Just as Lugo was coming out of that slump, he gets injured.  He's known for always hustling down the first base line.  In the ninth inning he hit an infield single and slowed just before he approached the bag then ended up down after safely stepping on the bag.  I heard this live from work on the radio then watched it on the game repeat and the announcers on the radio and the NESN crew both said they heard him yell out in pain.  He strained his left quad.  Terry Francona thinks that it could be more than just a strain though.  He said he hurt himself "pretty good" but they're going to have him looked at today.  Let's all give Lugo our support and best wishes for a full and safe recovery.  For those who are still doubting Lugo, you got your wish.  He'll probably be out for some time now.

Moving along.  I wonder why we always have such a hard time with Baltimore?  Clay made his return to the majors last night in our 7-3 loss to the birds.  His last game was on May 12.  He gave up two runs and three walks in the first inning alone.  Most of the time pitchers have a rough outing or two after coming back off the DL before they fall into their groove again.  A lot of his pitches just seemed to hang over the plate.  Don't let this loss yesterday take away from the Clay we all know.  It's one loss and we're still the best team in baseball.   He came back in the third inning and struck out the side and ended up with a total of six strikeouts lasting five innings throwing a total of 107 pitches.  As I previously stated, returning from the DL on the major league level is always difficult.  Let's just stick by him and continue to give him our support.  Everybody has a bad game.

Our offense also struggled a bit last night.  We had a great second inning until that terrible call was made at first after Millar fumbled with the ball.  Lugo should've reached safely on that error and the replays showed he was safe by a mile before the ball ever reached the glove.  The umpires still called him out in one of the worst calls I've seen so far this season.  Wasn't the first blown call and certainly won't be the last.  So anyway, we would end up taking the lead in the fourth but would pose unable to show another threat until the ninth.  Pedroia's 17-game hitting streak was also broken last night as he was unable to produce a hit.  He would draw a walk in the ninth then Youk would step in posing as our potential tying run but would end up striking out on three pitches on a nasty slider.  Our boys just seemed to not be able to catch a break last night.  It's no big deal though.  Thankfully the Rays AND Yankees each lost last night as well so our standings are still looking the same.

Tonight Wake ( 5-6) will take the hill.  Terry said that he's learning patience with Wake on the mound.  He's learning to accept that with a knuckleball pitcher, walks will be dealt and bases will be stolen.  He admitted that he's had issues with when to pull him and when to keep him in which is why he's been pulled too early way too often.  Hopefully today if he's looking strong toward the latter part of the game, he'll actually leave him in a bit longer this time.  Our knuckleballer has been showing us a lot of great pitching the past two months.  Our boys need to provide him with a lot of offensive support and give him a nice cushion just in case our bullpen isn't so strong tonight.  Wake will be taking on Radhames Liz (3-1).  The reports show that he's had a hard time so far this season with control.  We need to take full advantage of every mistake this guy makes. 

Let's all continue giving this great team the support they've earned and most certainly deserve.  We have a solid offense and defense.  Nobody is perfect and we'll come back from this loss.  We only have one more game left until the All-Star break.  Then it's time for some serious baseball!  I'm really looking forward to this break for our boys to get some rest and/or have fun during the All-Star festivities.  I know I have fun watching it all.  Especially the homerun derby.