Per the norm on Sunday, the morning and afternoon Red Sox posts will be combined.

It was a long day of baseball yesterday for the Boston Red Sox but a day that was worth it as they swept a doubleheader from the Milwaukee Brewers. A great outing by Daisuke Matsuzaka in the first game and Mike Lowell’s bat in the second game were the keys to the victories yesterday.

The concerning part to me of the Red Sox right now has to be the bullpen. Yes the defense didn’t do Craig Hansen any favors in the second game last night but there’s no one out there I think Francona trusts right now. Manny Delcarmen has been up and down all season (he was up last night), Hideki Okajima has allowed 11-of-14 inherited runners to score and David Aardsma has trouble finding the plate some times. Javier Lopez and Mike Timlin have been inconsistent as well although Timlin looked good in the 2nd game as he picked up his first save of the season.

Maybe Chris Smith, who was just called up from Pawtucket, can help them out. They need some sort of bridge to Jonathan Papelbon. Until a bridge is built, it’s going to be a rocky road in the middle innings for the Red Sox.

Coco Crisp returned to action for the Red Sox last night in the second game of the doubleheader.

While it wasn’t a normal day at the ballpark for everyone involved yesterday, Sean Casey didn’t mind spending his day at the ballpark.

“I’ll play two. This is great,” Casey said between games, after getting two hits as Boston won the first game of the day-night doubleheader with Milwaukee, 5-3.

“I don’t mind. You only get to do this every once in a while,” Casey added. “We have a day game tomorrow. That’s the only thing that doesn’t make it so great. But you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. And they (the Brewers) have to do it, too.”

Despite swinging a hot bat in Triple-A, the Brewers will keep Russell Branyan down there for the time being.

While Dice-K has been putting up ace like numbers for the Red Sox this year, he feels that the Josh Beckett is the ace of the Red Sox staff.

“As a player I want to keep winning, but I think that Boston’s ace is Josh Beckett,” Matsuzaka said unequivocally.

“I was well aware of our [four-game] losing streak going in there, so I definitely wanted to do what I could to put a stop to that,” Matsuzaka said.

“As for my confidence in my pitching and facing the batters, I certainly feel less anxiety in facing these batters. I wouldn’t say I feel completely comfortable, but more comfortable than last year.”

It has been great to see him out there on the mound performing each time and once he stops trying to nibble at the corners, it will be even more fun to watch him dominate. To me, he has certainly been worth the investment the Red Sox have put into him.

Alex Cora has a new role for the Red Sox.

Terry Francona announced today that Justin Masterson will be called up to make a start on Tuesday for the Red Sox and that he will be replaced on the roster by Bartolo Colon who will start for the Red Sox on Wednesday. For Colon, it will be his long anticipated Red Sox debut.

Here are the starting lineups for today’s game.

20-23

1. Rickie Weeks, 2B
2. Mike Cameron, CF
3. Ryan Braun, LF
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Corey Hart, RF
6. J.J. Hardy, SS
7. Bill Hall, 3B
8. Jason Kendall, C
9. Tony Gwynn, Jr., DH

Carlos Villanueva, SP

26-19

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, RF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Coco Crisp, CF
9. Julio Lugo, SS

Josh Beckett, SP

And here is how the hitters have done against today’s starting pitchers.

No one on the Red Sox has faced Villanueva.

For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.

And if you must see what the enemy paper is saying you can check out the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel website.