After a long night of traveling to the left coast, the last person the Red Sox wanted to see was Dan Haren and his miniscule ERA. Haren was strong for 7 2/3 innings but it was a walk-off homerun from Eric Chavez that won the game for the A’s in the bottom of the 11th, as the A’s won 5-4.

Kyle Synder had retired the first two batters of the inning before the walk-off homer for Chavez. Santiago Casilla got the win in relief for the A’s and Synder took the loss.

The Red Sox got to Haren for a run in the 1st inning. After Haren retired the first batters he faced, David Ortiz hit a pitch out of the ballpark to give the Sox an early lead.

That lead lasted til the bottom of the 2nd when the A’s struck for 2 runs. Bobby Crosby walked to lead off the inning and went to third on a single by Mark Kotsay. Both runners scored when Mark Ellis hit a triple to center field that Wily Mo Peña misplayed. No error was given as the ball spun away from Wily Mo. Tavarez then retired the next three batters but left the field down a run at 2-1.

Ellis led off the 4th inning with a line drive homerun to left, giving the A’s a 3-1 lead. The HR gave him 3 rbi in 2 at-bats. Tavarez settled down to get the next two hitters and then allowed a two out double to Travis Buck, in which he broke Buck’s bat. He got Nick Swisher to line out to right ending the threat.

Haren had retired 14 batters in a row before he walked Big Papi to lead off the 6th. But he got Manny to strikeout swinging for his 5th strikeout of the night.

Meanwhile, Tavarez got Kotsay to fly out to Manny and then allowed a double to Ellis, his third hit of the night. He then got Kendall to fly out to deep center. Kendall was the last batter he faced as Brendan Donnelly came in and retired Shannon Stewart on a grounder to Youk at third.

Tavarez’ pitching line: 5 2/3 innings, 9 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. He threw 107 pitches.

The Red Sox struck for another run in the 7th. After Haren retired Youk and J.D. Drew, Wily Mo launched a Haren splitter into the seats, cutting the deficit to 3-2.

Oakland got to Joel Piñero for a run in the 8th. Eric Chavez walked to lead off the inning. Piñero then retired Crosby on a fly out. With Kotsay at the plate, Chavez stole second before Kotsay walked. Ellis then grounded into a fielder’s choice at third but a throwing error by Youk allowed Kotsay to be safe at second. Kendall followed that with a sacrifice fly scoring Chavez to put the A’s up 4-2.

The Sox managed to get to Alan Embree in the 9th for two runs. Big Papi led off the inning with a double. Manny then took strike 3 looking for the first out. Youk grounded out to short, moving Papi over to third. Jason Varitek, pinch hitting for Drew, hit a single over Swisher’s head to bring in Papi and cut the deficit to 4-3. Coco Crisp came in to run for Varitek. Wily Mo then crushed a ball to deep center and Coco, who was off running on the pitch, came around to score to the tie game up at 4. Embree got Mirabelli to fly out to end the inning. But the damage was done as Embree was charged with a blown save.

Oakland threatened in the bottom of 9th loading up the bases with no outs. Piñero walked Buck to lead off the inning and Swisher reached on a Hinske error. Buck advanced to third on the play. J.C. Romero came in and relieved Piñero and promptly walked Dan Johnson. He then got Chavez, who doesn’t hit lefties all that well, to strikeout. Crosby hit a ball to Youk at third who threw home to Mirabelli for an out, who then threw Hinske at first for the inning ending double play.

The Sox mounted a threat of their own in the 10th but couldn’t score. Mike Lowell, who was pinch hitting for Hinske, popped out to second. Pedroia came up with a chance to extend his hitting streak to 14. He didn’t disappoint his 65 or so family members and friends, as he lined a single to right. Julio Lugo, who had come in for Alex Cora in the 8th, struck out swinging, bringing Big Papi to the plate. Big Papi took a Ron Flores offering to deep center that missed a home run by a foot but the not so fleet of foot Pedroia was thrown out by about 10 feet at the plate. I guess that will settle the debate of who is faster, Pedroia or Youkilis.

Romero started out the 10th by retiring Kotsay but allowed a single to Ellis. Jack Cust pinch-hit for Kendall and drew a walk. Kyle Snyder came in for Romero and he retired Stewart but both runners moved up a base. Buck checked his swing and the ball went to Youk at first, who threw to Synder and they barely got Buck at first.

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Normally when the Red Sox bring in Hideki “Darkman” Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon come into the game, good things happen for them. Unfortunately Sunday night was not one of those nights as the Yanks got to each them for a run and went on to defeat the Red Sox 6-5 in a game that ended in a light rain.

Darkman came in to pitch in the 8th inning and faced his countryman, Hideki Matsui, to lead off. Matsui lined a single to right and came around to score when Robinson Cano crushed a ball into the triangle for a triple, scoring Matsui to tie the game at 5.

Papelbon was in for the 9th and retired the first two hitters he faced, Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu. With two strikes on him, AROD took a Papelbon offering and planted it in the Yanks bullpen giving the Yanks a 6-5 lead.

The Red Sox brought their big bats to the plate in the 9th inning against Mariano Rivera but were unable to score. David Ortiz crushed a ball to right field but didn’t get enough as Bobby Abreu caught it on the warning track. Rivera then struck out Manny on a cutter. Rivera then hit Youk on a ball that rode up and in on him. Mike Lowell came to the plate with a chance to be a hero but was struck out by Mariano to end the game.

The Yanks got to Beckett for a run in the second inning. A hip hip Jorge Posada double, a Matsui single and a single to shallow center by Josh Phelps, who was playing first due to Doug Mientkiewicz’s injury, brought in Posada giving them a lead of 1-0.

The score remained the same until the 5th inning when the Yankees tacked on 3 more runs against Beckett.

Phelps led off with a single and advanced to second on a Melky Cabrera single. After Damon flew out, Derek Jeter grounded into a fielder’s choice that got Phelps at third. Abreu drew a walk to load them up for AROD. AROD then hit a ball that Lowell barehanded and he tried to throw out AROD at first but the throw was low and hit Youk in the knee causing it to get away. This brought in Melky and DJ giving the Yanks a 3-0 lead. Posada followed that up with a single to score Abreu from third to make it 4-0 Yanks.

The Sox wasted no time getting the runs back as they struck for 5 runs in their half of the 5th inning.

Jason Varitek led off the inning with a single and went to second on a Wily Mo Peña single. They both moved over a base on a Coco Crisp single. With the bases loaded and no outs, Julio Lugo struck out. Dustin Pedroia then extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a double that cleared the bases, cutting the Yanks lead to one. Big Papi then lined a single to Abreu in right field that Abreu misplayed and Papi got to third on the error. Pedroia had scored tying the game up. This also chased Pettitte from the game.

Luis Vizcaino came in to replace Pettitte and he intentionally walked the first batter he faced, Manny, to set up a double play. Unfortunately for the Yanks, it didn’t work out that way as Youk hit a long flyball to center that scored Pedroia, giving the Sox a 5-4 lead.

Beckett’s line: 6 1/3 innings, 8 hits, 4 runs (all earned), 3 walks and 5 strikeouts.

The Sox now head out to the left coast for a 7 game road trip that starts in Oakland on Monday. Surprisingly, the Red Sox don’t have an off day and probably won’t arrive in Oakland til 9 am east coast time. Julian Tavarez takes the hill for the Sox.

You decide.