At This Point, You Have To Wonder If 200 Wins Will Ever Happen For Tim Wakefield

Honestly, since he's the oldest player in MLB (45), you have to wonder at this point if Tim Wakefield will ever get his 200th career win.



It looked like it might finally happen last night as the Red Sox (76-49) led the Royals (52-75) 4-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth at Kaufmann Stadium but that's when Kansas City became only the second team this season (the Cubs being the other) that put up eight runs in one frame against Boston.



The Royals won 9-4 as Matt Albers (0.1 innings, 5 earned runs, 3 hits, 2 walks) ensured that Wakefield (5.1 innings, 4 earned runs, 9 hits, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts) would spend another empty night sitting in the Red Sox dugout looking like a depressed puppy.



Albers has coming back to Earth lately which means that Dan Wheeler is waiting in the wings to handle his late-inning duties for a while.



It's been five chances now that Wake has come into a game stuck on 199 wins and either by his own average performance, the bullpen blowing up behind him or just plain shit luck, it hasn't materialized. You couldn't ask for much more favorable matchups either since the last three outings have come against the Twins, Mariners and Royals, not exactly world-beaters.



Without three All-Stars (Jacoby Ellsbury, David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis), Boston managed to get 10 hits but Kansas City trumped that with 14 of its own.



Alex Gordon led the Royals with three hits, two RBIs and a run while Eric Hosmer had two hits, two RBIs and a run with Billy Butler, Jeff Francoeur and Mike Moustakas all put up two hits, an RBI and a run.



Boston was led by rookie Ryan Lavarnway (2 hits, RBI, run, walk), Carl Crawford (2 hits, RBI) and Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, run).



Felipe Paulino (2-5) went six innings for the win, improving his career win-loss record to 8-30. Ugh. He allowed four earned runs on eight hits with three walks and three strikeouts.



Two lefties go at it in the series finale this afternoon as Jon Lester (12-6) faces Danny Duffy (3-7). The Red Sox need this game, particularly since they won't get to use Lester in their next extremely tough stop: four in Texas.



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David Ortiz Gets His 1000th Career RBI In A Red Sox Uniform As Boston Deals Kansas City Another Beating

David Ortiz recorded his 1000th career RBI in a Red Sox uniform in about the greatest way possible (other than the opponent): by hitting a grand slam.

Yet again Boston's (64-38) offense was working overtime as it cranked out 16 hits in a 12-5 laugher over the Kansas City Royals (43-61) last night at Fenway Park.

The Royals are so bad that they let John Lackey (9-8) climb over the .500 mark for the season. In 5.2 workman like innings, he allowed four runs (three earned) on 11 hits with a walk and three strikeouts. They'll be talking about that start when he's inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

And speaking of Cooperstown, it takes a lot to make Lackey look like Roy Halladay but that's what happens when he opposes Bruce Chen (5-4). Don't ask me how Chen has been in MLB for 13 seasons (albeit on 10 teams) or has a 53-54 career record with last night's loss since every time I see him, I think he's the worst starting pitcher I've ever seen in MLB.

To say he throws meatballs is being kind. He's a lefty and he throws straight junk with no velocity. In four innings (haha 114 pitches!) Chen allowed ten earned runs on ten hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

Eric Hosmer (4 RBIs, 2 hits) actually gave Kansas City a 3-0 lead in the first with a three-run bomb. He's such a stud.

Didn't matter one bit though as Boston's juggernaut of an offense scored two in the first, three in the second and four in the fourth to send Chen back to the visitors dressing room.

Jacoby Ellsbury (3 runs, 3 hits, 2 RBIs, walk, stolen base) and Dustin Pedroia (3 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) went back-to-back to start the game. For Ellsbury, it was his 17th homer of the season (off Pesky's Pole) while Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 24 games with his 14th.

Fitting, Ellsbury tied it up in the second with his bases-loaded walk and Pedroia made it 4-3 with a sacrifice fly. Adrian Gonzalez's groundout (3 hits, 3 RBIs, run) pushed it to 5-3.

Yamaico Navarro's (2 hits) RBI single in the fourth gave the Red Sox a 6-3 lead before Ortiz's bomb over the bullpen in right field.

Lackey tried his best to give the seven-run lead back as Billy Butler (3 hits) crushed a solo homer over the Monster in the fifth but Kansas City is too inept to comeback even against Lackey.

Gonzalez added an RBI single in the sixth and eighth, sandwiched around an RBI single by Hosmer in the eighth.

Not for nothing but 1-4 with Alex Gordon (3 hits, 2 runs), Melky Cabrera, Butler and Hosmer, the Royals have some serious pop. It's too bad with all their bats on the team and in their farm system, they don't seem to have any arms to match.

Boston ace Josh Beckett takes the mound in just a matter of minutes as the Red Sox look to finish off a successful home stand by taking three of four from Kansas City. The Royals counter with Luke Hochevar.

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Red Sox Pound Royals Behind the World's Smallest Cleanup Hitter

After a disappointing 14 inning loss (aren't they all?), the Boston Red Sox responded last night by pounding out 16 hits in a 13-9 win over the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park.

Despite the fact that Jacoby Ellsbury (rest) and Kevin Youkilis (sore foot) started the game on the bench, Boston (63-38) had no problem putting up 10+ hits for the tenth straight game-an MLB high. They also have scored double-digit runs for an MLB-leading 15th time so far this season.

Dustin Pedroia was put in the cleanup spot and he responded as he always does, going 4 for 5 with three runs, an RBI and a walk. In his career, he's hit fourth seven times and gone 17 for 31 (.548) with seven extra-base hits and nine RBIs. Oh by the way, his career-best hit streak was extended to 23 games. Ho hum.

His bid for the cycle came up just short (no pun intended) in the eighth as his fairly deep fly ball fell a few feet shy of the Green Monster. Credit to NESN though as they sold it about as hard as they could with Don Orsillo going bananas and the cameraman shooting straight up in the sky.

David Ortiz was the other Red Sox player that the Royals (43-60) simply couldn't get out. Big Papi was 4 for 5 with five RBIs and a career-high three doubles.

Adrian Gonzalez added three runs, two hits, two RBIs and a walk while Ellsbury (who pinch hit in the fifth) ended up with two hits and a run.

As you can guess by the score, it was anything but a pitcher's duel between Boston's Andrew Miller (3.2 innings, 9 hits, 7 runs, 5 earned runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout) and Kansas City's wannabe Southie transplant Danny Duffy (3.2 innings, 6 hits, 6 earned runs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts).

Billy Butler, fantasy baseball geeks' perennial wet dream provider, led the Royals with three hits, three RBIs and two runs. Mike Aviles had three hits and a run while Alex Gordon (2 hits, 2 RBIs, run, walk) and Eric Hosmer (2 hits, run, RBI) are some of Kansas City's solid prospects and youngsters that prove the Royals might be actually competitive someday if they stumble upon a few pitchers and a manager not named Ned Yost.

If Miller has proven anything in his seven starts in Boston (5.45 ERA overall; 7.94 ERA, 2.29 WHIP, 4 Ks in 17 IP against 4 AL teams), it's that he's unreliable. The Red Sox' biggest hole right now is in the back end of their rotation where John Lackey, Tim Wakefield and Miller at best give them a 60-40 chance to win every time they're out there. That's not good enough but with Clay Buchholz returning in August, the best plan might be to to just wait it out rather than trade anybody (namely Josh Reddick) for some fifth starter (Rich Harden, pukes).

Hosmer gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI double, followed by Jeff Francoeur's sacrifice fly (another guy I want no part of).

The Red Sox tied it up with two runs during their first at bats. Gonzalez had a sacrifice fly and Ortiz knocked in Pedroia with an RBI double.

Butler's two-run double in the second once again put the Royals up by two but it didn't matter. Pedroia cut it to 4-3 with an RBI double in the third and Ortiz drove in two with his RBI double to give Boston a 5-4 advantage.

A pair of homers: two-run by Gordon and a solo shot by Butler in the fourth sent Miller to a very early exit.

Carl Crawford drove in run with a bases-loaded walk in the fourth before Boston erupted for their accustomed big inning. This time it was six runs in the fifth. Drew Sutton had a sacrifice that turned into a pair of runs as the Royals made two errors on the same play (haha classic). Gonzalez had an RBI single, Ortiz had a two-run single and Reddick had a sacrifice fly.

Jason Varitek hit his sixth homer of the season-solo-off Worcester's Tim Collins in the seventh.

Mike Moustakas and Matt Treanor (say hi to Misty May for me!) both had RBI singles in the ninth off a fatigued Franklin Morales (who pitched 1.2 innings) but he was able to close it out.

Alfredo Aceves (6-1) improved to a ridiculous 20-2 in his career with another superb outing out of the bullpen. He went 3.1 innings, allowing three hits but no runs with no walks and three strikeouts. Aceves has won 15 straight relief decisions, the longest streak in MLB since 1967. The best part about him, outside of his versatility, is that he's a character on a team that doesn't have too many big personalities.

Bruce Chen faces John Lackey tonight in a battle of mediocre veteran starters. Woo, catch the excitement.

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