If it weren’t for one bad inning for Josh Beckett, the Boston Red Sox may have had a chance to win. Although it still would have been hard as Mark Buehrle was having a good afternoon on the mound as well for the Chicago White Sox.

The White Sox scored three runs off of Beckett in the third inning on their way to a 5-1 win over the Red Sox in front of 22,511 at U.S.  Cellular Field on Monday afternoon.

The loss for the Red Sox drops them to 79-58 and they fall 8.5 games behind the New York Yankees, who beat the Tampa Bay Rays,  for first place in the AL East. The Red Sox lead the Texas Rangers by 2.5 games in the wild card as the Rangers game against the Cleveland Indians was rained out on Monday night. The Rays are seven games behind the Red Sox and lost Carlos Peña for the season. The Yankees and Rays are currently playing Game 2 of their doubleheader.

Well this time around Beckett was much better sans the third inning. The good thing is he didn’t give up any home runs. The bad part is that he had a difficult time controlling his breaking ball. His fastball command was a 1000 times better than in his previous four starts. He went seven innings, allowing the three runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts.

Hideki Okajima continues to struggle out of the Red Sox bullpen. The Japanese lefty allowed two runs on Carlos Quentin’s home run in the 8th inning.

Buehrle allowed a first inning run on a Kevin Youkilis single but that was it for the afternoon. The Red Sox had their chances against him but were unable to capitalize. Buehrle went 7+ innings, giving up one run on eight hits and two walks with four strikeouts.

Tony Pena struck out two in the 8th and Matt Thornton finished it off in the 9th adding a strikeout.

Jacoby Ellsbury led the Red Sox offense with two hits and added his 60th stolen base of the season.  Dustin Pedroia chipped in with a double and Youk had the only RBI.  The only members of the starting nine without a hit were Rocco Baldelli and Jason Varitek.

The Red Sox head back to Beantown to kickoff an eight-game, ten-day homestand with the Baltimore Orioles. Clay Buchholz gets the ball for the Red Sox while David Hernandez will go for the Orioles.

After a fine pitching performance yesterday by Jon Lester, the Boston Red Sox look to get out of Chicago with another win over the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

This afternoon’s game will start at 2:05 p.m. and is available on NESN in the Red Sox television market. The game will be on Comcast SportsNet Chicago in the White Sox television market. And if you’re not in either market, you’re in luck today as the game will also be broadcast on TBS. If the television isn’t your cup of tea, You can also catch the game on the radio on one of the many affiliates of the Red Sox Radio Network.

Josh Beckett is on the mound for the 28th time this season and has struggled as of late with his command. He is 14-5 with a 3.87 ERA. He has had good success against the White Sox in his career as he is 4-0 with a 3.68 ERA. Beckett has had good outings at U.S. Cellular Field as he is 3-0 with a 3.71 ERA in four starts.

Mark Buehrle makes his 29th start of the season and is 11-7 with a 3.86 ERA. Buehrle has gone 0-4 with a 5.44 ERA (30 ER/49.2 IP) and 69 hits allowed in eight starts since throwing a perfect game on 7/23 vs. Tampa Bay. He is Is 5-5 with a 4.71 ERA in 13 games (12 starts) vs. Boston. Buehrle is 1-5 with a 6.91 ERA in his last seven starts after going 4-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his first five.

Wakefield to skip a start [Extra Bases]

Wakefield to Miss Next Start [NESN.com]

Ortiz Hoping for Some Holiday Help at the Plate [NESN.com]

Sox, Wakefield trying to find a way [Clubhouse Insider]

Wakefield to skip a start [Clubhouse Insider]

Here are this afternoon’s starting lineups:

And here is how the hitters have fared against this afternoon’s starting pitchers:

The Boston Red Sox needed a big outing from Jon Lester yesterday afternoon as they had lost their last two games to the Chicago White Sox. With this tight race for the wild card, every game is an important one.

Lester delivered and boy did he deliver as he gave the Red Sox seven scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out eight. The eight strikeouts gives Lester 204 strikeouts on the season and is the 24th pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts in a season in a Red Sox uniform.

Lester continues to mature right in front of our eyes and is definitely becoming one of the best lefties, if not pitchers in the game.

The win by Lester was his 12th of the season and it allowed the Red Sox to pick up a game on the New York Yankees as they are now 7.5 games back. Their main competition in the wild card, the Texas Rangers and the Tampa Bay Rays, both lost yesterday as well. The Rangers are now three games back while the Rays are seven games back.

With David Ortiz struggling at the plate and Mike Lowell bringing big hit after big hit, you have to wonder when Terry Francona will start using Lowell as the DH. Lowell’s 17th home run gave the Red Sox the lead yesterday.

Jacoby Ellsbury added his 59th stolen base of the season and continues to be the table-setter for the Red Sox at the top of the lineup.

Josh Beckett starts for the Red Sox this afternoon and let’s hope that he’s worked out his struggles. If not, it could be a long afternoon.

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UConn Football links

Should Frazer Automatically Start Against UNC? [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

How Much Slack Does Frazer Get Before Cody Enters? [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Edsall: The Day After [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Any Word On Bagsby Suspension And Return? [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Second day thoughts [John Silver – Journal Inquirer]

Following up Ohio [Ramblings from The Runway]

Lutrus’ stinger and other notes [Neill Ostrout – Connecticut Post]

UConn football still has work to do [Connecticut Post]

UConn opponents [Connecticut Post]

Edsall Concerned About UConn’s Inconsistency [Hartford Courant]

Huskies unhappy with showing [New Haven Register]

Week 1: UConn Consistently Inconsistent [New London Day]

Sloppy, yes, but still a victory [Waterbury Republican-American]

How patient will Edsall be with QB? [Journal Inquirer]

Witten makes himself at home [Journal Inquirer]

Other UConn related links

No. 5 Field Hockey Slips Past No. 11 Penn State 2-1 [UConnHuskies.com]

For the second day in a row, the Boston Red Sox found themselves on the losing end of the score to the Chicago White Sox. They look to buck that trend this afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field.

This afternoon’s game will start at 2:05 p.m. and is available on NESN in the Red Sox television market. The game will be on Comcast SportsNet Chicago in the White Sox television market. And if you’re not in either market, you’re in luck today as the game will also be broadcast on TBS. If the television isn’t your cup of tea, You can also catch the game on the radio on one of the many affiliates of the Red Sox Radio Network.

Jon Lester will make his 28th start of the season for Terry Francona. He is 11-7 with a 3.58 ERA. He’s faced the White Sox once this season on August 25th and received a no-decision after allowing three runs in 6 2/3 innings. Lester has faced the White Sox three times in his career and is 1-1 with a 4.12 ERA. He’s made two career starts at U.S. Cellular and is 1-0 with a 4.15 ERA.

John Danks makes his 27th start of the season and is 12-8 with a 3.52 ERA. He picked up a win against the Red Sox on August 27th where he allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. He’s made four career starts against the Red Sox and is 1-3 with a 5.24 ERA.

Lester’s been a godsend for Red Sox [RedSox.com]

Matsuzaka to make minor league start [Extra Bases]

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 22) [Batter-up with Bruno]

Here are this afternoon’s starting lineups:

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When the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox met up back in late August, it was the Red Sox who took 3-of-4 games from the White Sox. After yesterday’s game, it appears the White Sox could be on their way to returning the favor.

Of course this couldn’t have come at a worse time as the Red Sox are mired in a battle for the wild card spot with the Texas Rangers. The way this is shaping up it might not be until the last game of the season when the Red Sox clinch the spot, if they do at all. We can definitely forget about winning the division as the New York Yankees would have to absolutely collapse and blow their 8.5 game lead over the Red Sox.

The Red Sox need a lot of things to fall their way. They need to start winning ballgames and hope the Rangers lose when they lose and of course, when the Red Sox win.

The Red Sox ran into the buzzsaw known as Gavin Floyd yesterday. Floyd was perfect through 5 2/3 innings yesterday before a Nick Green single. After that, Floyd was again pretty much light’s out with the exception of allowing a home run to Jason Bay in the 8th inning, his final inning of the game.

After watching Tim Wakefield yesterday, you have to wonder how much he can contribute the rest of the way. He’s pitching in absolute pain and it was no more evident when he had to go cover first at one point in the game. He didn’t even make it over there and was seen limping after wards. It’s amazing enough that he can pitch with the pain as I once experienced similar pain as Wake and I’m not even an athlete any more.

The Red Sox will need the rest of the pitching staff to step up in a big way. A great start by Jon Lester this afternoon could go a long way.

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