» Minnesota

Josh Beckett, Tim Wakefield, and Jonathan Papelbon all were excellent on the mound. Beckett did not allow a hit over two innings, Wakefield allowed just one hit and one walk, and Papelbon pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning.

The two representatives of the Red Sox on the United State’s WBC roster provided the offense. Dustin Pedroia put the Sox on the board in the sixth with a sacrifice fly and Kevin Youkilis belted a solo home run in the seventh to put the Red Sox in front.

The Red Sox head to Fort Lauderdale on Monday to face the Orioles at 1:05. Justin Masterson is expected to pitch. With the win against Minnesota, the Red Sox evened up the Mayor’s Cup series 1-1.

I submit that it can NOT. I was able to get myself to a Bruins hockey game this afternoon then a Blazers lacrosse game at night. The Bruins lost to Washington in overtime on a goal that should never be given up, but they are still in first place, so things are still alright. The Blazers crushed San Jose 16-10 and they are barely behind Buffalo for first place. Everybody in Boston just seems to do well these days.

To baseball now, the Red Sox played two split squad games, and beat Northeastern University 14-0 and the Cincinnati Reds 16-5. Julio Lugo went 2 for 3 against the Reds and Jason Varitek drove in four runs, including a two-run double. Clay Buchholz tossed two scoreless innings allowing just one hit to the Reds.

The Sox travel back to Hammond Stadium on Sunday to play the Twins. First pitch is set for 1:05 and the game can be seen on NESN and MLB.TV. Josh Beckett will take the mound, followed by Tim Wakefield. Later in the game, Jonathan Papelbon will make his first appearance of the spring.

The Twins took down the Red Sox 5-2 in the first game of the Mayor’s Cup. Not much offense to speak of on the Sox’ part, managing only two runs, though they did get the tying run to the plate in the 9th but couldn’t get the one big hit.

The Mayor’s Cup is a friendly Spring competition between the two teams in Fort Myers, the Red Sox and Twins. The winner of the Spring series takes home the Cup, and in the event of a tie the winner from the previous year would win. The Red Sox won last year.

The rest of the Mayor’s Cup games are on Sunday March 1, Tuesday March 17, and Saturday March 28. All three games will be on MLB.TV