After last night’s loss to the Tigers, here is a look at what some of the local media has to say.

Nick Cafardo from the Boston Globe writes that Josh Beckett will be checked out again on Thursday.

Cafardo also writes that J.D. Drew’s bad bat, not his back, is his problem right now.

Gordon Edes writes about Julian Tavarez, Barry Bonds, Josh Beckett, Kyle Synder and Kevin Youkilis in his Red Sox notebook.

Justin Verlander knew he was going to have a good game last night according to Nancy Marapesse-Burrell of the Boston Globe.

She also writes about the good week Curtis Granderson from the Tigers is having.

Jeff Horrigan from the Boston Herald has some more information on Josh Beckett.

Gary Sheffield wishes he was in Boston this year writes Lenny Megliola of the Metro/West Daily News.

Michael Silverman of the Herald writes about Tigers first baseman Sean Casey’s feeding of the homeless in Boston on Tuesday.

Kyle Snyder has trouble keeping weight on during the baseball season pens Steve Buckley from the Herald.

Justin Verlander scattered 6 hits over 7 ^2/3 innings and Magglio Ordonez continued his mastery of Tim Wakefield to lead the Tigers to a 7-2 victory over the beloved Red Sox.

The Sox got on the board in the first inning on three singles. Kevin Youkilis and Manny Ramirez singled sandwiched between outs. J.D. Drew then brought Youk home on a single of his own to give the Sox an early 1-0 lead.

Wakefield had no problems getting through the first two innings but ran into some trouble in the 3rd. After a Marcus Thames strikeout, Brandon Inge hit a blast to right field that Drew tried to catch but crashed very hard into the wall but not before the ball had left the yard. Curtis Granderson then followed that with a single and promptly stole second base. Wake got Polanco to line out then Gary Sheffield hit an infield single setting the stage for Ordonez.

Ordonez, who came into the game batting .433 (13 for 30) against Wake, took a knuckleball and flat out crushed it over the Green Monster, making it 4-1 Tigers.

Meanwhile, the Sox had trouble figuring out Verlander. His stuff is downright nasty. He has a 98 MPH fastball to go along with his changeup, that makes him very hard to hit. Wakefield then settled down and pitched 4 scoreless innings, including one where Ivan Rodriguez was gunned down by Manny at the plate.

If there’s one thing you can say about Manny, it is that he has a great arm. He unleashed a great throw to Mirabelli who had no trouble tagging out Pudge.

Wakefield walked Sheffield to start the 8th inning and that ended Wake’s night. Brendan Donnelly came in and promptly stunk up the joint. He did get Ordonez and Carlos Guillen out. Then Pudge hit a double to bring in Sheffield. Craig Monroe brought in Pudge on a single and Monroe advanced to second on the throw. Sean Casey, who came in for Thames in the 6th inning, followed up with a single bringing in Monroe and making the score 7-1. Kyle Snyder came in to relieve Donnelly and shut down the Tigers for the rest of the game.

I was surprised to see Synder in the game as he might be starting on Friday against the Braves if Josh Beckett can’t pitch due to the avulsion on his finger.

Wakefield went 7 innings, allowing 9 hits, 5 runs, 1 walk and had 4 strikeouts. His ERA went from 1.79 to 2.41.

The Sox got one more run in the 8th inning when Kevin Youkilis crushed a homerun to center that went over the wall. That chased Verlander from the game after 120 pitches.

Verlander went 7 2/3 innings, giving up 6 hits and 2 runs. He didn’t walk anyone and struck out 7.

Notes:

Drew left the game with a contusion to his back after crashing into the wall and is listed day-to-day right now. The Red Sox are taking a wait-and-see approach with Beckett right now and will make a decision on Thursday as to whether or not he will go on the DL and miss a few starts. Best case scenario is that he misses only Friday and then returns to make his next start. Snyder would probably start in his place on Friday if Beckett can’t go.

In what seems like an endless slew of baseball posts, I will move in a different direction right now to give you some news about a couple of UCONN Women’s Basketball players.

Seniors Mel Thomas and Charde Houston were among 45 players selected to try out for the US Women’s National Teams that will play in the U21 World Championships and the Pan American Games. Thomas is only eligible to tryout for the Pan American team due to the age cutoff. Houston is eligible for both teams.

They both will be heading to Colorado Springs to the U.S. Olympic Training Center to participate in the National Team Trials that are taking place from May 17th to May 20th. The finalists for both teams will be announced on May 20th.

The U21 USA Basketball Team will play in the 2007 FIBA U21 World Championships that are being held in Moscow, Russia from June 29th to July 8th.

The Pan Am games will take place in Rio de Janiero, Brasil from July 20th to the 24th.

Also incoming UCONN freshman, Maya Moore, was invited to the U19 Team Trials for the right to participate in the 2007 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women.

Good luck to Thomas, Houston, and Moore.

With Dice-K on the mound last night, a lot was wondered whether he’d be the same pitcher as he was in Toronto or whether not he would have that one bad inning. Well as we saw from the final score and his pitching line, he was the same pitcher that threw in Toronto.

Here is a look at what the local media has to say about the game last night.

Extra Bases has the transcript of Daisuke Matsuzaka’s press conference with the Japanese media.

Bob Ryan says the Dice-K era in Boston has officially begun.

Gordon Edes writes that Matsuzaka was in total command last night.

The Detroit Tigers were not impressed with Dice-K says Jeff Horrigan from the Boston Herald.

Steve Buckley writes that Dice-K is finding his groove these last few starts.

Matsuzaka had the Tigers number last night writes Steven Krasner of the Providence Journal. (Free signup is needed to view ProJo articles)

Other stories relating to the Red Sox coming out of the local media in today’s papers.

Rob Bradford writes that the Red Sox are in love with Dustin Pedroia’s fielding abilities.

Rob Bradford also writes that Gary Sheffield thinks the Yankees have a tall task ahead of them to catch the Sox.

Gordon Edes has news on Josh Beckett, Eric Hinske, some minor league moves, Roger Clemens, and Jim Leyland in his Red Sox notebook.

Fenway is the place where elite teams meet says Nick Cafardo.

According to Jeff Goldberg of the Hartford Courant, Josh Beckett is making a quick recovery.

Bill Reynolds of the Providence Journal writes that Curt Schilling’s theatrics are ok as long he is pitching well.

This is what we have been expecting from Daisuke Matsuzaka all season. Total domination. Dice-K went 9 innings and scattered 6 hits over his 124 pitches as the Red Sox defeated the Tigers 7-1.

The Tigers got on the board first in the third inning when Curtis Granderson took a low pitch and put it into the bleachers. That would be the only mistake Dice-K would make.

The Sox struck with 2 outs in the third inning when Kevin Youkilis doubled and David “Big Papi” Ortiz hit a single driving home Youk to tie the game at 1.

Again in the 4th inning, the Sox got another two out run in similar fashion. This time it was Jason Varitek who hit the double, a pitch that was probably 6 inches out of the strike zone that he drove to right. Covelli “Coco” Crisp followed Tek and drove him in on a single making it 2-1 good guys.

Big Papi and Manny combined to bring in another run for the Sox in the 5th inning. In similar fashion to the past two innings, Big Papi hit a double and was driven in by Manny on a single, making the score 3-1.

Jonathan Papelbon was up throwing in the bottom half of the 8th inning but the Red Sox bats made him sit back down. The Sox got to Tigers reliever Bobby Seay for 4 more runs.

Seay got Mike Lowell to line out but then walked Varitek. Coco then hit a single and Dustin Pedroia followed with a single of his own loading up the bases for yesterday’s hero, Julio Lugo. Lugo hit a triple to deep centerfield, clearing the bases and giving the Sox a 6-1 lead. Youk then drove in Lugo with a single of his own, completing the damage and giving the Red Sox a 7-1 lead.

Dice-K was brillant tonight. He showed total command of all his pitches. This was evident by the fact that he didn’t walk anyone. Of the 27 outs Dice-K and the Sox recorded, 5 came via the strikeout, 6 were flyballs and 16 came on the ground. He threw 86 of his 124 pitches for strikes to 33 Tiger batters. Dice-K’s ERA dropped from 4.80 to 4.17 in the outing.
Every Red Sox batter had a hit tonight except J.D. Drew, who was 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. Lugo, Youk, Big Papi, Lowell, Varitek, Crisp, and Pedroia all had 2 hits. Manny had 1 hit.

Notes: Dice-K’s complete game was the first of his career in the United States and also the first by a Red Sox pitcher this season. It was also the first complete game by a Red Sox rookie pitcher since 1994 when Tim VanEgmund threw one.

Manny was back in the lineup and after leaving yesterday’s game with hamstring tightness.

Josh Beckett played a little soft catch today before the game and it looks like the Red Sox will take a “wait and see” approach about his start on Friday night. Odds are that he will miss one start and maybe another. If he was going to miss two starts, I would think the Sox would be inclined to put him on the DL.