The Fenway Park fans were pretty impressed with the 9-2 showing of the Red Sox team on Thursday night against the Baltimore Orioles. The priced batters and ace pitchers all contributed to this rollicking win for the Red Sox at home and the important Sox players who made a difference to the game are J D Drew, Mike Lowell, Youkilis and Jon Lester. There is no doubt that the Red Sox fans will be buying tickets for the forthcoming games in this series. The grand slam by Lowell was the highlight of the game and what all this means is that the series between these tow arch rivals is in for more spills and thrills. 

Aubrey Huff was the famous hit man for the Baltimore Orioles last Tuesday night as he played some excellent shots against Sox pitcher Okajima to seal a 10-6 victory for the Orioles at Fenway Park, the home ground of the Red Sox team. Manny Ramirez, during the course of the game, scored his 505^th career home run, but the Red Sox could not score a single run after the 5^th inning, when they were two runs clear off Orioles. Huff came up with four hits in the game and handed the Red Sox team their 2^nd defeat in as many as 17 games at Fenway Park. Red Sox fans who have purchased tickets to watch the game went home gloomy after their side’s loss.

Overconfidence is sometimes harmful as was in the case of the Red Sox. The unbeatable Red Sox were thoroughly beaten by the Mariners, 8-0, under the skilful hand of Felix Hernandez. Coach Terry Francona was visibly shaken seeing the poor performance of his boys, not to mention their fans who were also disappointed. Their main drawback was that they had to play without their key players David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury and Manny Ramirez. With this loss the Red Sox’s 13 game winning streak came to an end. As if it was not enough that they were fighting their toughest opponent, they were also fighting within the team which worsened the situation all the more.

A costly base error from the Orioles in the 13^th inning of their Friday night’s game not only provided three runs for the Boston Red Sox but also a boast to the Sox to win the game convincingly by 5-2. Lowell and Josh Beckett played their part to perfection in this win and the Red Sox team finally had something to cheer about on tour as they had lost five of their last six games on West Coast road trip. All the players were excited about winning this road game and the Red Sox fans will be rushing for more tickets, if the team sticks on to this winning mode for the games to follow. 

Justin Masterson with his perfect throws took the Boston Red Sox to another victory over the Royals on Tuesday. The 2-1 victory was least expected by the rookie himself after Lester’s no- hitter performance in the earlier match. Masterson later said he was thrilled by Lester’s performance and wanted to try for a no-hitter but David De Jesus toppled his wish in the first inning by making a double with two-outs. This is the fifth straight game won by Red Sox and for Kansas City Royals this is the third loss in the last nine games. The manger of Royals felt that his runners in scoring position were out of sync on Tuesday.

Fenway Park isn’t getting any younger and that will not help the Red Sox compete on the revenue front with the Yankees and Mets in the years to come. The final payroll information regarding last season was released by Major League Baseball yesterday and it showed the Red Sox spent the second-highest amount. The Dodgers  were third in spending, followed by the Mets and Cubs.The Yankees have had the highest payroll nine years running.

The Boston Red Sox have claimed that they will not tender a 2008 contract to Brendan Donnelly. Donnely, the righthander, was traded from the LA Angels of Anaheim last offseason. He was 2-1 with a 3.05 ERA in 27 relief appearances with the Red Sox in 2007. Because of the elbow’s injury that he got after June 10, Donnely is likely to miss all of 2008. Midnight Wednesday is a deadline for the teams to tender 2008 contracts to all unsigned players. Those not tendered contracts will be granted free agency.

The beat goes on in the Santana trade talks. GMs were rolling their bags through the hotel lobby, where conversed all week during the winter meeting. They packed up and headed for the airport. Before departing, the Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein made sure to touch base with Smith, his Minnesota Twins counterpart, one last time as the highest profile of the potential contracts remained within reach. The Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox agreed to continue to have an open dialogue.

The Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins are discussing Johan Santana possible deal that would have the Red Sox sending 4 players to the Twins in return for the 2-time Cy Young Award winner, including Coco Crisp, Jon Lester and Jed Lowrie. The trio is going to anchor the deal. Boston pitcher Michael Bowden has been discussed as a possible 4th player but the identity of the 4th player is not known yet. However, the New York Yankees, involved in regular conversation with Minnesota about Johan Santana this week, may be trying to push the price high for the Red Sox.