to finish the season being a consistent, good pitcher. That's why we're trying to use good judgment."

This means that Schilling will be out through the All-Star break, but should be back after it's over.

J.D. Drew is out of the lineup today to give him a rest, and to give Wily Mo Pena a shot in right field. Nothing major there.

Red Sox

1. Coco Crisp, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Wily Mo Pena, RF
9. Julio Lugo, SS

SP - Daisuke Matsuzaka

Mariners

1. Ichiro Suzuki, CF
2. Jose Lopez, 2B
3. Jose Vidro, DH
4. Richie Sexson, 1B
5. Ben Broussard, LF
6. Jose Guillen, RF
7. Adrian Beltre, 3B
8. Yuniesky Betancourt, SS
9. Jamie Burke, C

SP - Ryan Feierabend

Even though Kason Gabbard didn't exactly impress in his second start with the Red Sox this season, Terry Francona said after the game that the slip would not affect Gabbard's stay with the big club. He's going to be filling in for Curt Schilling for the next one to two starts, until Schilling comes back from the disabled list.

Essentially Gabbard's problem was a lack of command. He didn't have it (though he said he felt great in the bullpen) and he wasn't able to get it back. Gabbard also added that he might have been too quick out of the stretch.

That left the team with a long outing from the bullpen and still -- even with King Felix on the mound for Seattle -- managed to stay in the hunt for the win, eventually falling 8-7.

By the way, for those of you wondering where Joel Pineiro was, the reliever had stepped on Eric Hinske's heel yesterday, twisting his ankle. That's why Javier Lopez was in to face Richie Sexson, not exactly the matchup that Francona was looking for, and not one that really favors the Sox.

But it's baseball so, as Julian Tavarez says, there's always tomorrow.

(Yes, tomorrow we should be back blogging in force, since it's a day game. I'll be making updates routinely, as long as my internet holds steady. Cross your fingers. I can't -- I'll be typing.)

That start, 3 1/3 innings, was the shortest for a Red Sox starter since last Sept. 24. Kyle Snyder went three innings in that start against Toronto.

Now that was not an easy inning for Kason Gabbard.

Probably not what he was hoping for upon arriving in Seattle. But Gabbard managed to get that savior of pitchers, the double play, to end the inning. It came with help from Dustin Pedroia, who made a great turn with a quick release, to nab Yuniesky Betancourt.

At one point, during the Jose Guillen at bat, Gabbard had thrown 21 balls and 15 strikes. He threw 43 in the inning

But he's back out for the second. We'll see if he settles down. For now it's 3-1, Seattle.

Manny Ramirez and Julio Lugo sit this one out in the Pacific Northwest. Nothing new there, other than the usual. Ramirez needs a day off -- and Lugo's psyche could use one.

Red Sox

1. Coco Crisp, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
5. J.D. Drew, RF
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Eric Hinske, LF
9. Alex Cora, SS

SP - Kason Gabbard

Mariners

1. Ichiro Suzuki, CF
2. Jose Lopez, 2B
3. Jose Vidro, DH
4. Richie Sexson, 1B
5. Kenji Johjima, C
6. Jose Guillen, RF
7. Adrian Beltre, 3B
8. Yuniesky Betancourt, SS
9. Willie Bloomquist, LF

SP - Felix Hernandez

We're back at Safeco Field for the second day. It's absolutely beautiful today, warmer than yesterday with a nice sun streaming down. Though we're anticipating colder temperatures as the game progresses -- it got quite chilly last night.

For those of you wondering about Mike Timlin's numbers in Seattle, that which I alluded to on the blog last night, here's the story. In 11 1/3 innings pitched in Safeco Field, Timlin is 0-4 with a 10.32 ERA. He has given up 18 hits (seven home runs) and 14 runs (13 earned). Since Safeco Field opened in July of 1999, all statistics date from that point.

We'll be back with lineups, news, and notes from the clubhouse.

Manny Ramirez has been voted an All-Star starter for eight consecutive seasons, but in balloting released by MLB this afternoon, the Sox left fielder has fallen to fourth in balloting, due to a surge in support for Tigers outfielder Magglio Ordonez.

Ordonez, who leads the majors in hitting with a .379 average and is third in RBIs in the AL with 68, now ranks second in the voting, behind only Vladi Guerrero of the Angels, who is batting .327 with 69 RBIs. Third is Ichiro Suzuki, the Mariners' outfielder whose 19-game hitting streak came to an end last night against the Sox but is batting .359, second in the AL to Ordonez.

Manny, who went 0 for 4 last night to fall to .296, does not rank among the top 10 in the traditional hitting categories -- batting average, home runs, and RBIs -- he's 23d in batting average (.296), 25th in HRs (11) and 27th in RBIs (42). He also lags in categories where he has traditionally dominated -- 16th in OBP (on-base percentage), .394 and 17th in SLG (slugging percentage), .487.

Online balloting ends at 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday. You can vote at mlb.com.

Ramirez, who has been an All-Star 10 times, was selected but did not play on three occasions. The reason he gave for passing last season was soreness in his right knee.

Last season, Manny received the most votes of any AL player, 3,101,161. His six All-Star starts as a member of the Red Sox tied him with Yaz for second most in team history, behind only Wade Boggs, who started seven times while with the Sox. Manny is 3 for 9 in All-Star play, including a home run off Roger Clemens in Houston in the 2004 Game.

At the moment, the only Sox player who is leading in the fan balloting for Star starters is David Ortiz, who is well ahead at first base.

Make no mistake, Curt Schilling can't wait to pitch. And he'd like to see Mark Buehrle pitching for the Red Sox, too.

"When you can't take the ball, you're taking up space ... they pay me to pitch," was the message Sox starter Curt Schilling sent to Red Sox Nation this morning from Seattle during his weekly call-in to sports radio WEEI's Dennis and Callahan show.

The Red Sox ace, currently on the disabled list with a sore shoulder, wants to start playing catch as soon as possible in the hope of a quick return to the rotation.

"I am going to throw literally the second that I force them to allow me to," Schilling said. "I'm just biding my time to be able to start playing catch and the hardest part about the disabled is ... one day down without throwing is two days on the back end. And every day that you sit extends the amount of time you're not going to play."

Sox GM Theo Epstein said late last week that Schilling's stint on the DL may be an opportunity for him to rest and strengthen so he could return in peak condition in the second half of the season.

Radio host John Dennis asked Schilling this morning if that statement angered him a bit.

"Uhhh ... I don't know. I mean, that's spoken the way people who don't wear a uniform speak. Yeah, it's 'oh, you know give it some rest, it will be to his advantage,' but, I understand the view and the thinking, but again, that's not what I get paid to do. So yeah, it's not consolation or a bright spot for me."

So who decides when Schilling will start to throw again?

"It's a group decision," Schilling said. "I'll have a major say in that because at the end of the day, no matter how much I'm chomping at the bit, I'm not going to lie to them about this. And it does me no good to rush back to make four starts and be back here [on the DL]. So I'll be ready to go into the World Series from a health standpoint the minute I take the mound."

Schilling said he prefers to travel with the team versus rehabbing at home in Massachusetts.

"When you are away from the team, mentally you start to drift away from that game mindset," Schilling said. "And that's as hard to recapture as anything when you're coming back from an injury."

Schilling spoke about the rumors of the Red Sox trying to acquire Mark Buerhle.

"I'm a huge Mark Buerhle fan. Huge Mark Buerhle fan," Schilling said of the 29-year-old White Sox lefthander, who is on the trading block. "He can pitch. He's a competitor. Put him in this rotation and wow, do we look a lot prettier. But, at the same time, I think our rotation is one of our strengths. If we don't get Mark Buerhle I think we'll be fine. If we do, I think we'll be finer."

More from Schilling on the Buehrle rumors:

"It's a business. Theo's job is to put the best 25 possible players he can in a Red Sox uniform. And if Mark Buerhle's out there and can be had, great. But at the same time I understand their opinion of Jacoby Ellsbury, and Bucholz, and Bowden, and those guys and know that 99 percent of what I read is crap and not true, so, you don't bring Mark Buerhle in here giving one of those players up for three months."

Schilling also posted a brief update on his blog, 38pitches.com, last night.

It's been a mighty long game -- with a lot of internet disruption -- but it hasn't gone well at all for the Red Sox.

Especially not in this past inning, in which Mike Timlin gave up home runs on consecutive pitches to Kenji Johjima and Adrian Beltre. Probably not what he wanted to you. You might remember that Timlin also had trouble in Seattle on one of the two Northwest trips taken by the Sox last season, giving up a July 23rd homer to Richie Sexson to take the loss in that game.

(Interesting note. Before that July 23rd game, Sexson had been 1-for-16 off Timlin. Since then, with the homer he hit in that game, he's 3-for-3, including a walk tonight.)

Deadlines call, so you'll just get a brief lineup post today.

Red Sox

1. J.D. Drew, RF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Coco Crisp, CF
9. Julio Lugo, SS

SP - Julian Tavarez

Mariners

1. Ichiro Suzuki, CF
2. Jose Lopez, 2B
3. Jose Vidro, DH
4. Richie Sexson, 1B
5. Ben Broussard, RF
6. Kenji Johjima, C
7. Adrian Beltre, 3B
8. Yuniesky Betancourt, SS
9. Willie Bloomquist, LF

SP - Jeff Weaver

More on Dice-K's CD courtesy this press release from the Red Sox media relations department:

The upcoming album "Music From The Mound" from Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka features a compilation of Matsuzaka's favorite and inspirational songs from various American, English and Japanese recording artists. The CD is set to debut in stores on July 17.

The album also features the new original track "Gyro Ball", which includes guest performances from former J. Geils harmonica player Magic Dick, former Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt as well as Boston Red Sox television announcers Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy.

A portion of the proceeds from all albums sold, as well as the download of "Gyro Ball", will be donated to the Red Sox Foundation, the official team charity of the Boston Red Sox.

"EMI is very proud to be the vehicle to release this terrific album to Dice-K's many fans across the U.S. and Japan" said EMI Special Markets President Eli Okun. "Dice-K has done a wonderful job putting together an album filled with great selections and diverse music".

"I listen to both Japanese and English/American artists, and I enjoy a wide variety of music, especially Rock, Hip Hop and R&B" said Matsuzaka. "I am excited to share my favorite inspirational songs with everyone in Red Sox nation and beyond. I'm also thrilled to work with the Red Sox Foundation, the official team charity of the Red Sox on this project".

"We are deeply honored by Daisuke's generosity in naming the Red Sox Foundation as the beneficiary of this terrific CD. Now fans can learn another side of this extraordinary talented man through his favorite songs" said Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner. "Funds raised through this CD will help our team charity provide vital health, educational, recreational and social service programs to children in need".

Sponsors of the album include the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, the official visitor marketing organization for the Boston and Cambridge area. The official website for "Music From The Mound" is www.dicekcd.com. Included on the album is the track "The Second Coming" featured in the Nike basketball commercials.

We're sitting in the Seattle press box listening to "Gyro Ball," an original track from Daisuke Matsuzaka's new CD.

Yes, he has a CD. No, he does not sing on the album.

Don Orsillo and Jerry Remo appear on the CD, of course.

We'll be back with lineups and news from the clubhouse in a little while. Hold tight.

You know summer has arrived when the Red Sox trade rumors start surfacing. We got our first juicy one over the weekend, with the Chicago Sun-Times reporting that the White Sox were close to trading lefthander Mark Buehrle, and that the Red Sox were in the mix.

Here’s the key part of the story:

"The Atlanta Braves and New York Mets were the leading contenders [for Buehrle] until this weekend, with the Boston Red Sox now becoming the front-runner.

"While [White Sox GM Kenny] Williams wouldn't acknowledge that Saturday, he didn't have to. Allard Baird, the Red Sox' assistant to the general manager, was in town Friday to watch the White Sox loss to the Cubs -- in which Buehrle started -- and reportedly was to be sent out on assignment only when things were about to get serious.

"They're getting serious.

"According to the source, the Red Sox not only want to keep Buehrle away from the New York Yankees and are willing to offer him a contract extension in the five-year range he is seeking, but they have a farm system loaded with players in whom the White Sox are interested.

"Starting pitchers Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden are on the White Sox' radar, as well as speedy outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and shortstop Jed Lowrie."

When asked yesterday if Buehrle -- who has a no-hitter this season and is 4-4 with a 3.39 ERA -- was going to be traded to Boston, Williams replied: "Not today."

What do you think of the possibility of Buehrle coming to Boston? If indeed the price would be any of the Sox prospects listed above, would it be worth it? Do you think this is just posturing on the part of Chicago?

Former Red Sox pitcher and current NESN analyst Dennis Eckersley, for one, doesn’t think Boston would be better off with Buehrle.

"I'm not a big Buerhle guy at all,” Eckersley said this morning in an interview on Boston sports radio station WEEI. “Talk about pitching to contact. Everybody hits him. The only thing good about him is that it doesn't take very long to pitch a game, one way or another. He throws a lot of strikes. I mean not to get on him, lefthanders have always amazed me how they get by. He knows how to pitch obviously, he threw a no-hitter, he's one of the best lefthanders around.

“I just... I'm afraid of him. I'm afraid of him because he throws too many strikes. I just, Fenway Park, I really don't know. You're only renting him for a couple of months, but beyond that, I'm just not a big fan of his because I think he's very hittable ... to me [Kason] Gabbard's like Buerhle, but younger and throws harder."

Speaking of trade rumors, check out The Buzz, our daily roundup of the latest rumblings regarding the Red Sox from news reports across the Internet.

Information from the Red Sox notebook from today's Globe was used in this report.

(Yes, I know this has my byline on it, but I'm just helping Dan out by posting it for him. So here's the news for today...)

By Dan Shaughnessy

The Red Sox today confirmed what the Globe's Gordon Edes reported early Friday and that is that lefty Kason Gabbard will make the start Tuesday in Seattle. Terry Francona reasoned that this might be a 2-3 start asssignment and the Sox didn't want to interrupt the comeback routine of lefty Jon Lester. Francona said the club talked to Lester about the move.

Not much change in the lineup today. Alex Cora is playing second base, batting second, in place of Duston Pedroia. Julio Lugo is batting eighth, lugginig an 0-23 slump into the game. Lugo is 2-3 lifetime againist Jake Peavy. Mike Lowell is 4-8 with two homers. Peavy has given up only one homer and has fanned 110 in 100 innings.

The Red Sox contingent of front office employees will travel to Long Beach after the game for a red-eye flight back to Boston. They arrive Monday morning and are expected to be at work by 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Dice K pitches Wednesday in Seattle. Should be a very big deal. And if he wins, he'll be on pace for a 20-win season.

SAN DIEGO — J. D. Drew and Mike Lowell return to the starting lineup tonight, but Kevin Youkilis will not start against San Diego’s 6-10 righty, Chris Young. Young is a Princeton man and Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, also a Princeton man, said he once delivered a seminar to a group of students, including Young.

Lucchino and Sox owner John Henry were hanging around the Sox dugout during batting practice (David Ortiz used an metal bat during BP for the second straight night).

Lucchino is proudly showing off Petco Park. Henry said he toured the new (under construction) Yankee Stadium and indicated that it is going to be a massive ballpark.

Curt Schilling was back in the clubhouse, filled out his All-Star ballot and blew off the media who wanted to ask him about his shoulder. Curt said he had a ‘‘million things to do.’’ A lot of guys on the disabled list probably say the same thing.

Mike Cameron, batting cleanup for the Padres tonight comes into the game with six consecutive strikeouts against Tim Wakefield.

The Sox watched a lot of the Yankees-Giants game on the clubhouse big screen late in the afternoon.

Both Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew are back in the lineup tonight, with Lowell staying in his usual No. 6 spot and Drew sliding down to hit fifth (from leadoff). Terry Francona said that was because of the void in the lineup with both Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek out today. He said he is comfortable with Drew as his leadoff hitter, though Coco Crisp is manning the spot tonight.

Red Sox

1. Coco Crisp, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, 1B
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. J.D. Drew, RF
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Doug Mirabelli, C
8. Julio Lugo, SS
9. Tim Wakefield, P

Padres

1. Marcus Giles, 2B
2. Jose Cruz, Jr., RF
3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
4. Mike Cameron, CF
5. Josh Bard, C
6. Khalil Greene, SS
7. Terrmel Sledge, LF
8. Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B
9. Chris Young, P

SAN DIEGO — J. D. Drew and Mike Lowell are not in the lineup tonight, but Red Sox manager Terry Francona indicated both would probably be ready to play tomorrow. Meanwhile, Curt Schilling worked out today (non-throwing workout) in Boston and was en route to San Diego Friday afternoon. He is expected to be at the park either tonight or tomorrow. The possibility has been raised that Schilling might be shut down through the All Star break, but the Sox aren’t committing to that. Francona would not say who’d be making the start for the Sox on Tuesday. The manager did not want to discuss specifics regarding Jon Lester’s eventual return. The Globe’s Gordon Edes has reported that Kason Gabbard will get the Tuesday start.

The Sox are wearing their 1980s retro jerseys tonight and the Padres have scheduled an '80s theme concert after the game. Theo Epstein complimented me on my 1980s hairstyle and thanked me for going along with the theme of the night.

SAN DIEGO — Terrry Francona has already put together his lineup and J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell are on the bench for the start of tonight’s game against Greg Maddux and the Padres. Drew pulled up lame hitting a double Wednesday in Atlanta and Lowell has a strained ligament in his left thumb.

The Red Sox lineup:

Coco Crisp, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, 1B
Manny Ramierz, LF
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
Jason Varitek, C
Wily Mo Pena, RF
Julio Lugo, SS
Daisuke Matsuzaka, P

Padres:

Marcus Giles, 2B
Jose Cruz, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Mike Cameron, CF
Michael Barrett, C
Khalil Greene, SS
Russell Branyan, LF
Kevin Kouzamanoff, 3B
Greg Maddux, P

In other news, the weather is predictably perfect. This is only the second time the Sox have played the Padres in San Diego. They took two of three at Qualcomm Stadium in 2002.

Murphy is batting .283 with 5 home runs and 34 RBIs with the PawSox. In his last nine games, he is batting .306 (11 for 36) with two doubles and two RBIs.

Gabbard won when called up last May 20, beating Atlanta at Fenway Park. The lefthander gave up two runs in six innings while striking out seven.

In Pawtucket, he is 7-2 with a 3.24 ERA. He has not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his last four starts. In 25 innings, he has given up eight runs, an ERA of 2.88.

Outfielder David Murphy will be added to the Red Sox roster when they officially place Curt Schilling on the 15-day disabled list later today. Murphy will be available to play tonight against the Padres and for the rest of the weekend series, and could accompany the club to Seattle for the first game there against the Mariners Monday night.

The Sox have settled on lefthander Kason Gabbard to take Schilling's spot in the rotation on Tuesday, a source said.

Tuesday is also Jon Lester's scheduled day to pitch for Triple-A Pawtucket.

A hilarious short film that depicts a 95-year-old Roger Clemens seeking a contract from the Yankees in the year 2057 has racked up thousands of downloads on the Internet over the last week.

Ever since Boston Dirt Dogs dug up the video last week, which was created by a Massachusetts native named Michael Barber, it’s been on top of Boston.com’s most-e-mailed list, having been clicked by our readers close to 150,000 times and been e-mailed nearly 4,000 times.

On Thursday, the short film picked up a new fan: Roger Clemens.

According to a Newark Star-Ledger blog, Clemens -- along with Yankees manager Joe Torre and team coaches -- gathered in an office at Coors Field and watched the video on Thursday before the Rocket's start against the Rockies. They all laughed at it, including Clemens, the Ledger reported.

Just in case you’ve been hiding in a cave over the last week and haven’t seen the film yet, or if you’ve already watched it 10 times and want another hearty laugh, here it is:

A couple of future Sox hopefuls are heading to San Francisco for the All-Star festivities. Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and pitcher Clay Buchholz will represent the Sox in the 2007 XM All-Star Futures Game, the team announced today.

Ellsbury and Buchholz were selected to the United States team, which will face the World team in a seven-inning game on Sunday, July 8 as part of the All-Star activities at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Ellsbury is hitting .279 with seven RBIs and 19 stolen bases in 41 games for the Pawtucket Red Sox. Ellsbury opened the season at Portland and batted .452 with 13 RBI in 17 games and was called up to the PawSox in April.

Buchholz is currently 5-2 with a 1.82 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 74 innings over 13 starts for the Double-A Portland Seadogs. He has the Eastern League’s lowest ERA among qualifiers and leads the league in strikeouts.

Material from a Red Sox press release was used in this report.

According to a report on ESPN.com, Joe Girardi has turned down an offer to become manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

His agent, Steve Mandel, reportedly told ESPN of Girardi’s decision today.

Girardi interviewed with the Orioles on Tuesday after the team fired skipper Sam Perlozzo on Monday with the team mired in a losing streak.

ATLANTA - Julian Tavarez is out after seven innings, allowing only three hits in a very good performance tonight.

The Sox stroked five homers - J.D. Drew (solo), Coco Crisp (three-run), David Ortiz (two-run), Manny Ramirez (solo) and Eric Hinske (two-run) to give the Sox an 11-0 lead in the eighth.

Hinske's came in the eighth.

Ramirez and Ortiz have homered in the same game twice this season and 44 times overall.

ATLANTA - Manny Ramirez has stroked his 11th home run in the seventh to the oppposite field against side-armer Peter Moylan.

The Sox lead it 8-0.

Ramirez is 3-for-4 and is currently hitting .300. It's the first time this season he's reacjed the .300 mark.

ATLANTA - It's still 7-0 as we enter the bottom of the sixth.

Julian Tavarez is pitching very well. He's picked up where Josh Beckett left off last night and has put the Sox in position to win another series. Let's see how long Julian can go.

ATLANTA - Buddy Carlyle has already issed two intentional walks in this game, one to Jason Varitek in the first inning, a prelude to Coco Crisp's three-run homer, and one to David Ortiz in the fourth inning (in a 7-0 game) with Wily Mo Pena at second base to pitch to Manny Ramirez.

Ramirez fouled out to first base.

Carlyle has just walked Kevin Youkilis and Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell has yanked him from the game.

ATLANTA - J.D. Drew left tonight's Braves-Sox game with tightness in his right quad muscle. He's day-to-day. It seemed like a precautionary measure. Up 7-0, why not give him the rest of the night off?

ATLANTA - Interesting development.

J.D. Drew has been replaced in right field by Wily Mo Pena.

Drew homered and doubled in his first two AB's.

Don't know if this is because of an injury or because they're resting Drew early up 7-0 in the second inning.

The Sox have not made an announcemnet yet. We'll get it to you as soon as they do.

ATLANTA - Ok, now I'm feeling a litle bid bad for Buddy Carlyle.

David Ortiz has homered, a blast, to right-field with J.D. Drew (double) aboard in the second inning. Manny Ramirez has just singled.

It's 7-0 Sox. Is the Mercy Rule in affect yet?

Concerned about his pitching, Reds right-hander Bronson Arroyo has canceled his second annual Perfect Pitch charity concert scheduled for Sunday, July 1 at the Madison Theater in Covington, Kentucky.
Arroyo, who is 2-8 with a 5.24 ERA said in a statement “The timing isn’t good right now. My body is a little banged up, and I’m trying to help us win baseball games.” The good news is fans who purchased tickets to the Perfect Pitch concert will receive a full refund and 2 tickets to a 2007 Reds home game

ATLANTA - Buddy Carlyle!

The Red Sox are hoping his room servie fastball's continue for a while longer.

Coco Crisp has just capped off a five-run first inning with a three-run blast to right. His fourth homer. Coco loves Atlanta. He's hit three dingers in this series. He's played great defense.

The Sox also got a leadoff homer by J.D. Drew and Manny Ramirez also drove in a run with a double, his 40th RBI.

It's 5-zip Sox.

ATLANTA - The first inning isn't over yet. After J.D. Drew's homer, Manny Ramirez has doubled into the left-center field gap driving in Dustin Pedroia, who doubled.

So far, Braves hurler Buddy Carlyle has not been dazzling.

ATLANTA - There's something about familiarity with J.D. Drew.

He knocked in seven runs in the National League ballpark in Phoenix (Chase Field) a couple of weeks ago and tonight, the former Braves right fielder has led off the game with a home run off Braves starter Buddy Carlyle.

ATLANTA - Former Sox lefty J.C. Romero has cleared waivers and is now free to sign with any team.

Among those teams who could be interested include the Yankees, White Sox, Phillies and Cardinals.

ATLANTA - The Tigers and Braves swapped lefty relievers today.

The Braves traded lefty Macay McBride to Detroit for former Red Sox farmhand Wilfredo Ledezma.

Ledezma was 3-1 with a 4.79 ERA in 23 relief appearances for the Tigers. He went 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in four post-season games in 2006.

McBride was 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in 18 games. He struck out 17 and walked 15.

ATLANTA - Terry Francona had a chat with Mike Lowell about his sore thumb and decided he would rest him again tonight. With the off-day tomorrow, Lowell should be ready to go Friday in San Diego.

Francona said it crossed his mind to keep Alex Cora in the lineup at shortstop but in the end he said, "the best way for us to win is Lugo has to get hot. It's so easy to look at the little picture. But I have to look at the big picture."

Here's the lineup:

BOSTON
RF J.D. Drew
2B Dustin Pedroia
1B David Ortiz
LF Manny Ramirez
3B Kevin Youkilis
C Jason Varitek
CF Coco Crisp
SS Julo Lugo
P Julian Tavarez

Atlanta:
2B Kelly Johnson
CF Willie Harris
SS Edgar Renteria
3B Chipper Jones
C Brian McCann
RF Jeff Francouer
LF Matt Diaz
1B Scott Thorman
SP Buddy Carlyle

ATLANTA - In a long and thorough conference call this afternoon the Sox brass decided, with Curt Schilling's blessing, to have the 40-year-old right-hander go on the disabled list.

The move will be made officially on Friday. According to Terry Francona, because tonight's game vs. Atlanta is the final game of the series and because tomorrow is an off-day, the Sox will likely back-date Schilling's 15 days to his last start.

In the meantime, the Sox will use Josh Beckett Sunday in San Diego and Julian Tavarez Monday. The Sox will then need a pitcher for Tuesday, and that could be either someone from Pawtucket (Jon Lester?) or it could be someone from within.

Francona would not describe exactly what Schilling had, though the Sox are referring to it as a sore arm while Schilling has called it tendinitis. The manager reiterated that Schilling would join the team in San Diego over the weekend after he was examined by Dr. Thomas Gill on Friday.

In the meantime, he's going to rest the shoulder and then join the team so the Sox trainers can work on healing his sore shoulder.

The most important thing is for the Sox to get Schilling back on track so he can be a factor the second half of the season and into the playoffs. Schilling is one of the best post-season pitchers in history which is a main reason he's on the team and would be a big reason to re-sign him next season.

Francona reiterated that nothing had changed on Schilling's MRI which means there are no structural concerns.

ATLANTA -- The Red Sox announced this afternoon that Curt Schilling will be put on the 15-day disabled list, and that Josh Beckett will move up in the rotation to pitch Sunday (he'll have his normal rest).

Schilling, who had an MRI on his pitching shoulder yesterday that turned up normal, said this morning in a radio interview on WEEI that he received a cortisone shot yesterday. He also said he thought "a little touch of tendinitis" was contributing to his problems.

"We got injected yesterday and there's a period of time here we have to let it sink in, cool down, and then we go,” Schilling said. "I'm not exactly sure what day that is. I haven't heard from the doctors yet but I'm guessing it's Friday or Saturday. And then we go from there."

Read more of Schilling's comments from this morning here.

Julian Tavarez will pitch Monday in Seattle. A TBA in the rotation would come up Tuesday in Seattle. That happens to be Jon Lester's day to pitch as well.

More news on this matter coming soon.

Jon Lester's scheduled start for Pawtucket is over. He threw 92 pitches over five innings (47 for strikes), and struck out three while giving up three runs on five hits and four walks. Pawtucket is currently tied with the Indianapolis Indians 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh.

ATLANTA - The Sox have announced that Josh Beckett will pitch Sunday against San Diego, taking Curt Schilling's spot in the rotation.

It would be Beckett's normal day of rest.

Julian Tavarez will pitch Monday in Seattle. A TBA in the rotation would come up Tuesday in Seattle. That happens to be Jon Lester's day to pitch as well.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona, in his weekly appearance on Boston sports radio WEEI's Dale and Holley show, this afternoon did not say whether Schilling would miss his scheduled start on Sunday in San Diego.

"The MRI came back which was really good news,” Francona said on WEEI. "Now he’s not going to pick up a ball for a couple of days. He’ll go back and be examined by [Red Sox team physician Dr. Thomas Gill] Friday, before joining us out in San Diego. Now what happens after that, will obviously depend on the re-examination on Friday.

"But I will tell you this up front, we’re gonna err on the side of caution, this guy can be one of the better pitchers in baseball ... and it’s not fun to be cautious all the time, but we are going to make sure he is OK, and has a chance to be consistent."

When asked by one of the program hosts who would replace Schilling on Sunday, Francona said "you're getting ahead of me. I'm just telling you how we feel about this. We don't, with an offday coming, you're just getting a little ahead of me."

More from Francona on Schilling:

Curt Schilling, who yesterday returned to Boston to undergo an MRI on his pitching shoulder, this morning said he “just has not felt right this year” and thought that making his next scheduled start Sunday was “a long shot at this point.” Later in the day, he was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

“I’m not picking up a baseball until Friday, I would be surprised [to be starting Sunday]," Schilling said in his weekly appearance on Boston sports radio station WEEI’s Dennis and Callahan program. "I’m not sure what’s going on, but I would think that would be a long shot at this point. But I’m not ruling it out, actually mentally I’m trying to stay right and be ready for it, but I’m not sure that that’s probably best case.”

Schilling said the MRI revealed “no structural damage” and that he received a cortisone shot yesterday. He also said he thought "a little touch of tendinitis" was contributing to his problems.

"We got injected yesterday and there's a period of time here we have to let it sink in, cool down, and then we go,” Schilling said on WEEI. "I'm not exactly sure what day that is. I haven't heard from the doctors yet but I'm guessing it's Friday or Saturday. And then we go from there."

Schilling, who sounded optimistic that he would not be on the shelf for long, said his 100-pitch one-hitter in Oakland earlier this month was not a contributing factor in his shoulder discomfort. He said he hasn’t felt right since just before the season.

"This has been going on, on and off, since late spring training, from a feel standpoint, I just have not felt right this year and it’s had an immense amount of influence on the inconsistency that I’ve gone through, and that's the disappointing part,” he said.

The Sox ace spoke more about the struggles he had in his last start in Atlanta on Monday, in which he gave up six runs in 4 1/3 innings, threw just one pitch faster than 90 miles per hour, and looked so bad that he had Chipper Jones wondering whether he was hurt.

"I wasn't discomfort free [pitching in Atlanta]," Schilling said. "Pain is a relative term. There's been a lot of, this year, trying to discern what's because I'm 40, and what's because I don't feel good, that's been kind of what we've tried to do here."

Schilling was asked which was more of a red flag, the fact that he had discomfort or his inability to get his velocity up over 90 m.p.h. in Atlanta.

"Both,” he said. “It's been going on for some time, from a feel standpoint. It's been one of the things that's really kind of made me struggle mentally with the inconsistency, and just trying to figure out what it is, why it is, what's going on. So, trying to right the ship here before it gets any worse."

Schilling talked about the problems he had loosening up in Atlanta.

"My thought is, from what I've heard, I have a little touch of tendinitis that's causing some other things to happen," Schilling said. "No, I don't really think I've ever been at this point before because the other day ... well my last two starts, I'm throwing the ball, and it's obviously hot and muggy out, 80 degrees with Atlanta humidity and I can't throw the ball. I mean, it's almost like firing out of your stance [as a football lineman does] and trying to block a guy without being able to bring your hands up. I mean I had nothing. And it was a tough one."

Schilling has had shoulder problems in the past, undergoing surgery on his labrum and rotator cuff while with the Phillies in 1995. Schilling said the symptoms he felt Monday were similar to those he experienced in ’95, minus the pain.

"The scary part was the similarities in the innings," Schilling said. "When I tore my labrum in 1995, I was throwing the ball 95 m.p.h. one inning, and the next thing I went out and I was throwing the ball 82 m.p.h. and I didn't have any pain until the next day. The other night, that’s exactly what happened. I could not throw the ball. I could not get anything on the baseball. I was throwing the ball 82 m.p.h. and fortunately I didn't wake up the next day with the pain, so there's none of that. That was an eerie similarity that was playing on my head pretty severely there."

When asked if the best case scenario was that he was going through a dead arm, or a little tendinitis, Schilling replied, “Yeah, sure. Best case is I'm pitching on Sunday, but that doesn't seem like that's going to be the case.”

Listen to the full WEEI interview with Schilling here.

(Last updated: 4:40 p.m.)

ATLANTA - It's over here at Turner Field. Before 47,910 of some Braves fans and a lot of Red Sox fans, the Sox have defeated Atlanta 4-0.

Josh Beckett, 10-1 with a 3.14 ERA, went six, but didn't come out for the seventh after a 48-minute rain delay. Kyle Snyder, Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon shut out the Braves over the final three innings.

David Ortiz smacked his 12th homer in the fourth. Dustin Pedroia, Alex Cora and Josh Beckett drove in the other runs.

The game was delayed after the conclusion of the sixth inning for 48 minutes because of rain. The Sox came out with Kyle Snyder in the seventh. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning. He allowed an eighth-inning infield hit before Okajima came on and got out of a two-on, nobody out jam. Papelbon retired the side in order in the ninth in a non-save situation.

ATLANTA - The amazing story of Hideki Okajima continued last night when he got out of a jam with two on and nobody out by inducing a double-play grounder and a ground out to end the inning.

Okajima had replaced Kyle Snyder who surrendered an infield hit in the eighth. he then walked Matt Diaz, but got shortstop Yunel Escobar, who had replaced Edgar Renteria, to ground into a double play started by Kevin Youkilis at third.

Youkilis had gone into play third base when Eric Hinske pinch-ran for David Ortiz in the eighth.

ATLANTA - After retiring the side in the seventh, Kyle Snyder has been replaced by Hideki Okajima in the eighth after Snyder allowed an infield hit.

Okajima has now appeared in four of the last five games.

The Sox lead 4-0.

ATLANTA - With Curt Schilling already back in Boston with a potential injury, the Sox didn't take any chances with Josh Beckett last night. After a 48-minute rain delay, Beckett was replaced in the top of the 7th with Kyle Snyder leading 4-0.

Beckett threw 88 pitches, but the Sox felt the near hour delay was too long for the right-hander to go back and risk injury.

Beckett also had an RBI double in the game.

ATLANTA - Rain has stopped. Tarp is off. The rain delay lasted 48 minutes. J.D. Drew is leading off in the top of the seventh against Oscar Villarreal. Let's see if Josh Becekett comes back in the bottom of the inning with the Sox up 4-0.

Here's a story by Portland broadcaster Mike Antonellis on the Portland Sea Dogs game.

Knuckleballer Charlie Zink goes the distance.

Norwich, CT – Charlie Zink (6-2) pitched his fourth career complete game, lifting the Portland Sea Dogs (33-31) to a 2-1 win in the series opener against the Defenders at Dodd Stadium. Zink hurled his second career, 9-inning complete game, yielding six hits, one run, two walks and seven strikeouts.

Geno Espineli (5-4) suffered the tough luck loss for Connecticut (26-41), allowing five hits and two runs over eight innings pitched
Zink stranded two runners in the bottom of the ninth inning to secure Portland’s second straight win. With one out, Eugenio Velez reached base on an apparent infield single but was ruled out for stepping out of the batting box before making contact with the pitch. Following the second out, John Bowker doubled, Jake Wald walked but Zink fanned Carlos Sosa to end the game.

The last 9-inning complete game for the Sea Dogs came by Jon Lester on August 1, 2005 vs. New Britain. Zink’s first 9-inning complete game came on June 1, 2003 at Lakeland (pitching with Sarasota).
Portland scored the first run of the night in the fourth inning off Espineli. Jay Johnson and Dusty Brown smacked back-to-back singles and Andrew Pinckney produced a sacrifice fly. The next inning, Jed Lowrie lined a run-scoring single with two outs, scoring Iggy Suarez from second base.

Connecticut scored their lone run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Todd Jennings followed Steve Holm’s double with an RBI two-bagger. The Defenders had six hits off Zink – five were doubles.
The Defenders finished the game 1-for-8 with runners-in-scoring position and dropped to 17-34 against division opponents.
Portland has taken five of eight from Connecticut this season, including three of four at Dodd Stadium.

On Wednesday night, the two teams will play a twinbill starting at 5:35 PM. Portland sends RHP Clay Buchholz and RHP Chris Smith to the hill – Connecticut counters with RHP Nick Pereira and RHP Ben Cox.
Notes…Andrew Pinckney extended his hitting streak to 14-games…Jeff Corsaletti returned to the lineup and went 0-for-4…Iggy Suarez has hit safely in four straight starts…Jay Johnson picked up his 9th multi-hit game.

ATLANTA - The rain is coming down down pretty hard here in the sixth and at 9:37 p.m. the tarp has come on the field.

Umbrellas are up everywhere.

The wind is also kicking up.

ATLANTA - The Sox have padded their lead with a run in the sixth. Alex Cora's sac fly has scored Jason Varitek, making it 4-0. Varitek had hustled out a double to right and Coco Crisp pushed him to third with a hard single to left.

Tom Hudson lasted 5-1/3 innings, nine hits, four runs, one walk and one strike out.

Hudson entered the game 3-8, 6.22 ERA vs. Boston in 11 starts. Just can't pitch against the Sox.

ATLANTA - Coco Crisp continues to make spectacular catches and continues to give manager Terry Francona reason to keep him in the lineup.

Crisp just made a catch that would make Andruw Jones stand up and applaud, an all-out dive for a ball pitcher Tim Hudson hit to the left-center gap, that should have rolled to the wall for a double, at least.

Crisp timed the dive perfectly, came down with the ball, and somehow it stayed in his glove as he hit the ground at full force.

Incredible play.

ATLANTA - If Curt Schilling has to shut it down for a short time while after having an MRI on his right shoulder today, the Sox could go one of two ways.

They could immediately recall Jon Lester and insert him in Schilling's spot, or they could have Josh Beckett pitch in Schilling's scheduled Sunday slot. With the day off it would be Beckett's normal day to pitch.

All of those medical matters - and whether or not he's heading to the DL - were likely being discussed as the game was being played tonight. There could be something more definitive after the game.

ATLANTA - Big Papi took Tim Hudson deep in the fourth, his 12th homer. The Sox lead it 1-0 on what has become a steamy night here.

In the fifth, Josh Beckett has stroked a double in the left-center gap scoring Alex Cora, who tripled to center after the ball got by Andruw Jones on a diving attempt.

Beckett is considered Boston's best hitting pitcher, according to his fellow pitchers. Beckett also tagged up at second and went to third ona J.D. Drew's long fly ball and scored on Dustin Pedroia's single.

It's 3-0 Boston in the fifth.

ATLANTA - We're heading into the fourth in a scoreless game. Josh Beckett put a pair of runners on base in the third, but got out of it. He walked Kelly Johnson and allowed an infield single to Edgar Renteria (why can't we get players like that).

Sox PR man John Blake just told us in the press box that San Diego's Chris Young, who received a 5-game suspension for his brawl with Derrick Lee, is appealing his suspension. Therefore he will be able to pitch Friday against the Sox in San Diego. He'll be opposed by Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Spoke too soon on Renteria. He just made a bad throw on J.D. Drew's grounder. Drew is safe at first. Oh, never mind. Drew was just thrown out stealing.

ATLANTA - "Let's go Red Sox!" chants, which are pretty loud here at Turnr Field, are being booed by the Braves fans.

It's got to be frustrating for the Braves fans to see so many people here in Sox garb. But what's new? We're seeing this scene in a lot of cities across America now.

ATLANTA - The Braves have just taken the field for the start of the game. It's cleared up, though there are still a few dark clouds lingering.

* Took in the beautiful Memorial service in Newton this morning for former colleague Larry Whiteside, who passed away at age 69 last week. After listening to wonderfully moving eulogies from Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson, New York Daily New sports editor Leon Carter and Stanford Law professor and former Bill Clinton staff member Bill Gould, you came away knowing for sure that Whiteside should be in Baseball's Hall of Fame. Whiteside is up for nomination for the J.G. Spinks Award and three finalists will be selected at the All-Star break..

* If Joe Girardi does not accept the job as manager of the Orioles, watch a few guys including Davey Johnson, Don Baylor, Dusty Baker and NESN's Ken Macha. With Andy McPhail taking over as CEO, there are some interesting possibilities for candidates especially given his ties in Chicago and Minnesota...

* With Curt Schilling back to Boston to have his right shoulder examined the Red Sox look good in their decision to hold off on a contract extension. At least that's what a few readers have written tonight responding to a column I wrote after Schilling's one-hitter in which I suggested the Sox add a year right now...

* With the first inning just about over, don't know if it's getting darker because of the time or whether it's about to rain again.

ATLANTA - The tarp is being taken off the field here, though there are still some thunderstorms forecast through the night.

Mike Lowell gets the night off as David Ortiz plays first and Kevin Youkilis is at third. Lowell is nursing that sore thumb, so it's probably a good thing.

Here are the lineups:

Boston:

RF J.D. Drew
2B Dustin Pedroia
1B David Ortiz
LF Manny Ramirez
3B Kevin Youkilis
C Jason Varitek
CF Coco Crisp
SS Alex Cora
SP Josh Beckett

Braves:

2B Kelly Johnson
LF Willie Harris
SS Edgar Renteria
3B Chipper Jones
C Brian McCann
CF Andruw Jones
RF Jeff Francouer
1B Scott Thorman
SP Tim Hudson

Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling left the team and went back to Boston today to meet with Red Sox team doctor Thomas Gill and have a precautionary MRI on his right (pitching) shoulder.

Chipper Jones, Atlanta's All-Star third baseman, wondered last night -- along with a veteran scout who said that was "the worst I've ever seen him throw" -- whether the 40-year-old Red Sox pitcher is injured.

"I think we all expected to see 92, 93 [miles per hour] when he gets in trouble, or even hike it up to 94, 95," Jones said after Schilling was carried out on his shield following a 9-4 beating in which he allowed the Braves six runs on 10 hits in just 4 1/3 innings and failed to strike out a batter for the first time in 14 years (348 starts).

Jones said Schilling, who departed after giving up a three-run home run to catcher Brian McCann, had less velocity than the scouting reports led the Braves to expect. It's no secret, of course, that Schilling doesn't have the fastball of his youth, but in his dotage he had shown the capacity to summon it when most needed.

"The fastball that I saw register the highest was 89, and that was with the bases loaded," Jones said. "Schill always had that innate ability to catch another gear when he needs it, and for me to only see 89 miles an hour tells me, you know, he might be hurt. I don't know."

Schilling didn't explicitly dismiss that suggestion. Asked about his health, he said, "Like I said, it's not any one thing. I struggled, at least the last two starts, it's terrible. I'm better than that. It's frustrating."

(Editor's note -- NESN's Tom Caron provided the following additional information in his blog:)

A Red Sox official told us there were concerns over the lack of velocity in Schilling's performance last night. According to the NESN radar gun, Schilling never hit 90 mph over his 81 pitches last night.

The Red Sox confirmed that he would be undergoing a precautionary MRI and there was no word yet on whether or not he would miss his next start, scheduled for Sunday against Jake Peavy and the San Diego Padres.

The Red Sox public relations staff dug up the following interesting tidbit about Curt Schilling, who has yet to blog about last night's game: It marked the first time in 378 starts (14 years) that he failed to record at least one strikeout in a start, the third-longest strikeout streak of any Major League pitcher in the last 51 years.

Here's the list, provided by the Red Sox in today's media notes packet (Source: Dave Smith, Retrosheet).

High school power pitcher Brock Huntzinger, Boston's third-round draft pick, was signed by the Red Sox over the weekend, according to a report in today's Indianapolis Star.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound right-hander went 7-1 with a 0.29 earned run average and 95 strikeouts in 43 innings for his high school team last season in Indiana.

"He's a strong-armed kid who knows how to pitch with his fastball and he's showing signs of an above-average slider, too," Red Sox director of amateur scouting Jason McLeod told MLB.com on June 7. "For us, we place high standards on high school right-handed pitching. They are a risky proposition in the draft, and he's certainly a kid who meets the criterion for us."

The Red Sox today released the names of several newly signed draft picks, though Huntzinger was not among them. The Sox announced the signings and assignments of the following four players:

Blaine Boyer couldn't throw a strike, so Bobby Cox had to bring in his closer, Bob Wickman. SIX pitchers for a game the Braves led, 6-1, after 5.

A couple of singles, a force play and a wild pitch, and the Sox have their fourth run. Mike Lowell, who is 0 for 4, will face Wickman.

Lowell just grounded to short. Game over. 9-4, Bravos.

Off to the clubhouses we go. Schill won't be happy, but he'll be in front of his locker to answer questions. If he isn't, I'll be shocked.

Sox PR maven John Blake said the team's media guide incorrectly stated Coco had hit two home runs four times previously. This was a first, Blake said.

We'll take him at his word. (But if you feel like double-checking, feel free)

JD Drew also has homered, but with Tyler Yates blowing away Manny with 98 mph gas, it's still 6-3, Braves, bottom of 7.

I've got to write a first-edition gamer, so the blogging is going to get a little sparse. If the Sox rally, I'll keep you posted.

The blog might be slow in coming tonight. Schill didn't make it out of the fifth. Singles by Edgar Renteria and Chipper Jones were followed by a three-run home run by Brian McCann. 6-1, Braves, Terry Francona came out and got Schill.

How's this for a stunner: Curt Schilling had gone 348 straight starts in which he'd whiffed at least one guy. That streak, which dates back to July 1, '93, just came to an end.

And imagine: Coco just went deep, again. He's 3 for 3: homer, single, homer. That's his first 2-homer game since 7/22/06 against the Orioles.

That's it for Cuck James. Pete Moylan, a righty, has just been summoned. Kyle Snyder came in for Schill.

But they're playing on...If the lightning shows up, all bets are off. Wonder how well I can blog from under the counter in the pressbox?

it's 91 and muggy here? That can't be easy on Schill.

Schill escapes, Johnson driving Coco back to the track for his flyball.

Manny may have saved a run by bare-handing James's blooper, forcing McCann to retreat to third.

Braves 3, Sox 1.

Schill's been a huffin' and a puffin' since he rapped his single. The Braves went single, single, RBI double for one run, then after Schill retired Andruw Jones (who is getting booed like JD did in Boston last week) and Francoeur, he intentionally walked Thorman and gave up a bloop hit to Chuck James, his opposite number. Now he's 3 and 1 on Kelly Johnson and this place doesn't sound like Fenway South anymore.

Schill just got an honest-to-goodness base hit, a groundball single up the middle.

As recently as 2003, Schill went 3 for 52 for Arizona. That's an .058 average. He whiffed 21 times.

But Schill, who whiffed his first time tonight, now has 2 hits in his last 4 at-bats for the Sox (1 for 2 last season, too). That's a .500 average.

My friend JC notes that JD might have been just a little casual fielding Scott Thorman's liner, and it may have cost Schill. Instead of coming up throwing, Drew seemed te check first if Thorman was going to second. Might have been different if he'd thrown first, checked later.

Jason Varitek just threw out Willie Harris attempting to steal second. That was just the third base-stealer Varitek has caught in 25 attempts.

Yes, it was the same Willie Hariis who made a cameo appearance for the Sox last season.

The same Willie Harris who not only comes from Jackie Robinson's hometown, Cairo, Ga., but has started channeling Jackie. Harris was batting .382 coming into the game, the sixth highest average in the majors since April 30, and singled and walked his first two trips here.

With the count 3 and 2, Manny Ramirez took a pitch for Ball 4. And waited. And waited. And waited. Until someone finally told him that it was OK for him to go to first base with a walk. That he didn't have to hit anymore.

Sometimes when Dustin Pedroia dives, he actually gets to the ball he's diving after. That seems to be happening more and more often, like the play he just made on Jeff Francoeur, diving to his left, then throwing out Francoeur from one knee.

Pedroia hasn't made an error since April 11. Even Rem has to be impressed by that.

...to your question: How long has it been since Coco went yard?
May 23, 2007 in Yankee Stadium. The pitcher: Kyle Farnsworth

That was his first and only HR until he connected in the second inning here, turning on an 88-mile-an-hour fastball from Chuck James.

In case you're keeping score, that's his second of the season. He'd gone 40 games and 149 at-bats before hitting No. 1.

Still, that's two more home runs more than anyone else named Covelli.

J.C. Romero has been placed on waivers for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release, club spokesman John Blake said today. It makes no sense for a team to claim him at this point; they'd be on the hook to pay the balance of his $1.6 million salary. He'll almost certainly clear waivers by Wednesday; at that point, a team can sign him for the big-league minimum ($380,000) and the Sox are on the hook for the rest.

The Sox cut ties with Romero because Javier Lopez has performed well in the role of second lefty in the pen, with Hideki Okajima. But there's additional insurance in Pawtucket, where Craig Breslow has a 1.83 ERA since the start of May. The former Yalie has 24 K's and 3 walks in 19 2/3 innings in that span.

No Papi tonight; he sits because of the no-DH rule in NL parks.

Here’s tonight’s Sox lineup:

1. J.D. Drew, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Jason Varitek, C
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Coco Crisp, CF
8. Julio Lugo, SS
9. Curt Schilling, P

J.C. Romero has been released by the Red Sox.

The team announced today that the lefthander has been placed on unconditional release waivers.

Romero, who was 1-0 with a 3.15 ERA in 23 relief appearances this season, was designated for assignment on June 9.

The Sox beat the San Francisco Giants 9-5 before 36,137 at Fenway on a beautiful Father's Day here at the ballyard.

Entertaining game which featured Barry Bonds' 748th home run, leaving him 7 short of tying Hank Aaron's all-time record.

The Sox got good hitting throughout their lineup in producing an 11-hit attack. They now embark on a three-city, nine-game road trip to Atlanta, San Diego and Seattle where they will certainly be tested.

Tim Wakefield (7-7) got the win, but he lasted 5-2/3 innings, allowing eight hits, five earned runs, three strikeouts and a walk. He allowed Bonds' homer, becoming the 441st pitcher to allow a long ball. Wakefield and Bonds were teammates in Pittsburgh.

While the boos overtook the cheers, there were many who positively acknowledged Bonds' drive into the Giants bullpen.

Manny Ramirez doubled and homered, both driving in runs. It was Manny's 480th career homer tying him with former Indians teammate Jim Thome for 25th all-time. He also knocked in his 1,555th run, tying him with Willie McCovey for 36th all-time.

David Ortiz produced a pair of ground rule doubles that knocked in runs, while Kevin Youkilis also knocked in a pair of runs with singles.

Nice work in this game by Joel Pineiro, who came on with the bases loaded in the 7th, one out in an 8-5 game after Javier Lopez walked Barry Bonds to load the bases and got Benji Molina to hit into a double play.

Earlier in the day, Brendan Donnelly went on the 15-day disabled list with a forearm strain. He was replaced on the roster by Manny Delcarmen who got a big out in the sixth, standing a runner at third. But in the 7th, he walked the first two batters he faced.

Pineiro started off the ninth and allowed a single to Omar Vizquel which brought Hideki Okajima on to finish the Giants off in the 9th.

There was actually an "Okajima" chant heard in the 9th. Sox fans also booed Julio Lugo who went 0-for-4.

Manny Ramirez, who knocked in Boston's eighth run with a double, had just smashed his 10th homer of the year in the Monster seats off lefty Jonathan Sanchez.

Ramirez tied former Indians teammate Jim Thome for 25th all-time with 480. he also knocked in his 1,555th run, tied for 36th all-time with Willie McCovey.

It's 9-5 Sox.

Not often during the course of a game in the American League does strategy come into play.

But in the seventh with runners at second and third one out, an 8-5 game, Terry Francona had an interesting decision. Put Barry Bonds on and load the bases with the go-ahead run coming to the plate, or go after Bonds? Well, he did a little of both.

He brought in Javier Lopez to replace Manny Delcarmen to face Bonds.

Lopez threw four balls.

Bonds was on and out of the way which brought up Benji Molina.

Francona had no choice to yank Lopez and bring in a righty. Brendan Donnelly went on the DL this morning, Mike Timlin hasn't gotten back into that circle of trust quite yet, and so, Joel Pineiro was summoned.

Molina, as Amalie Benjamin pointed out to me, was hitting only .179 against Pineiro. Proved to be a good move. Molina, a slow, slower, slowest runner, knocked into a double play and the Sox were out of the inning.

Love him or hate him, every time he steps to the plate it's a huge event. In the sixth, Barry Bonds blasted his 748th home run off Tim Wakefield in the Giants bullpen with nobody on base as the Giants pulled to within four runs, 8-4.

The interesting aspect of the homer, his 14th this season, was the fan reaction. While the boos overtook the cheers, there wwas cheering and there were many people clapping for Bonds.

Bonds hit No. 747 last Monday night against Toronto's Josh Towers. Bonds had singled in the second inning and hit a deep fly ball to center in the third.

Wakefield is the 441st pitcher Bonds has homered against and Fenway became the 36th ballpark he has homered in.

Wakefield has left the game in the sixth. He allowed a triple to Nate Schierholtz scoring the fifth Giants run. Manny Delcarmen is on to pitch.

The Sox have erupted for five runs in the third to take a 7-2 lead, but gave one back in the fourth, making it 7-3.

It all started with a J.D. Drew walk and Dustin Pedroia's perfectly place bunt single betwene the pitcher's mound and first base. David Ortiz' ground-rule double scored Drew.

The other runs were driven in by Kevin Youkilis (single), Mike Lowell (double), Doug Mirabelli (single) all drove in runs. Another scored on a Manny Ramirez ground ball out.

Ramirez, by the way, doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry in this game.

He knocked into a double play in the first in which he jogged down the line. On his ground out in the third, Ray Durham made a great diviing stop, but he had to pick himself up and make a throw and still got Ramirez by a step-and-a-half.

Pedro Feliz has just blistered a home run out of the ballpark in the fourth on a 3-2 pitch. It's 7-3 Sox in the fourth.

It was this spinning infield hit by Nate Schierholtz down the third base line which the Hartford Courant's Jeff Goldberg appropriatly called a "Lowell spinner" which set off a two-run inning for Giants.

Omar Vizquel doubled him in. After Dave Roberts fanned, Randy Winn singled in the tying run.

It's 2-2. Clouds are rolling in. Please, please, no rain.

A few things:

*Great great seeing San Francisco Giants scout Glenn Tufts. He was the best high school player I ever saw in the Boston area. He was a 1973 first round pick of the Cleveland Indians out of Bridgewater-Raynham High School. Should have been a huge major league star until an untimely car accident ended those dreams.

Tufts was the fifth player selected overall, right in back of Dave Winfield who went No. 4 to San Diego and Robin Yount, who went No. 3 to Milwaukee. Tufts would have been that good.

He played at B-R with right-handed pitcher Rich Dubee, who is currently the pitching coach with the Philadelphia Phillies.

*Dave Roberts has just received another roaring standing ovation to start off the game.

* Mike Port, who is the head of umpires for major league baseball, said that umpire Tony Randazzo made theright decision in running David Ortiz in Friday's game. Port felt Randazzo made every attempt for Ortiz to go back to the dugout quietly, but once the bat and helmet were slammed to the ground he was within his right to toss the slugger.

* Terry Francona said that Brendan Donnelly, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list prior to today's game, felt something in his arm Friday. "He was warming up to come in the game where we extended the lead and he's throwing like he normally does, and felt some tightness in that muscle there in the forearm. Thought he could throw through it and as he progressed it wasn't really feeling as good as he wanted to. (Bullpen coach) Gary tuck shut him down which was real good cause I doubt Donnelly wouldn't have pitched in the game because he likes to pitch and he'll pitch through stuff. We got Pineiro up, got him in the game, wanted to wait and see how Donnelly showed up. Showed up with some soreness and we MRI'd him yesterday and there's some swelling in that muscle. That's the good news. I don't think any of the medical people thought he'd be throwing in a game this week and he hasn't pitched in a game in probably five, six days, so we can back-date him and not hurt him."

* As we pay tribute this week to Larry Whiteside, the former Globe baseball culumnist who passed away this week, I received this E-mail from Randy Hendricks, who is Roger Clemens' agent. Turns out Hendricks and Whiteside came in contact in Kansas City.

"Yes, at the Kansas City Kansan in the early 1960's. John Thompson was the sports editor. He was a very good man. Larry was the assistant sports editor. I was in high school, was sports editor of our high school yearbook and covered high school sports for the Kansan. So I knew Larry well and we crossed paths later, especially when he worked in Boston. We lost a good man," Hendricks wrote.

*It was Jason Varitek's day off because Doug Mirabelli was catching Tim Wakefield. On this day Varitek was preparing some new equipment he'd received. One of the things he was doing was using a lighter to burn off some fraying on a chest protector. Watch your fingers, there Jason!

*Great seeing Mayor Thomas Menino this morning. We discussed where our families come from in Italy. His parents were from Avellino and mine were from Abruzzi. Menino said he hadn't been back for 10 years.

* Yes, that was Kevin Youkilis, whose two-out single off the wall drove in Boston's second run today. That was right after Manny Ramirez knocked into a 4-6-3 double-play.

Boston:

RF J.D. Drew
2B Dustin Pedroia
DH David Ortiz
LF Manny Ramirez
1B Kevin Youkilis
3B Mike Lowell
CF Wily Mo Pena
C Doug Mirabelli
SS Julio Lugo
SP Tim Wakefield

San Francisco:

CF Dave Roberts
LF Randy Winn
2B Ray Durham
DH Barry Bonds
C Benji Molina
1B Ryan Klesko
3B Pedro Feliz
RF Nate Schierholtz
SS Omar Vizquel
SP Matt Morris

Manny Delcarmen has been recalled from Pawtucket. It looks as though Brendan Donnelly has a strained right forearm and will be placed on the DL. We'll have more after Terry Francona's press conference at 11:30 a.m.

Just wanted to relay a quick Father's Day scene happening at the ballpark at this moment. David Ortiz, standing halfway between the mound and home plate, is currently throwing batting practice to son D'Angelo, who mimics his father in just about every way -- except he bats righty. D'Angelo is showing excellent form and hasn't even argued with the umpire once (though that could be because there isn't one).

I, for one, think it's priceless.

On that note, I wanted to send out Father's Day wishes to all the fathers out there, including our own Nick Cafardo, who will be taking over blog duties today.

And, especially, to my own father, the man who brought me to Fenway for the first time and taught me how to score. For giving me baseball and for everything else, Happy Father's Day, Dad.

Enjoy the day, everyone.

It took just one pitch to record the first out (a popup to Dustin Pedroia) as Jonathan Papelbon went on to finish off the Giants and the game on 11 pitches for a 1-0 Red Sox win.

It was Papelbon's 16th save of the season.

Getting out of a jam in the eighth inning, Hideki Okajima kept the score at a tight 1-0. Having walked leadoff hitter Randy Winn, Okajima allowed a single to Ray Durham.

But he struck out Barry Bonds looking, with no argument coming from Bonds. And then he got Bengie Molina to fly to right and pinch hitter Kevin Frandsen to ground into a fielder's choice.

Inning over.

Matt Cain is out.

That's it for Daisuke Matsuzaka.

After 112 pitches, and no runs, his afternoon is over. Matsuzaka allowed just three hits and one hit batter. He walked three.

Hideki Okajima is on to relieve him.

Manny Ramirez homered over the Green Monster, bringing the score to 1-0. As he seems to do with every home run and every RBI, Ramirez keeps moving up the career lists.

The home run was the 479th home run of his career. That's 26th most all-time, one behind Jim Thome. It was also his 44th homer in interleague play, which ties him for second all-time in that category with Carlos Delgado and Ken Griffey, Jr. (Thome is first with 52).

Coco Crisp's double was his first extra base hit in 19 games. His last was a double on May 25, 2007. He went 71 at-bats without an extra base hit.

It's amazing the difference a day can make. Yesterday it was crazy here at Fenway, a true circus, with the arrival of Barry Bonds and Dave Roberts. Fans were jazzed and chanting early.

It's not quite like that today. It just seems more calm, more relaxed. Perhaps that's what happens when the Sox take a 10-2 win over the Giants.

Whatever the reason, it's certainly noticeable.

As promised here is the Giants lineup. Barry Bonds is back at DH.

San Francisco
1. Dave Roberts, CF
2. Randy Winn, LF
3. Ray Durham, 2B
4. Barry Bonds, DH
5. Bengie Molina, C
6. Nate Schierholtz, RF
7. Rich Aurilia, 1B
8. Pedro Feliz, 3B
9. Omar Vizquel, SS

SP -- Matt Cain

J.D. Drew continues his string of games atop the Red Sox order, on the heels of his three-hit game last night. Julio Lugo, meanwhile, gets a rest.

(Giants lineup wasn't out yet.)

Red Sox

1. J.D. Drew, RF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Alex Cora, SS
9. Coco Crisp, CF

SP - Daisuke Matsuzaka

Pretty darn good night for the top two in the Sox order tonight.

J.D. Drew, in a major slump, went 3 for 4 and was hit by a pitch, plus added three runs and three RBI.

Dustin Pedroia, not in a major slump, went 5 for 5 with five RBIs and two runs scored, playing against the team he rooted for as a child.

"I think any 5-for-5's special," Mike Lowell said. "I don't think he's going to do that on a consistent basis, so it's a great night for him. He's very valuable to this team. Being young, a lot of pitchers don't know him, they look at his size and they feel like we can just throw a cookie over there and he can really do some damage."

Coupled with the Yankees' loss to the Mets, the Red Sox are back up to an 8.5 game lead on the Yankees.

It was, no question, a needed win.

It's all over from Fenway Park in a laugher -- something the Red Sox offense could use these days.

With Joel Pineiro finishing off the Giants in the top of the ninth, the Sox took a 10-2 to open the weekend circus. I mean, series.

It appeared that Julian Tavarez might have come up lame on a play in the seventh inning, on which he had to cover first base with Dave Roberts hitting a grounder to Kevin Youkilis.

We're not sure about this. We'll get you an update if there is one.

Between leadoff hitter J.D. Drew (three) and No. 2 Dustin Pedroia (career-high four), the Red Sox have seven hits. They also have seven runs total. That's right, they've scored seven runs only getting hits from their top two batters. Drew has three RBIs and three runs scored.

Yup, he did it again.

With Randy Winn running down the line, Julian Tavarez grabbed the ball while falling over on the base line. Then he rolled the ball to Kevin Youkilis who amazingly scooped it up before Winn reached the bag for the final out of the inning.

Just another normal outing for Tavarez...

Those walks to start an inning will bite you every time.

Or, at least, most of the time.

Barry Zito walked Mike Lowell, got two outs, then walked Julio Lugo. Lugo stole second on a play in which he was virtually picked off by Zito, but made it to second when the throw went to third to get Lowell, who was safe at the bag.

Then J.D. Drew doubled just over centerfielder Dave Roberts's head, scoring two, followed by a single to right by Dustin Pedroia that scored Drew.

It's 6-2, Red Sox, behind Julian Tavarez.

With that fielder's choice, which erased Wily Mo Pena with the bases loaded and no outs, Manny Ramirez got his 1,551st RBI. That moves him past Fred McGriff into 37th place on the all-time list. He's four behind Willie McCovey.

As Ramirez motored into first base, beating the double play throw from second, his pants leg fell down, leaving him with a stork-like appearance. (He's been wearing them old-style, up to show the red, for the past two days.)

David Ortiz has been ejected three times as a member of the Red Sox, the last coming August 19, 2005 at the Angels.

He has been ejected six times overall in his career.

David Ortiz started arguing violently with home plate umpire Tony Randazzo after Randazzo called him out on a third strike. He got out of that OK, making his -- clearly still peeved -- way back to the dugout.

But upon reaching the dugout, Ortiz threw his batting helmet backward onto the field, earning his first ejection of the season.

Now that's the way Terry Francona drew it up.

J.D. Drew took a pitch on the shirtsleeve, just brushing him, and two pitches later Dustin Pedroia homered into the last row of the Monster Seats.

That brings the score to 2-2.

Barry Bonds certainly got the boos as he walked toward home plate for his first at bat in Fenway Park against former teammate Julian Tavarez. Bonds said he was looking forward to seeing Tavarez earlier today. Tavarez said last night that he never spoke to Bonds the entire time they were teammates.

The boos were followed by the "Steroids" chant.

And then it came.

Bonds smashed one to right field that first base umpire Charlie Reliford called foul. Tavarez stood on the mound trying to push it foul with his hand waving, and clearly was granted his wish.

He ended the at-bat by popping to second baseman Dustin Pedroia. That drew a cheer.

He didn't steal second, but Dave Roberts already made it to home plate, when Mark Sweeney lofted a fly ball to right field, just missing a home run.

That means Barry Bonds comes to the plate in the first inning.

Dave Roberts just brought down the house with a standing ovation -- though not the loudest cheers I've heard here -- when he stepped to the plate to lead off the game for the Giants. He gave a fist recognition to both sides of the ballpark before entering the batter's box.

He got rather tepid applause when he singled to right.

Ryan Klesko has been scratched from the lineup with tightness in his lower back. Mark Sweeney will replace Klesko in the lineup. He will bat second, and Randy Winn will bat third.

Forgot to mention perhaps the most bizarre part of the interview with Barry Bonds. As he walked into the dugout gauntlet, Bonds turned on a little handheld, digital recorder, much like the ones held by virtually all of the print media members. He explains why -- it is a regular thing for him -- in the final question of the interview, which I've transcribed start to finish (except for one part where someone in the group passed on a greeting from an old friend to Bonds).

What do you think of your first time in Boston?

"I'm trying to see everything. They said the park looks smaller. This looks bigger than Houston, bigger than Philly. That right field's a long way. It's nice so far."

What do you think your reception is going to be?

"I don't worry about that. No, I'm here to play a baseball game with my teammates. I'm the opposing player, so I guess opposing players aren't supposed to get that warm of a reception. You know what I mean? Unless you're on the other side, you're supposed to be booed."

Do you expect to DH all three games?

"Um, yeah. I'm old."

What did Dave Roberts say to you about playing in Boston?

"He hasn't said anything about it, really. You know, just said it was nice, he had a great time. He said, 'You've got to love the ballpark.' I like the city. I mean I went to go see my son here, but I didn't get a chance to go around the city like I did [that time]. It's pretty. Really nice."

When was your last time here?

"Just to visit my son. The year that they won the World Series in 2004. They were playing a game as I was driving right past the stadium. I've never seen the inside of the ballpark, so this is the first time."

Your son was going to school here?

"Yeah. He was going to Valley View."

Is this a historic moment, for the Giants to be playing in Fenway?

"I think interleague games are great because if you haven't played a team in their ballpark in such a long period of time, I think it brings excitement. It's pretty cool. Pretty great for us, too. When would I have ever come here, to see a game or anything? Never, unless I was playing in one."

Your father played in the American League. Never saw him in Fenway?

"No, never. Watched on TV. Watched a ton of games on TV. You get the Boston games and Yankee games all the time."

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to play a game here?

"No, not really, because I'm in San Francisco. Wonder what it's like to play here in the World Series. But I've been a Giant my whole life. I was in Pittsburgh for a short period of time. I've been a Giant my whole life. My whole history is in San Francisco, so I'm a Giant."

Ever thought about hitting one over the Green Monster?

"No, I'm not righthanded. Never had that thought before."

Are you anxious about breaking the home run record?

"No, I don't even think about it right now. We just play baseball as a team, try to do what we can as a team. I don't even talk about it."

What was the difference between April and May for you?

"April and May? April I was hitting the ball, May I wasn't. In June, I'm going like this [makes rollercoaster hand motion]. One day I hit, next day I don't. I mean, if I get a couple of hits I get walked anyway."

How are you physically?

"I'm physically OK. I'm all right."

Will DHing help?

"At 43, sure. Almost anyone at that age. It's going to be fun, seeing Tim Wakefield and [Julian] Tavarez and stuff, guys I played with too. So Tim Wakefield, if we would have had him pitch the last game we would have been in the World Series as well as that guy pitched for us when he came up with us in Pittsburgh, he threw phenomenal. So we're both old. And to come back and see him pitch, he's still out there, is going to be pretty nice even though I don't do well off him because it's just too slow. But he's a good pitcher and he's always been a good pitcher."

Is this your last year?

"No."

How many years?

"I don't know. As long as my body wants me to play."

After missing so much time last season, how was getting into the flow from the beginning?

"I'm just happy that I'm being able to be out there for my teammates as much as I've been able to be out there under the circumstances with the injuries and the knee surgeries. I worked hard, I worked real hard. Time starts to work against you eventually. So I'm just trying to hang in there the best I can. I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job but we need to do a better job as a team."

Are you confident your body will hold up?

"Oh, I'm fine. I don't see any problems with my body. As of today."

Do you think you get a bum rap wherever you go?

"I don't know what you consider a bum rap, when there's people -- I mean, I'm sitting in a group and I probably know five of you. You don't know me. So I don't take it personal. I just don't.

Doesn't bother you?

"It can't. I mean, what does it really mean? What's the motive? What have I ever done to you? So what's the motive? I've never done anything to you, so I just go out here and do my job on the field and play baseball."

You don't take it home?

"No, never. I was born in this game. I've seen a lot of things with my father. I've seen a lot. I was tough-skinned at an early age. That's the only way I can sum it up."

Is it important to you to play in the All-Star game?

"It would be important to me because it's at home. Yes, definitely. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. But it would be important."

How would you have felt, given you were so close to not playing in San Francisco?

"I don't know where you got that information from, but I was never unclose because I'm here."

Why do you have that recorder? Is it a regular thing?

"I just keep it so I can have it for my own personal records. Just like you have yours. You have your cameras and your records, I have mine. All right, I've got to go."

Barry Bonds walked onto the field at Fenway Park this afternoon at just about 5:10 p.m. He stood, surrounded by cameras and teammates and his publicist, and looked out over the ballpark.

Soon after, Bonds, who generally speaks on the first day of every road series, though he didn't on his last stop in New York, walked over to the visitor's dugout where a large group of media was gathered to interview Dave Roberts. It looked for a moment as if Bonds was going to decline to speak again, when he realized that the group wasn't ready for him that instant. But, soon after, Roberts was freed -- and Bonds walked in.

At first uncertain about the use of a microphone -- attached to portable speaks placed on the dugout top to make his words accessible to more media -- Bonds finally relented and allowed the mini-mic to be affixed to his jersey top.

He then proceeded to answer questions for about 6 minutes, 30 seconds, before the interview ended.

When he rejoined his teammates for stretching, he heard the first of likely many boos. He heard more as he stood, chatting with some friends, including Red Sox minor league field coordinator Rob Leary, a friend from childhood.

Signs and banners are out, in quite a colorful array.

We'll get you the full transcript of his media interview shortly. (Just give me a minute to transcribe.)

Here's what Terry Francona had to say about whether the Red Sox would be pitching to Barry Bonds over the course of this three-day weekend series with the Giants.

Essentially, it was "Maybe, maybe not."

"I mean we like to win the game," Francona said. "That would be our goal for the day, which I think is obvious. Sometimes you have to get good hitters out. At the same time I'm not sure if we want him to beat us if we can help it. We'll try to use some common sense. There's not a perfect formula for it, but there's a lot of things that maybe go into it: who's pitching, who's up next, who's swinging well, who isn't, the score, the outs. Just like everybody. Barry's done this for a long time, but there are some hitters -- Vladimir [Guerrero] -- that make you think twice. We'll do the best we can."

Some similarities to last night's lineup, with J.D. Drew again taking over the top spot. Nothing else really interesting there.

Red Sox

1. J.D. Drew, RF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Coco Crisp, CF
9. Julio Lugo, SS

SP - Julian Tavarez

Giants

1. Dave Roberts, CF
2. Randy Winn, LF
3. Ryan Klesko, 1B
4. Barry Bonds, DH
5. Ray Durham, 2B
6. Bengie Molina, C
7. Pedro Feliz, 3B
8. Nate Schierholtz, RF
9. Omar Vizquel, SS

SP - Barry Zito

The Red Sox will observe a moment of silence for Larry Whiteside before the start of tonight's game against the Giants. The team also just released a statement on the passing of Larry Whiteside.

"We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Larry Whiteside. For more than 30 years, Mr. Whiteside covered baseball and the Red Sox for the Boston Globe with integrity, professionalism, and excellence. He was held in high regard and greatly respected by front office executives, managers, coaches, and players alike.

"Mr. Whiteside was a pioneer as one of the first African-Americans to cover a major league baseball beat and was a mentor to many young baseball writers who followed him.

"The Red Sox express their heartfelt condolences to Mr. Whiteside’s family and friends. He will be missed in the press box and clubhouse at Fenway Park."

Larry Whiteside threw out a ceremonial first pitch prior to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park in September 2003. (Globe File Photo / Jim Davis)

The Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America had approved his nomination for the J.G. Taylor Spink Award (Baseball Hall of Fame) earlier this year. His name will be offered to the national committee, who will chose three finalists for the award at the All-Star game.

In my nomination letter to the national committe, I wrote:

Mr. Whiteside was a major league baseball writer for more than 30 years. He began his career as a sports writer at the Kansas City Kansan in 1959 through 1963. He was also a sports reporter/baseball writer at the Milwaukee Journal from 1963-1973, where he was also recruited to cover the civil rights movement.

Mr. Whiteside covered the Milwaukee Braves careers of Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Felipe Alou, Joe Torre and Warren Spahn before their departure to Atlanta. After the Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee in 1970, Mr. Whiteside covered the first four seasons of the new Milwaukee Brewers franchise, owned by current Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.

When he was hired by the Boston Globe in 1973, Mr. Whiteside was the only African-American reporter in America covering major league baseball on a daily basis for a major newspaper, carrying on the legacy of Hall of Fame baseball writer and Mr. Whiteside's idol, Sam Lacy, a former Spink's winner.

"Larry was a pioneer in his own right," said Selig. "I remember in 1972 I offered him a position in public relations for the Brewers, but Larry made the decision to remain a journalist and was hired at the Boston Globe a year later. He's one of the finest reporters and one of the finest people I've ever encountered. He's a man who promoted the game of baseball with his fine, fair and objective reporting for so many years."

Mr. Whiteside was considered an expert on Negro League baseball. He was also among the first group of baseball writers to provide extensive coverage of baseball in Japan and Australia, making four trips to Japan and two trips to Australia. Mr. Whiteside was the Red Sox beat writer for many years, but later in his career he became the senior national baseball writer, assigned the most important national stories of the day for the Globe.

In 1971 Mr. Whiteside created "The Black List" of African-American journalists designed to aid sports editors in helping hire qualified African-American journalists. Whiteside's influence helped expand the list from nine in 1971 to more than 90 names by 1983.

"Larry Whiteside was an important figure in Boston baseball history," said former Boston Globe managing editor Thomas Mulvoy, who hired Whiteside. "It was long past time to have a minority reporter on one of our major beats. Larry Whiteside was the first African-American beat writer in the sports department."

Mr. Whiteside was honored in 1999 by the National Association of Black Journalists for his work in advancing the careers of African-American sports writers.

He is also three-time chairman of the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers of America. The Boston Baseball Writers' chapter awarded him the prestigious Dave O'Hara Award for long and meritorious service to the Boston chapter. He also received the prestigious New England Sport Museum Legacy Award for his work in helping to increase the number of African Americans working in sports departments across the country.

A graduate of Englewood High School in Chicago, Ill., Mr. Whiteside also attended Woodrow Wilson Junior College (Chicago) and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Drake University. In 1987 he was chosen for a Stanford University John S. Knight Professional Journalism Fellowship, where he studied international affairs and labor law.

Listed in "Who's Who of Black Americans," Mr. Whiteside was also on the All-Century team expert panel. He covered numerous World Series and All-Star games including the memorable 1975 and 1986 World Series.

He's truly one of the finest people I have ever met, who loved baseball and loved helping young reporters get their careers started.

Sincerely,
Nick Cafardo
National Baseball Writer
Boston Globe

To his wife Elaine and his son Tony, my deepest sympathy. He was a great man.

---

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig comments on Whiteside.

Long-time Boston Globe baseball columnist Larry Whiteside passed away this morning. He was 69.

One of the first African-American baseball reporters for a major daily newspaper, Whiteside wrote for the Globe sports pages for parts of four decades after stints in Milwaukee and Kansas City. He was instrumental in starting the careers of many African-American sports journalists around the country and was a tremendous role model for young reporters he took under his wing.

We will have more shortly.

After watching its team's lead in the AL East shrink by seven games over the last two weeks, Red Sox Nation could use a pick me up.

We’ve got just the thing.

Boston Dirt Dogs dug up a hilarious short film created by a Massachusetts native named Michael Barber and directed by Matt Oates about Roger Clemens trying to join the Yankees in the year 2057.

It’s sure to have you rolling on the floor ... enjoy.

With Josh Beckett struggling with the command of his offspeed pitches, the Rockies rocked those fastballs around Fenway Park last night. Most especially on Garrett Atkins's Grand Slam.

That led to a 7-1 loss to the Rockies that ended the series for Colorado and, coupled with the Yankees loss earlier in the day, brought the Red Sox down to a 7.5 game lead on New York.

"I think command within the strike zone," Beckett said, of his outing. "One-one pitches. You dictate a pitch on whether you're ahead or behind. Just didn't make a high percentage of them. That's what it comes down to."

Beckett lost his first game this season, bringing his record to 9-1.

Josh Beckett has left the game, giving up season highs in hits and runs -- a night after Curt Schilling also struggled.

Beckett left having thrown 100 pitches, 63 for strikes, and giving up six runs on 10 hits. He allowed two home runs, the Grand Slam to Garrett Atkins and a solo shot to Matt Holliday.

Kyle Snyder is in to pitch.

J.D. Drew just got the boos after grounding out to first base with two on and two out in the fourth inning.

He left Jason Varitek on second and Julio Lugo (on with a hit!) on first.

That was the fourth Grand Slam for Garrett Atkins in his career. It was the second Grand Slam for the Rockies this season.

That's five runs given up by Josh Beckett already today. It's the most earned runs he has given up in any one start this season so far.

With the ball rolling toward the Wall, Coco Crisp slid to grab it, then tossed it back toward Manny Ramirez, who performed another balletic leap in the direction of the ball. He did not, however, actually grab it. Or even really touch it.

Meanwhile, even though Matt Holliday was on his way to second base with a double, Kaz Matsui managed not to score from first on the play, even though he was rounding third about the time Ramirez was gracefully attempting to make the catch.

With the bases loaded and one out in the second inning, new leadoff hitter J.D. Drew and Dustin Pedroia combined to strand all three runners on base, leading to an expletive or two out of the mouth of Pedroia.

Can't imagine what he was so angry about...

OK, so for those of you still eagerly awaiting the Rockies lineup (even though the game has started), we're here to bring it to you. That pesky little minor league notebook got in the way again.

Rockies

1. Willy Taveras, DH
2. Kaz Matsui, 2B
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Todd Helton, 1B
5. Garrett Atkins, 3B
6. Brad Hawpe, RF
7. Ryan Spilborghs, CF
8. Yorvit Torrealba, C
9. Troy Tulowitzki, SS

SP - Jeff Francis

Josh Beckett allowed one run in the first inning, on three hits. So far this season, Beckett has allowed eight of his 26 total runs in the first inning.

But Beckett got out of the inning when J.D. Drew caught a liner off the bat of Brad Hawpe near his knees to end the first inning.

The players' ballot will contain the names of both David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis. As it turns out, this isn't a special case, it is the same procedure as was used last year.

So Youkilis will get his shot to make his first All-Star game.

And the furor is over.

Terry Francona, on putting Drew in the No. 1 spot in the order tonight: "Just trying to give you guys something to write about."

Of course, then he turned serious. (Much as he cares about us, he's certainly not making moves to fill our column inches.)

"Facing a lefty today, J.D.'s had some good at bats against this guy," Francona said. "Besides the game in Arizona the other day, he's not been driving the ball a lot. But he'll give you a good at bat.

"I just think, we hit him first, we hit Pedroia second, it gives us good on-base guys and it puts Youkilis in a spot where if they want to pitch around David or Manny, maybe they can get stung a little bit, and it keeps Lowell and Varitek where they've been. And then it puts our speed guys at the bottom. They haven't been necessarily getting on base a ton. But they can run. They can produce some problems. I don't know if we're able at this point -- especially with interleague -- to have one lineup for the next two months. I just don't know if it's feasible. Obviously like to have some consistency. But this is something you may see from time to time, at least. We'll see."

No, you're not seeing things. That is J.D. Drew up at the top of the Red Sox lineup. He'll be batting first today, followed by Dustin Pedroia. Though Drew couldn't remember the last time he batted first, he does have 148 at bats from that position, hitting .250 (37-for-148).

(The Rockies' lineup isn't up yet.)

Red Sox

1. J.D. Drew, RF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Coco Crisp, CF
9. Julio Lugo, SS

SP - Josh Beckett

The Nation turns its leadoff eyes to Drew?

Boston sports radio station WEEI announced tonight's Red Sox lineup a few minutes ago, and with it a big surprise -- J.D. Drew will bat leadoff tonight against the Rockies.

Here's the lineup, according to WEEI:

1. J.D. Drew, RF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Coco Crisp, CF
9. Julio Lugo, SS
-- Josh Beckett, SP

A $13 million offer will still get it done for another year of Curt Schilling in Boston.

Despite asserting that he’d hit the free-agent market this off-season after Theo Epstein and the Red Sox declined to extend him during spring training, Schilling this morning said that if the team made him an offer for 2008 today at the same rate he is being paid now ($13 million) -- the same terms he offered this spring -- he would accept it.

Schilling was asked the hypothetical question during his weekly radio appearance on sports radio WEEI’s Dennis and Callahan program. John Dennis asked Schilling if he would accept if Epstein approached him with a $13 million contract and said, "Curt, you were right, we were wrong in spring training, let's get next year taken care of and locked up right now."

"Yes," was Schilling's reply.

Schilling, in the third and final year of his current contract, is 6-3 with a 3.80 ERA. Last night, in his first start since coming within one out of no-hitting the Oakland Athletics, Schilling gave up six runs in five innings in a loss to the Colorado Rockies.

During spring training, Epstein told the media that the team was going to wait until the end of the season to decide whether to make their ace an offer for 2008.

"Curt's going to be 41, and at that age we get a little more conservative," Epstein said at the time. "That doesn't mean we don't want him back. We have all the confidence in the world that Curt wants to pitch in 2008, and if he pitches effectively, as I expect he will, we'll find a way to keep him in a Red Sox uniform. It doesn't make sense from a business standpoint right now to guarantee that kind of money a year in advance to a 41-year-old. Again, that doesn't change how we feel about Curt, his place in the organization.

"There's a bit of a sliding scale based on age," Epstein said. "The deeper you go into your career, I think the more hesitant the club might be to guarantee salaries years in advance."

Curt Schilling was quick to blog in on last night's loss to the Rockies.

"6 runs, ALL with two outs," Schilling wrote in the update. "Two out runs are absolute killers to a defense and huge momentum swings for the team getting them. Bottom line was there were over 20 different opportunities to make pitches, get outs, and NOT give up the runs. I didn’t get it done and as a result of that we lost the game."

Read Schilling's complete recap of the 12-2 drilling by the Rockies at 38Pitches.com.

There weren't many of the 36,808 fans remaining in Fenway when LaTroy Hawkins recorded the game's final out.

Curt Schilling lasted only five innings, giving up nine hits and five earned runs -- three which came when Brad Hawpe launched a first-pitch changeup deep into the right-field seats.

"It was a very winnable game," said Schilling, "until Hawpe's at-bat in the fifth."

On the other end, Josh Fogg allowed seven hits and two runs over five innings.

* Manny Ramirez recorded his 1,550th career RBI, tying him with Fred McGriff for 37th on the all-time list.

* Mike Lowell hit a solo homer in the second, but committed his 12th error in the top of the inning. Lowell made six errors in 2006.

* Julio Lugo, J.D. Drew, and Coco Crisp went a collective 0-for-11.

Eric Hinske (LF), Wily Mo Pena (CF), and Doug Mirabelli (C) are in the game to start the eighth inning.

Joel Pineiro will start the seventh inning. Javier Lopez pitched 1/3 of an inning, allowing one hit.

Josh Fogg completed five innings, allowing two runs on seven hits.

Fogg (98 pitches, 55 strikes) struck out, walked one, and gave up a homer to Mike Lowell.

Taylor Buchholz has retired one batter in the bottom of the sixth.

No wonder Todd Helton is considered one of the better lefthanded hitters of his time.

Helton, facing Javier Lopez, dumped a 2-2 pitch into left field, clearing the bases with a two-out double. All three runs were charged to Kyle Snyder.

Javier Lopez will replace Kyle Snyder with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the sixth. Lopez will face Todd Helton.

Snyder walked three batters (one intentional), throwing 20 pitches over 2/3 of an inning.

This will be Lopez's fourth bases-loaded situation this season.

One start after throwing a one-hitter, Curt Schilling lasted five innings, allowing five earned runs.

Schilling threw 98 pitches (72 strikes), giving up nine hits, walking one, striking out five, and allowing one homer.

Kyle Snyder is in to start the sixth inning with the Sox trailing, 6-2

Curt Schilling gave up a big-time three-run blast to Brad Hawpe in the top of the fifth, making it a 6-2 game.

With two on and two out, Hawpe hit a first-pitch floater (appeared to be a changeup) deep into the right-field seats.

Joel Pineiro was warming during the inning but has taken a seat for the bottom of the fifth.

Credit Kevin Youkilis's hustle for Boston's second run.

In the bottom of the third, with Youkilis on first (single), David Ortiz jerked a 3-0 pitch into center. Youkilis never broke stride, making it to third without a throw.

Youkilis scored on Manny Ramirez's RBI single.

Mike Lowell, who committed his 12th error in the top of the second, made up for it at the plate in the bottom of the inning.

Josh Fogg hung a 1-0 spinner that Lowell cranked over the Monster for his 12th home run.

Curt Schilling has thrown 51 pitches through two innings, as he suffered through a seeing-eye second that saw the Rockies tack on two.

Yorvit Torrealba and Troy Tulowitzki dumped bouncers just inside the third-base line. Later in the inning, Mike Lowell threw a ball away, allowing one run to score.

Curt Schilling has already allowed more hits than he did in his previous start.

Garrett Atkins hit a 2-1 pitch into the left-field gap to score Willy Taveras.

Taveras, who singled and reached second on a throwing error by Julio Lugo, scored an earned run.

Even with game-time temperature being 55 degrees, Kevin Youkilis and Coco Crisp are wearing short sleeves.

Every other Sox starter is wearing a long-sleeve undershirt.

David Ortiz said this afternoon that he would not be participating in the home run derby this year, though he is all but assured of making the All-Star team.

"I'm going to sit out this year," Ortiz said. "Maybe later. I've been doing it for the past three years, man. It just wears me out. The problem is that you start and then when you have to stop to wait for all the guys to go and hit, like I swing out of my [rear] all the time, so when I had to shut things down and then start over again an hour later? I don't have it."

As Terry Francona entered the Fenway Park media room this afternoon, he was trailed by NESN analyst Ken Macha, prompting Don Orsillo to issue the following crack:

"I thought you were introducing the new manager," said Macha's NESN colleague to some chuckles.

* A day after Dustin Pedroia replaced Julio Lugo at the top of the lineup, Francona gave his second baseman tonight's game off, replacing him with Alex Cora. Coco Crisp will lead off tonight. "When Pedroia was struggling, it was popular not to play Pedroia," said Francona. "Then Pedroia gets hot. He's a good player, but so is AC. We just want to keep a good balance."

* Francona confirmed an ESPN.com report that David Ortiz, currently on the All-Star ballot as a first baseman, lobbied to have Kevin Youkilis take his place on the players' ballot. If MLB accepts the paperwork that the Sox have yet to file, Youkilis would replace Ortiz in the players' segment of voting. Francona explained it as a case of Ortiz being a good teammate. "David's good and been good," said Francona, who acknowledged not understanding the specifics of the All-Star process. "Youkilis is making a name for himself. Sometimes young guys who are doing well go under the radar, and they have to do something phenomenal to get national attention. We all knew what he was doing, but it was that hitting streak that did that for Youk."

* Francona said he considered Youkilis as tonight's leadoff man, but said the first baseman isn't as comfortable at the top of the order as in other positions.

* Jonathan Papelbon and Kyle Snyder spent time on the clubhouse couch flipping through a copy of duPont Registry with a Corvette Z06 on the cover. While he hit 97 m.p.h. last night, Papelbon has a ways to go to reach the 'Vette's top speed of 198.

Colorado

1. Willy Taveras, CF
2. Kaz Matsui, 2B
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Todd Helton, 1B
5. Garrett Atkins, 3B
6. Brad Hawpe, RF
7. Ryan Spilborghs, DH
8. Yorvit Torrealba, C
9. Troy Tulowitzki, SS

Josh Fogg, SP

Boston

1. Coco Crisp, CF
2. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. J.D. Drew, RF
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Alex Cora, 2B
9. Julio Lugo, SS

Curt Schilling, SP

The Red Sox want to give Kevin Youkilis a chance to make the All-Star team.

Having been left off the fans' ballot in favor of David Ortiz at first base (with the game in an NL park, there is no DH category), the Red Sox reportedly asked Major League Baseball to substitute Youkilis for Ortiz on the ballot distributed to players, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney.

This change would help Youkilis's chances to make the All-Star team as a reserve, since the 45 pitchers and reserves are determined by a combination of the player balloting and a decision by the two All-Star team managers -- Tony La Russa of the Cardinals and Jimmy Leyland of the Tigers -- and MLB.

Youkilis is currently batting .335 with eight homers and 33 RBIs.

Olney writes:

There are just 15 full days remaining in the fan balloting. In the most recent ballot results announced by MLB, Ortiz is by far the leading vote-getter among AL first basemen, with 1,055,260 votes, more than double the second-leading vote-getter, Minnesota's Justin Morneau.

Because it appears that Ortiz will be the starting first baseman for the AL, based on the fans' voting, the team asked Ortiz if he would be OK with it if Youkilis could be listed on the ballot sent to players.

"He was all for it," said one Major League Baseball source, "and excited about Youkilis' chances."

Major League Baseball does not require that the same players who are listed on the fans' ballot appear on the ballots given to players.

Fan voting for the 78th All-Star game ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on June 28. Rosters will be unveiled at 7 p.m. ET on July 1.

Fans will also have the chance to choose the final position player for each league's 32-man roster at MLB.com. The "Final Vote" will allow fans the ability to cast votes from a list of five players from each league over a three-day period.

For the fifth straight year, the league that wins the All-Star game will earn home-field advantage for the World Series. The American League has won the last nine games.

(2:49 p.m.: Information from MLB.com was used in this update)

…

In other Red Sox news, manager Terry Francona, in his weekly appearance on WEEI earlier this afternoon, said that center fielder Coco Crisp would probably lead off tonight against the Rockies, and Alex Cora would replace Dustin Pedroia in the lineup.

We’re a day late in shedding some light on this story, but we figure it’s good fodder for a slow afternoon even the day after it was published.

In yesterday’s New York Times, Murray Chass threw a little water on Red Sox Nation with a column that postulated the following: “At the rate at which the Yankees are slashing into Boston’s lead in the American League East, they will pass the Red Sox in the standings by July 4.”

Sure, the Yankees have gained four games on the Sox in the last 13 days, but to expect them to continue this pace is a little ridiculous, a point Chass acknowledges later in the column while reminding us that when the Yankees rallied from 14½ back to catch the Sox in 1978 it was a slow, deliberate process.

“The point is that even if the Yankees don’t continue to slash gobs of games from Boston’s lead in the coming days or weeks, it doesn’t mean that the Red Sox are safe. Sixteen weeks remain in the season, which is plenty of time for dramatic events to occur.”

Read the rest of Chass’s case for a Yankee comeback in the AL East, then let us know if you’re starting to get concerned about the Bombers approaching in the rear view mirror, even if they’re still a ways off.

Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon came into the game in the ninth and struck out Kaz Matsui, got Matt Holliday to fly to right field before striking out Todd Helton to put the finishing touches on a 2-1 victory over the Rockies before a Fenway Park crowd of 37,008.

Papelbon picked up his 15th save of the season in relief of starter Tim Wakefield (6-7), who gave up one run (earned) on four hits while issuing one walk and striking out three in eight innings of work.

J.D. Drew hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to deep center to score pinch-runner Alex Cora with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth.

The Sox chased starter Aaron Cook (7-1/3 innings, 7 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts) after Dustin Pedroia reached on a grounball single to left. Jeremy Affeldt came in to face David Ortiz and gave up a towering double to right, putting men in scoring position for Manny Ramirez, who drew an intentional walk.

Drew then drove in Cora, who was in the game for Pedroia, with his sacrifice fly to center, before Manuel Corpas came into to get the Rockies out of the inning by inducing Mike Lowell to ground out to short.

The Rockies broke up Tim Wakefield's shutout bid by pushing across a tying run with two out in the top of the eighth.

Catcher Yorvit Torreabla hit a groundball single to center field to score rightfielder Brad Hawpe, who led off by doubling to right off Wakefield, making it 1-1.

Through eight innings, Wakefield's line: 4 hits, 1 run (earned, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 102 pitches (67 strikes).

The Sox announced a new summer jobs initiative, ``Boston.com/Monster Home Runs for Summer Jobs,'' during tonight's game against the Rockies. The Sox will join forces with Monster.com and Boston Globe Media Group in support of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino's 2007 Summer Jobs Programs, pledging to donate at least $1,300 to a fund that creates a summer job for a Boston youth for each home run the Sox hit over the Green Monster.

To date, the Sox have recorded 14 home runs over the Monster.

``The key to it,'' said Mayor Menino, ``is keeping kids busy and giving them a positive experience in the summer time and giving them some economic independence.''

Larry Lucchino, the Sox president and CEO, said the ballclub participated in the program last year and provided up to 60-65 summer jobs for students between the ages of 15 and 17. This summer, the Sox will employ 85 students, including 20-30 holdovers from last year's program, in a variety of positions at Fenway Park and New England Sports Network.

``There is no more important initiative than providing employment opportunities to the youth of Boston,'' Lucchino said. ``And the Red Sox are committed to assisting the Mayor in this effort in helping students learn job and life skills through professional employment.''

It was only fitting that Julio Lugo, on the day he was demoted from leadoff hitter to the bottom of Terry Francona's hitting order, got the second hit and scored the first run of tonight's game against the Rockies.

After Colorado righthander Aaron Cook retired six Sox batters in a row, Lugo broke up Cook's streak by lacing a 2-2 pitch down the line in left. Lugo went to second on Dustin Pedroia's fielder's choice, stole third and came home on Kevin Youkilis's opposite-field RBI double to give Boston a 1-0 lead with two out in the bottom of the third.

A quick update on the American League All-Star balloting.

Red Sox DH David Ortiz, on the ballot as a first baseman, has a huge lead over the Twins' Justin Morneau, 1,055,260 votes to 519,432.

Sox second baseman, and new leadoff hitter, Dustin Pedroia has moved up to third place among AL second basemen. Pedroia trails Placido Polanco, the new AL 2B leader, by over 250,000 votes.

Manny Ramirez remains in second place among AL outfielders, trailing the Angels' Vlad Guerrero by over 295,000 votes.

To see the complete AL ballot update released today, click here.

Shortstop Julio Lugo took questions before tonight's game against the Rockies and addressed Terry Francona's decision to move him from leadoff hitter to the bottom of the hitting order.

On Francona's handling of the matter:
I appreciate his respect and I respect him. I think that's the way you do things. I appreciate it. He communicates very well with the players, not only me, but everybody.

How will it help you get going to go to the bottom of the order? I don't think it's going to be anything different. When you're at the top of the lineup, you need to get on base more consistently, and I understand that. If you're not getting it done and somebody can get it done better, let's do what it takes to keep winning, that's all.

What's been the problem, in your eyes?
I'm just basically going through a tough time, that's all. It's just a matter of time. I been here all year and I know I'm going to be there and I'm going to get it going.

Do you feel like you're getting there? Are you getting more comfortable?
I'm feeling better. I got some good swings in Arizona and the ball didn't fall. What can I say? I'm just going to keep working and keep grinding it out and do my best.

Is it anything mechanical you've seen on video in terms of your swing?
No, the only problem I see is that there's nine people out there trying to catch my ball every time I [get a] hit.

Has it ever made a difference to you where you hit in the lineup?
You always want to hit at the top of the lineup, but it makes no difference to me. Like I said, before, I just don't want to hit 10th, that's all.

Terry Francona said before tonight's game he contemplated making a lineup shift during the Sox recent road trip to Oakland and Arizona, but waited until the team returned to Fenway before announcing that he was moving second baseman Dustin Pedroia to his leadoff man over shortstop Julio Lugo, who had struggled with a .247 on-base percentage and hit .130 (12 for 92) in his last 22 games.

Pedroia, who has hit .404 (38-94) in his last 29 games, was penciled in as the lead-off man for tonight's Interleague game against the Rockies.

``Earlier in the year, we tried to protect him a little bit,'' Francona said of Pedroia. ``We don't want to overwhelm guys and give them more than they're ready to handle. I think he's proven he's going to get on base, he's going to get on base, he's going to give you a good at-bat, and he's going to swing at strikes for the most part and if he doesn't swing at strikes, he usually fouls it.

``He's a big part of our ballclub and we value guys getting on base in the front and middle of our order,'' Francona added. ``Putting Coco [Crisp] and Lugo towards the bottom, even if they end up being together some nights, that can also work in our favor.

``If they're not getting on base right now as much as they want, the stolen bases are still good and we can free them up to run a little bit more when they're at the bottom [of the order].

``My point is that we want to try and increase the positives and decrease the negatives, that's pretty much what we're trying to do,'' Francona explained. ``Again, you never know who's going to get hot and who's going to get cold, but the possibility of Pedroia and [Kevin] Youkilis seeing a lot of pitches and getting on base, should help us.''

Greetings from an overcast Fenway Park, where the Red Sox (40-22, first place AL East) will host the Colorado Rockies (31-32, fourth place NL West) in an interleague contest. RHP pitcher Aaron Cook (4-2, 4.54 ERA) will oppose Sox starter Tim Wakefield (5-7, 4.22).

The lineups:

BOSTON

1. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
2. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. J.D Drew, RF
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Coco Crisp, CF
8. Doug Mirabelli, C
9. Julio Lugo, SS

COLORADO

1. Willy Taveras, CF
2. Kaz Matsui, 2B
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Todd Helton, 1B
5. Garrett Atkins, 3B
6. Brad Hawpe, RF
7. Ryan Spilborghs, DH
8. Troy Tulowitzki, SS
9. Yorvit Torreabla, C

The Sox moved rookie second baseman Dustin Pedroia to the leadoff position and placed shortstop Julio Lugo at the ninth spot.

More on later on this move.

So while I was thumbing through the internet today, I find USA Today's top 25 sports stories over the past 25 years. So guess what was the No. 1 story -- The Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004.

Other New England storylines in the listings:

-- Doug Flutie's Hall Mary pass in 1984 was listed as No. 11.
-- Bill Buckner's error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series was No. 15.

Rehabbing lefthanded pitcher Jon Lester was activated from the 15-day disabled list by the Red Sox today and optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket.

Lester had been on his second rehab assignment at Pawtucket since May 19. He is 1-2 with a 2.01 ERA in seven starts with the PawSox this season. In his last appearance against Ottawa on Saturday, Lester allowed three runs and five hits in 2 2/3 innings.

Lester started the 2007 season on the disabled list while continuing his recovery from lymphoma. He was assigned to Single-A Greenville on rehab assignment on April 5, then was sent to Pawtucket to continue the rehab stint on April 27.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona said yesterday he and pitching coach John Farrell planned to have Jon Lester throw a side session in Boston today, then meet with him to discuss his progress.

"You guys have been ahead of me all along, and you might as well stay ahead of me," Francona said. "We have never, ever put [Lester] on a timetable. Everybody has written that [Julian ] Tavarez isn't going to start past May 8. No, we want to talk to Jon. It's never been one start, one start. This is a long-term commitment with this kid."

Material from the Globe's Red Sox notebook was used in this report.

PHOENIX - The Sox weren't able to muster anything against Randy Johnson (1 run) or the Diamondbacks bullpen today and return to Boston 9-1/2 games up in the East after a 5-1 loss.

It was the second consecutive game in which Dice-K (7-5) pitched well enough to win, but came away with the loss after allowing two runs in six innings. He struck out nine and threw 120 pitches.

Boston's only run came on Mike Lowell's fourth-inning double scoring Manny Ramirez.

Mike Timlin made his first appearance since returning off the DL and it wasn't pretty. He allowed three unearned runs off his own throwing error to first base while fielding a bunt in the 8th inning.

The Sox, who won 2 out of 3 after losing 3 out of 4 to Oakland went down in the 9th, posing no real threat except for an Eric Hinske walk and a Julio Lugo single with two outs. But with two on in the ninth, Coco Crisp batted with David Ortiz on the bench. Although the Diamondbacks would likely walk him anyway.

Attendance was 46,622. Amazing number of Sox fans here this weekend.

PHOENIX - Dice-K was pinch-hit for in the 7th by Aex Cora. The Sox couldn't muster anything after a leadoff single by Dustin Pedroia.

Brendan Donnelly has come on in the 7th.

Dice-K's line: 6 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks and 9 strikeouts.

He threw 120 pitches.

PHOENIX - It's a game of precious runs, but after six, Arizona has 2 of them and Boston has 1.

Randy Johnson and Daisuke Matsuzaka have pitched well, but both hurlers have their pitch counts up and their respective tenures might be over before too long.

In fact, Johnson, who threw 113 pitches, is being pinch-hit for in the sixth. His line: 6 innings, 1 run, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts.

Dice-K allowed a double to to the left-center field gap by Carlos Quentin, scoring Conor Jackson, who had walked. Dice-K retired Chris Snyder on a long fly ball to left on a 3-2 count and then got pinch-hitter Tony Clark to wave at a splitter.

He has thrown 120 pitches through six.

PHOENIX - Jon Lester, who was roughed up for five hits and three runs allowing three walks Saturday night for Pawtucket, will be asked to come to Fenway on Monday's off-day to throw a side session for pitching coach John Farrell.

The Sox want a face-to-face meeting with him to perhaps plan out a "what's ahead" type schedule for the lefty, who has one more rehab start remaining on his 30-day stint.

Terry Francona had much praise for the job done by Julian Tavarez and said that reports of Tavarez' demotion to the bullpen are premature.

However, if Lester pitches well his next time out, it would be difficult, if not unfair for the Sox to keep Lester down.

PHOENIX - The fourth inning has been by far Dice-K's worst inning so far this season.

In 68 plate appearances, he's allowed 13 runs, 18 hits, three home runs, 10 walks and has struck out 17.

PHOENIX - Dice-K has stranded a runner at third in the fifth after a stolen base and an throwing error by Jason Varitek propelled Eric Byrnes to third.

But Dice-K struck out Orlando Hudson and Chad Tracy. He's out of the inning. Through five he has 7 strikeouts.

PHOENIX - David Ortiz said he ran into a Red Sox fan last night in a parking lot. He said the fan, wearing an Ortiz jersey, came up to him and asked him if he could help propose to his girlfriend.

"He said 'I want to do something special for my girl. Can you help me?' I said sure. He said if he showed up early at the ballpark near the dugout that he would give me something to give to her."

When Ortiz noticed the man wearing a No. 34 Sox jersey, the man slipped Ortiz a box with the engagement ring, then brought his girlfriend over to meet Ortiz.

"I said to the woman, 'What do they call me?' She said, 'Big Papi!' What else? 'Mr. Clutch.'"

"I said, 'Well I have to come through right now once again.'"

That's when Papi presented her the ring on behalf of her boyfriend.

The woman accepted.

We were not able to get the couple's names because they were in the stands and we were on the field.

PHOENIX - You never see Manny Ramirez this hot, but he almost got himself thrown out of the game after his strikeout in the fifth.

Ramirez argued that he foul tipped what was called strike three and that the ball hit the ground, but neither home plate umpire Chris Guccione or first base umpire Chad Fairchild agreed. They saw catcher Chris Snyder catch the tip before it hit the ground.

Manny tossed his helmet and bat and said something. It looked as if Guccione was starting to raise his arm as if to toss him, but held back. Terry Francona stormed out of the dugout and got between manny and umpires and peace was restored.

Meanwhile, Dice-K allowed a run in the fourth. The usual fourth-inning burp. He did keep the damage down after allowing a pair of walks and loading the bases with one out. He managed to strike out Chris Snyder and Big Unit to get out of further problems.

It's 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth.

PHOENIX - Mike Lowell has knocked in Manny Ramirez with a double down the third-base line in the fourth inning. The Sox have taken a 1-0 lead.

Lowell hit the pinch-hit game-winning sac fly Saturday night. He has been bothered with sprained ligaments in his left thumb, but has managed to play through it.

Something you won't see too often: The Big Unit walking Dustin Pedroia intentionally. Here in the fourth with two outs, Lowell on second and Matsuzaka due up, Pedroia has drawn a free-pass.

Dice-K has a chance to help himself.

He just lined a hard foul down the first-base line. But that was his finest moment. He just struck out for the second time.

PHOENIX - Pretty good pitcher's duel here.

Dice-K has given up some hard outs, but has held the D-backs to one hit through three innings. He also had his first Ab against Randy Johnson and struck out. He took his cuts, though.

Unit hit a hard foul against Dice-K, and grounded out to third.

Coco Crisp and Wily Mo Pena - yah the two guys I'd guess too - have Boston's only hits.

PHOENIX - Interesting call in the first inning.

After Coco Crisp singled to left off Randy Johnson, he found himself picked off and engaged in a rundown. Crisp ran into first baseman Conor Jackson, who was trying to get out of the way after he threw to Orlando Hudson. But Crisp and Jackson made contact and Crisp cried interfering with the base runner and got the call.

Crisp advanced to second base. With two outs, Manny Ramirez walked, but Jason Varitek, who knocked in three runs Saturday night, Struck out and stranded both runners.

PHOENIX - With temperatures expected in the low 100s today the roof has been closed at Chase Field.

The Sox will sport a lineup today without left-handed hitters J.D. Drew and David Ortiz against Randy Johnson. Sox manager Terry Francona said Randy Johnson is one of the few pitchers you have to adjust your lineup for and he felt with J.D. Drew on a good streak he didn't want to jeopardize having Drew heading into a tailspin if he has a frustrating day against Johnson.

It's also Randy Johnson Bobblehead Day here.

Francona said Manny Ramirez, who had soreness in his hand and was kept out Saturday night's 4-3, 10-inning win, told Francona he felt better today and will be in the clean-up spot today.

Mike Lowell, who has sprained ligaments in his left thumb, was batting sixth and playing third base. Lowell incurred the injury against the Yankees on a diving play.

Francona said he's interested to watch Dice-K swing the bat. He said he asked the pitcher, who is supposed to be a good hitter, whether he'd like to bat clean-up. "he told me, 'no, no Randy Johnson!"

The lineups:
Boston
SS Julio Lugo
CF Coco Crisp
1B Kevin Youkilis
LF Manny Ramirez
C Jason Varitek
3B mike Lowell
RF Wily Mo Pena
2B Dustin Pedroia
P Daisuke Matsuzaka

Arizona
LF Eric Byrnes
CF Chris Young
2B Orlando Hudson
3B Chad Tracy
1B Conor Jackson
SS Stephen Drew
RF Carlos Quentin
C Chris Snyder
P randy Johnson

PHOENIX - Mike Lowell got hit in the left thumb by Chien Ming Wang last week and says he's been bothered by what he referred to as sprained ligaments. He was icing the left hand area late last night, but that was after he came off the bench in the 10th to provide the game-winning sacrifice fly scoring David Ortiz.

Lowell had the game off until then with Kevin Youkilis at third base in the 4-3 win which attracted the largest crowd in Chase Field history - 49,826.

Lowell managed to get a fly ball to right off hard-throwing Juan Cruz after falling behind on the count 0-2 with the bases loaded.

"I was still looking to get a pitch to hit," Lowell said. "The first pitch was probably the best to hit, but the ball just explodes out of his hand. I just battled and prayed for David to get those choppy steps going."

Ortiz did. While it felt as if the Earth was moving as Ortiz lumbered into home plate ahead of a bad throw by right-fielder Carlos Quentin, Sox manager Terry Francona actually praised Ortiz' base-running.

At that point, Francona really didn't have anyone to pinch-run for Ortiz.

Lowell didn't think the injury would keep him out, but he has been fighting through it.

Manny Ramirez, who took a pitch off the left hand, told Terry Francona before the game that he was sore. Francona was hoping Ramirez could play today against Randy Johnson, with David Ortiz taking the day off.

Jason Varitek, who drove in three runs, one with a two-run homer, said he was pleased with the Sox pitching from starter Julian Tavarez right through Brendan Donnelly, Hideki Okajima, who pitched two scoreless innings and Jonathan Papelbon, who recorded his 14th save.

"I got a couple of pitches to hit," said Varitek of the sixth-inning homer and eighth-inning RBI double. "Our pitching did a great job. We made one mistake to (Stephen) Drew (a two-run homer in the fourth)and that was it."

PHOENIX - It wasn't an easy save, but one nonetheless for Jonathan Papelbon, who put two baserunners on in the 10th before preserving a 4-3 win and his 14th save.

Papelbon, who hit 99 m.p.h. on one pitch, seemed almost too pumped up.

He allowed one base runner - Chris Young - whom he hit with a pitch after striking out Eric Byrnes. Papelbon also struck out Orlando Hudson.

After Conor Jackson reached on an infield single to shortstop, Papelbon secured the final out by inducing a soft liner to second base by Mark Reynolds.

Late one, three hours and 46 minutes.

PHOENIX - Big Papi has just scored the go-ahead run here in the 10th on a sac fly by pinch-hitter Mike Lowell.

The Sox loaded the bases with nobody out against Juan Cruz, who was throwing in the high 90s on a walk by Ortiz and back-to-back singles by Kevin Youkilis and J.D. Drew.

After Jason Varitek struck out, Lowell hit a fly ball to medium right field where Carlos Quentin made a poor throw toward the plate on which even the lumbering Ortiz could score.

Sox are up, 4-3, heading into the bottom of the 10th.

Jonathan Papelbon is coming in to pitch.

PHOENIX - We enter the top of the 10th here at Chase Field.

Hideki Okajima has pitched two scoreless innings after an impressive 1-2-3 ninth. Juan Cruz is in to face the Sox in the 10th after Brandon Lyon shut them down in the top of the ninth.

PHOENIX - Hideki Okajima just survived an error by Julio Lugo to strand runners at second and third in the eighth and preserve the 3-3 score as we head into the ninth.

Lugo, who performed the hidden ball trick Friday night, couldn't get a handle on Chris Young's routine grounder to lead off the eighth. After Orlando Hudson sacrificed the runner to second base, Okajima then walked pinch-hitter Conor Jackson. Okajima then retired Mark Reynolds and Stephen Drew.

PHOENIX - Jason Varitek has driven in all three runs for the Sox tonight, who have tied it in the eighth inning on a run-scoring double to the left-center field gap by The Captain.

The drive scored J.D. Drew, who had reached on a fielder's choice. Drew, who has a pair of hits tonight after a 7-RBI game Friday night, showed off his impressive speed going from first to home and easily beat the throw.

A little bit of second-guessing here.

With Varitek on second base and one out, Francona had Mike Lowell and Manny Ramirez available, but chose to leave Eric Hinske and Alex Cora in there. Both guys struck out.

It's 3-3. Hideki Okajima is on to pitch the eighth.

PHOENIX - The Sox are down 3-2 here in the seventh. Terry Francona has already used Dustin Pedroia (strikeout but reached on a wild pitch) to pinch-hit for Julian Tavarez. In the eighth and ninth innings Francona could have Mike Lowell and Manny Ramirez at his disposal.

You might see one or both pinch-hitting for Eric Hinske, Alex Cora and the No. 9 spot in the order.

Brendan Donnelly is in to pitch the seventh. Let's see if he can keep this a one-run game.

PHOENIX - Both starters are out after six.

Dustin Pedroia is pinch-hitting for Julian Tavarez in the seventh. Strange move considering Tavarez has reached base twice - once on a bunt single and the other on a walk. Just kidding.

Tavarez allowed 3 runs on six hits with five K's and one walk. Almost sounds like Roger Clemens's line this afternoon at Yankee Stadium. And the Yankees are paying him 28 mil.

Micah Owings is also out after allowing two runs - the Jason Varitek 2-run bomb - but pitched very well.

PHOENIX - J.D. Drew, born and raised in Georgia and Jason Varitek, who attended Georgia Tech, combined to help pull the Sox to within one run of the lead here in the sixth inning.

Drew hit a broken-bat single to right with two outs and Varitek followed with a home run to right field off Micah Owings.

Eric Hinske, who hit a gapper to right field and ran as if he had a bag of bricks on his back, stopped at second base, but Alex Cora then lined hard to shortstop to end the inning.

Progress, anyway. It's 3-2 D-backs heading into the bottom of the sixth.

PHOENIX - Wonder if Stephen Drew got a few pointers from big bro J.D. when they went out to dinner after Friday night's game. While J.D. launched a pair of three-run dingers Friday, Stephen has just stroked a 2-run homer to right over his brother's head to give the D-Backs a 3-0 lead.

Julian Tavarez left an 0-2 fastball too far over the plate. Drew pounced on it with a pretty, swift swing.

Mark Reynolds was aboard after he doubled.

Into the 5th inning now, Sox down 3-0.

PHOENIX - Micah Owings is a pretty impressive righty, who has kept the Sox at arm's length through four innings.

The Sox loaded the bases on him in the second inning to no avail. J.D. Drew stroked a leadoff single to center in the fourth, but Owings retired the next three.

He was the D-Backs minor league pitcher of the year last season with a 16-2 record and a 3.33 ERA. He's a former Georgia Tech and Tulane standout, who was a power-hitting corner infielder/pitcher in high school in Georgia.

He's 3-for-18 with a triple and two RBIs as a hitter.

PHOENIX - Catcher Miguel Montero stroked a double into the right field corner scoring Stephen Drew with the first run of the game in the second inning.

Tavarez did strand a runner at third when he got leadoff hitter Eric Byrnes fishing for a pitch in the dirt.

It's 1-0 Arizona.

PHOENIX - Have received calls from two scouts who watched Roger Clemens at Yankee Stadium today.

No. 1 - "Got the ball up in the first, but he had an exceptional splitter on which he got a lot of swings and misses and strikeouts. He's added a great deal of energy to that team. He didn't have great velocity and I wouldn't call it a great outing, but a very good one. The Yankees have to be quite pleased."

No. 2 - "If he does what he did today every time out, that's perfect. He pitched well, not perfect, but very well. He threw mostly fastballs and splitters. I know when I saw him in Scranton he really had a great curveball going, so I don't know why he wasn't throwing that more. But I guess he must have felt he didn't have a good one. That team is a contender now. If they can come up with another reliever, preferably a lefty, they're going to make a run for the playoffs."

PHOENIX - With Jon Lester struggling in Pawtucket today (2-2/3 innings, five hits, three walks, two strikeouts) it appears that the young lefty will have to make at least another start in Pawtucket.

That buys more time for Julian Tavarez in the starting rotation.

Tavarez got a couple of quick outs in the first inning, but then allowed an infield single to Orlando Hudson and a walk to clean-up hitter Tony Clark. Tavarez got out of the jam when he struck out Arizona super-sub Mark Reynolds.

The Sox loaded the bases in the second inning. Eric Hinske, playing left field this evening for the resting Manny Ramirez, walked with two outs. Second baseman Alex Cora then singled to center. That brought Tavarez to the plate.

Tavarez is a lefthanded hitter. Who knew?

He entered the at-bat with a .111 career average with no homers and 9 RBIs. Julian reached on a bunt single to second base and really booked it down the first base line. He seemed to pull up lame, but shook it off and no trainer came out to look at him.

With the bases loaded, Owings ran the count to 3-2 to Julio Lugo, but he grounded out to Stephen Drew to end the threat.

PHOENIX - Great night here. The gametime temperature is 94 degrees. Doesn't feel like it though because it's so dry. OK, maybe there's a little AC on in the press box. Great ballpark.

Tons of Sox fans here. Almost like a home game.

Coco Crisp, batting second tonight, singled up the middle. But the Sox couldn't muster much more against Micah Owings.

PHOENIX - Seen and heard:

* Kevin Youkilis never stops trying to learn. Playing third tonight with Mike Lowell getting the day off, Youkilis was having a pow-wow with infield coach Luis Alicea before the game on third-base technique. It's not as easy as it may appear to go from first to third even though Youkilis has been an experienced third baseman.

What's interesting is even though Youkilis grew up a National League fan in the Cincinnati area, he's a DH guy all the way. "Who wants to see the pitcher hit?" Youkilis said. "The DHs in our league are exciting players. They're among the best hitters in baseball. I think as a fan of the game I want to see those hitters coming up to the plate. I don't care about seeing the pitcher hit. I know I grew up with it and I thought that's the way it should be when I was a kid, but I've changed my opinion now after being in this league."

Youkilis was the odd man out of the Sox lineup on Friday when David Ortiz played first base. But he'll play tonight at third and Sunday at first base against Randy Johnson.

*Maybe it was only J.C. Romero and guys like him are a dime a dozen, but you never know when you might need a veteran lefty like that. So designating him for assignment wasn't an easy decision for Theo Epstein or Terry Francona. The Red Sox have been fortunate to have discovered Hideki Okajima and now feel Javier Lopez can be their version of Mike Myers, but better. The other issue is the uncertainty around Mike Timlin, who has returned. The question is will Timlin's right shoulder hold up and will he be used as a set-up man?

*Eric Hinske pulled up to the players' lot here at Chase in his white Mercedes sports car. But he was greeted by the guard with "Sorry, have to park in the parking garage over there." Hinske, who lives in Scottsdale, said there are so many players who live in Scottsdale from the opposing team that many try to drive their own cars to the ballpark. There's not enough room.

Other players living in the Scottsdale area include Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and Brendan Donnelly.

Julio Lugo feels he's starting to click at the plate, and the old hidden ball trick Friday night certainly was a feather in his cap as well.
"I try it all the time," said Lugo. "Sometimes it doesn't work." Actually, most of the time it doesn't. But Lugo managed to catch Alberto Callaspo napping at second. Callaspo didn't call time out when he rose from the bag after sliding back in after a throw to Lugo from J.D. Drew. Lugo just held the ball until Callaspo ventured off the base and tagged him out.

"I know he was surprised," Lugo said.

* Curt Schilling spent a lot of time chatting with Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin before the game.

* Tim Wakefield and Diamondbacks first baseman Tony Clark, a former Red Sox, also chatted. They were once big players association reps for the Sox.

PHOENIX - The Red Sox are trying to make sure everyone gets a rest in these non-DH days here at Chase Field. Tonight, Mike Lowell is taking a breather with Kevin Youkilis starting at third base.

Manny Ramirez also gets the night off. Terry Francona said it was not due to Ramirez being hit in the left hand/wrist last night, but Ramirez' unfamiliarity with pitcher Micah Owings and just a good time for a day off. David Ortiz will sit tomorrow against Randy Johnson.

It was about 100 degrees today in Phoenix, but right now the roof is closed and the air conditioning is blasting on the field which creates a comfortable atmosphere for BP.

Mike Timlin is active and J.C. Romero has been designated for assignment. The Sox have 10 days to deal him, and it appears Theo Epstein had a few teams interested but was unable to pull off a deal in time for the move. Most teams realized that the Sox would have to release him at some point. There are teams, like the Tigers, in need of a lefty in the bullpen and they might be interested once the 10-day period is up.

Francona doesn't quite know yet how he'll use Timlin.

Here are the lineups:

Arizona:

LF Eric Byrnes
CF Chris Young
2B Orlando Hudson
1B Tony Clark
3B Mark Reynolds
SS Stephen Drew
RF Carlos Quentin
C Miguel Montero
P Micah Owings

BOSTON:

SS Julio Lugo
CF Coco Crisp
1B David Ortiz
3B Kevin Youkilis
RF J.D. Drew
C Jason Varitek
LF Eric Hinske
2B Alex Cora
P Julian Tavarez

As expected, the Red Sox officially announced the activation of reliever Mike Timlin from the 15-day disabled list this afternoon. Timlin will be in uniform and available against the Diamondbacks tonight in Arizona.

The Red Sox designated lefthanded reliever J.C.Romero for assignment to make room for Timlin on the active roster. The team has 10 days to either trade or release Romero. Romero was 1-0 with a save and a 3.15 ERA in 23 games this season.

For those of you who had been clicking patiently, Curt Schilling "finally" chimed in on his blog, 38Pitches.com, just after 2:30 a.m. (Eastern time) from Arizona with a few words about his near no-hitter.

2,761 words to be exact.

And it was worth the wait as Schilling shared his deepest thoughts as he went deep into Thursday's game, and wrote more about shaking off catcher Jason Varitek with Shannon Stewart at the plate with one out to go for the no-no.

"The first hitter of the sixth was the first real 'I might throw a no hitter' moment for me, during the game," wrote Schilling. "Kotsay hits a first pitch back door slider that’s over the heart of the plate to deep center field. I think it’s a hit off the bat, and as has happened so often this year Coco closes the gap between the ball and himself when it looks like he has no chance, and makes an awesome play. Kendall hits into the defense for the second out on a 1-1 fastball away (same pitch Stewart hit btw), and on a 2-2 fastball Stewart grounds to Youk to end the inning."

Schilling writes about hearing and feeling Red Sox Nation getting riled up as the game went on and what was going through his mind at the end of the eighth inning.

"Walking off the field I am thinking of my wife and my kids," Schilling wrote. "Shonda and I had often talked about what throwing a no-hitter would be like. She’s been at pretty much every significant event I’ve ever achieved in this game and she’s always joked about how I better not do it when she wasn’t there. I am walking off the mound, and it’s pretty loud at this point, and I know that she’s somewhere thinking and praying I do it, but at the same time feeling her gut wrench because she’s not there.

"I am also thinking and praying that if it doesn’t happen, and if I do give up a hit, that it’s clean. I know how much pressure the guys in the field are feeling. None of them wants to be the guy to get a questionable ball at this point, nor do I want them to. Add to that, it’s still 1-0, we’ve lost four straight and I just want to win this game and have it over. I also want to enjoy the fact that I’ve never been here, most likely won’t ever be again, and after 450 plus starts in the major leagues how cool it is to experience something I’ve never experienced. I’m trying to soak it in but in all honesty I can’t. We need to win this game. Then I think 'Damn, I’ve gotten 24 of them already, what’s getting 3 more?' "

After Mark Kotsay and Jason Kendall each grounded out to Julio Lugo at short, Schilling was one out away from the no-hitter.

"This was the very first time I actually said to myself, on the mound, 'Holy crap, I think I am going to do this,'" wrote Schilling. "I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do with Shannon and felt I knew exactly what he was going to come to the plate trying to do.

"Now comes the infamous ‘shake’. In talking with Tek after the game it’s clear to me that he was 100% spot on with his thought, and I was completely wrong with mine. Why would he take a strike at this point? I had gone to 1 three ball count all day. I wasn’t going to walk him and the only thing you do at that point, by taking a strike, is allow me freedom to use my split. There was no way in hell he was taking. I was sure otherwise. So I shake off the slider, execute the pitch I want, and he lines it to right.

"There was about 1.5 seconds of disappointment there on my end. It would have been damn cool, hell it would have been awesome, to throw the no-no. As soon as the ball hit the outfield grass I thought 'Ok what do I want to do with Ellis?'"

Schilling went on to write about wanting to be known as a 'stopper,' how fortunate he is to play with such a special group of players, and how even though it's only June, it was important to put an end to the losing streak and get on with the season.

"Funny thing is you wake up the next morning, the world moves on," Schilling concluded. "And you get ready to do it all over again in five days."

PHOENIX - J.D. Drew drove in 7 runs tonight with a pair of 3-run homers and an RBI double to lead the Sox to a 10-3 win over Arizona.

Josh Beckett improved to 9-0 with the win. He went eight innings.

Joel Pineiro finished up in the 9th.

A big crowd of 40,435 was comprised of several thousand Red Sox fans. There were often Red Sox chants through out the night including old stand-by Yankees (Expletive).

PHOENIX - J.D. Drew is hitting his way out of oblivion.

Maybe it's the sight of his little brother, Stepehen, playing short for the Diamondbacks, but Drew has struck for a pair of three-run homers in the third and sixth innings to account for six of Boston's nine runs tonight. The Sox lead 9-1. The second blast came off Edgar Gonzalez into the right-field bleachers.

Drew entered the game in a 5-for-39 (.128) funk over his last 12 games and really over his last 35 games he was hitting only .162. His last homer prior to hitting two tonight, doubling his total for the season, was April 22nd against the Yankees.

His 6 RBI tonight are a career-best.

PHOENIX - Pretty fair night for Julio Lugo, who homered to lead off the game, walked, and also pulled the old hidden ball trick on Alberto Collaspo, who had singled and moved to second on Chris Snyder's single to right. J.D. Drew threw in to Lugo, who was behind Collaspo who took taken a wide turn but got back to second.

Lugo then just held the ball. Collaspo never called time out and came off the bag to dust himself off when Lugo applied the tag.

Julio Lugo, who was batting .127 in his last 19 games entering last night's game here, did his level best to snap out of it by hitting a monstrous 408-foot home run to left-center off lefty Doug Davis, to lead off the game. It was Lugo's fourth dinger and his 34th RBI of the season.

David Ortiz, playing first base, also walked in the inning, but the Sox were unable to mount any more offense against Davis, who struck out Manny Ramirez, after he hit a towering foul ball homer, J.D. Drew tapped out to the pitcher to end the inning.

In the second inning, Josh Beckett is getting his first at-bat of the game. Beckett is an old pro with a bat from his Florida days. He ended the inning by grounding out to third base.

PHOENIX - With no DH because the game is in a National League city, Kevin Youkilis will take a seat tonight so David Ortiz can play first base.

In other news, the Sox will activate Mike Timlin tomorrow, Timlin said his arm feels "normal" though when asked how it felt compared to last year he said, "well, it's a year later."

Here are the lineups:

BOSTON:

SS Julio Lugo
2B Dustin Pedroia
1B David Ortiz
LF Manny Ramirez
RF J.D. Drew
3B Mike Lowell
C Jason Varitek
CF Coco Crisp
P Josh Beckett

Arizona:
RF Eric Byrnes
CF Chris Young
2B Orlando Hudson
1B Conor Jackson
SS Stephen Drew
LF Jerry Hairston
3B Alberto Callaspo
C Chris Snyder
P Doug Davis

The New York Times' Tyler Kepner, in a blog entry today, takes a look at how the Yankees reacted when they watched the end of Curt Schilling's near no-hitter yesterday:

Until Boston’s Curt Schilling lost a no-hitter Thursday with two outs in the ninth inning at Oakland, the Yankees’ Mike Mussina had the dubious distinction of being the last pitcher to come so close to a no-hitter without getting it.

The Yankees watched the end of Schilling’s game in the clubhouse Thursday afternoon. When Shannon Stewart broke up the no-hitter, the room erupted in cheers, players bursting from their seats and shouting.

After the Yankees’ 10-3 victory over the White Sox, I kidded with Mussina and asked if he’d send a telegram to Schilling. Mussina, whose perfect game was ruined by Carl Everett on Sept. 2, 2001, sneered. “What?” he cried. “He didn’t get to one strike away!” Then a few of the writers suggested Mussina post on Schilling’s blog. He smiled, I think.

I was down in the Oakland clubhouse after the game, getting postgame comments from the A's players, and one of the most bizarre and bush league things that I've ever heard came out of the mouth of a radio guy, apparently named Kevin the Rat. (No, I am not making that up.) The name, of course, should give you a good idea of his journalistic credibility.

This was directed at Shannon Stewart: "He's not well-liked by a certain amount of people, either. I'm sure there are some people in your dugout that were real happy to see that."

The question elicted a perfect response from Stewart, as Stewart didn't give the guy anything -- despite the controversy he was obviously trying to create.

"I don't know who likes him or not," Stewart said. "I just know he's a good pitcher. He does what he does, he goes out there and pitches. I don't know about the comments that people who don't like him makes. He's a good pitcher, bottom line."

That, of course, followed an even more bizarre question by Kevin the Rat, this one to Mark Kotsay.

"Unofficially, just so you know, there were a lot of people in the press box that were happy that Schilling didn't get the no-hitter. Any thoughts on his standing in the game?"

The retort from Kotsay: "I've got no thoughts on that."

Here are a few select comments from Curt Schilling after the game:

"We needed to win today, above everything else, so it was very easy to stay focused on what [we're] trying to accomplish, which was to win the game. The fact that they had no hits going into the seventh, eighth, ninth reflected executing the game plan, but the focus was winning the game. We hadn't won the last couple of days, [so it was a] big win for us."

"I was sure [Stewart] was taking. Tek was sure he was swinging. I was wrong."

"I felt good later in the game. I thought velocity-wise I got better as the game went on, stuff-wise I got sharper. I made some mistakes earlier, they hit some balls right at people defensively. We made some great plays. Fun game to be a part of."

Though it got lost in the near no-hitter, Boston selected University of Washington lefthander Nicholas Hagadone with the 55th pick of the draft.

They took Ryan Dent, a high school shortstop out of Woodrow Wilson High School in California with the 62nd pick.

Curt Schilling, who pitched 8 2/3 innings of no-hit baseball today, spoke to NESN's Tina Cervasio immediately after the game.

“We lost a couple of games in a row. Joe [Blanton] was throwing the ball well. We needed a win today more than anything,” said Schilling. “Circumstances had me getting out there in the ninth with no hits. It was fun.

"It was 1-0 the whole game, so that kind of alleviated thinking about anything else. In a 1-0 game, you're a mistake away from a tie. So I stayed focused. And he [Stewart] came up with two outs, and I had a plan for him, and I was thinking, and 'Tek called slider, and I shook him off and threw fastball away, and now you gotta go 'What if?'"

Stewart broke up Schilling's no-hit bid with an opposite-field single to right field beyond the reach of Red Sox second baseman Alex Cora.

Curt Schilling will have to settle for a one-hit shutout, though he got a standing ovation from the crowd and his dugout after Shannon Stewart broke up his no hitter with that liner to right field.

That's the game and the losing streak over, 1-0.

Back with more soon.

One pitch to Shannon Stewart, and that was it.

Stewart smashed Curt Schilling's 98th pitch of the afternoon into right field on a line to break up Schilling's bid for the first no hitter of his career.

The pitch was a belt-high fastball.

The throw was high, but Julio Lugo had no trouble with the second out of the ninth inning, either.

It's all up to Shannon Stewart now.

It's the 8-9-1 hitters that Schilling will have to get through to get his no hitter.

Easy ground ball just to the left of second base handled by Julio Lugo.

Schilling just got up to his fastest speed of the game, 93, on his 93rd pitch.

Well, the 31,211 officially listed as being here today are certainly being rewarded for skipping school or work or whatever.

It's still 1-0, Red Sox, with Curt Schilling coming to the mound in the bottom of the ninth. Schilling just got a standing ovation as he walked out.

From both the Red Sox and A's fans.

This isn't Schilling at his best, certainly. He's had better days pitching, better stuff, but sometimes this is just the way it works in baseball...

One pitch, and Schilling got the first out of the eighth inning on a roller up the first base line by Jack Cust. Kevin Youkilis held his hand out, and took the ball to the base himself.

Schilling, in one of those shows of luck that have to show up in a no-hitter, stabbed one off the bat of Dan Johnson, and threw to Youkilis for the second out of the inning.

And, on his 90th pitch of the afternoon, Schilling got Marco Scutaro to line out to mid-range centerfield.

Eight in the books. No hits.

That was a near miss.

Mike Lowell briefly bobbled a ball off the bat of Mark Ellis -- dropping it and grabbing it back up -- before throwing to first to nab Ellis with the first out of the seventh.

Them, despite the barrel of Nick Swisher's bat flying out toward second base, Kevin Youkilis grabbed the ball, throwing to Curt Schilling at first for the out.

And Alex Cora had no problem with that last grounder, meaning there's still no hits for the A's through seven.

Oakland pitcher Joe Blanton just induced Coco Crisp into a bouncer back to the mound to get himself out of what was originally a first and third, one-out situation.

J.D. Drew -- mired in a deep, deep slump -- singled to right, followed by Jason Varitek's single up the middle. (Mike Lowell sent a fly ball to right.) But Alex Cora popped to third base in foul territory and Crisp hit that comebacker and Blanton was out of the inning.

It's amazing how quickly a game can go when there's only two hits.

David Ortiz's first-inning home run into right field and Manny Ramirez's single right after are the only hits so far in this game, meaning there's a you-know-what brewing.

And that Coco Crisp catch, speeding back full force toward the 400-foot sign in centerfield -- much like the one he had yesterday -- certainly helped out Schilling's cause.

Schilling has thrown 74 pitches through six innings. He has faced just one batter over the minimum (no walks), resulting after Julio Lugo dropped a ground ball off the bat of Dan Johnson in the fifth inning. The play was ruled an error on the shortstop.

OK, I'm not going to say anything.

And you're not going to say anything.

And the players in the Red Sox dugout aren't going to say anything.

But that E6 means something -- especially to Curt Schilling.

If you get my drift.

Anyone out there watching the draft?

We estimated there might be about three or four people not affiliated with media outlets, teams, or the players actually getting drafted who were tuning into ESPN2's coverage.

Not exactly the same cachet as either the football or basketball drafts. Probably because, outside of David Price or Beau Mills (for Sox fans), few people know about many of the high schoolers or even the college kids. You have to be pretty dedicated to know more than a handful of names.

We had the TVs tuned to the draft earlier today, and the best reactions were from some of the scouts in the press box, especially when some of the California kids were drafted early. These guys, of course, have actually seen some of the potential draftees -- so they're more in the know than the rest of the media in the press box, certainly.

(Though perhaps I deserve a bit of credit. As the Herald scribes, Jeff Horrigan and Rob Bradford can attest, I mentioned that I had Mills going in my mock draft at No. 13 to the Indians. Yes, that really is true.)

Sorry I've been a little sparing with my blog updates. I'm trying to finish up my minor league notebook so my editors are happy. Got to keep on the good side of the boss, right?

But I'm back now, and ready to bring you the sights and sounds of McAfee Coliseum in lovely Oakland, Calif. OK, not so lovely, but the weather is absolutely gorgeous.

Jealous, yet?

The gametime temperature was 65 degrees, and the field is flooded with sunlight at this point in the early afternoon.

The stands actually appear to be more full than they have been on any of the other days we've been here. Perhaps the enticement of a beautiful afternoon in McAfee is better than a chilly and windy night at McAfee.

Let's just say, this isn't exactly anyone's favorite stadium.

Back with more in a few.

Curt Schilling, in his role of stopper, has gone through three innings in controlling fashion. He has struck out two, both in the second inning, and has allowed two ground balls and five balls in the air.

He has always said that he takes the job of being the team's stopper very seriously, so we'll have to see how he does in his attempt to end this latest skid. He looks good so far.

Just realized I never got you the Oakland lineup.

For those of you still wondering...

Athletics

1. Shannon Stewart, LF
2. Mark Ellis, 2B
3. Nick Swisher, RF
4. Eric Chavez, 3B
5. Jack Cust, DH
6. Dan Johnson, 1B
7. Marco Scutaro, SS
8. Mark Kotsay, CF
9. Jason Kendall, C

SP - Joe Blanton

David Ortiz provided his own intensity, sending a Joe Blanton offering out to the stands in right field for the first Red Sox score of the day. It was a solo shot, meaning Curt Schilling takes the mound with a 1-0 lead over Oakland, as the Sox attempt to end their losing streak at four games.

Beau Mills and his father, Brad Mills, the Red Sox bench coach, looked pretty happy up in the luxury suite provided for the family here at McAfee Coliseum. The pair was interviewed by NESN's Tina Cervasio after the news came down that the younger Mills had been selected with the 13th pick in the draft.

It was good news, not only that Mills was chosen, but that the father and son got to be together at that moment, since the game had yet to start. Brad Mills mentioned yesterday that the Indians had been in contact with Beau earlier this week.

Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills' son just got drafted 13th overall by the Cleveland Indians. Beau Mills is a corner infield prospect with tremendous power; ESPN's Keith Law called it a "tremendous pick" for the Indians.

Mills posted outlandish numbers at NAIA Lewis & Clark State this season, with a line of .458/.556/1.033, with 38 homers, 22 doubles, 123 RBI, 43 walks, and 22 strikeouts in just 240 at-bats. In a few years, he could be a potent hitter in the big leagues alongside Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez.

The 2007 MLB Draft is off and running, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays made the expected selection of David Price, a polished lefthanded pitcher from Vanderbilt, at No. 1.

The Kansas City Royals took Mike Moustakas with the second pick. Moustakas is a hybrid third baseman/shortstop out of Chatsworth HS in California.

The Chicago Cubs snagged third baseman Josh Vitters, from Cypress HS in California, with the third pick.

The Pirates drafted lefthander Daniel Moskos out of Clemson University. Moskos could be either a starter or reliever for the Pirates, who badly need pitching in the big leagues soon.

More to come on the notable picks of the day; the first Red Sox selection is just 51 picks away. You can keep track of Boston's picks with our draft tracker.

Terry Francona disagreed with David Ortiz's statement last night that the team was lacking intensity.

"I don't agree," he said. "To me I chalk that up to a guy giving a quote on the way to shower. I actually think our intensity has been very good. I think there's some frustration. We're rolling over on some balls, a little tired and edgy. No, I don't."

And here's Francona's reason for why it won't hurt too much to have Pedroia rest for a day: "Playing AC always seems to help us win a game," he said. "I think it makes sense."

Dustin Pedroia gets a rest today in the ever-changing, ever-rotating Red Sox lineup. He'll be replaced by Alex Cora. Other than that, it's a pretty standard group, including J.D. Drew back among the starters.

Oakland's lineup isn't out yet, but we'll get that to you soon.

Red Sox

1. Julio Lugo, SS
2. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. J.D. Drew, RF
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Alex Cora, 2B
9. Coco Crisp, CF

SP - Curt Schilling

It's been a long time since I've walked into the Red Sox clubhouse after a game and found it like it was tonight.

Silent, really.

Silent and solemn.

It was something we saw a lot of at the end of last season, especially during that sapping Yankees series. Especially when the team was really out of contention. But with all the winning this season, it's never really been an issue. Until this stretch, the team had only lost two straight (three times) -- hardly even a losing streak.

Not anymore. There seems to be a different feeling, or at least there was after last night's 3-2 loss to Oakland.

"Intensity, all kinds of stuff, it's just not there," David Ortiz said. "Hopefully we'll come back tomorrow, figure things out."

With four straight losses overall, and three in Oakland, the Red Sox are certainly in a tough stretch. The travel schedule didn't help -- late ESPN game on Sunday, flying all night to the West Coast -- and now the team is having trouble offensively. Even with three good starts from Julian Tavarez, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Tim Wakefield, the team hasn't been able to pull out the kinds of games that seemed almost natural wins earlier in the season.

Frustration was apparent in this one, with Ortiz vociferously arguing a call, and Terry Francona getting tossed for the first time this season. Even Wakefield admitted to being upset in the seventh inning when Mark Ellis made no move away from a curveball that hit him in the shoulder.

The good news for the Red Sox is that Curt Schilling starts tomorrow's game. After each losing streak this season previous to the current one -- yes, all three of them -- Schilling has been the starter in the win that ended the mini-skid.

That task, again, falls to him tomorrow.

We'll let you know what happens.

(It's a day game, obviously, a 3:35 p.m. Eastern start, so I'll be blogging as much as I can for all you office-bound blog faithful. I'm expecting lots of clicks, so don't disappoint me. We'll try to work in draft updates, if we can get them, as well.)

Goodnight, all.

The Red Sox lost their fourth straight tonight, 3-2, to Oakland. Tim Wakefield pitched significantly better than he had in recent games, but the Red Sox grounded into three double plays to erase many of the chances they had.

Joe Kennedy takes the win.

We'll be back later.

Terry Francona, in arguing a seemingly poor strike call on a pitch to Dustin Pedroia got tossed for the first time this season.

The pitch appeared to be in the middle of Pedroia's chest, and the home plate umpire called it a strike.

Francona used a few choice curses in the vicinity of the umpire's face. OK, more than a few. Wasn't too hard to read his lips, but this is a family blog, so we'll refrain from reporting the exact words. Let's just say he believed it was not a good call.

That leaves Brad Mills as the boss in Francona's place.

Looks like we'll have to give Kevin Youkilis another vote in the speed competition between him and Dustin Pedroia.

Youkilis was motoring around the bases on that triple, which followed a Manny Ramirez double, and provided the Red Sox their first run after 17 scoreless innings, stretching back to the ninth inning on Monday.

The score is now 3-2, Athletics, in the seventh inning. (Youkilis scored on Wily Mo Pena's groundout to second base.)

David Ortiz nearly got tossed there, getting very, very close to the face of home plate umpire Dan Iassogna.

Iassogna called Ortiz out on a swinging strikeout on which it appeared, in the replays, that Ortiz didn't come particularly close to swinging. Iassogna pointed at Ortiz, as if he swung. As soon as Ortiz realized he had been called out, his face got close to Iassogna with some emphatic words.

Terry Francona was out of the dugout very quickly, trying to make sure that Ortiz wasn't thrown out, and getting his own little chat in with Iassogna in the process.

...or the water, or something.

That double play, hit into by Coco Crisp, was the third inning-ending double play of the day. It was also the third 5-4-3 double play of the game. That makes seven GIDPs (grounded into double plays) in two games, and eight double plays total in the last two days.

It's a great way to make the least of your opportunities.

Before that single by the struggling Jason Kendall (.191 on the season), Tim Wakefield had retired seven straight batters -- every member of the A's to bat since Travis Buck singled to open the game.

Wakefield got out of the inning, not allowing Kendall to get any farther than first base, when he got Buck to fly to centerfield, and caught Mark Ellis swinging.

The Red Sox walked two more times in the first inning, after being walked six times by Lenny DiNardo in his six innings last night. But, like last night, both of the runners (David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez) were stranded when Kevin Youkilis struck out swinging.

And, once again, the Red Sox ended the second inning with yet another double play. It was the fifth they've grounded into in the past two days, the sixth total.

By the way, Milton Bradley was scratched from the original lineup with a soreness in his strained right calf. That was the reason he had missed the previous three games.

Here is the new lineup...

A's

1. Travis Buck, RF
2. Mark Ellis, 2B
3. Nick Swisher, CF
4. Eric Chavez, 3B
5. Dan Johnson, 1B
6. Shannon Stewart, LF
7. Jack Cust, DH
8. Bobby Crosby, SS
9. Jason Kendall, C

Much of the pregame talk centered around Beau Mills, the son of bench coach Brad Mills, who figures to be drafted pretty high in tomorrow's MLB draft. He could go as high as No. 4 to the Pirates, who seem to have their choices down to two players, a high school kid and Mills.

Mills has worked out for both the A's and Giants in recent days while waiting for tomorrow to arrive.

It's very possible that Mills could get drafted before tomorrow's game starts, as the draft starts at 11 a.m. Pacific, and the game starts at 12:35 p.m.

Speaking of the draft, the Red Sox don't pick until the 55th pick, a supplemental round choice.

J.D. Drew remains out of the lineup, with another lefty on the mound. Other than that, not much in the way of lineup talk today.

Red Sox

1. Julio Lugo, SS
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Wily Mo Pena, RF
8. Doug Mirabelli, C
9. Coco Crisp, CF

SP - Tim Wakefield

Athletics

1. Travis Buck, LF
2. Mark Ellis, 2B
3. Nick Swisher, RF
4. Eric Chavez, 3B
5. Milton Bradley, CF
6. Dan Johnson, 1B
7. Jack Cust, DH
8. Bobby Crosby, SS
9. Jason Kendall, C

SP - Joe Kennedy

It might have been their third straight loss -- the first time that has happened all season -- but it was also one of those nights that the starting pitcher doesn't exactly deserve a loss. Though, in the end, those usually are made up with a couple of wins that are driven by the offense rather than the starting pitching.

Daisuke Matsuzaka avoided the big inning, just giving up two runs, including one on an Eric Chavez home run that came on a pitch up around the letters. Hard to fault him for that one -- more just a case of Chavez getting hot as June starts. (For those wondering, Chavez, who recorded the winning run in each of the last two games, hits .256 for his career in April, .245 in May,.273 in June, .277 in July, .300 in August, and .267 in September.)

But, in the end, it was the ability of Lenny DiNardo -- mostly driven by the movement on his pitches -- to get outs in sticky situations that sealed the game for the Red Sox. That, and Alan Embree.

"Damage control," DiNardo said. "Pretty much, all right, I've got a man on base, I've got to make a good pitch right here, keep the ball down. Hopefully he'll roll over it. It wasn't a really picturesque performance. Six walks in an outing -- I think I doubled my walks on the year, possibly, tonight."

(He was right, he did double his season total in walks last night, from six to 12.)

OK, that's about it from here. And, yes, I know it's about 3:40 a.m. in Boston. Just thought I'd add something for all those intrepid souls checking out the blog in the morning when we're still slumbering out here in Oakland.

Enjoy. See you back here tomorrow afternoon. It's Tim Wakefield vs. Joe Kennedy. Another lefty.

Will J.D. Drew play? We'll keep you updated, as always.

The loss tonight, 2-0 to the A's, marks the first time this season the Red Sox have lost three straight games.

It was a bit of an odd game, with five double plays (four of the GIDP variety) and six walks for winning pitcher Lenny DiNardo. Just three hits for the Red Sox tonight -- just two off DiNardo.

It's been very inconsistent today. Really, really inconsistent.

There have been balls outside that have been called strikes, balls up that have been called strikes -- like one in that last at bat by Travis Buck. In case you're interested, that's Paul Emmel behind the plate.

Meanwhile, Daisuke Matsuzaka has thrown more pitches tonight than he has in any other start this season. He's up to 130.

The last time the Red Sox grounded into four double plays in one game was April 7, 2006, against Baltimore.

Lenny DiNardo has been able to get himself out of some pretty sticky situations throughout this game.

He's already up to six walks through six innings, but he has gotten four inning-ending double plays. Kevin Youkilis just got DiNardo out of a bases loaded situation -- walk to Dustin Pedroia, single to left by David Ortiz, walk to Manny Ramirez -- when he grounded out to Eric Chavez at third. Chavez stepped on the bag, then threw across to first base.

Quite a missed opportunity for the Sox.

You'll notice that Wily Mo Pena is playing in right field in place of J.D. Drew. Drew is sitting, mostly because he's been struggling so much. Terry Francona considered moving him down in the order, then decided to take him out of the lineup entirely for tonight's game, and possibly for tomorrow's, as well.

Drew said the hamstring is improving. It's not the reason he's sitting, that has to do more with the lefty that's pitching today. (Joe Kennedy, tomorrow's starter, is also a lefty.)

Good series so far for Eric Chavez, who homered to lead off the fourth inning against Daisuke Matsuzaka. The pitch at Chavez's chest, a rather high one.

Chavez, you'll remember, hit a home run off Kyle Snyder to win last night's 11-inning affair. So he's doing OK so far against the Red Sox.

Lenny DiNardo, in his first two innings of work, has walked three batters and struck out none.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, in his first two innings of work, has struck out three batters and walked none.

Want to guess which approach might be more successful?

Of course, both teams are still scoreless at this point, so technically they've been equally successful.

And, we're back...

It's been a little crazy here, with the West Coast time and East Coast deadlines, so I'm back for updates.

Jon Lester will make his next start for Pawtucket on Saturday. Mike Timlin will pitch no more than an inning on Thursday. That may delay his activation to the Red Sox until Saturday in Arizona.

Here they are...

Red Sox

1. Julio Lugo, SS
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Wily Mo Pena, RF
9. Coco Crisp, CF

SP - Daisuke Matsuzaka

Athletics

1. Travis Buck, LF
2. Mark Ellis, 2B
3. Nick Swisher, RF
4. Dan Johnson, 1B
5. Eric Chavez, 3B
6. Bobby Crosby, SS
7. Jack Cust, DH
8. Mark Kotsay, CF
9. Jason Kendall, C

SP - Lenny DiNardo

Red Sox slugger David Ortiz extended his lead at first base while rising rookie Dustin Pedroia moved up in the second base balloting as updated All-Star voting results for the American League were released today for the 78th midsummer classic to be played on July 10 in San Francisco. Across the board, there were no changes among the leaders for any of the AL starting positions.

Ortiz (775,734) has opened up his lead at first place over Justin Morneau of the Twins (351,497) by 424,237 votes. Morneau passed the Yankees' Jason Giambi to move into second place.

There had been a wave of support within Red Sox Nation to write-in Kevin Youkilis, who had been hot at the plate for the month of May, as the AL first baseman. But with the absence of a DH position this year, as the game will be played in the National League city of San Francisco, Ortiz was the Red Sox representative at first base forcing Sox fans to make a choice between Big Papi and a write-in vote for Youkilis.

With Ortiz taking a commanding lead at first base, it appears the best chance for Youkilis to make the All-Star team would be as a reserve through the coaches/players process, or be added to the AL squad as the 32nd player in the special online final vote process that takes place once the starters are announced.

Pedroia (208,172), the AL's rookie of the month and player of the week, has passed the Devil Rays' B.J. Upton (196,156) to move into fourth place in the AL balloting for second baseman. Robinson Cano of the Yankees is the current leader at second with 389,265 votes.

Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez, who has raised his batting average over the last few weeks, remains the No. 2 vote getter for AL outfielders, trailing Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels. The Mariners’ Ichiro Suzuki is the third top starting outfielder in the second AL balloting update.

In other positions, the Tigers' Pudge Rodriguez has the lead at catcher over the Twins' Joe Mauer. Red Sox captain Jason Varitek, currently third in the catcher balloting, is 56,543 votes off the lead.

Yankee players Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter have big leads at third base and shortstop, respectively. Rodriguez has 1,058,907 votes, more than any player in either league, and leads Sox third baseman Mike Lowell by 705,984 votes. Rodriguez and Jeter are MLB’s top overall vote getters so far.

Fans can vote at MLB.com and all 30 team sites until 11:59 p.m. ET on June 28. Pitchers will be selected by the All-Star game managers and coaching staff for both leagues.

American League All-Star balloting through June 5:

One of the benefits of the extra innings tonight was an extra at bat for Mark Ellis.

And he came through.

Ellis singled into center field in the 10th inning to give the Athletics their 17th cycle, Oakland its sixth, and the Coliseum its second.

Ellis tripled in the second, homered in the fourth, doubled in the sixth, reached on a fielder's choice in the eighth, and singled in the 10th.

It was the first against Boston since Andre Thornton completed the feat on April 22, 1978, when he was with Cleveland.

That was an 8-6-2 putout on Dustin Pedroia, as he tried to score from first on David Ortiz's double.

On the negative side, that ended the inning.

On the bright side, that might settle the debate between Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis about who is faster.

Could Youkilis have scored on that? Eh, probably not. Pedroia was out by a couple of steps.

That single extended Dustin Pedroia's hitting streak to 14 straight games.

It's been a good month for him.

Plus he has quite a bit of family -- like, say, close to 60 members -- in the crowd here at McAfee Coliseum.

Want to bet they were giving him a standing ovation?

The combination of Joel Pineiro and J.C. Romero pitched themselves into quite a jam in the ninth inning, with Pineiro walking Travis Buck and Nick Swisher reaching on an error by Eric Hinske. With Romero coming in and walking Dan Johnson, that left the bases loaded and no outs in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth.

But Romero struck out Eric Chavez.

And then he made magic.

Just the typical 5-2-3, game-saving double play. No problem, right?

Kevin Youkilis grabbed the ball on a hop, threw to Doug Mirabelli at home to get Buck. Mirabelli made the relay to Hinske at first, causing most of the Red Sox dugout -- now working on little to no sleep -- to jump up.

Pretty good response from the crowd, too.

Brings us to the 10th. Just what the Sox wanted after arriving at 4:45 a.m. to California -- EXTRA INNINGS!

With two outs in the ninth inning, and down by two runs, pinch hitter Jason Varitek (in for J.D. Drew) blooped a single over first base to score David Ortiz. That brought the game to 4-3.

Then Wily Mo Pena, who had already homered in this game, lined a single toward the gap in right centerfield. Speedy Coco Crisp, who Pena was playing for, scored from first to tie the score.

That brings us to the bottom of the ninth. Crisp stays in center; Pena moves to right.

Well, that call certainly brought disappointment from the home crowd. With Mark Ellis a single away from the cycle, he sent a ground ball to Kevin Youkilis at third base. Youkilis fielded the ball cleanly, but his throw was off target to second to start a double play.

The call was ruled a fielder's choice with an error on Youkilis.

When it was posted on the scoreboard, that's when the boos came down.

Wily Mo Pena demonstrated once again why he's valuable, smashing a Dan Haren offering into the stands in left field to bring the score to 3-2, Oakland.

Pena made a minor gaffe in just missing the ball on Mark Ellis's triple. Not a major mistake, but the ball ended up rolling back towards the wall where J.D. Drew picked it up.

But, of course, his power remains his raison d'etre with this team.

Mark Ellis is currently a single shy of the cycle.

He's not guaranteed to come up again in this game, given that he's six batters away from a plate appearance and there are only two more guaranteed half innings for the currently-leading A's.

That walk to David Ortiz ended Dan Haren's streak of batters retired at 14. He's still up 3-1 on the Sox, though.

And, with Haren still the major's leader in ERA at 1.64, runs figured to be scarce.

He just struck out Manny Ramirez to end the sixth.

Saw quite a few Red Sox jerseys earlier today as I walked in a very crowded concourse.

Still, not too many people here at the game today -- just 28,177 in enormous McAfee Coliseum.

With the groundout by Eric Hinske, that brings Dan Haren to 12 straight retired. The last batter to reach base was J.D. Drew, on a single in the second inning.

For that matter, that was the first time Drew had gotten a ball out of the infield in 11 at bats. He's back in the lineup after missing two straight games with hamstring tendinitis.

Coco Crisp was scratched from the lineup with an upset stomach. Wily Mo Pena is playing center field and batting seventh in his place.

For those of you who noticed that the guy in center field doesn't look a whole lot like Coco Crisp, you're right.

It's Wily Mo Pena.

We'll keep you updated on the reason for the change.

Well, that should end that.

That was Ortiz's first home run since May 9, a stretch of 19 games without a home run, his longest ever as a member of the Red Sox.

It went out to right field just shy of the 367-foot sign.

It's busy here, so we'll just get you the lineups for now. Little bit of a different look today, as expected with the flight this morning out from Boston.

The team arrived at 4:45 a.m., and got to their San Francisco hotel around 5:15 a.m.

Red Sox

1. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
2. Alex Cora, SS
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
6. J.D. Drew, RF
7. Coco Crisp, CF
8. Doug Mirabelli, C
9. Eric Hinske, 1B

SP - Julian Tavarez

A's

1. Shannon Stewart, LF
2. Travis Buck, RF
3. Nick Swisher, 1B
4. Dan Johnson, DH
5. Eric Chavez, 3B
6. Bobby Crosby, SS
7. Mark Kotsay, CF
8. Mark Ellis, 2B
9. Jason Kendall, C

SP - Dan Haren

The recent rise in Dustin Pedroia's play has not gone unnoticed around baseball.

Pedroia today was named the American League rookie of the month for May and AL player of the week for May 28-June 3.

Pedroia batted .415 for the month of May, hitting two homers and six doubles to go along with nine RBIs in 21 games for the month. Pedroia led all AL rookies in average, doubles, and on-base percentage. Pedroia follows Red Sox rookie pitcher Hideki Okajima, who was named rookie of the month for April this season.

For the week, Pedroia batted .609 with six doubles and six RBIs in six games against Cleveland and New York. Sox righty Daisuke Matsuzaka won the AL's weekly honor for May 14-20.

Pedroia is the first Red Sox rookie to win the AL's weekly honor since Brian Daubach won in August of 1999. The rookie second baseman has hit safely in his last 13 games, batting .489 over that span to raise his average from .253 to .336.

...

Timlin pitches in

Rehabbing Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin started Game 2 for the PawSox in doubleheader action in Norfolk, Va., today.

Timlin tossed two scoreless innings, allowed one hit and struck out two. Timlin threw 21 pitches (14 strikes) and left with a 2-0 lead in the game. Michael Tucker and Chad Spann hit back-to-back homers off Timlin in the top of the second.

Timlin has posted a 4.77 ERA in five rehab appearances with the PawSox.

Information above provided by the Red Sox media relations department.

Rehabbing lefthander Jon Lester picked up a win for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox this afternoon in Norfolk, Va., giving up just one run over seven innings in the PawSox’s 5-1 victory.

Lester scattered four hits to go along with a walk and a strikeout. He threw 87 pitches, 54 for strikes. Norfolk's Luis Montanez hit a home run off Lester to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning for Norfolk's only run.

Lester's seven-inning effort was good for a complete game, as the PawSox and Norfolk Tides are playing a doubleheader today and each game is only seven innings instead of the usual nine.

Lester is now 1-1 with a 1.26 ERA for Pawtucket.

When asked last Thursday on Boston sports radio station WEEI about the plan for Lester, general manager Theo Epstein wouldn’t commit to a timetable for his return to the Red Sox.

“He’s still on a pitch count,” Epstein said. “He’s still an outing or two away from going unrestricted and seeing what he can do in the course of a long outing and getting fatigued, working his way out of jams… right now we’re just focused on his development in making sure that when it’s time to answer that question [when Lester is return to the majors], he’s got all his pitches working for him, he’s been through all the tests, he’s answered all the questions that we’re going to have for him before it’s time to come up. It’s a good problem to have and those things have a way or working themselves out.

“The only thing we discussed with him is one step at a time and getting healthy. He had a little bump in the road with the forearm cramp, and now it’s just a matter of him working himself back up to be able to go deep in games. We’re just going to take it one step with him, there are no expectations, no promises one way or the other.”

A roundup of this morning’s media reports and blogs out of New York after the Yankees took two of three from the Red Sox over the weekend.

John Harper was as proud as a new papa of Joe Torre in the New York Daily News: "It's the way he [Torre] manages, and maybe it will turn his way yet this season. Torre seemed foolishly optimistic only a day earlier, talking all about the fight he saw in his team on a day when it bumbled its way to a terrible loss. But last night his team made him look right on the money, fighting back even after Pettitte left the game with his back problem."

Over at Newsday, Wallace Matthews has some pretty high hopes after last night's game: "[Alex Rodriguez's] line drive home run to the opposite field off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon ... gave the Yankees their most dramatic victory of the season, and even though first place is still a long way off, it keeps alive a flicker of hope that maybe something good will come out of a season that has so far been nothing but bad."

Matthews also pleads for the return of Torre next season: "...Torre has managed to keep his sanity and, more improbably, his control over a clubhouse that by now could have made the Cubs' dugout look as peaceful as a Trappist monastery.

“For that alone, Torre deserves a do-over on this season, a mulligan if you will, from whoever is running the Yankees these days, be it George the Boss, Hal the Prince or Howie the Flack."

Ken Davidoff is more pessimistic, though, after Andy Pettitte went down with a back injury: "With the bases loaded, no outs and a full count in the fifth, Pettitte unleashed an 89-mph fastball to strike out Julio Lugo. You saw him convince Torre, Guidry and Donohue that he could keep going. You saw that he didn't get another out...

“Did you see the final hopes of the Yankees' season flicker away? It appears not, for now. Yet Torre acknowledged, ‘Certainly, we'll see how he feels in the next couple of days.’

“Wow, would it be difficult for the Yankees to mount a wild-card run without Pettitte, their most consistent and healthy pitcher to date."

In The New York Times, Murray Chass was cautious, writing about the success the Red Sox bullpen has had this season and comparing it to the Yankees': "When a team has a division lead over another team that two months into the season stretches from here to the other side of the Mississippi or the Rockies — take your pick — there are most likely several factors at work. In the case of the Red Sox and the Yankees, look at their bullpens.

“The Red Sox, unhappy with a relief corps that was mediocre at best last year, have put together an outstanding collection of relievers for this season. The Yankees? You have to wonder what they were thinking."

Over at the New York Post, Joel Sherman is slowly returning to his ebullient self after the Yankees took the weekend: "As always, he was the man Torre trusted most.

“There is still a long way to go. To regain respectability. To close on the Red Sox. And the Yanks can be pretty sure they will not close that distance without this steadier, more familiar version of Rivera. The Rivera of last night."

Mike Vaccaro rejoiced after A-Rod's homer last night: "In an instant, in a heartbeat, Fenway was silent, and A-Rod was triumphant. This might not have been the ‘Red Sox Moment’ so many people have wanted from A-Rod through the years -- October’s better, and it would help to be closer in the standings -- but for now, at the end of this game, at the end of this week, this would do.

“This would be just fine.

“Six-five, Yankees. Ballgame, Yankees. Life, Yankees."

OK, so maybe he's getting a little bit ahead of himself with that last part.

"The Weblog That Derek Built" reminds us of our schadenfreude at the Evil Empire's misfortune this month: "And Yankee fans? We're kind of hunched over, as if recovering from the aforementioned kick to the privates. For any ladies (or gents who've somehow avoided scrotal injury in their lives) this is how it works: you try to concentrate on breathing while waiting for waves of stomach-churning, nausea-inducing pain to subside. Like any lingering pain, there's the momentary concern that it won't ever fade away, even though experience teaches us that it definitely will. We're still waiting for the pain to stop...and it could be a while."

YESNetwork blogger Steve Goldman has waved the white flag in the AL East: "At this stage of the season, it's probably safe to say that a team is what it appears to be; the Red Sox are very, very good. The Yankees are not. Still, the Red Sox are probably not going to sustain their current high level. As we can see from the examples above, very few teams do, even the very, very good ones. Unfortunately, even if the Red Sox cool to the level of your run-of-the-mill 100-game winner, it's not going to help the Yankees much. They would have to win 70 percent of their remaining games and go 80-34 to earn 101 victories.

“Say the Red Sox suffer a bunch of injuries and they collapse, playing a game under .500 from now until the end of the season. They would still finish with a 90-72 record. To top that, the Yankees would have to go 70-44 starting today, a record which would require a .614 winning percentage. That's a 100-win pace over a full season.

“It's probably time to give up on winning the American League East. The Sox are going to have an awfully difficult time blowing it."

-- Compiled by Ben Gellman-Chomsky

The Yankees have just held on to defeat Boston, 6-5 in 4:04 before 36,793 at Fenway.

Mariano Rivera struck out Mike Lowell to end the game.

Kevin Youkilis had reached when Rivera hit him with a pitch with two outs. But Lowell was over-matched.

Alex Rodriguez delivered the winning blow - a homer to right field in the Sox bullpen off Jonathan Papelbon. That's it from Fenway.

Alex Rodriguez just shut up the "A-Rod! A-Rod!" chants.

He's homered into the Red Sox bullpen off Jonathan Papelbon with two outs and an 0-2 pitch. The place is church quiet right now.

It was A-Rod's 20th home run, marking the 12th consecutive season he has hit 20 or more.

Papelbon allowed an 0-2 home run to Oakland's Travis Buck on May 1, which was his only other blown save (or will be if Mariano Riveracan hold the lead).

It's 6-5 Yankees heading into the bottom of the ninth.

It's 5-5 as we head into the top of the ninth. Rain is falling but not hard enough to stop this one.

Jonathan papelbon has come on to pitch for the Sox after Bobby Abreu made a rather unorthodox running stab of Dustin Pedroia's bid to drive in the go-ahead run. Abreu came up with the drive to right field stranding two Sox runners.

The Yankees have tied the game 5-5 in the eighth off Hideki Okajima.

The Hideki vs. Hideki matchup didn't go so well. Matsui singled to start the eighth and that was followed by Robinson Cano's triple toward the triangle, scoring the tying run.

Okajima did his best work after the triple. With a runner at third, nobody out, Okajima retired the next three batters to strand the go-ahead run at third.

We head into the bottom of the eighth. Sweet Caroline is playing, tied at 5.

Julio Lugo was thrown out at the plate after a Dustin Pedroia double in the sixth.

Home plate umpire Chris Guccione ruled that Lugo did not touch the plate. Pretty close.

Josh Beckett has departed with one out in the seventh after throwing 117 pitches. Javier Lopez is in the game.

What a turn of events here.

Andy Pettitte was just rolling along, staked to a 4-0 lead in the fifth when the Sox scored five in the bottom of the fifth. Two of them scored on a double to the left-center field wall by Dustin Pedroia, who extended his hitting streak to 13 games, the most by a rookie this season. Two more came in on David Ortiz' single to right and an error by Bobby Abreu, who allowed Ortiz' hit to get passed him. A faster runner would have scored, but Ortiz held up at third. Kevin Youkilis got him home with a sac fly.

Pettitte seemed to have a leg issue, but stayed in the game. After Ortiz' hit, Joe Torre came out to get him.

His line: 4-1/3 innings, seven hits, five runs, one walk and three walks.

Pettitte was rolling along with a 3-0 lead in the fifth, pitching his usual gem, keeping the Sox off-balance with his offerings which includes a cutter that he had been getting more comfortable with start after start.

Beckett, meanwhile, had already matched his season-high of four earned runs.

The other time was April 21 also against the Yankees.

Three of last night's runs those came in the fifth.

The big play was Alex Rodriguez' slow roller to third on which Mike Lowell bare-handed it and threw a one-hopper to Kevin Youkilis who couldn't handle the throw. Two runs scored. Jorge Posada drove in the third run of the inning with a single.

Larry Lucchino is back in the country after touring China with baseball officials. Lucchino literally got off the plane and came to the ballpark so don't know the scope of the trip quite yet.

MLB is trying to find ways to make the country a fertile ground for the development of players with such a large pool to choose from. You'd think there'd be a ballplayer or two over there, right?

Maybe this Johnny Damon to first with Melky Cabrera to center is going to work out, eh?

Cabrera just made an outstanding catch of a tailing Wily Mo Pena to right-center in the third inning where he timed his dive perfectly and came down with the bases ball after a long run.

Not sure if Damon would have had that one.

Speaking of Damon, I think putting a first baseman's mitt on him is a great move. From his time here in Boston, we know he tends to beat up his body playing center. He also doesn't throw very well and playing first will limit the number of times he has to actually throw the baseball.

He also will have one of the great defensive first basemen - Don Mattingly, teaching him the position.

Tom Brady was expected tonight, but with the possibility of rain in the forecast it appears as though the Pats QB will take a raincheck.

Brady has been see wearing a Yankee cap recently, which isn't a new development. Early in his Patriots career, he often wore a Yankee cap, but was advised to lose it, which he did in public until he was caught recently.

Next thing we'll find out is that he's an A-Rod fan.

Josh Phelps, playing first base for Doug Mientkiewicz, who went on the DL with a fractured right wrist, has just driven in Jorge Posada in the second inning to give the Yanks a 1-0 lead off Josh Beckett.

The red-hot Posada doubled to right-center, but was held at third when Hideki matsui hit a hard single to right. Phelps then reached on a single that hit off a diving shortstop Julio Lugo's glove.

Here's the latest from the Red Sox:

"The current weather forecast (provided by the Red Sox private weather service, Meteorlogix) in the vicinity of Fenway Park remains the same as the earlier update and calls for rain showers to move into the area later this evening.

"Based on that current forecast, tonight’s Red Sox-Yankees game is expected to start on-time at 8:09 p.m.

"The Red Sox will do everything possible to make certain that tonight’s game will be played but want to alert our fans to the current forecast for this evening."

Roger Clemens has set his sights on making his first start of the 2007 season for the Yankees Saturday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Clemens’ agent Randy Hendricks told ESPN Radio today.

The Yankees were hopeful Clemens would make his debut Monday against the Chicago White Sox, but Clemens was scratched because he told the team he had groin fatigue following his last start for Triple-A Scranton.

Matt DeSalvo will start for the Yankees on Monday, according to ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

J.D. Drew remains out of the lineup, though Terry Francona said that Drew feels much better today. Francona added that he's hopeful that Drew could be back in the lineup tomorrow in Oakland.

Also, John Farrell is at his son's graduation, which is why Ralph Treuel (minor league pitching coordinator) is filling in tonight.

That's about it in terms of lineup-related notes, so on to the names...

Red Sox

1. Julio Lugo, SS
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Wily Mo Pena, RF
9. Coco Crisp, CF

SP - Josh Beckett

Yankees

1. Johnny Damon, DH
2. Derek Jeter, SS
3. Bobby Abreu, RF
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Jorge Posada, C
6. Hideki Matsui, LF
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Josh Phelps, 1B
9. Melky Cabrera, CF

SP - Andy Pettitte

Here's the update we received from the Red Sox regarding the possibility of rain delays during tonight's game:

"The current weather forecast (provided by the Red Sox private weather service, Meteorlogix) in the vicinity of Fenway Park calls for rain showers to move into the area later this evening.

"The Fenway Park gates will open at the regularly scheduled time of 6:05 p.m., and the Red Sox will do everything possible to make certain that tonight’s game with the Yankees will be played. However, the Red Sox want to alert our fans to the current forecast for this evening."

Still looks about the same here.

It's, obviously, gray and foggy at Fenway Park this afternoon.

We have not yet gotten a weather update from the Red Sox, but there are forecasts of heavy weather coming into the area. No rain yet, but the sky is certainly looking threatening.

Not sure how long they would delay this one with a trip to Oakland scheduled for after the game.

As always, we will keep you posted.

Jonathan Papelbon just finished off the Yankees for an 11-6 win. No sweep for the Yankees in this series.

Also, Doug Mientkiewicz was taken to Mass General for precautionary tests.

That's it for tonight.

If anything (or anyone) explodes in the clubhouses we'll bring it to you, otherwise we'll be back here again tomorrow.

It looks like that eighth inning walk might spell the end of Kevin Youkilis's hitting streak. It was at 23 games after an infield single extended it last night.

Youkilis did walk three times tonight.

Mike Lowell was just involved in his second collision of the game.

With the bases loaded (David Ortiz on third, Manny Ramirez on second, Kevin Youkilis on first), Lowell grounded to second base. After Robinson Cano made the pivot to Derek Jeter, Jeter threw an off-target throw to first base (ruled an error). As Doug Mientkiewicz was leaning over to grab the throw, his head made contact with Lowell's left thigh. Mientkiewicz ended up sprawled out on the dirt, face down.

The contact appeared to be accidental.

Trainers came out and, just now, Mientkiewicz was carted off the field. He looked a bit woozy as he came off.

He did get a standing ovation as the cart drove away.

Josh Phelps went in for him at first base.

Two runs scored on the play, so it's now 7-6, Sox.

Seems Mike Lowell's bruised left hand isn't hurting his swing, as he just went deep off Mike Mussina into the first row of Monster Seats.

And then Jason Varitek followed that by one of his own, sending his home run onto the black tarp in straightaway centerfield.

It was the third time the Red Sox have hit back-to-back home runs in 2007. Lowell and Varitek also provided the fireworks the last time it happened, May 8 at Toronto.

The score is now tied, 5-5.

Scott Proctor is in to pitch for Mussina.

That home run -- off the bat of Jorge Posada -- flew into the Yankees bullpen, giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead, and ending the evening for Curt Schilling.

Javier Lopez is in.

Posada's home run gave him 205 for his career, tying him for ninth on the Yankees career list.

When Jason Varitek grounded to second base with the bases loaded in the last inning, Robinson Cano grabbed the grounder and went to tag Mike Lowell, who was on his way to second.

Lowell simply stopped, creating a roadblock for Cano, and causing the second baseman to crash into him.

But what's more curious was the arm that Lowell appeared to raise a bit into Cano, seemingly similar to the elbow Alex Rodriguez raised on Dustin Pedroia when trying to break up a double play in the teams' last series.

Subtle, but it was there.

Seems like this matchup is continuing to heat up a bit...

That was a rain delay of 29 minutes, as the game got going again at 5:34 p.m. with Kevin Youkilis at the plate, Manny Ramirez at second base, and David Ortiz at third.

All of you who were anxiously awaiting the return to action of Roger Clemens will apparently have to wait a bit longer. According to the New York Times, Clemens has been scratched from Monday's start at Chicago with what appears to be a groin injury.

Kei Igawa looks slated to start in his place.

The umpires just signalled to the grounds crew to start taking the tarp off the field.

Other than a fairly heavy rain after that Manny Ramirez at bat, there hasn't been much in the way of weather here. It seemed like the game was in a rain delay in which it was sunny -- or at least just drizzling.

Should be about 20 to 30 minutes before the game gets going again.

Right after Manny Ramirez's double put men on second and third (David Ortiz) the umpires waved the players off the field.

The groundscrew is now putting the tarp onto the field.

Time was called officially at 5:05 p.m. Looksl ike this one might be a while...

Yup, it's raining.

It's not too hard right now, but it looks like heavy rain, thunder, and lightning might be coming this way.

Well, sort of.

Cabrera wrapped a home run around the right field foul pole to start the scoring off on this afternoon. It was his third of the season, coming on a full count.

1-0, Yankees.

Not sure what that meeting on the mound -- between home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi and Mike Mussina -- was about. Cuzzi also talked to Joe Torre. It might have been about Dustin Pedroia potentially leaning toward a pitch from Mussina.

Whatever the conference was regarding, Pedroia followed it up by singling just past Derek Jeter into left field to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.

Pedroia tied Delmon Young for the longest hitting streak by a rookie this season. Young hit in 12 straight from April 2 to 15.

Batting first for the Yankees ... Bobby Abreu?

No, it's not his first time. But it's been relatively rare over his career. Abreu has 112 at bats as the leadoff hitter, going .295 (33 hits).

He started off the game with a soft liner to left fielder Manny Ramirez.

The weather hasn't been remotely threatening here at Fenway Park, and the game is set to go in just a few minutes.

Brad Mills met another unique group at home plate to go over the lineup cards. Instead of Mike Mussina -- who had done it the last two days, both wins -- Andy Pettitte brought the Yankees' card to the plate. (Mussina's pitching, so that's likely why he didn't do it.)

Try to switch things up for this team probably isn't such a bad thing.

I'm going to bring you J.D. Drew's comments in full from earlier today. He's out of the lineup, as we've already mentioned, but we caught him in the clubhouse before the team went out for batting practice.

Here's what he had to say...

"Very short term, hopefully. Like I said, it's one of those situations that I've dealing with it for a week and a half, two weeks, and over the last three or four days it's getting a little bit more irritated as the games go along. I'm just trying to have one of those situations where I get it really treated, try to get it calmed down, so I don't have a long-term effect with it."

Have you dealt with this before?

"No, this is completely different, it's where the hamstring actually attaches a little below the knee, right here. So I've got radiating pain when I sprint or do anything like that. It's getting really, I guess, kind of a tendinitis kind of deal but really irritated. I thought it would be something that would just kind of go away. I've never really felt anything like that. We've done some treatment, things like that, but I've really got to kind of get it calmed down to try to not jeopardize injuring it real bad."

Was there a particular play last night where it got aggravated?

"No, the first inning as soon as I hit that ground ball and ran to first I could feel that it was probably as bad as it's been. Then as the game went along, it calms down if I just stand around but if I have to go full speed sprint I kind of feel it start grabbing again. I just mentioned it to Paul [Lessard] on the bench and Tito didn't want to take any chances with it. Today's a day of just trying to get everything really, some ice, some heat, try to flush it out and see what happens with it."

DL?

"No, I don't think it's anywhere near that bad. That's what I'm trying to avoid at all costs. Just really trying to get that area, the swelling and the irritation out of that area and continue on without having to go on any DL time."

Does it affect you in the batter's box?

"I don't think so. I don't notice that it has. It's just coming out of the box and running sprints, things like that."

Week and a half, two weeks ago?

"I don't know. Just talked to the training staff a week and a half or so back. I don't know exactly when the day was when I first started kind of feeling. It's just kind of gradually gotten worse and worse. We're trying to get on top of it today, try to isolate, try to get it calmed down."

MRI?

"No, I don't think. I think we know exactly what we're dealing with, it's nothing in the joint, behind, anything like that. It's just where that hamstring attaches below the knee."

Could you be in the lineup tomorrow?

"Well I think what we're going do is really try to kind of figure out where we want to go with this, see how the irritation. If I can get it out of there, absolutely. I'm just trying to not jeopardize a long stint with dealing with this thing. I don't want to have to fight it all year."

With Mike Lowell seemingly recovered from the bruised hand he suffered when being hit by a Chien-Ming Wang pitch, the third baseman returns to the lineup today. J.D. Drew, however, will sit this one out. We'll get you his comment shortly.

For now, though, here are the lineups...

Red Sox

1. Julio Lugo, SS
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Wily Mo Pena, RF
9. Coco Crisp, CF

SP - Curt Schilling

Yankees

1. Bobby Abreu, RF
2. Derek Jeter, SS
3. Hideki Matsui, LF
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Jorge Posada, DH
6. Robinson Cano, 2B
7. Melky Cabrera, CF
8. Doug Mientkiewicz, 1B
9. Wil Nieves, C

SP - Mike Mussina

Wanted to provide all of you with the latest from the Red Sox media relations department regarding the weather.

It has brightened around the park recently, but there are still questions about whether some rain or thunderstorms might pass through this afternoon.

"The current weather forecast (provided by the Red Sox private weather service, Meteorlogix) calls for the possibility of scattered thunderstorms to move through the Fenway area this afternoon.

"The Fenway Park gates will open at the regularly scheduled time of 1:55 p.m., and the Red Sox will do everything possible to make certain this afternoon's game with the Yankees will be played. However, the Red Sox want to alert our fans to the current forecast and the possibility of delay."

We'll keep you posted.

That's all, folks.

Despite a brief ninth-inning rally, the Sox fall 9-5 to the Yankees in the opener of this three-game series.

Well, that was a rather lame excuse for a brawl. More like a leisurely stroll out to the mound.

After quite a few hit batters in this game (Mike Lowell by Chien-Ming Wang, Josh Phelps by Tim Wakefield, Alex Rodriguez by Kyle Snyder, Robinson Cano by Javier Lopez), Scott Proctor got Kevin Youkilis right near his head with one out in the ninth inning. Youkilis hit the ground, and home plate umpire Brian O'Nora was out immediately to toss Proctor. The ball hit Youkilis on the top of his shoulder as he went down.

Youkilis, clearly steamed, advanced a few steps toward the pitcher, but was prevented from going too far by Jorge Posada.

Benches cleared, of course, but there was little more than a gathering in the infield.

Ron Villone is in the game to replace Proctor.

Kevin Youkilis just legged out an infield single (hit to the shortstop) to bring his hitting streak to 23 straight games.

Perhaps that will help in Youkilis's ongoing feud with Pedroia over which player is the speedier one...

Mike Myers has entered the game for Chien-Ming Wang, to face David Ortiz, who has already gone 2-for-2 with a walk against Wang.

The news you weren't waiting to hear?

J.D. Drew left the game with a right hamstring strain.

Wily Mo Pena entered the game before the top of the sixth inning. He's in right field for J.D. Drew.

OK, not of the TNT variety.

More of the yelling and screaming kind.

During the pitching change -- as J.C. Romero was coming in to relieve Kyle Snyder -- Joe Torre and third base umpire Jerry Crawford had quite the spat.

There was talking in one another's faces, there was pointing, there might even have been some curse words. All things that your mother wouldn't like.

Torre has been told to go to his room. Or out of the dugout, at least.

It seems he was arguing about the caught stealing at third base, when Bobby Abreu was tagged out by Kevin Youkilis.

Mike Lowell left the game with a left hand contusion. X-rays were negative.

Lowell got hit on the hand by a pitch from Chien-Ming Wang in the third inning.

We're not sure why Mike Lowell was taken out of the game -- a member of the media relations staff just went down to check -- but Lowell was replaced by Kevin Youkilis at third base. Eric Hinske was inserted at first base.

It's 9-3, Yankees.

The six runs allowed in the fourth inning are a season-high for runs in an inning by the Red Sox.

By the way, Tim Wakefield threw 81 pitches, 38 for strikes, in his 3 2/3 innings of work. Not so good.

Add two passed balls in the inning to that wild pitch and you have some idea of how much trouble the Red Sox are having with the knuckleball in this inning.

The score is up to 6-3, with only two hits in the inning.

With one final walk -- his sixth of the outing -- Wakefield is gone from the game.

Snyder is in.

Kyle Snyder appears to now be warming up in the bullpen.

A single, walk, hit by pitch, and wild pitch have resulted in a tie-breaking run in the fourth. It's 4-3, Yankees.

Julio Lugo just stole his 16th base of the season. He's 16-for-16 on steals in his brief Red Sox career.

For those of you wondering just how well J.D. Drew has done in his career with the bases loaded, I'm here with the answers. (Drew popped to Alex Rodriguez for the final out of the second inning, with the bases loaded.)

Drew (before tonight) has hit .214 (15-for-70) with the bases loaded. Three of those hits are home runs, three are doubles, and two are triples.

Thanks, Pam, for the question.

As J.D. Drew popped up to third base -- with the bases loaded -- the crowd down by the third base line yelled, as one, "Mine!" (For those of you not in the know, that would be what the Blue Jays claimed Alex Rodriguez yelled to make Howie Clark drop the popup in Toronto.)

Then, after Rodriguez had tossed the ball into the ground, the fan who caught it threw it back onto the field.

And Rodriguez just got another round of boos as he came to the plate. He didn't help himself, sending a single off the Wall but getting greedy and being cut down at second base, Manny Ramirez to Dustin Pedroia.

Now the "Stray-rod" chants have started.

With two runs scored in the bottom of the second, it's 3-2, Yankees.

Dustin Pedroia extended his career-high hitting streak to 11 games with that double to right field.

Just what Tim Wakefield didn't want to have happen.

Wakefield has battled high walk numbers in both of his previous two starts against the Yankees -- 11 walks over 10 1/3 innings -- and that seems to be following him in his third start against New York. Wakefield walked three straight batters, including walking in a run, in addition to the two-run homer he gave up to Robinson Cano.

3-0, Yankees.

The Sox just left the bases loaded (walk, single, error) when Mike Lowell grounded to short.

Meanwhile Alex Rodriguez just got a round of boos as he stepped to the plate. Masks were pulled down, as well.

He responded by walking.

Down along the third-base line, there are quite a few fans with plastic masks -- females with blond hair.

I'm going to guess those masks will be pulled down over their faces when Alex Rodriguez comes to the plate.

Just a thought.

The '67 team is currently being introduced on the field. They're wearing jerseys and regular pants and standing just to the right of the mound.

Just wanted to make sure you feel like you're here.

It was just announced in the press box that they expect to start tonight's game at 7:30 p.m.

The tarp was just taken off the field.

I believe there is much rejoicing in Mudville.

With the time he missed because of his hamstrings "barking," David Ortiz took some extra batting practice before today's game.

"He told us the other night that he wanted to, so we had the field set up," Terry Francona said. "He's very responsible. He needed to take a few extra swings. He had been down for three or four days, played the other night, then day off. He wanted to get out, not just on the cage but on the field. He does that stuff all the time."

Braving the impending rain, Governor Deval Patrick is making his way around the ballpark, meeting and greeting some of the fans.

Nothing new to impart on the weather front. Tarp's still on, sky's still dark.

For those of you who have tickets -- and aren't already on your way -- they're rolling out the tarp on the field.

It has gotten darker, too.

These do not look like good signs.

The Red Sox just sent out an advisory about the coming rain storms that might affect the start of tonight's Red Sox-Yankees game. Here is what the email said:

"The current weather forecast (provided by the Red Sox private weather service, Meteorlogix) calls for a thunderstorm to move through the Fenway area prior to the 7:05 p.m. scheduled start time of tonight’s game.

"The Fenway Park gates will open at the regularly scheduled time of 5:05 p.m., and the Red Sox will do everything possible to make certain tonight’s game with the Yankees will be played. However, the Red Sox want to alert our fans to the current forecast and the possibility of delay this evening."

The skies are still blue here at Fenway, but the breeze has picked up and it has darkened a touch. We'll keep you updated.

After Mike Timlin's latest rehab outing last night in Pawtucket, it's still going to take a little while before he returns to the big club.

Timlin is going to throw Sunday in Norfolk. He might go two innings, perhaps an "inning-plus," Terry Francona said.

He'll follow that up by pitching on Wednesday in Richmond, then he'll be tentatively scheduled to return to the club in Arizona.

"That's assuming everything goes according to plan, which we think it will," Francona said.

More to come...

We're starting with the lineups here today...

Red Sox

1. Julio Lugo, SS
2. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. J.D. Drew, RF
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Coco Crisp, CF
8. Doug Mirabelli, C
9. Dustin Pedroia, 2B

SP - Tim Wakefield

Yankees

1. Johnny Damon, DH
2. Derek Jeter, SS
3. Hideki Matsui, LF
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Jorge Posada, C
6. Robinson Cano, 2B
7. Bobby Abreu, RF
8. Josh Phelps, 1B
9. Melky Cabrera, CF

SP - Chien-Ming Wang

Be back in a few with an update on Terry Francona's comments in the pregame session.

On a list of 100 things you should know about the Yankees these days, the subject of Carl Pavano is way down on the list. Out of sight, out of mind. But his agent, Gregg Clifton, confirmed today that Pavano will undergo reconstructive elbow surgery Tuesday in New York. The procedure will be performed by Dr. David Altcheck, the New York Mets team physician.

Pavano was originally scheduled to have the surgery with Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala. but Andrews had some scheduling conflicts that wouldn't allow him to operate for a couple of weeks. It doesn't appear Pavano will ever pitch for the Yankees again, as he contract runs out at the end of next season. It's expected to take Pavano 12-18 months to recover.

Altcheck was one of the four doctors who recently rendered an opinion on the state of Pavano's elbow. Altcheck is also the doctor who performed surgery on Pedro Martinez's shoulder.

You know things are going well with your team when the hot topic heading into a series against your heated rival is how to most creatively heckle them.

The Yankees hit Boston tonight to kick off a three-game set a whopping 13½ games behind the Red Sox, and with their marquee player the center of a media maelstrom over his on-field and off-field antics.

So instead of focusing on pitching matchups, offensive trends, box scores, and the like, the talk of Boston this morning -- at least on the local sports radio station and on Boston.com message boards -- has been about A-Rod’s embarrassing week and how to best jeer him at Fenway Park.

Some of the responses we’ve come across on Boston sports radio station WEEI and on our message boards have been pretty creative, including a movement suggesting that fans wear blond wigs (a jab at “Stray-Rod” and his cover girl) or shout “Mine!” (in reference to his disruption of a pop up in Toronto) every time A-Rod steps to the plate.

Some fans have gone so far as to call WEEI offering to donate money (to the Jimmy Fund) if the Red Sox play David Rose’s song “The Stripper” over the Fenway loudspeakers before the game while the Yankees are on the field.

Do you have a suggestion for a chant or another way to stick it to A-Rod at tonight’s game? Post your contribution here.

A-Rod isn’t the only one inspiring creativity in Red Sox Nation. Sox fans are letting their Yankee counterparts have it as well. Among the messages to Yankee rooters from Sox fans in one of our online discussions: