We aren’t used to the Boston Red Sox not playing winning baseball. They spoiled us last year after the unnamed manager debacle of 2012. And much like the weather, the local nine started off cold.

But as the warmer temperatures start to move into the New England region, the Red Sox are starting to warm up on the field.

Needing a sweep of their interleague series with the Cincinnati Reds to get to .500, the Red Sox achieved that mark on Wednesday night when Will Middlebrooks singled in Jonny Gomes with the eventual winning run in a 4-3 win at Fenway Park.

Koji Uehara finished it off by striking out the side for his eighth save of 2014. Craig Breslow picked up the win. Jake Peavy started this one for the home team and allowed three runs on four hits and three walks in six innings of work.

Shane Victorino, David Ortiz and A.J. Pierzynski all had two hits for the Red Sox. Ortiz and Pierzynski added RBIs as well. Mike Napoli had the other RBI on a double.

The Sox are off today as they travel to Texas for a weekend set with the Rangers.

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For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Cincinnati Enquirer and Journal News websites.

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There was no Carlton Fisk home run nor was there a Joe Morgan World Series winning single. While the memories of the 1975 World Series were there between the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox, it was a different kind of feeling at Fenway Park on Tuesday night. It was the feeling of triumph this time for the home team when Grady Sizemore singled in David Ortiz to give the Red Sox a 4-3 walk-off win over the Reds. Sizemore’s walk-off single was his third hit of the night and second RBI. Dustin Pedroia also had three hits while Mike Napoli had the other two Red Sox RBIs with a single and bases loaded walk. Felix Doubront started this one and didn’t pitch all that badly allowing just one run on five hits and three walks over 5.1 innings. His only problem was the high pitch count that saw him exit the game earlier than he would have liked. This seems to be one of his consistent issues. Burke Badenhop did his job to get it to the Japanese combo at the end of the game in Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara. Unfortunately, Tazawa had an off night and gave up two runs. But the rest of the bullpen picked him up Andrew Miller striking out four over two innings and Craig Breslow picking up the win. PC/ MOBILE/TABLET LINK (full game recap) For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites. And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Cincinnati Enquirer and Journal News websites. photo credit: getty images

John Lackey has been probably the most consistent pitcher for the Boston Red Sox this season. The same could be said of Sonny Gray of the Oakland A’s.

As you might expect both pitchers did their job. And neither were involved in the decision as the A’s avoided a sweep by the Red Sox with a 3-2 extra innings win on Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park.

Both starters went six innings each, allowing two runs.

Grady Sizemore and A.J. Pierzynski along with Mike Carp all had two hits for the Red Sox. Sizemore knocked in one of the runs with a double while Pierzynski’s RBI came on a solo home run that tied the game at 2-2.

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For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Oakland Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle websites.

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Every time that Jon Lester takes the mound for the Boston Red Sox, he’s pitching for his future. He won’t say that he is but when you’re in your walk year, you always have something to prove.

Lester showed everyone why he’s an elite starting pitcher on Saturday as he struck out a career-high 15 Oakland A’s in a 6-3 win for the Red Sox.

He only allowed one hit and a walk as well over those eight innings. Chris Capuano ran into some trouble but Koji Uehara preserved the win with save No. 7 on the year.

Jonny Gomes got things going for the Red Sox with a grand slam in the 1st inning. David Ortiz and David Ross added solo home runs to complete the scoring for the home side.

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For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Oakland Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle websites.

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Dustin Pedroia will always remember his 100th career home run.

That home run, a grand slam in the 6th inning, broke open a 2-1 game and helped the Boston Red Sox to a 7-1 win over the Oakland A’s at Fenway Park on Friday night.

Pedroia finished the night going 2-for-3 with the grand slam, two walks and two runs scored. A.J. Pierzynski added two hits and an RBI while Xander Bogaerts had two hits. Mike Napoli and Jackie Bradley Jr. had the other RBIs for the home team.

Clay Buchholz started this one and definitely had his best game of the young 2014 season.

He went 6.1 innings, allowing just the one run on three hits and three walks while striking out five to pick up his second win. Andrew Miller, Edward Mujica and Craig Breslow finished it off for Buchholz.

PC/ MOBILE/TABLET LINK (full game recap)

For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Oakland Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle websites.

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For all that bitching that Joe Maddon and the Tampa Bay Rays did, you’d think they’d be happy with the fact they swept the Boston Red Sox on Thursday. Instead, Maddon decided to take a cheap shot at the Red Sox visiting clubhouse thus earning a-hole No. 1 status.

Proud of our boys . All the convoluted stuff yesterday, then spending all day in Fenway's diminutive clubhouse made it tough to win a split.

— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) May 2, 2014

The Rays picked up the win in Game 1 of the doubleheader 2-1 while winning the second game 6-5. The first game  was not without controversy as the Red Sox saw another replay go against them when there was clear enough visual evidence that Dustin Pedroia was safe with the tying run.

Instead, he was out and the Rays went on to win.

In the second game, Yunel Escobar homered off of Koji Uehara in the 9th and the Red Sox couldn’t push across Shane Victorino to tie in the bottom half against Grant Balfour.

Just one of those days the Red Sox would like to forget about and move forward tonight against the Oakland Athletics.

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For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Tampa Times and Tampa Tribune websites.

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On a cold, damp night in the Back Bay, hits figured to be at a premium at Fenway Park on Tuesday. Early on that was the case.

But the bottom of the 6th changed things when the Boston Red Sox got five runs on four hits and two walks on their way to a 7-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

The person everyone used to dislike on the Red Sox, John Lackey, spun another gem. This time around, he allowed two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out five over eight innings.

Edward Mujica ran into some trouble finishing it out but Koji Uehara bailed him out by striking out Ben Zobrist.

Shane Victorino led the Red Sox by going 4-for-4 with two RBIs. Jackie Bradley, Jr. and A.J. Pierzynski had two hits a piece while adding two RBIs and a RBI respectively. Will Middlebrooks and David Ortiz had the other RBIs.

PC/MOBILE/TABLET Link (full game recap)

For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England,  ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Tampa Times and Tampa Tribune websites.

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The Boston Red Sox had a chance for an elusive sweep of a team with their “ace” Jon Lester on the mound. Plus they were coming off two strong offensive performances so you’d think the odds were in their favor.

Sometimes it’s best not to think.

Brett Lawrie and Edwin Encarnacion both had two hits and two RBIs to lead the Toronto Blue Jays past the Red Sox 7-1 on Sunday afternoon at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Lester took the loss after allowing four runs on five hits in seven innings of work. Andrew Miller had a rough go of things out the pen as he allowed three runs (two earned) while throwing just 11 pitches in a 1/3 of an inning.

Xander Bogaerts had two hits to lead the Red Sox offense. Jackie Bradley knocked in the only run with a single in the 2nd inning.

PC/MOBILE/TABLET LINK (full game recap)

For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

And if you must check the enemy news, check out the National Post, Toronto Star, Toronto Sun and Globe and Mail websites.

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By the time Boston Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz left the mound in the 1st inning trailing 3-0, there were calls for his head on a platter. No one, though, was paying attention to the fact that Toronto Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow was having trouble finding the strike zone.

The Red Sox offense wasn’t able to take advantage of two walks in the first two innings but they made the Jays pay in the 3rd inning.

The Red Sox would get six in the inning and then held on for a 7-6 win over the Jays at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Saturday afternoon.

After Morrow walked the bases loaded and allowed a run to score, Chad Jenkins took over and on his second pitch A.J. Pierzynski took out out of the park for a grand slam. Will Middlebrooks followed with a solo home run of his own.

Buchholz settled down and went seven innings, allowing the three runs on six hits and three walks while striking out three.

Grady Sizemore added a hit and two RBIs while David Ortiz was walked three times. Sizemore had two walks.

PC/MOBILE/TABLET LINK (full game recap)

For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

And if you must check the enemy news, check out the National Post, Toronto Star, Toronto Sun and Globe and Mail websites.

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Mark Buehrle entered Friday night’s contest for the Toronto Blue Jays with only two runs allowed in four starts. He also had not allowed a home run. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox were off coming off a blow out loss.

After three innings, Buehrle was proven to be human and the Red Sox had completely forgotten about Thursday night.

Will Middlebrooks made his return to the Red Sox lineup a successful one with two hits and two RBIs to help the Red Sox past the Blue Jays 8-1 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

While the offense was doing its thing, Jake Peavy was on the mound dominating the Jays offense.

He scattered five hits over seven innings of work while walking two and striking out seven. Chris Capuano and Andrew Miller put the finishing touches on the game to help Peavy to his first win of 2014 while sending Buehrle to his first loss.

A.J. Pierzynski and Jackie Bradley, Jr. led the Red Sox with three hits a piece and each of them knocked in a run. Dustin Pedroia added two hits and an two RBIs while Mike Napoli had two hits and an RBI. David Ortiz added a solo home run off of Buehrle.

PC/MOBILE/TABLET LINK (full game recap)

For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

And if you must check the enemy news, check out the National Post, Toronto Star, Toronto Sun and Globe and Mail websites.

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

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