G56: White Sox 7, Red Sox 4

White Sox - 000 121 102 - 7 12  0
Red Sox   - 030 001 000 - 4  9  0

Gavin Floyd / Tim Wakefield

Expanding on yesterday's post, the Red Sox are only the fifth team in baseball history to have lost at least 10 of their first 12 games and then reached first place at any point during the rest of the season:

               12 GMS  IN FIRST           RECORD  END OF SEASON
1951 Giants     2-10   September 29 G153  95-58   98-59 Lost WS
1973 Cardinals  1-11   July 22      G 96  51-45   81-81 2nd in NLE
1974 Pirates    2-10   August 25    G126  65-61   88-74 Lost NLCS
1982 Orioles    2-10   October 2    G162  94-67*  94-68 2nd in ALE
2011 Red Sox    2-10   May 26       G 50  28-22
* - Baltimore's record was actually 94-67-1.

Beckett's 1.00 ERA for May (6 starts, 36 IP) is the lowest ERA by a Red Sox pitcher in any full month since Pedro Martinez had a 0.82 ERA in September 2003. Before Beckett's start on Sunday, his 1.69 ERA was the fifth lowest in team history (since 1920) for a starter through the first 52 games of a season:

Pedro Martinez  2000  1.05
Boo Ferriss     1945  1.34
Pedro Martinez  2001  1.44
Roger Clemens   1992  1.56
Josh Beckett    2011  1.69

Adrian Gonzalez (9) and David Ortiz (10) are the first pair of Red Sox to hit at least nine home runs each in one month since Ortiz (14) and Manny Ramirez (9) did it in July 2006. Gonzalez's 31 RBI in May are the most by a Sock in one month since Ortiz knocked in 35 runs in July 2006.

Red Sox with 30+ RBI in one month, since 1995:

David Ortiz        July 2006       35
Nomar Garciaparra  May 1999        33
Nomar Garciaparra  July 1998       33
Adrian Gonzalez    May 2011        31
David Ortiz        June 2004       31
Manny Ramirez      April 2001      31
John Valentin      August 1995     31
Jason Bay          May 2009        30
David Ortiz        August 2006     30
Manny Ramirez      September 2002  30

Jason Varitek played in only 14 of May's 29 games, but he led the team in OBP, and was third in average and slugging during the month:

AVG:
Ortiz     .342
Gonzalez  .341
Varitek   .333
Ellsbury  .314
Crawford  .304
  
OBP: 
Varitek   .400
Ortiz     .387
Ellsbury  .381
Youkilis  .377
Gonzalez  .371
  
SLG:
Ortiz     .694
Gonzalez  .618
Varitek   .533
Youkilis  .485
Crawford  .482

Before his loss last night, Alfredo Aceves had a career record of 16-1. Whitey Ford and Howie Krist are the only other pitchers in history (since 1876) to have won 16 of their first 17 decisions.

AL East: Rangers/Rays at 1 PM and Yankees/Athletics at 3:30 PM.