Meet Dustin Pedroia - Professional Party Pooper

Well... that sucked.

I'm way late on the recap, but luck for me there wasn't much to discuss anyway.

Buchholz continued to struggle, making me wonder if converting Masterson was the best idea...

John Lackey nearly no-hit the Sox at home, despite owning a 7.46 ERA at Fenway before last night...

Manny opted to "jog-out" his grounder to third, prompting Chone Figgins to laugh after he realized he beat manny by 5 steps despite being deep in the hole and over throwing the first baseman...

And Craig Hansen continued to be useless, walking his 1st batter, giving up the sac fly next and then giving up another run on a single, escaping the inning only thanks to Figgins greediness.

The good news? Well... Pedroia spoiled the no-hitter... but to be honest, at that point I was actually routing for Lackey... and Youk grabbed his 18th homer - holding off his second half swoon for a little while longer... oh and Okajima pitched another clean inning - seriously, that's a very good sign...

Bottom Line: The Angels are the team to beat right now and while the Sox were getting embarrassed in their own park, the Halos made themselves even better, trading 1B Casey Kotchman and a rookie pitcher to Atlanta for Mark Teixeira.

If we see these guys in the playoffs, we'll have to hope they've forgotten how to play under pressure, 'cause right now they look unstoppable.