Josh Beckett was absolutely dominating on the mound and he got four home runs from the offense as the Red Sox beat the struggling Blue Jays 9-2.

Kevin Youkilis got it started for the Sox tonight as he hit a Victor Zambrano offering out of the ballpark. It should have been a 2 run homer but Julio Lugo was a little too aggressive trying to stretch a single into a double.

It didn’t start off well for Beckett as Alex Rios hit the first pitch he saw for a home run to tie the game at 1. Then Adam Lind hit a double bringing up the big guns for the Jays. But he settled down a little bit and after an Aaron Hill double in the second inning, he retired the next 11 Blue Jays.

Beckett had gotten some more runs in the second inning when the Sox power hitting 2B, Dustin Pedroia, hit a 3 run home run that barely got over the wall. There have been a lot of people down on Pedroia because he hasn’t been hitting well but he is currently 8 for 14 in his last four games played.

The Sox sent Zambrano to the showers in the third inning when Mike Lowell hit his 5th homer of the season, a 3 run shot and Jason Varitek added a solo shot right after Lowell’s. Zambrano was brutal tonight. He went 2 2/3 innings, gave up 8 hits, 8 runs, walked 2 and allowed the 4 home runs.

Beckett would have probably stayed in the game longer but the Red Sox were up for about 25 minutes in the 8th inning when they actually only scored one run. Beckett threw an economical 89 pitches in 7 innings. He gave up 5 hits, 1 run, walked 1 and struck out 5 Jays.

Devern Hansack came in and wasn’t that good in his 2007 debut. He was a little wild and it may be contributed to nerves. J.C. Romero came in and bailed him out. Kyle Synder came in to mop up in the 9th inning.

Offensively, Varitek was 4 for 4 in the game. Also, Youkilis was 3 for 3 before having to leave the game when he was hit by a pitch in the leg. It was the same leg he was hit on during the game the other day. Youkilis is day to day right now with a contusion on his left leg.

Notes: Beckett’s 7th win to start the season ties him for 2nd all time with the Red Sox. He only trails Babe Ruth, Dave Ferriss, and Roger Moret, who all won 8 straight games.

First off let me say how much I respect David Ortiz, not only as a ball player but also as a person. David does a lot to make this world a better place. With that being said I think his comments on Barry Bonds made today in the Boston Herald and also reported on ESPN and espn.com are a little misguided.

According to Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald:

“Ortiz has an almost willful naivete about both Bonds and steroids. He still does not believe in his heart or his head that Bonds took steroids. And even if it were proven to him, Ortiz still would not link it to what Bonds does with a baseball bat. “

David, David, David. C’mon all you got to do is look at him. He is practically a steroid poster child. Look at photos of Bonds in his playing days with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was sleek, thin, and svelte and he could run, hit and throw with the best of them. He looked the same in his first years with the San Francisco Giants as well. Then somewhere in late 1990’s Bonds’ got jealous. Jealous of all the attention that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were getting for their incredible home run battle as they chased Roger Maris’s single season record of 61. It was around that time that Bonds body dramatically and drastically changed into what he is today. Look at the photos

.

(Left picture-Bonds in 1998, Right picture-Bonds in 2007)

More from David on Bonds and steroids:

“To hit the frickin’ ball, the guy makes it look easy, but it ain’t. I don’t know how you can have that swing, consistently. I don’t know how steroids can do that,” Ortiz said…….. I look at it hitting-wise, because I don’t know what steroids can do to you as a baseball player. You’ve still got to swing the bat, man”.

“People come to me, talking about Barry Bonds using steroids and I’m like, ‘He’s the only one, or are people focused on him because of what he’s doing?’ So I don’t go there, I don’t even think about it,” Ortiz said. “I think about how he can be that perfect at the plate because I don’t think that steroids mentally get you perfect.”

While I agree with David in that I don’t think steroids help you hit the ball. They do help you make it go farther and they do help you recover from injuries so you can play sooner and longer, they may eve give you better bat speed but you still need the ability to the bat on the ball. I just don’t understand why people, including other major leaguers are so naïve when it comes to Bonds and how he is doing this.

The saddest part of all is that Bonds was a sure fire Hall of Famer with out the juice, it’s too bad he decided he needed it to assault baseball’s record book.

Ian adds this about Big Papi and steroids.

Being from a foreign country, Big Papi isn’t sure if he ever took steroids.

“I tell you, I don’t know too much about steroids, but I started listening about steroids when they started to bring that (expletive) up, and I started realizing and getting to know a little bit about it,” Ortiz said Sunday. “You’ve got to be careful. . . . I used to buy a protein shake in my country. I don’t do that any more because they don’t have the approval for that here, so I know that, so I’m off of buying things at the GNC back in the Dominican (Republic). But it can happen anytime, it can happen. I don’t know. I don’t know if I drank something in my youth, not knowing it.”

“I should use steroids just to see what’s going on,” Ortiz said with a laugh. “Nah. I have a good family. I want to see my kids learn and develop. I think I’m having an OK career. So, I take a lot of Advils, but I think I’m going to stop taking them. They say it (expletive) your liver.”

Whatever you do Big Papi, don’t take them.

After an folding a month’s worth of laundry and driving back home from Newington, I present you with today’s recap and thoughts from the Red Sox game.

Curt Schilling was strong for 6 2/3 innings on Sunday and got the much needed help from the bullpen to finish off the Twinkies 4-3 at the Metrodome. Offensively the Sox were led by Dustin Pedroia’s 3 for 4 effort at the plate.

Schilling was staked to an 1-0 lead when Alex Cora came around to score on a J.D. Drew double. Big Papi was thrown out on the play trying to score as well. The Sox added another run in the 3rd inning when Kevin Youkilis hit a single that scored Pedroia, who had doubled to lead off the inning.

The Sox added two more runs in the 5th inning when Drew hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Cora. After Mike Lowell hit into a fielder’s choice that moved Youk to 3rd base, Jason Varitek hit a single to score him.

Meanwhile, Schilling was cruising along. He threw 69 pitches through the first six innings. He also had 6 strikeouts at this point. After getting Jason Kubel to strikeout leading off the 7th, he gave up a single to Mike Redmond, who Schill hadn’t retired at all to this point. He then walked Luis Rodriguez, who was a 0 for 3 in his career against Schill. He got last night’s hero, Jason Barlett, to foul out to Youk at first. Luis Castillo then singled to load up the bases. This brought up the light hitting Jason Tyner. He gave up a single to him that scored 2 Twinkies. This ended the day for Schill. He finished up allowing 3 runs on 8 hits, striking out 7 and walking 2.

Darkman came in and at this point I am liking the chances of getting out of the inning. Unfortunately, Torii Hunter was at the plate and he’s been en fuego lately. Hunter hit a single to right that scored Luis Castillo, making it 4-3 Sox at this point. With Justin Morneau at the plate, Darkman threw a couple of “Okie Dokie’s” and then retired him on 12 to 6 curveball that he hit to Pedroia at second. For those who don’t know what the “Okie Dokie” pitch is, it is when Darkman throws a splitter changeup. Yes, a splitter that is a changeup.

Jonathan Papelbon came in and finished off the Twins for his 2nd straight save and his 10th overall this year.