RED SOX: This weekend saw the Red Sox head off to Chicago's South Side for a quickie 3-game road trip against the Pale Hose. Friday night saw the series get off on the wrong foot for Boston, with Gavin Floyd outlasting Tim Wakefield in Friday night's 3-1 win. ChiSox catcher AJ Pierzynski's 2-run homer in the bottom of the 7th proved to be the game winner while BoSox 2B Dustin Pedroia's hit streak came to an end at 25 games.
On Saturday, the Red Sox finally broke a scoreless deadlock in the top of the 4th with an Saltalamacchia RBI double, RBI sac flies from Pedroia and Marco Scutaro and an RBI single from Youkilis to make it a 4-0 game. That really would be all they needed, although they got another RBI from Scutaro in the top of the 8th before breaking it open with a 5-run 9th inning. Jon Lester would go 8 complete innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits (two solo homers- one from Paul Konerko and the other from Gordon Beckham) while striking out 8 and walking two for Saturday's 10-2 win.
That set up a rubber game for Sunday with Andrew Miller getting the start against Mark Buehrle against Boston's Andrew Miller. Miller would last 5 and two thirds innings, but would leave trailing 3-2 before Boston rallied thanks to a 2-RBI single from Dustin Pedroia after Buehrle left in the top of the 7th to put the Sox up 4-3. The Red Sox would then get some insurance thanks to a 1-out Adrian Gonzalez RBI single to make it a 5-3 game. Papelbon was able to come in from the pen and strike out all three batters he faced to preserve the Red Sox 5-3 win and Alfredo Aceves gets credited with the victory pitching in relief. Boston takes two out of three in the South Side and manages to maintain a 2-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East standings (not to mention the best record in the AL).
The Red Sox will next head home to take on the Cleveland Indians for a Monday night game that will be televised on ESPN. John Lackey (9-8; 6.20 ERA) will get the start against Josh Tomlin (11-5; 4.01 ERA). First pitch is at 7:10 PM.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS: The Red Sox have acquired starting pitcher Erik Bedard from the Seattle Mariners in a 3-team trade at the Sunday deadline. For Bedard, the Mariners get minor league outfielder Trayvon Robinson from the Dodgers and Taiwanese outfielder Chih Hsien Chang from Boston while the Red Sox send righties Stephen Fife and Juan Rodriguez along with catcher Tim Federowicz to LA.
The trade took place less than a day after a tenative deal with the Oakland A's for starter Rich Harden fell apart after closer scrutiny of his medical records by the Red Sox led to doubts about his ability to complete the season.
Bedard (4-7; 3.45 ERA with Seattle this season) didn't even last 2 innings in Friday night's 8-0 Mariner's loss to Tampa at SafeCo field on Friday night. It was his first start in nearly a month after spending time on the DL.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB: Although Boston may not get to see him this week, the Tribe made some waves in the AL Central with their acquisition of starter Ubaldo Jimenez (6-9; 4.46 ERA)from Colorado shortly after acquiring outfielder Kosuke Fukudome from the Chicago Cubs.
The Astros dealt most of their outfielders to the NL East, sending Hunter Pence to Philly and Michael Bourne to Atlanta.
The Cardinals acquired SS Rafael Furcal from the Dodgers while the Diamondbacks obtained Jason Marquis (8-5; 3.95 ERA) from the Nationals.
Curiously, the Yankees did hardly anything before the deadline- a time in which the organization is usually looking to make a move. Reportedly their scouts were present in Seattle when Bedard had his meltdown.
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