Haren wins battle of aces at Fenway

Red Sox - 1
Diamondbacks - 2

Dan Haren was just plain nasty last night. He gave up just 2 hits over 7 innings, going 1-2-3 for 5 of them, and had 5 strikeouts. As stated yesterday, Haren has been untouchable in June and is now 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA, 29 Ks and a .167 BAA this month.

He's probably the only guy in the league that could have beaten Josh Beckett last night. Beckett was also nasty, fanning 8 D-backs through 8 innings and giving up just 5 hits... but the D-backs finally got to him in the 7th, while the Red Sox was M.I.A.

Some times you just run into a good pitcher and he has a great night, but the offense didn't just take the night off... since beating the Red 9-0 last Monday, the Sox have averaged us 3.2 R/G in their last 7 games - down from their season average of 5.0 R/G.

Ellsbury is riding a 5 game hitting streak, but it's been 1 hit per game and he is now 5 for his last 23 (.217) with 2 runs scored since leaving Cincinnati.

JD Drew has fallen back to earth - he's hitless in his last 8 at-bats and is 2 for his last 15 with a solo home run.

And Manny has slipped back in to another funk, going 6-31 (.193) in the past 10 games with just 1 RBI and 2 doubles.

It hasn't been all bad though... Youk has gotten hot again, but left last night's game with an eye injury and Dustin Pedroia is 10 for his last 22 (.455), but he's scored just 4 runs and driven in zero during that span - making his hot streak all but irrelevant.

Bottom Line: The Law of Averages seems to be leaning on the Red Sox right now... Before dropping 3 of 4 at home, they were on pace to win 80% of their home games - you knew that wouldn't last. They've also done well to fight through a number of injuries, but you knew that would catch up to them eventually as well...