The Red Sox return to Fenway Park after a dreadful road trip to finish out the first half of the season with a four game series with the AL East-leading New York Yankees. Boston currently sits 7.5 games behind the Yankees.

Red Sox need to get well soon – Gordon Edes says that the Red Sox need to round into form quickly.

Dustin Pedroia down, out – Scott Lauber’s notebook has the Sox preparing to play this series without their sparkplug, who appears headed to the DL.

He’s working for tips – Alex Prewitt’s Minor League Notebook has Jackie Bradley Jr getting some tips from Carl Crawford during his rehab stint in AA Portland.

Buchholz’s esophagitis a common problem – Wait, what? I thought it could only be caused by the fact that Buchholz was an out-of-control binge drinker…at least that’s what sports radio told me…

Forget a raise, what about a pay cut? Why David Ortiz and the Red Sox could confront a challenging negotiation – Alex Speier looks at why Ortiz still may not get what he wants, despite how good a season he has this year.

Ortiz complained about the media coverage in Boston recently, but there is no faster way to generate anger on sports radio than to be a professional athlete whining about being humiliated with a $14.575 million dollar contract for 2012.

Brandon Bass in mix, agrees to three-year deal – Steve Bulpett was first with the news yesterday that the Celtics had worked out a new deal with the power forward. Jessica Camerato talked to Bass about staying in Boston.

Ray Allen makes Heat wave – Bulpett also had reported that the Celtics were a hard push on Allen, attempting to meet his concerns by offering a no-trade clause or trade kicker into his contract.

Most media seem to think Allen is gone, A Miami TV station even reported Allen had signed with the Heat, but it turned out they were fooled by a fake Twitter account. This was the same station which jumped the gun on Derrick Rose’s torn ACL, reporting it, and then retracting it. In that case, they were lucky it turned out to be true.

Media Roundup: Erin Andrews Moves On From ESPN To FOX Sports – My SB Nation Boston Media Column looks at Andrews’ career shift. I didn’t go quite in the same direction as Tom Hoffarth, who wrote perhaps the most scathing and critical column on Andrews you’re ever likely to read.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was looking for his first win in 2012 last night in Oakland, but it wasn’t to be as the right-hander struggled allowing five runs in 1+ innings on four hits in the worst of his five outings this year. He walked two and gave up two home runs, making it an easy decision for Bobby Valentine’s quick hook. It was learned afterwards that he left with a stiff neck and a DL stint is not out of the question.

Clayton Mortensen pitched extremely well in relief, allowing just one run in five innings of work. The Red Sox eventually fell by a score of 6-1. The two teams meet again tonight for Game 2 of their three game series.

The lack of consistent starting pitching is really starting to catch up to the Red Sox. This west coach swing was supposed to be a time for the team to gain some ground in the AL East, but the lack of good starting pitching has contributed to the Red Sox going 2-3 on the road trip thus far. For the team to really be a contender in the AL East and the Wild Card their starting pitching needs to improve dramatically.

On a side note, it should be noted that Felger & Mazz were the only local sports radio show to have both regular hosts in studio and not taking a few extra days off for the 4th of July holiday. Love or hate them, they are two of the hardest working men in the Boston sports media.

Here are a few links going into the 4th of July holiday:

Daisuke Matsuzaka bombs in loss to A’s- Scott Lauber looks at the rough outing for Matsuzaka.

Trapezius muscle pain too much for Matzusaka to overcome- Sean McAdam has how Matsuzaka couldn’t pitch through the pain.

Daniel Bard: Something clicked- Joe McDonald talked with Daniel Bard after he pitched for Pawtucket Monday night. He retired the side in order, in his only inning of work, which was arguably his best outing since being sent down about a month ago.

Red Sox in great shape with help on the way- Ron Borges says people are jumping to conclusions with this Red Sox team, and says after this weekends series with the Yankees things could be a lot different.

Halfway home- Nick Cafardo looks back on the first half of the season and all the injuries the Red Sox have had to deal with, and how Valentine and GM Ben Cherington have done their best to work around them.

Celtics rookies past first test- Chris Forsberg has the three Celtics draft picks and their reactions after being drafted by the Celtics last week.

Sully won’t go negative- Mark Murphy says Jared Sullinger isn’t feeling bad about dropping down to No. 21 in the draft.

Ainge confident on Jeff Green, calls Ray Allen and Brandon Bass top priorities- Gary Dzen has Danny Ainge feeling confident the Celtics will get all three of those players back next season.

Not exactly MMQB style, but some thoughts from the weekend:

1) Great to get KG signed up. (The Herald‘s Steve Bulpett broke the story first on Saturday morning.) This morning I heard both mid-day shows talking about negativity regarding the deal – are they making this up? The guy will finish his career here, at a very friendly cap number, and can still play. There are no negatives here. If he feels he’s done before the three years are up, he’ll retire.

2) Tim Wakefield made his NESN debut as a studio analyst over the weekend. Bringing in a guy so closely removed from the end of his playing days is a double-edged sword. He’s beloved by the fans will be an attraction for NESN, but will be able to offer critical analysis of guys he was playing with so recently?

3) The return of Ray Allen is still very much up in the air. I think it might be time to move on for both parties, but I’m OK if they bring him back too. Part of me thinks that Danny Ainge saying how much they want Ray back and even having the numbers floated out there to show they’re offering more than Miami or Memphis can is just so that if Ray chooses to go to Miami, it will clearly be his own choice and the public will see that.

4) Minor annoyance – listening to sports flashes over the weekend, kept hearing update guys saying that “the Celtics are willing to double any offer Miami extends to Ray Allen.” Well, there’s really only ONE offer Miami can make, and it’s for $3 million. Numbers floated that the Celtics would offer $6 million. The “double any offer” is a little misleading.

5) Is Gary Tanguay feeling unloved and unnoticed lately? The stuff he just keeps saying – in all mediums, radio, TV and Twitter is mind-blowingly insane. It’s like he and Dwight Howard are having a competition or something.

6) Hey, did you know that we’re coming up on “Anti-’Boston Sports Media’ Sign” Weekend At Fenway this weekend when the Red Sox play the Yankees? Me either.

7) I’ve never understood why reporters feel the need to tell us when a player declines to speak with the media. Over the weekend it happened again with Josh Beckett in Seattle. From this chair, Beckett is much better off not speaking with the media, because when he does, he usually gets himself in trouble, either with his generous use of expletives or his defiant attitude. He gets criticized by the media when he does talk to them, and they complain when he doesn’t talk to them.

8) New England (Lewiston, ME) native – and huge Celtics fan -  Erin Andrews is on the move, leaving ESPN and joining Fox Sports over the weekend.

9) Heard a voice I have not heard in some time over the weekend – Butch Stearns on WEEI. Perhaps he’s been on their regularly and I just haven’t caught him. With Dan Duquette finally acquiring Jim Thome over the weekend, I was reminded of a decade ago when Stearns proudly proclaimed on FOX 25 that Thome to the Red Sox was a “done deal.”

10) I like having Pete Sheppard back on WEEI. With Sheppard and Dale Arnold taking more and more shifts lately, it’s like old home days at WEEI.