Boston Red Sox defeat Detroit Tigers, 5-3

As doggedly as Theo Epstein has resisted bragging about his trades, the Red Sox general manager made one thing clear after he sent Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs and bolstered his defense with Orlando Cabrera, Doug Mientkiewicz, and Dave Roberts.

No Sox player would benefit more, Epstein predicted, than Derek Lowe.

"We expect really big things from Lowe the rest of the way," Epstein said the day of the trades.

As it turns out, Lowe has suffered only one loss in six st...

When the Tigers wasted little time taking a 1-0 lead off Derek Lowe in the first inning, Terry Francona surmised if Lowe's shaky start had come in the first half of the season, Lowe might have let the game slip away.

"Yeah, I agree," said Lowe, after he picked up his 12th win of the season in last night's 5-3 decision before a Fenway Park crowd of 35,018. "The second half has been much better than the first. There were a couple of instances throughout the game that it c...