Kevin Youkilis hit the third home run of the night for the Boston Red Sox, a 2-run shot in the 7th, to put the Boston Red Sox in the lead for good as they went on to beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 in front of 44,091 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Friday night.

Aubrey Huff had put the O’s out front 5-4 in the 6th with a 2-run homer off Smoltz before Youk’s heroics.

After Nick Green grounded out to start the 7th against Jeremy Guthrie, Jacoby Ellsbury singled. Guthrie then struck out Dustin Pedroia before leaving a pitch out over the plate. Youk took advantage of it and put it into left field seats.

The bullpen made the lead hold up over the final 3 innings to give the Red Sox their 60th win of the season. The win coupled with a loss by the New York Yankees puts the local nine 1.5 games out of first in the AL East. Their lead in the wild card standings stays at 1.5 games over the Texas Rangers.

John Smoltz may have gotten the win Friday night but he was far from perfect as he gave up at least 5 runs in his third straight outing. Three of the runs can be attributed to a Green throwing error but he’s still making mistakes out over the plate. He did give the Red Sox 6 innings, allowing 5 runs on 8 hits. He didn’t walk anyone and struck out 2.

Ramon Ramirez allowed a hit in an inning while Hideki Okajima walked 2 and struck out 1 in his inning of work. Jonathan Papelbon skipped the dramatics by striking out 2 in a perfect 9th for his 27th save of the season.

Jeremy Guthrie started for the Orioles and went 6 2/3 innings. He allowed 6 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4. Matt Albers and Cla Meredith kept the Red Sox off the scoreboard. Albers did give up 2 hits.

Ellsbury continues to swing a hot stick as he had 3 hits, including a solo home run. He also added his 47th stolen base of the season and robbed Luke Scott of a home run. Youk also had 3 hits on the evening which included the 2-run homer. David Ortiz homered for the second straight night as he also had a 2-run homer and added a single to the cause. Nick Green drove in the other run on a sacrifice fly.

These two teams are back at it again on Saturday night as Josh Beckett and David Hernandez will square off on the bump. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.

The Boston Red Sox front office was busy this afternoon working the phones and trying to make trades while the team was preparing for a 3-game set down in Baltimore against the Orioles.

The game tonight will start at 7:05 PM EDT and will be televised in the Red Sox television market on NESN. If you live in the Orioles market, you can catch the game on MASN. And if the television isn’t your cup of tea, you can catch the game on one of the many affiliates of the Red Sox Radio Network.

John Smoltz looks to put his last two starts behind him and get his second win of the season. Smoltz has made 6 starts in a Red Sox uniform and is 1-4 with a 7.04 ERA. He’s faced the Orioles twice this season and is 0-1 with a 7.00 ERA. He’s faced the Orioles 8 times (5 starts) in his career and is 1-2 with 3 saves and a 5.12 ERA. He’s made 3 appearances (1 start) at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and is 0-0 with 2 saves and a 1.23 ERA.

Jeremy Guthrie has made 20 starts this season for Dave Trembley and is 7-9 with a 5.21 ERA. Like Smoltz, he has faced the Red Sox twice this season and is 0-1 with a 7.94 ERA. He’s made nine career starts and is 1-3 with a 4.33 ERA.

The Red Sox were busy today as they made a few trades. Most notably, they picked up Victor Martinez from the Cleveland Indians for Justin Masterson and two minor leaguers. The Red Sox also traded newly acquired Adam LaRoche to the Atlanta Braves for Casey Kotchman.

The Red Sox also made two temporary roster moves this afternoon as they have called up Marcus McBeth from Triple-A Pawtucket and outfielder Josh Reddick from Double-A Portland. The Red Sox moved Daisuke Matsuzaka to the 60-day disabled list and designated Travis Denker for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

Here are the lineups for tonight’s game:

59-42		44-57
1. Jacoby Ellsbury	CF	1. Brian Roberts	2B
2. Dustin Pedroia	2B	2. Nolan Reimold	LF
3. Kevin Youkilis	1B	3. Adam Jones	CF
4. David Ortiz	DH	4. Nick Markakis	RF
5. Jason Bay	LF	5. Aubrey Huff	1B
6. Mike Lowell	3B	6. Ty Wigginton	3B
7. Jason Varitek	C	7. Luke Scott	DH
8. Rocco Baldelli	RF	8. Matt Wieters	C
9. Nick Green	SS	9. Cesar Izturis	SS
John Smoltz	SP	Jeremy Guthrie	SP

And here is how the hitters have fared against tonight’s starting pitchers.

Coming up after the jump is Heidi Watney’s interview with Masterson after he found he was traded to the Indians.

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The Boston Red Sox are staying busy as they have traded newly acquired first baseman Adam LaRoche to the Atlanta Braves for first baseman Casey Kotchman.

I’m not sure what this does for the Red Sox but could a bigger trade be in the works? Just 30 mins to go.

The Boston Red Sox made their first big splash on the MLB trade deadline day as they have acquired catcher/1B Victor Martinez from the Cleveland Indians.

In exchange for Martinez, the Red Sox have sent reliever Justin Masterson, 2007 1st round draft pick Nick Hagadone and 2008 1st round sandwich pick Bryan Price.

Martinez is hitting .284 with 15 homers and 67 RBIs this season. Masterson is 3-3 with a 4.50 this season as both a starter and a reliever.

Hagadone is coming off of Tommy John surgery in 2008 and is currently playing for the Single-A Greenville Drive where he is 0-2 with a 2.52 ERA. Price is 1-6 in 11 starts with a 6.54 ERA with the Salem Red Sox. He was 3-2 in 8 starts with a 2.45 ERA for the Drive before being promoted to Salem.

This is a major coup for the Red Sox as they didn’t have to give up Clay Buchholz and/or Daniel Bard. Now the big question remains as to where Martinez will play.

It’s quite possible the Red Sox could also move Adam LaRoche since Martinez can also play first base.

Despite all the controversy surrounding David Ortiz yesterday, he was able to put it behind him and come through with the 3-run homer that gave the Boston Red Sox the lead for good. They would go on to win 8-5 and earn a split of their series with the Oakland A’s.

The Red Sox got some help from the Chicago White Sox last night as they beat the Yankees to put the local nine 2.5 games out of first place in the AL East. The Red Sox are ahead of the Texas Rangers by 1.5 games in the wild card standings.

The news about Big Papi is very disappointing especially given his comments during spring training. You always hoped that no one on the Red Sox would be on the list but you knew that it could happen. Now the talk of tainted titles enters the mix, especially from the uninformed idiotic Yankees fans.

It’s hard to pass judgment on Big Papi right now because he’s been so genuine in the media in the past. He said yesterday that he plans to investigate the whole matter before speaking more about it. He says he’s led a clean life and while it’s hard to believe him right now, I can’t pass judgment until all of the facts.

But I will say this. If he did do something, I really hope he’ll just come out and say yes I did it. If he skirts the truth, he will be chastised in the media and blogosphere. Will we know if he’s telling the truth? I can’t answer that as only he knows the truth. But with what we know about Ortiz, I don’t see anything but the truth coming from him.

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UConn Football links

2010 Class Newest Member [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

And Now Another Addition To The Class Of 2010 [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

UConn, Michigan agree on 2-game football series [Connecticut Post]

target=”_blank”UConn To Open 2010 Season At Michigan [Hartford Courant]

Giants Sign UConn’s Beatty To 2-Year Deal [AP via Hartford Courant]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Not idle chatter [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

Vanguard to face UConn [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

Tamika Catchings on Maya Moore [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Jessica Moore’s time has come in Indy (note guest at game) [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Marvelous marketing move by The Sporting News [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Bria Hartley reported down to four – and Lady Vols now on list [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Geno Named On Esteemed List Of Coaches [Rich Elliott – Connecticut Post]

Maya Actively Resting [Rich Elliott – Connecticut Post]

Sporting News’ All-Star Panel Picks Sports’ 50 Greatest Coaches Of All-Time [BigEast.org]

Four BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Players Named to Wade Watch List [BigEast.org]

UConn’s Moore working her way back [Connecticut Post]

UConn’s Moore Not Worried About Knee [Hartford Courant]

Swanier Happy To Have Landed With Mercury [Hartford Courant]

Geno On List Of Top 50 Coaches; Calhoun Not [Hartford Courant]

Moore forced to rest aching knee [New Haven Register]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

A.J. Price at Charity Pickup Game [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Player Profile: Stanley Robinson [UConn Huskies Basketball]

UConn freshmen tune-up at pro-am (with video) [New Haven Register]

St. Mary’s Matthews generating interest from UConn [Arizona Republic]

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe gives us some thoughts to stew on while we sleep in regards to the talks involving Adrian Gonzalez, Victor Martinez and Roy Halladay.

Padres GM Kevin Towers was said to be asking for “a ton” for Gonzalez according to one major league source familiar with the Padres’ thinking. Some of the names being discussed included Clay Buchholz, Lars Anderson, Jed Lowrie, Ryan Westmoreland, Justin Masterson and others, but no word on whether the Red Sox had offered a package for Gonzalez.

Less was known about the status of talks between Cleveland and Boston for Victor Martinez. The teams have been discussing Martinez for quite some time, but the Red Sox have been reluctant to deliver Buchholz for the catcher/first baseman.

Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi remained pessimistic about trading Roy Halladay, but as one team’s top advisor said last night, “where there’s a huge pitcher available some teams don’t show their best hand until the final moments of the deadline. You might see that with Boston at the end.”

Folks, it’s going to be a long day of rumors. Get some rest.  I have a feeling it’s going to be a long one.

Sox-Padres Still In Play [Extra Bases]

Friday, July 31^st @ 7:05 PM

John Smoltz (R) (1-4, 7.04) vs Jeremy Guthrie (R) (7-9, 5.21)

TV: NESN, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Saturday, August 1^st @ 7:05 PM

Josh Beckett (R) (12-4, 3.44) vs David Hernandez (R) (3-2, 3.20)

TV: NESN, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio

Sunday, August 2^nd @ 1:35 PM

Clay Buchholz (R) (1-1, 3.52) vs Jason Berken (R) (1-8, 6.21)

TV: NESN, MLB.tv

Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio