8/10 at Chicago White Sox (6-5 L)
Buchholz (3 IP, 5 ER, 4 K) just can't get it on track. His curve isn't biting and when he actually throws it for a strike, it hangs right out over the plate. The fastball's flat and hitters are absolutely pounding it, as evidenced by the White Sox' 3 homers in the first two innings. A demotion to the bullpen or trip to Pawtucket may be in line. On the positive side, Lowell connected on his 14th homer of the year, a 3-run shot that scored Dusty and Drew.

8/11 at Chicago White Sox (5-1 W)
The White Sox were cruising with starter John Danks (7 IP, 2 ER, 9 K) holding the Red Sox hitless through 6.1... until Youk came up in the 7th. After a Youkilis single, followed by a Lowell walk, Drew drove in 2 on a double to deep center. The rest, as they say, is history as the Sox never relinquished the lead. Beckett (8 IP, 1 ER, 9 K) had one of his best performances of the year to improve to 11-8.

8/12 vs. Texas Rangers (19-17 W)
What can you say about this one other than it was perhaps the wildest game of the season? Well, for starters, Charlie Zink (4.1 IP, 8 ER, 1 K) looked unimpressive in his MLB debut. It's a tough task to take on the Rangers in your first Boston start, but the Sox were certainly hoping for a better showing. The Sox' bullpen gave up a combined 7 earned runs including 4 from Aardsma and 2 from Delcarmen, but it wasn't all negative. The Sox got the bulk of their offensive production from two guys: Ortiz and Youk. Papi had a pair of 3-run homers in the 1st inning, while one of Youk's 2 homers gave them their final lead in the 8th. Looks like any uncertainty Papi had about not having protection behind him in the lineup has subsided. I could talk about this one all day, but instead I'll just link to the box score so I don't bore you further.

8/13 vs. Texas Rangers (8-4 W)
I'm not gonna say Youk is a prototypical power hitter or even predict that his high rate of production will continue, but he's certainly become a bona-fide run producer and the type of cleanup hitter the Sox need behind Ortiz. With 3 doubles, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored, Youk's really making a case to be the Sox' MVP for the 2008 season. Dusty, Lowrie and Bay had 2 hits each, with the latter two also racking up a pair of RBI apiece. Lester (7 IP, 3 ER, 6 K) improved to 11-4 thanks to 7 solid innings.

8/14 vs. Texas Rangers (10-0 W)
Here's a good one: What's the cure for a stagnant offense (not to say that the Sox are/were guilty of that...)? Why, facing the Texas Rangers pitching staff, of course. Just a day after hitting 2 bombs in the 1st inning, Ortiz launched another 3-run homer, this time coming in the 2nd inning. Only two starters - Youk and Tek - were held RBI-less. Dice-K (7 IP, 0 ER, 5 K) easily improved to 14-2 and with one more win, he'll tie the club record for best win percentage by a starter.

8/15 vs. Toronto Blue Jays (Postponed)

8/16 vs. Toronto Blue Jays (4-1 L)
Not exactly the way you want to kick off the next series after sweeping the league's most potent offense and scoring a combined 37 runs in 3 games. Paul Byrd's (7.1 IP, 4 ER, 0 K) Boston debut was rather uneventful thanks in large part to a complete-game outing from his Blue Jays counterpart, Roy Halladay (9 IP, 1 ER, 4 K). Byrd pitched just as advertised, though, with zero strikeouts but more importantly, zero walks. The Sox' offense didn't get going until the 9th, when Dusty led off the inning with a solo shot. But it was too little, too late, as Ortiz, Youk and Drew were retired in order to end the game.

Suddenly, things are starting to look pretty interesting in the East with the Jays just 2 games behind the Yanks in the Wild Card standings...