The Boston Red Sox produced 23 hits collectively in yesterdays slug fest against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.  The 18-10 win completed the two game sweep, putting the Sox just a half game behind the Yankees in the AL East standings. Victor Martinez led Boston with five hits and four RBI’S in his second game with the Sox. Jacoby Ellsbury had two hits and scored four runs, as Kevin Youkilis drove in two off three hits to contribute to Boston’s high-powered offense. Both sluggers have been on a roll lately, showing outstanding play on Friday nights game as well. Not only did Ellsbury hit 3-for-5 with a homer, but also robbed Baltimore’s Luke Scott with a leaping catch in deep center field in the 6th.  Youkilis belted a two run blast in the 7th to give the Sox the 6-5 lead after Jacoby’s defensive heroics.

Boston looks to continue their streak at Tampa Bay this Tuesday and Wednesday for two games against the Rays before squaring off against the Yankees for a three game series.

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Last night Jon Lester continued his success against the Baltimore Orioles. Going into the game with a career 7-0 records in 9 starts against the team, Lester didn’t seem to look any different from his previous outings. Allowing only five hits and no walks in 7 innings, Lester continued to dominate the Orioles. He threw 8 strikeouts and allowed only one man to advance past first base. With a 4-0 lead after the fourth inning (due to a J.D. Drew two-run home run and rbi single from Jason Varitek), Lester needed no more support in order to win. Closer Jonathan Papelbon shut the door in the 9th to tie Bob Stenley’s Red Sox save record at 132.  The Sox have two more games at Camden Yards before an off-day and  a 10-game homestand leading into the All-Star Break.

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For only the second time in 17 games, the Boston Red Sox lost at Fenway Park in Tuesday night’s game to the Baltimore Orioles 10-6. In a rematch of last weeks pitchers duel between Josh Beckett and Daniel Cabrera that last 13 innings, fans at Fenway saw the exact opposite in what some would even call a slugfest. The two lineups combined for 23 hits and 16 runs in a game that lasted 3 hours and 27 minutes.

Aubrey Huff led the O’s lineup crushing 4 hits on the night including a go-ahead 2 RBI single in the 7th inning off of Hideki Okajima. Coming into the game, Okajima had retired Huff 6 out of the 7 times they’d faced each other, with three strike outs.

“He threw a couple of heaters that I couldn’t get to that were pretty well placed today,” said Huff. “He left me a changeup up a little bit. Other than that, we’ve been patient against him.”

The Sox jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning but did strand two runners on base and ground into a double-play in the inning, limiting their chances to do any further damage.

Beckett was unable to hold the 1-0 lead for long, surrendering 4 runs in the top of the 2nd inning. He allowed three doubles in the inning while walking and hitting a batter as well. After that frame, he was able to settle down a bit, pitching through the 6th inning not allowing any more runs while retiring 9 of the final 10 batters he faced.

The Sox chipped away at the 4-1 deficit by plating two runs in the 3rd inning. They loaded the bases with no outs but were unable to come up with a big hit. Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis both grounded into fielder’s choices, which allowed for the Boston runs to come home.

In the 5th inning, Dustin Pedroia led off with a walk and J.D. Drew followed him up be blasting his 9th home run of the year over the visitor’s bullpen into the right field bleachers. Manny Ramirez then belted his 15th home run of the year over the Monster for back-to-back shots to put the Sox ahead 6-4. Ramirez has now homered in 4 consecutive games against Baltimore.

Okajima was again unable to shut down the Orioles in the 7th inning. He allowed three runs on two hits and two walks to put the Orioles ahead 7-6. They would add three more runs in the 9th inning off of Craig Hansen to put the game out of reach. One of the runs was unearned at the hands of a Dustin Pedroia error. During an attempted double play, Alex Cora threw a rocket to Pedroia at 2nd and he was unable to come up with the ball securely allowing everyone to be safe.

Cora, playing in place of the struggling Julio Lugo at short stop, had a particularly rough game at the plate. He went 0-3 and grounded into two double plays. The double plays both followed failed attempts to lay down sacrifice bunts.

Tonight, the Red Sox send Bartolo Colon to the hill to pitch against Baltimore’s Garrett Olson. Both starters have above average numbers thus far. Colon’s record stands at 3-1 with a 3.91 ERA and Olson is 5-1 with a 3.86 ERA. Olson faced Boston on May 31st pitching 5 innings while allowing only 2 runs. He did not factor into the decision in a game the Sox would eventually win 6-3. Colon faced the Orioles on June 1st and earned the win going 6 innings with 5 strike outs in Boston’s 9-4 win.

The final game of the homestand and series on Thursday has been moved from a 7:05pm start to a 6:05pm first pitch because of the NBA Finals.

The hits just keep on coming, and unfortunately for the Boston Red Sox, they aren’t the club getting them. Jay Payton blasted a 2-out grand slam in the 7th inning yesterday, propelling the Baltimore Orioles to a 6-3 win over the struggling Red Sox. The loss concludes a 10-game road trip in which the Sox went 4-6 on, losing their final 4 games.

Payton had previously been 0-3 on the afternoon with three infield groundouts before delivering the knockout punch to the Sox. Hideki Okajima, who had just entered the game to face Payton, allowed the homerun ball. It was only the second homerun he has allowed all season.

A few bright notes in the game for the Sox, Jacoby Ellsbury had 3 hits on the afternoon. Jason Varitek and Mike Lowell both hit solo homeruns, and Manny Ramirez made an amazing defensive play in left, making an over the shoulder running grab towards the wall, and after catching the ball Ramirez jumped up the wall and reached into the stands to slap a Red Sox fan high-five. He followed it up by spinning around, hurling a dart to the cut-off man to get an outfield assist and double play to end the 5th inning.

The Sox now find themselves in 2nd place in the AL East behind the Tampa Bay Rays. Yes, that is not a typo, the Tampa Bay Rays lead the AL East by half a game on May 15th. This is the latest in a season that the Rays have been over .500 and the first time they have ever led the division in May.

So the big question, what’s wrong with the Sox?

Some will say that it’s a long season and every team has some losing streaks along the way. That right there is the attitude of a loser. The Sox lineup is too strong and their pitching staff too solid to go on 4-game losing streaks, and they’ve already done that two times this season.

Excuses will be made that the lineup hasn’t been completely healthy and the team has faired well considering injuries, sicknesses and leaves of absence by players forcing them to miss games. Only the weak make such excuses. This is Major League Baseball and teams face these issues everyday.

Reporters will begin to slam manager Terry Francona because he’s at the wheel of the ship, guiding the team along the way. That’s why they are reporters and not in uniform coaching. Francona has done nothing but win for Boston. In the 4+ years he’s been head coach the team has compiled a 399-292 record, good for a .577 win percentage during the regular season, not to mention 2 World Series titles. Francona isn’t the problem.

The problem lies within the players. They are the reigning World Series Champions and they’re taking it for granted. Too many hitters are not busting up the line to first base on ground balls, or making the extra effort in the field to back up a play. The fundamentals that got the team their success are slowing washing away and it’s not good.

The Red Sox better be careful or people will begin comparing them to their arch rivals, the New York Yankees.

How so?

Well for starters, they are going out and spending ridiculous amounts of money every single year to farm a great team. Sound familiar? The Yankees have baseball’s highest payroll, the Sox are currently 4th.

Besides the ever growing payroll, like the Yankees, the Sox have brought in talented players that play uninspired baseball and show no emotion. The front runner for this category for the Sox has to be J.D. Drew. You can never get a read off this guy when he’s playing because he never shows any signs of life. He could strike out 4 times or hit for the cycle and the look on his face wouldn’t change.

As a whole, the Sox look like they are just going through the motions and someone needs to light a fire under their bench to wake them up. Hopefully heading back to Fenway Park for this 7-game home series will ignite something that sparks a little life into their lineup. They’ve played much better at home then on the road this year, going 14-5 in front of the Fenway faithful.

It’s too early to say that the Sox are in trouble, but it’s also time for a gut check. Like it or not, they have their work cut out for them this summer and nothing is going to come easy. Red Sox Nation believes that it can happen again, now its time for the players to believe too.