Josh Beckett (1-1, 6.66) and the Red Sox will look to sweep the Angels today at 4:00PM EST. The Sox beat newly acquired Dan Haren on Monday and Halos ace Jared Weaver yesterday... today they'll have to beat Joel Piniero (10-7, 4.18).

Beckett is 2-3 with a 4.13 ERA in 8 starts against the Angels. In his first start since coming off the disabled list, Beckett held the Mariners to 1 run on 5 hits and 3 walks, but did not factor in the 2-1 victory.Beckett used 98 pitched to get through 5 2/3 innings, so the Red Sox will be looking for him to be more efficient today. For what it's worth, Beckett is 34-17 with a 3.80 ERA in 67 daytime starts.

Piniero struggled in his last start, allowing 6 runs on 11 hits to the Yankees in a 6-10 loss. Before that however, he tallied 7 wins in 8 starts, holding opponents to three runs or less in 7 of those 8 games. Pineiro took a tough loss the last time he faced the Sox, holding us to 2 runs, despite 8 hits and 3 walks through 6...but that was on the road where he is 3-5 with a 6.67 ERA and a .318 BAA.

At home, he's 7-2 with a 2.37 and a .230 BAA

Key Matchups

David Ortiz is 11 for 25 (.440) with 3 doubles, 3 homers and 12 RBI against Pineiro.

Howie Kendrick has been quiet this year, but he's 8 for 19 (.421) with a homer against Beckett.

Crab grass.

Cockroaches.

College loan bills.

Spray them with chemicals, kill them by hand, spend two years on a Ramen noodle diet and save every penny you can... doesn't matter. They'll be back. You can't kill them.

Add the 2010 Red Sox to the list.

Errors, a slumping Ortiz and Adrian "I get paid by the rib" Beltre put us in a whole in April... but we fought through it. The best rotation in baseball was plucked apart one pitcher at a time until all that remained were Lester and Lackey... but we kept pace. Foulballs with inferred tracking devices strategically took out Pedroia, Martinez and Tek... but Theo had secret weapons waiting in Pawtucket.

And now the dreaded West Coat Roadtrip. Overall, things have't gone so good for us, but back-to-back character wins in Anaheim have the Sox at 5-4 on the trip with a chance to sweep the Angels this afternoon and finish 6-4.

Buchholz battled through some adversity on Monday and Lackey pitched into the 8th, despite being booed by his former fans. Both games came down to the later innings and both times the Red Sox responded with timely hitting - something we haven't seen in a few weeks.

The Sox grabbed a game on the Yankees with the win, but remain 7 games back in the AL East and 5 games behind the Rays in the Wild Card Race... but they're far from dead. In fact, I'd say this series in Anaheim and the return of a number of key players has rejuvinated this team.

Fate will get another shot at crushing our hopes and dreams with a 4-game set in the Bronx ten days from now, but for now the Red Sox have my Faith-O-Meter moving upward.

John Lackey (9-5, 4.36) spent his entire career as an Angel, before coming to Boston as a free agent this past offseason. On May 5th, he faced his former club for the first time, but did so at Fenway Park. Lackey was sharp in that game, allowing 1 run on 2 hits (1 HR) and 2 walks through 7 innings in a 3-1 victory. Since then he's had some ups and downs, but Lackey should feel right at home in Angel Stadium, where he is 49-32 with a 3.72 ERA in his career.

Last time out, Lackey dominated the Mariners, taking a no-hitter into the 8th inning, but Delcarmen imploded and cost him a shot at his 10th win of the season. The Red Sox will be hoping Lackey picks up where he left off as they attempt to catch the Rays in the Wild Card race.

The Angels will counter with their new ace Jared Weaver (9-6, 3.22). Weaver leads the majors with 147 strikeouts, but sits at 9 wins thanks to poor run support from the Halos. In his last start, he held the Rangers to 3 runs through 6 innings, but was out-pitched by Cliff Lee. Weaver is 2-2 with a 3.99 ERA in 8 starts against Boston, but he hasn't faced us this season. He did however, kill us in three 2009 appearances:

4/10 - 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 UER, 8 K, W

5/12 - 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 K, ND

10/9 - 7.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 7 K, W (ALDS)

This years he's been far better at home (4-1, 1.80, 9 GS) than he has on the road (5-5, 4.38, 12 GS), so the Sox will have their work cut out for them. Lackey hasn't been great on the road this year (2-3, 4.47, 9 GS), but Anaheim probably still feels like home to him and you know he'll be pumped up for this game.

Key Matchups

Most Angels haven't had to hit Lackey, but Hideki Matsui has. Godzilla is 8 for 31 (.258) but does have a homer against Lackey... he also has 4 ding dongs in his last 6 games and is coming off of a 2-hit game last night.

Ortiz, Youk, Drew and Martinez are all hitting above .300 against Weaver and Youk and Ortiz have each taken him deep twice... but the 2010 Weaver is not the same guys we've seen in the past. He's holding lefties to a .209 BA this season, so I'm going with Youk tonight, who's hitting .358/.967 in 81 July at-bats.

Four important things happened yesterday.

1. After a rough return from the DL last week, Clay Buchholz looked sharp in a 7 inning victory against the Halos last night. The key to the performance was his ability to wiggle out of a bases loaded, no-outs situation in the 2nd inning. A tough call to Matsui resulted in a walk that frazzled Buchholz, who then allowed a single to Callaspo and plunked Napoli. The Clay of old would have unravelled like a ball of yarn at that point, but 2010 Clay worked three weak pop-ups to get out of the jam. His confidence was booming the rest of the night... and should carry over going forward.

2. The Red Sox won. After two wins in Seattle the Sox were just 3 games out of the Wild Card spot, but they dropped the next two and fell back to 5 games behind the Rays. No matter what the players are saying, you know that walking out of Seattle with a split was demoralizing. So when Atchison coughed up two runs in the 8th, it looked like the bullpen was going to blow another game for us, but J.D. Drew and the boys didn't hang their heads, the tacked on 2 more runs in the 9th and set Paps up for the save.

It may not seem like much, but that was the type of win that breeds confidence.

3. Victor Martinez swung at the first pitch he saw last night and laced an RBI double up the middle. While V-Mart was out, his replacements totaled two RBI in 22 games... and both of those came from Tek before he went down on June 30. Most teams don't get a ton of production from their catcher, but Martinez is a crucial part of the offense here in Boston. If Victor can build on that hit, he'll quiet the fans that are screaming for the Sox to trade for a big bat like Jayson Werth - including yours truly.

4. Jacoby Ellsbury began his rehab assignment in the Gulf Coast League yesterday. He hit as the DH and went 1 for 3 on the day. Jacoby hasn't played baseball since May 24th, so this isa big deal. The rehab stint could last up to 20 days, but the bottom line is, Ellsbury will be back in the Red Sox lineup by mid August... and Pedroia might actually beat him to the punch.

Newly acquired Dan Haren will get the start for the Angels tonight, bumping the expected starter, Joel Piniero back a day.

Haren was traded to the Halos over the weekend for a package of players including starter Joel Saunders. Haren is 7-8 with a 4.60 ERA on the season after 21 starts for the D-Backs. He's still striking out plenty of guys (141), but the ERA is about a point higher than we're used to seeing, so we'll see if the new surroundings help or hurt tonight...

Last time out, Haren got the ND after allowing 3 runs on 6 hits (2 HR) to the Mets in a 4-3 win. He's moving to the AL, but Haren played three years in Oakland and averaged 15 wins a season. He's 2-4 with a 3.14 ERA in 7 starts against Boston.

Despite getting a rehab start in Pawtucket that he felt was not necessary, Clay Buchholz (10-5, 2.81) struggled in his return from the DL last week, when he allowed 5 runs on 6 hits (2 HR) and 3 walks in 4 innings of work against the A's.

Buchhy and the Sox will be hoping for better results tonight after dropping two tough games to the lowly Mariners over the weekend. To do so, they'll have to beat Joel Pineiro (10-7, 4.18). Pineiro had won 7 of 8 and lowered his ERA from 5.16 to 3.95 before allowing 6 runs on 11 hits in a 6-10 loss to the Yankees his last time out.

Pineiro took a tough loss the last time he faced the Sox, holding us to 2 runs, despite 8 hits and 3 walks through 6... Buchholz earned a shaky win in his last start against the Halos, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks through 5 2/3 innings.

Buchholz is 5-2 with a 2.53 ERA on the road and Pineiro is 7-2 with a 2.37 ERA at home - much better than his 3-5, 6.67 line...

Key Matchups

David Ortiz is 11 for 25 (.440) with 3 doubles, 3 homers and 12 RBI against Pineiro. If you're curious... Victor Martinez is 5 for 19 (.263).

Most of the Angels have limited experience with Buchholz... Hideki Matsui leads the team with 10 at-bats and a .400 BA. He also has 3 ding dongs and 1.080 OPS over the past 7 days (21 AB).

Heading into the All-Star break, the Red Sox were in trouble, but they still lead the league in run scored.

Since then, the Sox have gone 4-7 while hitting .227 as a team (88 for 386) and have scored a measly 3.09 runs per game.

It's great to have Beckett and Buchholz back in the rotation, but what the Sox need right now is offense... and help could be just a week away. Victor Martinez caught relievers in the bullpen during yesterday's game and is expected to be activated of the DL for the Angels series. Jacoby Ellsbury could be back with the major league club as early as Monday, August 2nd... and Dustin Pedroia is due to get one more CT scan on his broken foot that could clear him for active duty in the first week of August.

All good things, right?

Sure, but can V-Mart, Ellsbury and Pedroia provide enough of a spark to erase what is now an 8-game deficit in the AL East?

Ellsbury and Pedroia should provide base runners at the top of the order, but does the V-Mart make the middle of this lineup scary enough to compete with the Yankees?

Martinez is hitting .289 on the year, but his splits are troubling when you factor in the thumb injury. While batting as a righty, V-Mart is forced to put his right hand on top of his injured left thumb. He told reporters he's been able to move his hands closer together and feels less discomfort now than he did a week ago, but knowing that Martinez was hitting lefties (as a righty batter) at a .431 clip before the injury and just .230 as a lefty batter, you have to assume he will not be the same hitter he was in the first half.

Bottom Line: With a week to go before the trade deadline, it seems clear that Theo Epstein plans to stick with the current roster and not make a move for a bat or a reliever... but these last two series proved that that is exactly what this team is lacking.

We won't know what to expect from Martinez, Ellsbury and Pedroia until mid-August, and by then it will be too late. With 10 games against the Yankees and 6 more against the Rays... we may still have a shot at the playoffs, but my Faith-o-meter is hovering just above the despair marker right now...

Just watch... and enjoy Joey from New Kids in his greatest role evah!

From Funny Or Die

Okay... so that Oakland series didn't go so well. But, as Manny would say, we gotta turn the page.

Tonight John Lackey (9-5, 4.65) kicks off a four-game set with the Mariners, and to be frank, there's no reason we shouldn't take at least three games in this series.

We've got Lackey, Lester, Beckett and Dice-K going through the weekend and somehow we managed to miss King Felix in the deal... couple that with the leagues worst offense (.237 BA, 314 runs) lead by a struggling Ichiro (.230 in July), and I find it hard not to expect a sweep.

But with the Sox offense in hibernation, you never know.

Lackey has seen plenty of the Mariners and is 12-9 with a 3.89 ERA in 25 career starts. He's also 8-5 with a 3.05 ERA at Safeco Field. That said, he's struggled on the road this year (2-3, 5.19 in 8 GS), so the Sox will be hoping he can feed off of his last outing. Lackey threw 7 strong innings against Texas his last time out, holding them to 7 hits and 2 runs, but walked away with an no-decision due to a lack of offense. We could see more of that tonight, but our starters need to remain focused on their jobs, while the Nation prays for a few more hits.

The Mariners will be countering with Ryan Rowand-Smith (1-9, 6.18). R.R.S. is a southpaw, and the Red Sox own the best OPS in the league against lefties at .814. Rowland-Smith has also been in a funk lately, getting pounded for 6 runs through 3+ innings against the Angels and 6 runs through 4 innings against the Yankees in his last two starts.

Bottom Line: If the Sox lose this one, my Faith-O-Meter will fall to an all-time low on the year.

Key Matchups

Youk is 2 for 4 with 2 doubles against R.R.S., but as we said yesterday, Beltre is on fire right now: 8 for last 13, 1 HR, 4 RBI... so until further notice, he's the K.M.

Lackey will try and keep Ichiro quiet, but Suzuki is 26 for 85 (.306) against Lackey. Justin Smoak, who came to Seattle in the Cliff Lee trade, has some pop (10 HR, 269 AB) and might be another guy to watch out for.

Leave comments here during the game or stop by Sox & Dawgs to chat with other Sox fans in the Game Thread.

Clay Buchholz returns to action today at 3:30 EST in the series finally against the A's.

Buchhy is 10-4 with a 2.45 ERA on the year and was 7-1 with a 1.62 ERA in his eight starts before he pulled his hammy vs the Giants.

And in the extra good news folder, I found this stat: Buchholz is 5-1 with a 1.70 ERA on the road this year...

Buchholz has never pitched in Oakland and has only faced the A's once in his career. That start came on June 28th, 2009 and he allowed 2 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks through 5 2/3 innings.

The Red Sox squeaked out a win on Monday and lost a tough one yesterday... If they want to keep pace in the AL East through this road trip they need to win every series. I expect good thing from Buchholz today, but with the offense sputtering, we may be looking at another 2-1 game.

The A's will counter with Gio Gonzalez. Gio is 8-6 witha 3.63 ERA on the season and has pitched well overall, but he walks a few too many betters and is often cahsed from games early. He held the Sox to 3 runs in June 1st start, but only lasted 5 innings due to 4 walks and 7 hits... the Sox eventually won 9-4.

Bottom Line: This is a winnable game for the Sox and they need to step up and take it.