J. D. Drew and Mike Lowell both hit grand slams on Thursday afternoon, as the Red Sox completed a clean sweep of the Kansas City Royals, 11-8.

Drew went deep in the second, and Lowell hit one in the sixth, as it looked like the Sox were cruising in a laugher. It was also the first time that the Red Sox hit two grand slams in the same game since July 2003, when Bill Mueller hit two (one from each side of the plate) in his three home run game against Texas.

But the Achilles heel of the Red Sox struck once again, and that is their middle relief. Craig Hansen gave up two runs in the seventh, including a home run, and David Aardsma gave up a three-run shot in the eighth. Granted the game appeared to be won, but it forced Terry Francona to bring in Jonathan Papelbon, who proceeded to put two on before getting the last out for the save.

The Red Sox won their second straight game over Tampa Bay, 5-1 on Wednesday night, as Josh Beckett won his sixth straight game, and the Red Sox took over first from their new archrivals.

J.D. Drew continued his hot hitting and clutch fielding in the absence of David Ortiz, as he drove in another big run and made another fine running catch in the first, as he did on Tuesday night.

The bullpen did another fine job over the final three innings, as Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima and Craig Hansen pitched scoreless ball to get Beckett the win. It was especially important that Okajima have a good outing, as his last one was one of his worst ever in a Red Sox uniform. He allowed a hit to the first batter, then retired the side after that. And Hansen continued his fine pitching as well, and it allowed Terry Francona to avoid using Jonathan Papelbon.

The Red Sox won their second exhibition game in Japan today, defeating the Yomiuri Giants, 9-2 at the Tokyo Dome, as J.D. Drew hit his second home run in two days, a grand slam in the first inning.

Tim Wakefield pitched five solid innings, allowing two runs against Japan's most famous baseball club. But the biggest moment of the game was when hometown hero Hideki Okajima came in to pitch in the seventh (pictured). The former Giant reliever received a thunderous ovation in pitching a scoreless inning.

Jed Lowrie also added a solo homer, and Brandon Moss and Coco Crisp drove in runs to lead the Red Sox offense. Monday is an off day, and the Red Sox will play the Oakland A's on Tuesday night in Tokyo (early morning in the US) to open the 2008 MLB season.
I'll be witnessing it at Professor Thom's along with some other early birds on Tuesday.

And I hope you all have had a Happy Easter.

Justin Masterson (pictured) faced the unenviable task of trying to follow up Jon Lester's no-hitter last night, but certainly did himself proud, as he pitched 6 1/3 innings of quality work, allowing just one run on three hits (all by Alex Gordon) as the Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 2-1, at Fenway last night.

It was just his second MLB start (I was at his first back on April 24), but once again Masterson couldn't have been better. He was brought up just for this one start from AA Portland, and he was sent back, not to Portland, but to AAA Pawtucket. He left the game in the 7th inning with the 2-1 lead.

Hideki Okajima struggled in the eighth, filling the bases on a double and two walks and getting two outs. Jonathan Papelbon came on to strike out Billy Butler to preserve the lead, and then got Kansas City 1-2-3 in the ninth to get his 13th save of the year. The Red Sox got two early runs off Gil Meche and made them stand up, as Masterson struck out five and walked three.

You knew this was coming.

After all the hard feelings of the previous night, you knew it was just a matter of when the Tampa Bay Rays would retaliate against Coco Crisp. Surprisingly, it was in the bottom of the second inning, when Tampa Bay pitcher James Shields hit leadoff batter Crisp on the second pitch of the at-bat, and Crisp charged the mound, and it set off a benches-clearing brawl. Coco was tackled by Dioner Navarro, the Rays catcher, and it allowed Jonny Gomes, Akinori Iwamura and Carl Crawford to punch him, in full view of the TV cameras. Coco, Shields and Gomes were all tossed from the game, and will be facing suspensions, as will Iwamura and Crawford when MLB looks at the video. (UPDATE: For those of you looking for video of all the Fenway hijinx of last night, check out my next post for the clips.)

And it wasn't the only scuffle of the evening.

I hope you all will excuse me here. I need to vent.

I watched yet another pathetic display by the Boston Red Sox offense on the road tonight, an absolutely brutal 1-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners, the worst goddamn team in Major League Baseball.

And I can feel nothing but sorrow right now for one Tim Wakefield. He pitched an absolute gem against Seattle, and threw just one bad pitch all night that Yuniesky Betancourt hit over the wall for a third inning home run. Wake threw just 94 pitches in the complete game loss, allowing just five hits while striking out six. Another game he should have won, if the damn offense would bother to show the hell up.

This is a lousy, overrated Seattle Mariners team. They had lost seven straight going into Tuesday night, and their pitching had simply gotten destroyed in Detroit and New York. But here come the Red Sox, playing like crap on the road, just the tonic Seattle needed. Erik Bedard pitched a fine game tonight, and take nothing away from him, as he went seven innings and struck out nine. But he had been awful in the month of May, going 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA going into this game this month. And historically, he's not a Red Sox killer, as his lifetime record against them is 4-4 with an ERA just over 4.00. He's a good pitcher, but he's been struggling as of late.

It was a pleasure to see baseball return in 2008 as a nice crowd gathered at Professor Thom's last night to watch the Red Sox defeat the Minnesota Twins in Ft. Myers, 8-3. Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek and George Kottaras all hit home runs and Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched two scoreless innings.

But the important thing was on a cold night in late February, we were all together watching baseball again. More than one person said to me they were so happy to see it back, as was I. In the middle of the game, it began snowing.

Snow and Red Sox baseball. Quite the odd combo.

The talk was varied last night. Can the Red Sox repeat? Will Daisuke win 20? Will Beckett win the Cy Young Award this year? Will the Red Sox trade Coco? And of course, what an asshole Hank Steinbrenner is. (Here he is pictured before giving yet another colorful interview last night.)

Spring is officially 19 days away. But it was back at Thom's last night. Even if it was snowing outside.

The Red Sox got a splendid performance from Bartolo Colon (pictured) in his second Red Sox start. He sure looked like the Colon of old as he went seven innings and allowed just one run. He was consistently hitting 95 and 96 MPH on the radar gun. But for a long time last night it looked like he might come away with nothing.

As for the third game in the last four, the Red Sox lineup was retired in order for the first three innings without a man reaching base. It reached 11 straight last night before David Ortiz put an end to it by taking Felix Hernandez over the centerfield fence to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.

But the rest of the offense was silent through the seventh. Seattle tied the game at 1-1, and it had the makings of another game the Sox would lose without getting more runs. The Mariners had opportunities to score more, but couldn't cash them in, thanks to Colon.

My friend Adam sent me an email the other day about the alleged "the greatest pitcher of the modern era" Roger Clemens, and his postseason numbers with the Red Sox. As most of you Red Sox fans know, he had a very mediocre record for the Sox in his postseason appearances of 1986, 1988, 1990 and 1995. His record was 1-2, with an ERA of 3.88. He had only one shining moment in the postseason for the Red Sox: winning Game 7 of the 1986 ALCS to get the Red Sox into the World Series. But he also got hit hard in that World Series in Game 2, but the Sox hit Dwight Gooden harder and won. He pitched decently in Game 6, but he famously asked out after 7 innings (or did he?), as the Mets tied the game in the eighth, and...you know the rest.

Monday was a truly awful day for the Red Sox, and not just on the field.

Hideki Okajima entered the game on Monday against the Orioles as the Sox had a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning. He had absolutely nothing, as he allowed four runs, including a bases loaded double to Adam Jones. A fine outing from Tim Wakefield went totally to waste, and it also included Manny Ramirez' 502nd home run, and his third in as many games. Baltimore won, 6-3.

As bad as that was, the news after the game was truly terrible. I was watching the game on the MLB package tonight, and the Oriole announcers had the game. They said early on that the Red Sox would make an announcement on David Ortiz, who had returned to Boston for an MRI, after it was over. I could hear the bells tolling.

Once again, the Red Sox offense on Saturday night inspired the immortal words of that noted philosopher Harry Doyle: "What, just one goddamn hit?"

Yep, that was all the Red Sox offense could muster against Justin Duchscherer and the Oakland A's, as they dropped yet another game on the road, and the second to Oakland in two nights, 3-0.

It was simply an awful performance by the Red Sox offense. They seemed to be popping everything up, and didn't get a man to second base all night. They didn't get a baserunner until the sixth, when Jason Varitek was hit by a pitch. David Ortiz broke up the no-hitter in the 7th with one out with a clean single to center. But he was the last Red Sox player to reach base.

Take nothing away from Duchscherer. He was simply terrific, retiring the first 15 men he faced, and striking out four in eight innings. Josh Beckett was very good, and allowed just 2 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings. But Manny Delcarmen was awful again, and basically put the game out of reach for the Sox by allowing Oakland another run in the 8th.

And it was another lousy performance by the Red Sox on the road, where they are now a miserable 10-16. They have been simply murder at home, but underwhelming away from Fenway. They have now dropped the first two games of an 10-game trip.

Here's an important message for all of Professor Thom's Trivia Night regulars.

We will have changes to the nights we will be doing it because of Celtics going to the NBA Finals. Trivia Night will be happening this Tuesday night, June 3rd, at the normal time of 9 PM.

But the week after that, we will be moving our Trivia Night back to Wednesday, June 11th at 8:30 PM, due to the fact that Game 3 of the NBA Finals will be happening the previous Tuesday night.

Now, stay with me, this might sound complicated. The week after that, we will be having a special Monday night edition of Trivia, on June 16th at 8:30 PM, if the NBA Finals does not conclude by Sunday, June 15th (that is Game 5). Game 6 of the NBA Finals is scheduled for Tuesday night, June 17th. (Unfortunately, I can't be at Thom's that Wednesday due to a prior commitment.) If the finals have finished by that Sunday, we will have the normal Tuesday night edition at the normal time.

The Red Sox opened their four game jaunt in Japan with a win on Saturday afternoon (Friday night/Saturday morning in the Eastern US) with a 6-5 win over the Hanshin Tigers in the Tokyo Dome. A raucous, sellout crowd saw the Sox score four runs in the first on a David Ortiz home run and a three-run shot by J.D. Drew.

The Tigers are very similar to the Red Sox in that they have probably the most knowlegeable, rabid and passionate fan base of any team in Japan. They follow the team all over Japan, and sometimes outnumber the home team's fans. (Sound familiar?)

Clay Buchholz once again struggled this spring, giving up four runs to Hanshin in the second. In all four starts he's gotten knocked around. Granted, you can't get too high or low when it comes to spring training, but you have to wonder if Buchholz could probably do with some more time in AAA.

And now here is the second inning that Pedro Martinez pitched in the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park. Pedro was letting it all fly that night, and here he goes through the heart of the National League lineup, striking out Mark McGwire and Jeff Bagwell. Matt Williams, after reaching on an error, was thrown out stealing. (Thrown out stealing? Matt Williams?) Pedro wound up striking out five of the six hitters he faced, one of the greatest performances ever by an All-Star Game pitcher. (It's a quick clip too, just 2:20.)

This All-Star appearance took its toll on the great Pedro. I was at Fenway Park the following Sunday for his first post-All Star start, against the Florida Marlins. It would be one of Pedro's worst outings of his career, as he gave up 12 hits and 9 runs (7 earned) in 3 2/3 innings. He would shortly afterward land on the disabled list. Here is that game, which the Sox came back and won, 11-9:

I was home last night watching the Red Sox-Mariners game on the MLB Extra Innings package. I've never been able to fully figure out exactly how they pick which team's broadcasts on any given night, but they overwhelmingly pick the home team's feed more often than not.

For the Seattle series they had the Mariners broadcasts. (Although when ESPN showed every Manny Ramirez at-bat last night as he was going for home run #500, I switched over every time, as they used the NESN feed.) Their guys aren't too bad, and I've always liked Dave Sims, as I met him years ago back in New York when he was doing a cable sports show called "Gameface." Really nice guy.

But the game started in a really lousy fashion on FSN Northwest. As it was about to start, I noticed a plethora of commercials as the game time passed. And when they joined the game, the first pitch had already happened, and Jacoby Ellsbury had already struck out and was walking back to the Red Sox dugout. And Dave Niehaus, the longtime Seattle announcer, said to his audience, "They started early on us."

No, Dave, they started on time. Your broadcast network blew it, and had to jam in more commercials.

First, my apologies for leaving this place dark too often lately during the most important innings of the season. (It's so much more pleasant without the Yankees, isn't it?) It bugs the hell out of me when I have something to say and no time to say it. It's been all hands on deck at the Globe - funny how that happens when there's an special baseball section to crank out every night - and the freelance (read: paying) stuff has to be the second priority, even though I genuinely enjoy writing the blog more than any of it. I do have a preview of Curt Schilling's big night

The Red Sox have taken 30 players over to Japan for the four games they will play over there, the two exhibition games this weekend and the two regular season games against the Oakland Athletics. Here is the roster:

Pitchers: Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, David Aardsma, Bryan Corey, Manny Delcarmen, Javier Lopez, Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Kyle Snyder, Julian Tavarez, Mike Timlin
Catchers: Dusty Brown, Kevin Cash, Jason Varitek
Infielders: Sean Casey, Alex Cora, Mike Lowell, Jed Lowrie, Julio Lugo, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis
Outfielders: Coco Crisp, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Bobby Kielty, Brandon Moss, Manny Ramirez

Carrying extra players guards against someone going down with an injury, especially early on. Of course, only 25 can be active for the two games against Oakland. (Brown, Lowrie, Moss, Corey and Aardsma figure to be the five left off for the A's games, although the injury to Mike Timlin's finger might keep Corey or Aardsma on.)

Buchholz and Wakefield are scheduled to start the exhibitions, while Matsuzaka and Lester will start against Oakland. (My thanks to Boston Blood Sox for the roster listings.)

Now, did anyone, even the most cockeyed optimistic Tampa Bay Rays fan, ever think that the title I just wrote here would be true?

Well, it is, as they moved into first after a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles this past weekend, and another stinker by the Red Sox in Oakland, as they lost another series on the road, 6-3. The Red Sox are now in second place, 1/2 game behind Tampa Bay.

No, Jon Lester didn't pitch another no-hitter yesterday. We go through this crap every time a pitcher throws a no-hitter: Can he duplicate what Johnny Vander Meer did in 1938? Who cares. I just wanted a good outing from Lester and a win yesterday. Didn't get either. Lester struggled against the A's yesterday. He didn't have it, allowing a run in the first after David Ortiz' top of the first blast, and allowed three earned runs in five innings.

(Jon also revealed yesterday that his dad John is also suffering from non-Hodgkins lymphoma, the same disease he has so far successfully fought. Our thoughts and prayers to Mr. Lester in his fight with it.)

The Red Sox came to terms last night with free agent outfielder Bobby Kielty on a one-year deal for about $800,000. The hero of Game 4 of last year's World Series originally said he did not want to return to the Red Sox if Coco Crisp was not traded, as he did not want to become a fifth outfielder.

So Kielty's return to Boston opens new speculation that Crisp will be dealt before the season starts. Gordon Edes, in Tuesday's Boston Globe, said there is no trade involving Crisp that is imminent.

I like the fact Kielty will be back. He's a good outfielder who can play all three positions and hits left-handed pitching extremely well. Coco was superb in center last year, but the future there is clearly Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury has had a history of injuries, so keeping Coco might be a wise move. Even if Ellsbury stays healthy, Terry Francona would still find a way to get Crisp 300 at-bats.

On Tuesday night, we return to our usual night for Trivia at Professor Thom's, after having to move it to Wednesday night last week. Hopefully, we don't have to do that again, but with the Celtics still in the NBA playoffs, we shall see.

However, tomorrow night we will be starting Trivia Night an hour earlier, as the Red Sox are playing a 10 PM game in Seattle. So we will get going shortly after 8 PM, as we want to finish up as the game gets going. The special category for Trivia Night will be "1960s Trivia," as I will be giving out seven events that occurred in that turbulent decade, and you have to tell what year it happened in. (And of course, none of the years will be repeated.)

The Sneak Peek question for tomorrow night is:
What country refers to its organized crime as the "yakuza?"

Hope you've all had an enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend, and I look forward to seeing many of you on Tuesday night.

So the Celtics had their first "real test" of the season last night, taking on the Detroit Pistons at the TD Banknorth Garden.

Item: Could maybe the City of Boston pony up a few hundred grand and turn the "Insert-Corporate-Name-Here" Garden back into the Boston Garden? Ever since they succumbed to the whole cheerleader thing (they give them the euphemism "dancers"), I guess all of the "These-could-be-your-father's-Celtics" bets are off. Regardless, I, Evil Ted, shall simply call it "The Garden" until such time.

Basketbawful wanted to write about this, but is unable, so I'll give a go. Bawful felt Paul Pierce overshot, and played like someone trying to be the hero of the game. The result? 11 points on 5-for-16 shooting, and 0-for-4 from 3-point range.

A few scattered notes on Saturday's Sox-Yanks rain dance . . .

I was busy today watching that all-important matchup between the Red Sox and Mets today, which ended in a 1-1 tie after 10 innings. (A very well pitched game on both sides, especially by Jon Lester and Johan Santana.) I got a call late in the game from my dad in Florida, who asked me if I heard about Governor Eliot Spitzer. I said no, that I hadn't watched the news the entire day. I thought it might have been some kind of attempt on his life, as Spitzer isn't the most popular guy in NY State these days, as he has plenty of enemies in Albany and on Wall Street.

I turned on the news to see that reports came flying out today that Spitzer's in some real serious doo-doo, and his name is linked to some kind of prostitution ring.

Say good night, Eliot.

He probably wishes right now that someone had taken a shot at him. At least people would feel sorry for him.

Bat Of The Week: Chipper Jones - .565, 6 R, 2 2B, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 1.773 OPS

Chipper had a monster week, making only 10 outs on the way to hitting 4 homers, driving in 7 and putting up an OPS over 1.700. Buster Olney thinks that Chipper’s approach at the plate right now is the best it has ever been. I think I would have to agree. Jones’ injury history certainly has to scare fantasy owners as naturally none of this means anything he isn’t on the field. Given the gaudy numbers he has put up over the past 3 years (in remarkably quiet fashion) he is simply a risk worth taking at this point. As far as availability I'm guessing he isn't available in most leagues (depending on how deep you league is). If you have him don't trade him away right now. If he cools down substantially or gets a little banged up you could get some worth for him but as for right now definitely keep on riding this.
Arm Of The Week: John Danks – 2 GS, 2-0, 14.2 IP, 8 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 12 K

Here's some playoff thoughts thus far from an ordinary guy:

-The Spurs-Lakers series is closer than it indicates. In game 1 if the Spurs hit a few more buckets and make one or two more defensive stops, they steal game one.

Also, in game 4 the Spurs could have won this one too. The Spurs just couldn't get over the hump. Poor shot selection when they had a chance to tie or go ahead. Plus, Brent Barry easily got fouled by Derek Fisher at the end.

I am an advocate for refs not deciding games, mainly at the end, but man this was a blatant foul. The Spurs could easily be the ones up 3-1, but you have to give Kobe his dues, he is finally winning without Shaq (No pun intended).

Jim Mora: A real man of genius. This is required viewing for the rant that will follow:

The Yankees crashed and burned against the Orioles, 12-2 at Yankee Stadium last night. I caught the early-inning ugliness (or was that beauty?) last night on TV, and especially the fly ball that Johnny Damon totally butchered last night that led to more runs in the second inning. Not even the return of Alex Rodriguez, who hit an irrelevant home run to avoid the shutout, made any difference. (Why does the return of Slappy, who the press is making out to be some savior riding in on a white horse, remind me of Roger Clemens in June 2007? How did that "savior" turn out again?)

Larry Brooks had this interesting piece in his New York Post column today:

Johnny Damon, who staggered under and dropped a fly ball in the second inning after missing a liner in the first, is having his second straight bad season, and with one more year to go on his $13M per contract, appears as bad a position-player signing as Brian Cashman has ever made.

The fan who caught Manny Ramirez' 500th home run ball at Camden Yards returned the ball to Manny on Saturday night, and asked for nothing in return.

Damon Woo (pictured), a former Navy SEAL, and a former Massachusetts resident living in Manhattan, just wanted Manny to have the ball back.

"You hear about the big money that some of these baseballs go for, but this was Manny's accomplishment. Being a big baseball fan, this just felt like the right thing to do," Damon said.

A really refreshing thing to hear after so many of these stories of fans trying to squeeze every buck out of moments like this. The Red Sox gave Damon and his brother two prime seats to Sunday's game after they met Manny in the clubhouse after Saturday's game. Manny gave them autographs, including a signed bat.

Ramirez says he will auction the ball off for charity, and one memorabilia expert says that the ball was worth at least $10,000, perhaps more.