This past week may very well have been the Red Sox biggest week of the season. After dropping the first 3 games of the week against the division leading Tampa Bay Rays, the Red Sox crawled into New York to take on their arch rivals.

The good guys managed to take the first game of the series, which snapped their season high 5-game losing streak. The Red Sox followed that up with another victory, but after taking the first two games of the series, they let the next two slip away and finished the biggest week of the season with a 2-5 record. This was not a good sign heading into the final week before the All-Star break. Let’s hope they can bring some better results this week as they return home to face the red hot Minnesota Twins and division rival Baltimore Orioles.

Today, the Red Sox return home to open up a 3 game series with the Tampa Bay Rays, in what will be a battle for first place. The teams are 3-3 against each other this season, with both clubs collecting sweeps on their home field. The Red Sox enter this series winning 3 of their last 4, and the Rays enter it winning their last 3, so both teams are heating up entering tonight’s contest.

The starting pitchers for the 3 game set are as follows:

Game 1: Justin Masterson (1-0/9 Ks/1.46 ERA/0.97 WHIP/12.1 IP) v.s. Matt Garza (4-1/29 Ks/3.78 ERA/1.36 WHIP/52.1 IP)

Game 2: Josh Beckett (5-4/75 Ks/4.30 ERA/1.09 WHIP/67.0 IP) v.s. Edwin Jackson (3-4/47 Ks/3.70 ERA/1.45 WHIP/65.2 IP)

Game 3: Jon Lester (3-3/49 Ks/3.67 ERA/1.38 WHIP/76.0 IP) v.s. James Shields (4-3/58 Ks/3.24 ERA/1.15 WHIP/80.2 IP)

Over the last week, the Red Sox have lost David Ortiz and Dice-K, so I’m hoping guys like Masterson and Crisp can step up their game in hopes of a big series win. If you would’ve told me that this series was going to be this meaningful at the beginning of the year, I would’ve said you’re crazy! Go Red Sox!

Can the Red Sox make it through a series without being swept or sweeping a team? The last 4 series the Red Sox have played have gone in sweeps; two in their favour and two in the other teams. This may not be a bad thing, but looking into it a little more I noticed a trend.

That trend is, our ability to play on the road stinks! Both sweeps against us were on the road, and we have been swept 4 times this season on the road already. Our road record for the month of May was 4-9 and 10-17 overall. These are not encouraging signs, but I am confident that the Red Sox will be able to turn things around away from Fenway.

On the positive, we have the best home record in the majors at 21-5. Our boys have also swept 4 series at home and have looked very dominant. If we play .500 ball on the road for the rest of the season, I don’t see any reason why the Red Sox cannot return to the post-season.