It may not have been as impressive as the fireworks display later in the evening, but the continued presence of actual offense - beautiful, productive, run-scoring offense - at Fenway Park warmed the hearts of Sox fans and good Americans on the Fourth of July. The immediate beneficiary was Tim Wakefield, who improved to 9-8 after pitching six very fine innings and one-third of a bad one. He fell apart in the seventh, but the......

The Red Sox have been living large off of the Foes' inferior bullpens all season. Sadly, what goes around came around last night. The unstoppable Okajima and unbeatable Papelbon were respectively stopped and beaten by the Yankees, who took 2 out of 3 from the Sox for the second straight series. This one was a typical Sox-Yankees seesaw affair. Josh Beckett pitched well, but spotted the Yanks a 4-0 lead. But the Sox got it......

Trot Nixon's homecoming game at Fenway was one to remember. Not so much for Trot (1-for-3), but for the fact that this game had a little bit of everything. An inside-the-park home run for Kevin Youkilis (shhh...20 game hitting streak...shhh). A conventional home run for Manny, tying him with former teammate Jim Thome for 25th place all time. A controversial third-strike call in the ninth that brought both managers out for some earnest discussions with......

The happiest Red Sox fans around have to be the ones who stopped watching baseball around 7:30 last night. They would have seen Game 1 of the doubleheader, a 13-3 Sox rout/Home Run Derby. They would have seen the Yankees' nightmarish loss to the Mets. But most importantly, they would have been spared Game 2, in which Atlanta demolished the Sox 14-0. A wild day all around. Game One was a laugher thanks in part......