In an emotional night during which Nick Adenhart was honored, Boston dropped to the lowest you will see them all season—last place—after a 6-3 loss to the Angels.

Tim Wakefield was solid through six, giving up three runs on six hits, but Jered Weaver was better giving the Sox only one run—unearned—through 6.2 innings. After a rare poor performance by Justin Masterson in the 7th, a two run 8th could not pull the Red Sox out of the hole.

Reigning MVP Dustin Pedroia had a hit in three at-bats, a sign he might be coming out of his slump. Kevin Youkilis was 2 for 4 as he continues to tear the cover off the ball. It seems like him and Pedroia are evening each other out. For every line drive in the gap that Youkilis hits, Pedroia hits a line drive right at someone, like his scorcher into the glove of a leaping Chone Figgins.

I didn’t tune into this game until about the 4th inning since I wasn’t very pumped up for baseball after a 5-4 OT Bruins win over the Canadiens on Thursday which was Boston-Montreal at its best and ugliest. After the disappointing game on Friday, I’m still not very pumped up for baseball. I’ll still probably watch the game on FOX though, unless I go to the Boston Blazers fan fest at TD BanknorthGarden. Post-opening week April is always a dull time for me, especially when both the Celtics and Bruins are doing so well. Come the Yankees series on the 24th I’ll be back into it.

Red Sox Notes

Brad Penny makes his Sox debut today.

Jed Lowrie is just 1 for 11 so far on the season.

After three poor games against Tampa, Jacoby Ellsbury was 2 for 4 in Friday’s game.

Sox color commentator Jerry Remy fell ill before the game, leading NESN to bring in some guests to the booth, my personal favorite being the always entertaining color commentator for the Angels, Rex Hudler.

There were three things that made me happy today. The first was the progress Lowell is making in returning from his hip injury. The second was Clay Bucholz’s three perfect innings. The third one was Tim Thomas having to play with Manny Fernandez’s mask for a few minutes of the Bruins game, but that one was more a comedic thrill than anything.

Lowell DHed in the game, going 1 for 3 with a single in his last at-bat. Bucholz threw three innings without allowing a base runner while striking out two. Papelbon threw a scoreless fourth inning. The Orioles struck for runs late in the game, topping the Red Sox 5-1.

The Red Sox’ spring struggles continue, but with so many players out with either injury or playing in the WBC, this shouldn’t be a sign of things to come.

The Red Sox have a day off on Wednesday then they play the Cardinals at 1:05 on Thursday. Josh Beckett will be on the mound for the Sox.

A depleted Red Sox team came into Sunday afternoon’s game vs Tampa at just 3-6 in Grapefruit League play.

A team missing stars Youkilis, Pedroia (USA) Bay (Canada) Ortiz (Dominican) and Matsuzaka (Japan) to the World Baseball Classic has been crushed 15-7 and 12-4 previously against the Rays. Today was a much different story though, as they struck early and often en route to an 8-2 victory.

Julio Lugo helped his cause by going 3 for 3 with 2 RBIs and a walk and Justin Masterson pitched three scoreless innings. Jonathan Papelbon gave up two hits in his inning of work but struck out the side.

It was great to see Lugo succeed, even if it was only a Spring game. I was able to catch parts of the game from a suite at TD Banknorth Garden so I couldn’t watch the whole thing, but I did watch a good chunk of the game while the Celtics were struggling. Once the C’s started making a huge run I lost interist though, so I never even glanced at the TV from the 5th inning on. As I said in an earlier post, I expect Lugo to have a better year and he certainly showed a glimpse of that today.

Jon Lester will make the start against the Pirates tomorrow against the Pirates in what may be his last game before he signs a five-year contract extension.

My name is Geoff and I get the extreme pleasure of bring you news, stories, games, etc. about the Houston Astros! I play a ton of fantasy baseball, so I apologize in advance if some of my writings tend to lean toward that.

Before the season begins I’ll be discussing individual players’ strengths and weaknesses, and how those shape up the strength and weaknesses of the Houston Astros’ roster. I also highlight performances during Spring Training and  give my two cents on how the team is shaping up.

During the season I’ll try to post about trade rumors, or at the least, who I think the Astros could pick up off the market come the trade deadline, as well as game recaps and any injury reports or prospects in the organization getting their crack at the big leagues.. Living in Houston, I’m going to try to make it to some games this year, and blog about those experiences.

We’ll get to player and position analysis in a later post, today there was a game against Team Venezuela in preparation for the World Baseball Classic:

The game ended in a 4-4 tie. 2B Kaz Matsui went 1 for 2 with an RBI triple, and also scored on am RBI single from back up LF Brian Boguesevic, who also hit .500 in the game. He is currently not listed on the team’s depth chart. Backup OF Reggie Abercrombie went 1 for 3 with an RBI and Tommy Manzella, playing SS in the game but not listed on the depth chart, drove in one run as well.  Abercrombie and speedster Michael Bourn and Boguesevic all picked up a stolen base during the game. Lance Berkman, aka Big Puma, and Hunter Pence were both hitless.

Miguel Cabrera, of the Tigers, drove in two runs for Venezuela with a 1 for 4 performance.  Jose Lopez, from the Mariners, also went 1 for 4 with 2 RBIs.

The surprise performance came from Astros pitcher Jose Capella, who pitched 3 innings of shut out ball against a lineup with MLB greats such as Magglio Ordonez, Melvin Mora, Jose Lopez, and the monster Miguel Cabrera. Capella is currently not on the roster, but if he continues a strong spring  it would be hard not to give him a spot.

Up next the Astros take on Team Panama and teammate Carlos Lee, who is representing his native country in the WBC.

All in all, 2009 should be a fun season and I look forward to bringing you the Astros’ side of it.

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.

Does it get better than being a sports fan in Boston? No, I don’t think it does, but that’s just one blogger’s opinion.

The Bruins scored six goals each in their previous to blowouts, the Celtics play their first game with Stephon Marbury tonight, and of course, baseball is finally back after the Red Sox began Spring Training games on Wednesday.

The Red Sox are now 0-3 in Grapefruit League play, after losing to the defening AL Champions the Tampa Bay Rays 12-4. The Rays struck early, leading 10-0 in the 5th inning. The Sox then got their only four runs, one of which was knocked in by former Ray Rocco Baldelli in his first hit of the Spring.

The Red Sox have a split squad tomorrow, playing Northeastern University in the afternoon then the Cincinnati Reds in the nightcap.

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