Sox Take First Three Against Angels

Very happy with how the Sox have been playing of late. They're taking more pitches and clearly the starting pitching has picked up over the last few starts. Hopefully Matsuzaka can continue the trend tomorrow night. Beltre also hit his 2nd homer of the season tonight and his second of the series. Beltre also made some slick plays in the field tonight, turning two while avoiding a broken bat to end a rally in the third and snaring a tricky bounce off the bat of Kendrick in the 5th.

Regardless of what happens tomorrow, the Sox take the series against the Angels, and I like their chances this weekend against New York. Here are my game by game predictions for the Yankees series:

Game 1: W 2-1. Beckett pitches like a true ace and out-duels Phil Hughes in a game with very little offense. Victor Martinez hits a double down the 1st base line in the 8th inning on Hughes's 104th pitch to give the Sox a 2-1 lead. Papelbon almost blows it in the ninth but the Sox hold on to win.

ACTUAL RESULTS: L 10-3. Beckett pitched like an ace for three innings then imploded. Phil Hughes did pitch well, but it obviously wasn't a duel.

Game 2: L 8-2. The Sox score early on Sabathia, but he settles down and overpowers them, striking out 8 and almost going the distance. Mark Teixiera hits 2 home runs as Buchholz has trouble finding the plate in a lopsided loss.

ACTUAL RESULTS: L 14-3. The Sox scored early on Sabathia, Buchholz had trouble finding the plate in a lopsided loss, and at the end of 7 innings, Mark Teixiera had two home runs and the score was 8-3. I was feeling like a mystic until the Yankees poured on 6 runs in the last two innings.

Game 3: W 6-3. Lester goes 7 strong innings for the win. Girardi leaves Burnett in too long and the Sox chase him in the 6th. J.D. Drew goes 2-for-4 with a homer and I drink 3 cans of Moxie before the seventh inning stretch.

ACTUAL RESULTS: W 9-2. Another positive prediction, as Lester did indeed go 7 strong innings for the win and Girardi did leave Burnett in for too long, but he was chased in the 5th. Drew went 2-for-3 with an RBI (no homer) but I didn't have any Moxie, let alone 3 cans before the bottom of the 7th.

Sox take series 2 games to 1.

Yankees took series 2 games to 1.

Post your predictions in the comment box below.

Sox Out-bombed in Baltimore

A disappointing night at Camden Yards for the Sox, but it was nice to see Big Papi go yard twice- something that hasn't happened since August 26th of last year. Yeah, they lost their 2nd in a row to the Birds and they failed to capitalize on a loss by the Rays, but we've got to remain positive. Matsuzaka was pitching well until his last inning, even underwear model Jim Palmer thought so, and Van Every had a terrific 3rd inning with a long home run to center and a flashy diving catch in the field. Here's the catch.

The Sox have a tough schedule in May. Real tough. They have the Yanks and the Rays and the Angels. But when you're playing division rivals it just makes it all that easier to do the math for the standings. We need good starting pitching this month and a more balanced offensive attack. Of course, 9 runs is plenty on most nights.