The Red Sox finished up their long May homestand with a loss to Cleveland, then hit the road. The first game was a thrilling win over the Yankees, as they prevented Roger Clemens from winning his 300th career game. They dropped the next two in New York (one on a questionable call by umpire Joe West, who ruled that Brandon Lyon had walked in the winning run on what looked like a strike). On a day off, the big news broke that Shea Hillenbrand had been traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Byung-Hyun Kim. That weekend the Sox were swept in Toronto, and then started interleague play. While they've traditionally struggled against National League teams, especially on the road, this year was much better. The first game in Pittsburgh was rained out, but they swept a doubleheader the next day. After dropping the final game against the Pirates, it was on to Milwaukee, where they took two of three, including the biggest come-from-behind win of the year. In Saturday's game they trailed 10-4 and lost Casey Fossum after one inning with shoulder soreness, but Kevin Millar's pinch-hit grand slam and Trot Nixon and Jason Varitek's back-to-back ninth inning homers delivered an 11-10 win.

Despite going 5-7 on the road trip, the Red Sox returned home only half a game out of first place. Even more amazing was the fact that they had completely redone the restrooms under the bleachers. There was a new ladies' room, additional functioning water fountains, and a lot more space in the concourse area which would become the "Big Concourse" a couple of months later.

A couple of my friends were at this game, but they were sitting on the third base side. I was in the bleachers near the center field cameras next to a bunch of season ticket holders. I always like to sit near people who know what's going on. Sometimes I get people who have never heard of half the players or ask what my scorecard is for, but tonight I was able to engage in real baseball discussions. Byung-Hyun Kim was starting tonight. We discussed the trade, agreeing that it was a good move. Hillenbrand had typically started to fade after the first two months of the season, and his stock was at its highest after a successful April and May. Meanwhile the success of Bill Mueller, David Ortiz, and Kevin Millar had made Shea expendable. What's more, B.K. could start and relieve, which could help stabilize the bullpen. We also debated which role he'd be better in, and when Fossum returned from the D.L., whether they should have Casey start and Kim relieve, or leave B.K. in the rotation and bring Fossum back in the bullpen. We also discussed dropping John Burkett altogether when Pedro returned. Burkett had been dreadful in his last few starts, and Pedro was about to return from the D.L. I knew he had a large contract, but I remembered that they had let Jose Offerman go last year when he had a similar contract.

B.K.'s Fenway debut tonight wasn't exactly stellar. After the Sox scored twice in the first on back-to-back doubles by Manny Ramirez and Ortiz, Kim gave up four runs in the fifth and was lifted from the game. Rudy Seanez allowed three more in the seventh, and the Sox were down 7-2. But I kept telling everyone around me, "No problem! This is their specialty. A five-run deficit is nothing!" Sure enough, in the bottom of the inning, Todd Walker doubled, Nomar Garciaparra tripled, and Manny homered to make it 7-5. St. Louis was having a season similar to the Red Sox - there was plenty of offense, but with Jason Isringhausen injured, they had a terrible bullpen. Old friend Jeff Fassero started the eighth for the Cardinals and walked Trot. With Jason Varitek representing the tying run at the plate, I knew it was time to get serious. So I once again vowed that if Tek tied the game up right here, I'd never again call him "Hack-Away Shea". I didn't know if that would work anymore, with Hillenbrand gone, but it did! Tek hit a homer and we were tied at 7. "I knew it! I knew it!" I was ecstatic!

And then came the ninth. Brandon Lyon gave up three doubles, scoring two runs. I was so angry! After all the work they had done to rally and tie it up, he blew it! Bill Mueller singled in the ninth, and Varitek had a chance to tie it up again, but there was only so much he could do, and the thrilling eighth-inning rally had gone for naught. I met my friends outside Fenway after the game, but I wasn't in the mood for socializing. I just wanted to go home and stomp off to bed. At work the next day, we decided it had been one of the most painful losses so far this year.

The day after my game, Pedro Martinez returned. He pitched three innings and John Burkett finished up, while the Sox scored seven runs in the second inning and cruised to a 13-1 win. The final game against the Cardinals was even more painful than the one I had been to. Behind 3-0, the Sox scored three in the ninth to send it to extra innings. The bullpen allowed two runs in the top of the tenth, just like the game I had been to, but this time they tied it up again in the bottom of the inning. They let in three more runs in the top of the 13th, then scored two in the bottom of the inning to fall just short. Friday's game went better, when the Sox rebounded from the agony of Thursday night with a 4-3 win over Houston.

I was back for Saturday night's game, in the same fairly bad seat in Section 39 that I had sat in for one of the Value Pack games before. Derek Lowe was on the mound, and his sinker was really working. He gave up solo home runs in the first and third, but I didn't feel very worried about the two-run deficit. It seemed like every game involved a come-from-behind rally of some sort. It wasn't long before Trot Nixon hit a triple to tie the game at 2. Other than a fly ball to center to start the game and a strikeout to open the third, all of Lowe's outs - and he pitched into the eighth - came on ground balls. One of the main heroes of the night was third baseman Freddy Sanchez. Called up from Pawtucket when Shea Hillenbrand had been traded, he was given a chance to start. He went 0-4 at the plate, and was the only Sox batter without a hit, but he wound up the star of the game. A lot of the fans sitting near me had never heard of him, despite the fact that he had been called up the previous year too, and had been a top prospect in the Red Sox organization for years. But everyone knew him by the end of the game. With the game tied 2-2 in the fifth inning, the Astros had runners on second and third with two outs. Sanchez made a great diving stop of a sharply-hit grounder, firing to first to end the inning and save a couple of runs.

In the fifth, the Red Sox batted around, taking advantage of a Houston error to score four runs (on a bases-loaded double by Ortiz and an RBI-double by Millar) and break the game open. They added two more the next inning, when Johnny Damon doubled, Todd Walker tripled, and Nomar Garciaparra singled. In the seventh, it was Freddy Sanchez's turn to shine again. All three batters hit ground balls to third. Sanchez had all three assists in the inning, and wound up with ten for the night, one shy of the major league record. When he fielded the third out of the inning, we all stood up and chanted, "Freddy! Freddy!" through the seventh inning stretch. He led off the bottom of the inning, so we gave him another big ovation before sitting back down.

Lowe tired a little in the eighth, giving up two more runs, but Jason Shiell and Alan Embree finished it up without incident.