The Red Sox were no worse for the waiting of this weekend. It took very little time for the Sox to get to Baltimore starter Rodrigo Lopez. They did not score in the first inning, but Lopez did allow two base runners with a single and a walk before handing things over to the O-bats. They took the lead in the bottom of the first when Miguel Tejada went deep on Josh Beckett, but it was their only lead- and only run- of the evening. Baltimore only got one more hit (and no walks) off Beckett in the following six innings and one last single against Keith Foulke in the bottom of the ninth.

The Baltimore lead did not last very long at all. In the top of the second, Jason Varitek led off with a walk. Wily Mo Peña gave Boston the lead with a two-run homer. In the third, the Sox went up 6-1 with a four hit, four run inning that included a lead-off double by David Ortiz. Lopez threw a decent fourth and looked like he may settle down, but began the fifth with a single to Trot Nixon and another walk to Varitek. He was relieved of duty after giving up a triple to Mike Lowell.

Although they were already up 8-1, the Red Sox continued to pile on in the ninth inning. Jason Varitek got his second hit (and second and third RBIs) of the evening with a two-run homerun against John Halama. The Boston captain and catcher went 2-2 on the evening with three walks and three RBIs and scoring four runs. Mike Lowell went back-to-back with Tek with another homerun to bring the final score to 11-1. The O-Birds had one final hit before dropping their twelfth straight game against Boston.

Meanwhile, the Rangers, who defeated Boston in a rain-shortened evening in their last game, lent the Sox a helping hand in regaining the number one spot in the AL East. They traveled to the Bronx following the cancellation of yesterday afternoon’s game and beat the Yankees 4-2 in their house after suffering a sweep when they last met in Arlington.

Texas was scoreless through the first half of the game and trailed by two going into the fifth quarter, but they managed to tie it in an inning that began with a homerun for Brad Wilkerson and included singles for Mark DeRosa and Rod Barajas and a sacrifice fly for Michael Young.

Mike Mussina did not get any more help from his teammates to salvage a victory. Through seven innings, he had allowed just the two runs on six hits and one walk. Kevin Millwood had enjoyed a similar outing with two runs on five hits, with six strikeouts. Funnily enough, it was Millwood that had the better support from his bullpen tonight, with Francisco Cordero and Akinori Otsuka allowing only one hit while holding the Yankees scoreless in the final two innings.

Kyle Farnsworth, on the other hand, gave up a double to the first batter he faced (Matthews) when he relieved Mussina in the eighth. Matthews advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored the Rangers’ go-ahead run on a single to Mark Teixeira. After Phil Nevin drew a walk, Tex added another run to Texas’s late lead on a Hank Blalock single. With Coco throwing a solid inning and Otsuka going lights-out in the ninth, the Rangers came away with a win in their first game in New York on the year.

And, oh yeah- Lasorda for Commissioner.

I have been without internet access after some network difficulties following a thunderstorm and blackout Friday night. Here is the second installment in my weekend-in-review.

In the final game of the series on Sunday, Lenny DiNardo picked up his first win since joining the starting rotation in place of an injured David Wells. He began with an ugly first inning when he gave up four consecutive walks with two outs. Fortunately for DiNardo and Boston, former Sox teammate Kevin Millar could be counted on for the bases-loaded strike out to end the inning.

Despite starting out with a one-run deficit, the Sox wasted little time in establishing a lead for themselves. After a fly out from Kevin Youkilis, Mark Loretta drew the walk. David Ortiz took Luis Matos to the wall on a deep fly ball that was caught for the second out. Orioles starter Kris Benson then gave up a base hit to Manny Ramirez and beaned Trot Nixon in the elbow to load the bases, bringing up Jason Varitek. The Boston captain took Bensen deep for a grand slam that gave the Sox a 4-1 edge.

Despite another shaky inning from DiNardo in the third, those four RBIs would be enough to keep ahead of the struggling O-Birds, but Boston did not stop there. DiNardo allowed one more walk to Melvin Mora to lead off the third, and the Orioles pried one more run out of him in a display of poor fielding. After Miguel Tejada struck out, Jay Gibbons reached on a single that sent DiNardo, Alex Cora at short, and Mark Loretta at second all diving but eluded them all. Mora then scored when the Boston pitcher bobbled a ground ball hit by Ramon Hernandez.

DiNardo eventually settled down, allowing only one more base runner (on a double to Mora) in the next two innings. Kris Benson had no such luck, getting roughed up again in the bottom of the fifth. Youk and Loretta hit back-to-back singles before he struck out Ortiz for his first out. Another single to Manny loaded the bases, and a double to Trot drove in the first two runners. Benson decided not to take a chance on Varitek again and intentionally walked him to load the bases for Mike Lowell. The third baseman may not have had a grand slam in him, but he did pick up two RBIs on a double to deep centerfield. It seems that was the point when Sam Perlozzo decided Benson may have been in trouble and brought in Sendy Rleal. One of his inherited runners got in on a sac fly from Wily Mo Peña before Alex Cora, the ninth Boston batter of the fifth, ended the inning on a fly out.

Three was the Orioles’ magic number this weekend in Fenway, although it did not work out terribly well for them. They did manage to squeeze one more run from Boston reliever Julian Tavarez to equal their run total from each of the first two games of the series. It is a slight improvement over their performance in Arlington, when the Orioles scored only three total runs in a two-game series against the Rangers. Unfortunately for Baltimore, their pitching staff’s ERA is nearly double that figure at 5.55, the second worst in the American League.  

Game Two: The Orioles fared no better yesterday, handing Tim Wakefield his second win of the season after nearly a month of struggles since his first win in Camden Yards on April 9. Although the knuckleballer’s control still leaves a bit to be desired, he allowed just three runs on seven hits and two walks. Wake had a wild pitch and one hit batter (Hernandez), but things are still looking up for him with Mirabelli back behind the plate. The backup catcher also added an insurance run for Boston with an RBI double in the bottom of the third to bring the lead to 6-1.

The Red Sox had already done all the damage they would need, batting around against Erik Bedard in the second inning. He allowed a pair of walks to Ramirez and Lowell to lead off the inning, followed by singles to Peña and Nixon before getting his first out against Mirabelli. Another three runs came in on a set of singles to Alex Gonzalez and Youk. The inning should have ended when David Ortiz struck out swinging, but he reached first and Gonzalez scored one more run on a passed ball by Hernandez.

In the fourth inning, Chris Gomez brought Baltimore within three runs with a homerun that also scored Millar. Through the final five innings, however, the Orioles had only four more hits and a walk and could not score another run. Meanwhile, Boston continued to add to their lead, well after Bedard was pulled after the second inning, with a solo home run for Ramirez in the fourth and two more runs on sacrifice flies (by Manny and Wily Mo) in the eighth.

Game One: The Orioles kept things a bit closer in Friday night’s game. With a three-hit, two-run fifth inning against Curt Schilling that included a triple by Nick Markakis, Baltimore even had a 3-2 lead over Boston for a short while. However, in the bottom of the sixth, the Sox came back to get Schilling his fifth win. The inning included a walk to Youk, a bunt single for Loretta, a stolen base by Lowell, and three doubles (Lowell, Gonzalez, and Ortiz). Both teams saw good performances from their bullpens with Mike Timlin allowing one hit in relief of Schilling in the eighth and 2005 Red Sox reliever John Halama giving up a walk (to Trot) and a single (to Youk) in the final two innings against Boston. Jonathan Papelbon made his first and only appearance of the series, coming on in the top of the ninth to pitch a scoreless inning and pick up his twelfth save.

And, oh yeah- Lasorda for Commissioner.

Click here for the Rangers wrap-up. Beware: it's not pretty.