After going 3-7 on their last road trip, you can bet that the Boston Red Sox were happy to see Fenway Park where they have a 31-10 record. That’s a big difference compared to their 21-29 road record.

It almost looked like the red-hot Twins were going to spoil the return as they loaded up the bases in the 1st inning. Luckily, Daisuke Matsuzaka was able to work out of the jam. After that little blip in the 1st, Matsuzaka settled down and arguably had his best performance of the season. He did get himself in another jam in the 7th inning but his countryman Hideki Okajima came in and got the Red Sox out of trouble.

Matsuzaka talked about his outing after the game with the assembled media.

“Today, overall, my fastball was good, so I think (catcher Jason Varitek) had an easier time calling the game,” Matsuzaka said. “I also think I was able to attack the batters very well. I always want to minimize wasted pitches out there. That’s something I’m trying to work on.”

“Of all our starting pitchers, I’ve been the only one who hasn’t been able to go deep in a game, so what I’ve been trying to do is go deeper and help out our bullpen,” said Matsuzaka, who was a little disappointed he was lifted after allowing a pair of one-out singles in the eighth inning.

It was nice to see Terry Francona trusting Okajima more. After a clean outing on Sunday night, Oki’s confidence appeared to be sky high even though he walked the first batter he faced. He was able to recover as it looked as though his splitter is starting to return to form. To me, it was like old times. You got a good outing from the starting pitcher, a good solid inning (well 2/3 of an inning) from Okajima and an 1-2-3 inning from Jonathan Papelbon for the save. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen anything like that.

The win didn’t come easy for the Red Sox though as Minnesota Twins starter Scott Baker did his job by shutting the Red Sox down in his 7 innings of work. It wasn’t until Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire went to his bullpen when the Red Sox would breakthrough with a crooked number on the Green Monster scoreboard on a clutch hit from Manny Ramirez after Dustin Pedroia led off the inning with a double.

The Red Cup duo was seen in New York this weekend.

The Twins most likely won’t be very active before the July 31st trade deadline.

Manny Ramirez was concerned about how the Red Sox fans would perceive him after the incident with traveling secretary Jack McCormick.

A Connecticut Red Sox fan will be getting his wish before the game tonight.

Denard Span is starting to improve his numbers against left-handed pitching.

Jason Varitek isn’t worried about his slump right now or a contract for next year.

David Ortiz took his first live hacks yesterday since injuring his wrist and from the sounds of it, it didn’t like he had missed a beat as he smacked 6 home runs in 36 swings. The big concern will be how Ortiz feels when he gets to the ballpark this afternoon. He was pleased with his effort though.

“I feel good,” Ortiz said following the BP session. “My first day swinging out there and it was feeling good. I feel like I’m getting back to normal. I want to go back and play. When you don’t play it kills you. Injuries are better when you take your time because if you rush sometimes it’s not worth it.”

“I was trying to swing the bat normally,” he said. “I wanted to swing hard to make sure I don’t feel anything. It was fine.”

The local nine has definitely missed his bat as of late and his return to the lineup sometime after the All-Star break will surely lift the spirits of his teammates.

Twins OF Carlos Gomez and 2B Alexi Casilla were pretty loose before the game yesterday.

Justin Masterson was sent down to Pawtucket before the game yesterday to become a reliever. Clay Buchholz will take his spot in the rotation on Friday night.

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 papers are saying you can check out the The Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press websites.