Players Of The Week

Player of the Week - Jacoby Ellsbury rebounded from his slow start at the plate this week with 10 hits in 32 at bats to bring his average over .300 for most of the week.

He scored six runs and knocked in five in a week that saw the offense slow to a crawl in the weekend Tampa Bay series.

Two of his hits were solo home runs in the opening game of the Los Angeles Angels series at the beginning of the week.

Ellsbury added a couple stolen bases.

This week Ellsbury played all three outfield positions for the Red Sox and added a couple nice catches.

With Coco Crisp back Ellsbury may see more time off, but if he keeps up the effective hitting he will find his name on the lineup card most days.



Prospect of the Week - For the second week in a row the prospect of the week award was won while contributing in Boston.

Last week Jed Lowrie provided a spark for the Boston offense and this week it was Justin Masterson providing a spark to the pitching staff, too bad it didn't rub off onto the bullpen.

In his major league debut Masterson went six innings allowing just two hits and one run. He struck out four batters but also walked four.

Unfortunately, within moments of Masterson being taken out of the game the bullpen proceeded to allow four runs before recording an out in the seventh inning.

Los Angeles went on to win the game and spoil what would have been Masterson's first major league win.

This is the second time Masterson has been named prospect of the week.



Pitcher of the Week - Clay Buchholz showed this week that Boston has three number one caliber pitchers on the roster.

Over two starts he scattered eight hits and four walks while striking out 15 batters. He pitched Boston's first complete game of the season Saturday in Tampa.

While he took the loss in that game he was on top of his game all night.

Going into the eighth inning he had allowed just one hit, a grounder past Jed Lowrie that may have been grabbed by Mike Lowell.

After getting the first two outs in the eighth he had what appeared to be strike three that wasn't called, the batter then singled to right and scored on a two-run homer by Akinori Iwamura and Boston lost the game 2-1.

Buchholz has been great this season. Taking the game in New York out of the equation for a moment, Buchholz has a 2.16 ERA in 25 innings allowing six runs and striking out 25.