Concerning pitching

Entering the year, the SoxandPhils had two of the most certain closers in baseball. Brad Lidge's struggles have since been well-documented here, and now Jonathan Papelbon is joining him.

The Sox won this afternoon, 6-5 over the Twins, but it should not have been so close. Up 6-3 in the 9th, Papelbon gave up a two-run home run to pinch-hitter Joe Mauer, which raised Papelbon's ERA to 2.57. (But it's still minuscule compared with Lidge's 9.15.)

Papelbon has been so automatic for the first few years of his career that any blip is a concern. One mitigating factor is that he needed only 14 pitches to give up a hit and a home run while still managing a strikeout. Without seeing the game, those facts make it seem that today was just a case of a great hitting beating a great pitcher, who managed to preserve his team's lead.

Other notables: The Red Sox didn't drop David Ortiz in the lineup; he was benched against lefty Francisco Liriano. Jacoby Ellsbury went 2-5, extending his hitting streak to 20 games, but he still has an OBP of .333. Mike Lowell led the way with four hits, and Dustin Pedroia had three and four others had two. Decent game for Brad Penny (5-1) who won his third in a row, giving up three runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Phillies: I have a feeling the 4th inning will sum up the night for Jamie Moyer. After pitching three scoreless innings, he walked Hanley Ramirez and Jorge Cantu. He ran the count to 2-2 to Wes Helms before throwing a fastball right over the heart of the plate. The former Phillie was frozen, but the umpire called ball. Next pitch? Home run. J-Moy then set down the next three, but now, thanks to a bum call, he's down 3-2 in the 5th inning in another pursuit of his 250th career win.

Incidentally, no Phillies starter issued a walk against the Yankees this weekend.