BACK ON TRACK

The Red Sox and closer Jonathan Papelbon got their ship back on track with a tidy 5-2 victory over the Minesota Twins. One night after blowing his second consecutive save opportunity Papelbon nailed down his 11th save of the season. That gave the mound victory to Dice-K Matsuzaka and improved the Red Sox to 24-15 on the season.

Let's break down the game a little, shall we!

STARS OF THE GAME

Jed Lowrie and Coco Crisp - Both hit their first homers of the season and they could not have come at a better time. Trailing 2-1 in the seventh inning Crisp and Lowrie went back-to-back leading off the inning. With Crisp and Lowrie batting eighth and ninth repectively, they provided the Sox with a major boost and proved once again that the Boston line-up is tough top to bottom.

Mike Lowell - Lowell put the Sox in control of the game with a solo shot in the eighth inning. That was one of two hits Lowell had on the evening. Starting from this past Monday he's put together a stretch where he is 12 of 28 at the plate with 3 homers and 8 RBI. It's a welcomed site after a slow start at the plate and an injury that had him on the shelf for a couple of weeks.

RIGHT BACK ON THE HORSE

Papelbon wanted to get right back on the mound after a blown save last evening. And it looks like Pap's recent slips are not going to be a continuing problem. He gave up an infield single (that's the official line), but struck out two batters. He didn't look pressed at all on the mound. Hey, every closer has a bad outing or two, but the great ones always seem to bounce back quickly and manager Terry Francona didn't let his closer sit to ponder his most recent slip.

FINISHING STRONG

Dice-K sure can look bad early. But he finishes strong. Matsuzaka walked three batters in the first two innings and escaped a bases loaded jam in the second inning by allowing just one run. That turned out to be the key inning of the game. After that point Matsuzaka did not issue another base on balls in his final five inings of work as Boston rallied for the victory. He allowed two runs on six hits while striking out seven on the evening improving to 6-0 on the season. His era is now at 2.45. It seems odd to complain about a pitcher with a record like Matsuzaka's, but Red Sox Nation on the whole knows he walks a thin line in many starts. Yet he's overcome slow starts to finish strong on more than one occassion.

YOOOUK!

Don't look now, but Kevin Youkilis is fast becoming a feared bat. Look, the guy isn't going to lead the league in batting average, homers or runs batted in. However, Youk is proving to be a far more dangerous member of this team than most consider him to be outside of Red Sox Nation. He is now hitting .319 on the season. He had two hits tonight including his eighth homer of the season to go along with 29 runs driven in. And he came into the game with an on-base percentage of .400. Those numbers are impressive, but even more so because he's hits in various spots of the order. Youk just may be the most difficult out in the Red Sox batting order and I'd be comfortable making a bet than more than a few opposing pitchers would agree.

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The Red Sox are currently 4-2 on their current 10-game road trip. They have 2 more games with Minnesota before heading to Baltimore for a quick two-game set. Tonight's win put their 2008 road record at 10-10. ESPN will carry the Red Sox on "Sunday Night Baseball". Get ready for another boring night of Joe Morgan.