Sox too much for Nationals

The Red Sox opened up their road trip beating the Washington Nationals 11 - 3 on Tuesday and add yet another win against a National League team to their resume. Coupled with a Yankees loss, the Sox now stand 43 - 27 and 5 full games ahead of our underachieving, over spending rivals.

Brady Penny went 5 2/3 innings allowing 6 hits, 3 earned runs, walking three and striking out six. Delcarmen picked up the win pitching a third of an inning in relief. Overall the outing wasn't bad for Penny. However, this was the Nationals and he didn't make it through the 6th inning. My prediction is if Smoltz proves to be the pitcher he's been for the past 20 years and Penny doesn't start to dominate, the Sox will eventually make a trade and call Buchholz up.

Offensively the Sox had 17 hits, 6 walks and 11 runs. The game was tight until the 8th when they opened it up with 6 runs. Bay and Ells were the offensive stars with each racking up 4 hits and 3 rbi. Bay hit his 19th home run of the season and Ells just missed one hitting the top of the left center field wall. Ells has been on fire and I think it's time for him to get back to the top of the order. Personally, I can't tell you how tired I am of watching Drew take the third strike looking. I love his approach at the plate, but with two strikes a little league player knows you change your approach and swing if it's close. If he doesn't want to hit, put him at the bottom of the order.

Overall the Sox are playing excellent baseball and they're as good as any team in the majors. They play fundamentally sound ball, play hard, have the offense and, most importantly, the pitching to go all the way again. Look for the Sox to continue the momentum tonight with Lester on the mound going up against Stammen.

Note: Our old friend Julian "The Pig" Tavarez took the loss for the Nationals. Julian didn't receive any help from his defense as the run was unearned. As much as he drove me nuts watching him pitch, I have to say it was fun to see him out there continuing to compete. And it's worth noting he got Jeter out the other night during a crucial situation in the game. Way to go Pig!

Changes Coming This Week for Sox

Now that we've reached the middle of June, the Red Sox have to make some tough decisions.

How do they get John Smoltz and possibly Clay Buchholz in the rotation? Is David Ortiz breaking out of his slump, and if not, how long do they stick with him? Do they stick with Jed Lowrie, Julio Lugo or Nick Green at shortstop? Should they trade Brad Penny?

This will be a busy few weeks for Theo and the boys.

The good thing is the Sox are dealing from a position of strength. After sweeping the Yankess and taking two of three in Philadelphia, the Sox are two games up in the AL East.

Pitching is the strength of the team and there is more on the way. The offense has been solid, but we still haven't seen the best of Dustin Pedroia, J.D. Drew and certainly Big Papi so far this season.

Things should only get better. Now they just have to pull the right triggers on the roster.

It seems that they have to and should trade Penny. They'd love to trade Lugo too, but it's unlikely anyone will take him with his outrageous salary. If they can't trade him they should just release him. Even though he's been hitting better lately, once a Pig - always a Pig.

The biggest risk will be if they trade any of the young stud prospects such as Buchholz, Michael Bowden or Daniel Bard.

If they can package Penny, one of the shortstops and one of the young pitchers and get back a quality shortstop and a slugger I think they'll have to do it.

A package to Texas for Michael Young and Hank Blalock or something similar might work well.

Whatever the case, they will be doing something because there are too many guys and not enough space on the roster.

Let's just hope whatever deals they make work out as well as the Jason Bay trade.

These Guys Really Do Know What They're Doing

After sweeping the Detroit Tigers and then dropping two out of three to the Texas Rangers last week, the Red Sox find themselves one game behind the Yankees as we enter the third Red Sox-Yankees series of the season.

Considering the struggling starting pitching for most of the season, the gaping hole at shortstop and the well-documented slump of the century, they have to be pretty pleased with that position.

This is a testament to Terry Francona and the coaching staff, and Theo Epstein and the rest of the front office.

I have always been one who believed the Red Sox' success over the past 5 1/2 seasons has been in spite of Francona. I didn't think he was a bad manager, but he has had his share of questionable decisions over the years, and, as with any manager, he's only as good as the players he puts on the field.

But this season seems a little different. He has worked the bullpen to perfection, having to cover for spotty starting pitching most of the season. He's gotten everybody playing time dealing with the usual injuries to J.D. Drew, a DL stint for Youk and the loss of Jed Lowrie.

Tito has even been able to somewhat hide the biggest weakness of this team - it's anemic play at shortstop. He has finally stopped giving Julio "The Pig" Lugo the benefit of the doubt and used Nick Green (who has turned into "The Pig Jr.") to at least get by.

Even the Big Papi situation has been handled well so far. Francona stuck with him in the 3-hole as long as he could and now he's bought a little more time for Ortiz to try to break out of it.

The good thing is I think we all know that management won't wait much longer before pulling the trigger on deals to fix the DH and shortstop problems.

If Papi comes out of it and Lowrie comes back and plays well, maybe they'll just make some minor deals, but if one or neither of those things happen, expect something much bigger with the Sox giving up more than just Brad Penny.