Weekend Update: Masterson on Tue; Colon on Wed

This is already old news (amazing) but Extra Bases reported on Sunday that Justin Masterson will get the call on Tuesday and Bartolo Colon will take his roster spot in Wednesday. So here's the pitching lineup for the Royals series:

Monday: Jon Lester vs. Luke Hochevar
Tuesday: Justin Masterson vs. Gil Meche
Wednesday: Bartolo Colon vs. Brett Tomko
Thursday: Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Brian Bannister

A sweep of the Brewers put the Sox back in first place in the East... here are the quick hits from the weekend:

Daisuke Matsuzaka improved to 7-0 with another solid outing: 6 2/3 IP, 2 unearned runs and 6 strikeouts. It's good to see the strikeouts come back - Dice-K now has 13 in his his last 2 starts afte averaging 2.7 K/GS in the previous 4 starts. He's also gone 6+ in back to back starts.

Davdi Ortiz has got his groove back. He went 5 for 10 with 3 home runs, 8 RBI, 5 runs scored and 3 walks over the weekend and is now batting .250, after topping out at .184 on April 30th. He's currently at .354 for the month of May and has as many homers (5) as he did for the first month plus.

Jacoby Ellsbury was caught stealing for the first time in his major league career on Sunday. He nabbed his 25th consecutive swipe on Saturday, but was finally caught with a pitch-out by Kendall and Villanueva. Two more swipes would have tied him with Tim Raines for the most consecutive steals to start a season at 27.

"I don't know how many times I've beat the pitchout," Ellsbury said. "If I get a good jump, it still takes a perfect throw. There's been a bunch. Probably five or six [pitchouts]. I notice. It takes a perfect catch, perfect throw. Give 'em credit."

Ryan Braun hit three home runs in the series, two off of Josh Beckett on Sunday - that was his 3rd 2-home run game of the season (and month). He now has 13 on the year, while Prince Fielder (50 in '07) hit just his 6th of the season right after Braun's 2nd of the day.

Josh Beckett gave up 4 homers and 6 runs on the day, but still earned the win thanks to 11 runs from the offense. It was the second game in a row that Captain Kickass has given up 5+ runs... after only doing that 4 times in 30 regular season starts in 2007. He did fan nine batters on the day, but the fact that Milwaukee (27th, .242 BA) and Baltimore (24th, .249) beat him up, make me curious...

After an 0-4 showing against Baltimore, Kevin Youkilis is red hot again. He went 3-5 with a homer yesterday and is 8 for his last 17 (.470).

Mike Lowell has also been hot, raising his BA from .138 in April to .280 by going 23-70 (.329) with 5 homers, 7 doubles and 15 RBI in May... and it's on the the 19th...