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.

The Red Sox and Rays wrapped up a three game series in Boston today. Tampa hit three home runs off of Daisuke Matsuzaka, one in each of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4thinnings. A two run shot coupled with two solo shots turned out to be all the Rays needed offensively, winning 4-3.

Matt Garza pitched well for the Rays, going seven innings while giving up just one run on an RBI triple for Jason Bay. He exited with the lead, which the bullpen held in the final two innings.

The Rays entered the bottom of the 8th with a three run lead before a two out RBI double by Mike Lowell brought the Sox within two runs. In the 9th Jason Varitek got his second home run (and hit) of the season that just cleared the bullpen wall and Ben Zobrist’s glove. After a Jacoby Ellsbury flyout and a nice pick and throw of a Dustin Pedroia line drive, David Ortiz drew a walk, putting the tying run on board. Kevin Youkillis then popped out to former Sox outfielder Gabe Kapler in center to end the game.

The Sox head west for two three-game series against the Angels and Athletics starting tomorrow. Tim Wakefield will get the ball for the first time this year and George Kottares will get his first start of the season. Jered Weaver gets the ball for Anaheim.

With their young veteran Scott Kazmir on the mound, the Rays looked like AL Champions against the Red Sox. Jon Lester went only five innings giving up eight hits and five runs. The ‘pen gave up two more as the Sox fell to .500 on the year after a 7-2 loss.

Scott Kazmir pitched well for Tampa going six innings giving up just five hits and one run while walking three and striking out four. The Rays bullpen held the lead despite JP Howell giving the Red Sox a great chance before Grant Balfour got out of the jam in the 8th and hanging on in the 9th for the save.

At the plate Jason Bartlett and Carl Crawford both had three hits and an RBI each while Carlos Pena hit a two-run home run to cap a 4-run 5th for Tampa that put the Rays in front. Former Ray Rocco Baldelli went 1 for 4 in his Red Sox debut. Kevin Youkillis was the only member of the Boston lineup with more than one hit, going 3 for 4 with an RBI.

Home Plate umpire Bob Davidson had a very wide strike zone tonight. It usually is not that big of a deal, but the comments on redsox.com’s recap are putting the blame for the loss on him. Despite not being very pleased with his strike zone, I am not about to say the loss was his fault. The only reason it seemed like he was favoring the Rays was because they caught on to it quickly, something the Sox failed to do. They realized that if they threw to the outside corner they would get an easy strike, while the Red Sox didn’t pitch accordingly. But in better news, the Yankees are now 0-2 and in last place, a position they usually find themselves in early in the year before they begin a tear. Despite this, we can’t take anything for granted.

The rubber match between the clubs is set for 1:35 later today. Matt Garza squares off against Daisuke Matsuzaka. Both teams look to gain ground on the first place Blue Jays and Orioles (not quite as strange as saying the same about Tampa a year ago, yet still very odd)

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.

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.