In Pedro We Trust. Well, that was ugly. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong in the first two innings this afternoon. Boston fell behind 9-0 after 2 innings, Derek Lowe lasted 11 batters and 1+ inning, and the Red Sox didn't get a hit off Jon Lieber until David Ortiz's solo home run in the 7th.

New York ended up on top, 14-4, in a game that was way more lopsided than that score would indicate. The AL East lead is back to 3½ games. ... This game was embarrassing, but it's only one loss.

New York clearly put Friday's loss behind them and came out strong and I expect the Red Sox to do the same tomorrow afternoon, when Pedro faces Mike Mussina. ... The library I am posting from is closed on Sunday, so I'll post again on Monday afternoon.