"It puts a little pressure on us," said Bill Hall. "We know we need to win ballgames."
Adrian Beltre added: "We have to a little bit sometimes, but we have to come in here and win ballgames. It's true we look a little bit but we shouldn't be worrying about that."
The view of the Green Monster scoreboard did not yield an favorable results. All three teams won again and the deficit remains six in the loss column with 41 games to play.
It'll be just 40 after Josh Beckett goes Thursday night in what amounts to a huge start for the righty. He will be opposed by Ervin Santana as the Angels try to salvage the season finale between the two teams.
Final, Red Sox 7-5: Down three runs midway through the game the Red Sox rally to keep pace with Tampa Bay and New York, both of whom already won. Boston is 9-0 against the Angels this year.
John Lackey gives up 10 hits in the first five innings alone but survives long enough to pick up his 11th win. Jonathan Papelbon gets his 30th save.
Very quietly this offense is putting up some slightly bigger numbers and looking a bit more like it did earlier in the year. Lackey is the beneficiary of such support in this one.
Headed downstairs to hear from the crew. See you in a few.
End 8th, Red Sox 7-5: Insurance comes in the form of a Victor Martinez RBI single. Jonathan Papelbon is coming on in search of his 30th save.
Whenever Papelbon picks up No. 30 he will be the first pitcher ever to have that many saves in five straight seasons to start a career.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 6-5: Daniel Nava didn't do too much to drive in the go-ahead run except for take a pitch square in his back with the bases loaded. He did plenty to preserve the lead with a spectacular diving catch to save a run and end the top of the eighth.
Nava got a great jump on a little liner hit straight at him. He dove and caught the ball inches off the ground. Great play and one of those you may look back on if and when the Sox get in a position to make the playoffs.
End 7th, Red Sox 6-5: Thank goodness for Kevin Jepsen, who just about gave away the lead himself. Jepsen loads the bases on two hits and a walk, allows the tying run to come in on a 55-foot dead fish that bounces to the backstop and then hits Daniel Nava with the bases loaded to force in the go-ahead score.
A pretty double play turned by Howie Kendrick kept that from being even worse than it was for the Angels.
Daniel Bard is on in relief. Nava goes to left. J.D. Drew is in right.
Amazingly, John Lackey is in line for his 11th win and third against his former team.
9:36 p.m.: The Sox have tied it on one of the ugliest wild pitches you will ever see. With the bases loaded once more, Daniel Nava is hitting for Darnell McDonald.
9:34 p.m.: With the bases loaded and one out in the seventh, Terry Francona is sending up J.D. Drew to pinch hit for Bill Hall. Drew is 1-for-1 with a walk in his career against Kevin Jepsen.
Mid 7th, Angels 5-4: Remarkably, John Lackey sets down the last seven he faces while striking out three of them. His 119th pitch results in a long fly to center off the bat of Bobby Abreu.
Kevin Jepsen is the latest Angels pitcher.
End 6th, Angels 5-4: Strikeout, strikeout, walk, strikeout. That's how Francisco Rodriguez greeted the Red Sox in the sixth. He throws a 95 mph heater by Dustin Pedroia to end it.
Pedroia had some words for home plate umpire Chris Guccione.
We know Tampa Bay has already won and the Yankees are leading in the seventh. If these scores stay the same the hill gets steeper.
John Lackey is back out there to start the seventh.
Mid 6th, Angels 5-4: With Felix Doubront warming the bullpen John Lackey works his first 1-2-3 inning. He has thrown 106 pitches.
Francisco Rodriguez is on in relief of Scott Kazmir, who can still get a shaky win if the Angels never lose the lead.
End 5th, Angels 5-4: Adrian Beltre was one of the Red Sox starters who had struggled against Scott Kazmir, entering the night just 3-for-10 with zero RBIs. He is 2-for-3 with three RBIs in this one after a two-run blast in the fifth.
Give Victor Martinez credit for being on base when the home run came. He looked to be a dead duck trying to stretch a single into a double but had a nifty slide around Howie Kendrick's half-hearted tag attempt.
Mid 5th, Angels 5-2: Alberto Callaspo, who had just two extra-base hits (both doubles) in 23 games with the Angels, rips a three-run homer with two down in the fifth to put the Angels ahead for the second time.
John Lackey has already given up 10 hits, the fourth time this season he has been reached for double digits in that category.
And yes, the boos were a bit louder.
Lackey had the first two outs in the inning before back-to-back hits by Bobby Abreu and Reggie Willits.
End 4th, 2-2: We talked a little earlier about how Terry Francona can now focus on the collection of outfielders in front of him and not worry about if and when Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron will return. It's been a pretty good collection of late.
With his solo home run to lead off the fourth Bill Hall improves to 11-for-31 (.355) with four homers and eight RBIs in his last 10 games. Darnell McDonald follows with a single to improve to 8-for-15 in his last six.
And we all know how good Ryan Kalish has been since entering the lineup July 31.
It might be pretty fun to see these guys pick up the offense over the next month. With all due respect to Ellsbury and Cameron, they were just bringing it down trying to play through their respective ailments.
Mid 4th, Angels 2-1: We've been waiting to hear some boos directed at John Lackey, whether warranted or not. There were a few in the fourth after he gave up an RBI single to Howie Kendrick, the seventh Angels' hit of the night.
Hideki Matsui scored on the play. He doubled to straightaway center with one out, one of five extra-base hits for Anaheim.
Simply put, Lackey gives up a ton of hits. That is now 183 hits in 158 2/3 innings.
Two double plays and a caught stealing of Kendrick to end the fourth have helped him limit the damage a bit in this one.
End 3rd, 1-1: Scott Kazmir was in need of some quick outs. After throwing 52 pitches in the first two innings he needs just eight in the third, getting help from a nice double play started by third baseman Alberto Callaspo.
Mid 3rd, 1-1: The Angels get just the one run on a Mike Napoli solo shot, but that's five hits already off John Lackey, four for extra bases.
Here is a stretch for a notable stat, but we will pass it on nonetheless. Napoli is the 18th player in baseball history whose primary position is catcher to have three consecutive 20-homer seasons.
Considering he has played first base for months now, again, it's a stretch. But there you go.
8:03 p.m.: False alarm. No review needed. Bobby Abreu is on second with one out.
8:02 p.m.: John Lackey has given up one home run already and we might get a review of another after Bobby Abreu's drive hits a fans hands near the top of the Green Monster.
End 2nd, Red Sox 1-0: His playing time has been pretty sporadic of late so not everybody notices, but Darnell McDonald is on a tear. After his double in the second he improved to 7-for-14 with five extra-base hits (double, two triples, two home runs) in six games.
Marco Scutaro walked with two outs and Dustin Pedroia ripped his first hit since his 5-for-5, three-homer showcase in Colorado on June 24. That loaded the bases for Victor Martinez, who struck out on a 3-2 pitch.
Martinez entered the game hitting .396 against lefties and .538 against Scott Kazmir. Plus, he was ahead 3-1. The odds were so slanted in the favor of the Red Sox catcher that it was a bit surprising when he swung through a fastball to end the inning.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 1-0: Two more hits for the Angels but one more double play by the Red Sox helps John Lackey escape. One of Anaheim's three hits probably should've been caught.
Bill Hall played a ball down the line in left as if the wall was going to eat him. He short-armed the ball and it fell in for a Maicer Izturis double. Lackey gave his now-customary exasperated reaction to the misplay.
End 1st, Red Sox 1-0: Dustin Pedroia gives us another promising sign that he will have few issues with his left foot going forward. After drawing a walk from Scott Kazmir, who simply does not get Pedroia out, the scrappy second baseman steals second, races to third on a throwing error by catcher Jeff Mathis and scores on a single by Adrian Beltre.
It is Pedroia's first stolen base since June 20, when he had two. David Ortiz also walked with two outs before Beltre lined one to center for his team-leading 81st RBI.
Kazmir rarely lasts much longer than five or six innings and we can see why. He throws 31 pitches in the first inning.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Reggie Willits gets on with a one-out double but is promptly erased when he is doubled off on a soft liner to shortstop Marco Scutaro.
6:51 p.m.: In addition to the constant activity surrounding the Red Sox, Fenway is coming alive in anticipation of the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon.
You can watch and listen to all the coverage starting Thursday morning and if you are inspired by the stories you will hear, and it is hard not to be, then feel free to make a contribution in the name of cancer research.
6:18 p.m.: Dustin Pedroia mentioned several times before his return Tuesday how difficult it would be to come back on a night that Jered Weaver was on the mound. Maybe he should've waited a day.
Pedroia, who was 0-for-4 on Tuesday, is 16-for-31 (.516) against Kazmir in his career. He was 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored while Kazmir was in the game at Fenway back on May 6.
This offense, which has scored five runs or more in five of its last seven games, is showing signs of breaking out again. Pedroia vs. Kazmir in Fenway Park may be the matchup that catapults it to another level.
5:26 p.m.: The news of the day is dominated by the Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron situations, but there are a few others to update you on.
Hideki Okajima got through a bullpen session Tuesday just fine and will throw again Thursday. After that he will meet with the coaches to see about possibly getting activated over the weekend.
Jason Varitek had a scan taken Tuesday and it will be sent to a foot specialist in North Carolina for a second opinion. He was running aggressively Tuesday at the park and taking good cuts in the cage, so he's getting there, but needs to see more healing in the foot before eying a return.
Terry Francona said the same thing about Kevin Youkilis that he said about Jacoby Ellsbury, implying that the club will have to get a big break to get Youk back for the playoffs, if and when they come. Youkilis is with the team and has a splint on his surgically repaired thumb but cannot do much with the hand for another few weeks.
Eric Patterson was seen taking swings in the cage Wednesday and looked pretty good doing so. He is eligible to return at the end of the month but may be ready to go before then. Jed Lowrie was also on the field and looking a bit better a few days removed from his bout of heat exhaustion.
Look for more on Ellsbury/Cameron and where the team goes from here on the site.
4:28 p.m.: We gave you the lineup earlier but somehow it was deleted. Now that we've been down to hear from Terry Francona we can confirm that Jacoby Ellsbury will be out 4-6 weeks minimum and that Mike Cameron will have season-ending surgery.
Here is the lineup we gave before. Sorry for the delay on that.
Marco Scutaro, SS
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Victor Martinez, C
David Ortiz, DH
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Mike Lowell, 1B
Bill Hall, LF
Darnell McDonald, RF
Ryan Kalish, CF
12:36 p.m.: Ryan Kalish will be in center field again Wednesday night, and likely for almost every night for the remainder of the season. Terry Francona just told WEEI's Dale and Holley that Jacoby Ellsbury may indeed be out for the year, supporting earlier reports.
Francona did say there is still a chance that Ellsbury could return at some point this season. Still some fuzzy area with his latest rib injury.
With lefty Scott Kazmir on the mound Wednesday we will see Kalish anchored by Darnell McDonald and Bill Hall at the corner outfield positions.
We'll be on site in a couple of hours to confirm everything and to get all the feedback from the clubhouse.
9 a.m.: John Lackey will take on his former team for the third time this season when he leads the Red Sox into the second of three straight with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Wednesday night.
The former Angels ace has gone 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA against his old mates this year, including an outstanding outing at home back in May in which he allowed a run on only two hits in seven innings.
Lackey, who lost a win his last time out when Jonathan Papelbon blew a save, will try to duplicate the effort of Clay Buchholz. In Tuesday's series opener, Buchholz threw seven scoreless innings to lead the Red Sox to a 6-0 victory.
The win kept Boston within 5 1/2 games of both Tampa Bay and New York.
Scott Kazmir goes for the Angels.
First pitch is 7:10 p.m.
