Garrett Atkins and Kaz Matsui each had three hits and Jeff Francis pitched 5 shut out innings as the Rockies beat up the Red Sox, 7-1 at Fenway Park. Atkins fell a triple short of a cycle as he singled in the first, hit a grand slam in the third and doubled in the fifth.

Matsui added a pair of singles, a double and scored two runs. Matt Holiday also had two hits including a solo homerun and this all added up to a very messy performance for Josh Beckett.

Beckett wasn’t as sharp in the first inning as he has been in the past and the Rockies took advantage and nicked the hard throwing right hander for a quick run. With one out, former Met Matsui blooped a double into shallow centerfield. It was a ball that only Dustin Pedroia could make a play on and he nearly caught it but Matsui hustled into second. Holiday then bounced out to Julio Lugo but that was followed up with a RBI single to center by perennial all-star Todd Helton. Beckett wasn’t out of trouble yet though as Atkins singled high off the wall in left sending Helton to third but Beckett got out of it with no further damage by getting Brad Hawpe to fly out to J.D.
Drew in right.

The Sox threatened in the home half of the second against Rockies starter Jeff Francis. Mike Lowell singled to left, Jason Varitek whiffed, Coco Crisp worked a walk and Lugo reached on the second error of the year charged to Helton to load the bases. The slumping Drew batting in the lead off spot came up in a RBI situation with the sacks juiced and smoked a line drive to a diving Matsui. Pedroia then struck out on a ball in the dirt and the Sox came up empty.

Colorado came right back in third against Beckett, Matsui singled to left, Holiday followed with a gap double to center and Helton walked to load the bases. Atkins then pounded a 3-1 fastball into the Monster Seats for a grand slam home run and 5-0 Rockies lead. Hawpe then grounded out to Lugo, Ryan Spilborghs fouled out to Kevin Youkilis and then Yorvit Torrealba singled past a diving Youkilis to right. Troy Tulowitzki then hit into a fielder’s choice to Lugo to end the inning but the Rockies had done some major damage.

While Beckett was struggling, Colorado’s Francis was cruising through the first three innings yielding just two hits with two walks, while striking out a half dozen including Youkilis twice.

Beckett gave up another run in the fourth, with two out Holiday hit a solo jack into the Monster Seats to give Colorado a 6-0 lead. With that Tommy Lasorda who was visiting in the booth said “well you needed six to take the lead now you can tie them”. Uh ya, thanks for the bulletin pasta man.

The Sox tried to get something going in the fourth with one out Varitek singled to left, Crisp fouled out to Helton right in front of the Boston dug out. Lugo followed with an infield single to put runners at first and second but Drew grounded out to Helton to end any semblance of a threat.

The Rox came out swinging the lumber again in the fifth with a lead off double by Atkins off the wall in left for his third hit in three trips. He couldn’t get any further than third as Beckett worked around the double with some fine defensive help from Pedroia and sent the Rockies back into the field no additional runs.

Boston put a couple of runners on in the fifth, David Ortiz walked for the second time in the game and Manny followed with a single to center. Francis then put down Youkilis and Lowell and that was that.

After Kyle Snyder gave up a harmless two out single to Matsui in the sixth, the Sox came out swinging. Back to back singles by Varitek and Crisp to start the inning chased Francis for Jorge Julio. Francis went 5 plus giving up 7 hits, with two walks and 6 K’s. Julio got Lugo to fly out to center for the first out, Drew came up again with runners in scoring position for the third time tonight struck out looking and started to hear the cat calls from the Fenway Faithful. Pedroia then hit into a fielder’s choice to Matsui to kill yet another chance for some runs.

In the seventh the Sox tried to get something going against reliever Tom Martin. Ortiz whiffed, Ramirez followed with his second knock of the game a hard hit single to left to chase Martin and bring in LaTroy Hawkins to face Youkilis. Youk hit into a fielder’s choice to Atkins at third moving Manny to second with two out. Lowell singled to center and Spilborghs came up throwing but Ramirez got in under the tag of Torrealba to put the Sox on the board. Varitek then struck out to leave Lowell at first.

Snyder had a 1-2-3 seventh and was replaced by Mike Timlin for the eighth. Timlin promptly walked Spilborghs, then gave up a single to Torrealba. Troy Tulowitzki then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position and Spilborghs came home on Willie Tavares RBI fielder’s choice ground out to Lugo to make it 7-1. Matsui then struck out to end the inning.

The Sox mounted a two out attack in the ninth against Rockies closer Brian Fuentes who was on in a non-save situation. With two out Manny walked, then Youkilis extended his hitting streak to 5 games with a single to center. But Lowell struck out to end the game and give the Rockies 2 out of the three games in the series.

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Steve brought up an interesting point in a recent comment.

I’m beginning to wonder if this whole contract thing is weighing on his mind a bit. He’s never been in this situation before of impending free agency. He wants to be here and maybe he feels the added pressure of trying to prove he belongs here. what ever it is the team needs him to get by it.

Well today on the Dennis and Callahan show, a hypothetical question was posed to Schill basically asking him if the Red Sox offered him a contract for next season at $13 million would he accept it. Schilling answered that with a resounding “yes.”

While I would have to think that it wasn’t affecting his pitching, I now have started to think otherwise. I can’t speak for Schill and never would, that’s what his blog is for. But maybe just maybe it is affecting him. I know he’d be stupid not to say no if it was offered, but the Red Sox have never offered a contract extension during the season under Theo Epstein’s reign as GM.

We say this a lot of on our radio show about the Yankees; “they need to not worry about what anyone else is doing, they need to just go out and win.” The same should hold true for Schilling. He needs to just go out and pitch every 5 days and let the contract situation take care of itself.

Believe me Curt, we want you here and want you to retire as a member of the Sox. Take care of business on the field and the business off the field will all work out.

To listen to the interview, click here.

Before I start this post, I just want to apologize to all the readers out there who come by to see what’s happened with the night’s previous Sox game. After doing our two radio shows last night, I suddenly didn’t feel well and ended up falling asleep on my couch. After waking up for about 10 minutes, I then passed back out til 11:30 AM. I know you don’t care probably but I feel bad about this. Don’t you worry though, you can be sure there will be a recap all the time. So without further adieu, on to the fun.

One bad pitch from Curt Schilling changed the complexion of last night’s game. Otherwise, it could have been a different result. The Boys from Beantown are scuffling a bit on offense these days. Josh Beckett takes the hill tonight before the Barry Bonds circus comes to town. Let’s take a look at what the Boston area and Denver media has to say about last night’s game.

Curt Schilling details his latest outing on his blog. [38 Pitches]

Things turned ugly for the Red Sox on Wednesday night. [Boston Globe]

Brad Hawpe’s homerun changed things for the Rox last night. [Denver Post]

The Yanks crept closer to the Red Sox with the loss last night. [Boston Herald]

Colorado treated Schilling rudely on Wednesday night. [Rocky Mountain News]

The Red Sox are heading in the wrong direction. [Hartford Courant]

Todd Helton’s double put an end to his slump. [Denver Post]

It was very quiet in the Sox clubhouse after the game. [ProJo SoxBlog]

David Ortiz is very happy to step aside for Youk. [Boston Globe]

For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant, Providence Journal, Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News websites.