Good day for the Red Sox Sunday as Boston and all its affiliates won. Meanwhile, another affiliate, the Lowell Spinners, gets ready to begin play Tuesday with a handful of signed picks from the 2008 draft.

In Cincinnati, Boston made up for the absence of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez with home runs by J.D. Drew, Coco Crisp, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury ... Drew's 11th homer, by the way, matches his total of last year.

But the most exciting part of Sunday's game may have been Ellsbury leading off in the first. He singled, stole second on the next pitch, and then stole third, finally scoring on Dustin Pedroia's sacrifice fly ... Ellsbury's 33 stolen bases is a Red Sox rookie record.

Ellsbury is batting .289, with a .373 on-base percentage.

Boston (44-28) is 2 1/2 games ahead of Tampa Bay. The Yankees (37-33) are only six back, having won four straight, although Chien-Ming Wang left Sunday's game with a sprained foot.

Pawtucket's Jeff Bailey got half his team's hits (3-for-4) and two RBI, including the game-winning single with two outs in the ninth, in a 3-2 win ... David Pauley turned in a typical performance. He got hit (10 H in 7 IP), but kept his team in the game, allowing only two runs.

Portland finished its road trip with a 2-4 record, with both wins coming on Kris Johnson's starts. After giving up no runs last Tuesday, he allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks over six innings, while striking out 7 ... Daniel Bard had his second straight scoreless outing in relief ... Portland had 14 hits, led by Iggy Suarez's 3-for-5 day.

Lancaster's Adam Mills faced only 16 batters in 5 innings, before allowing 2 runs in the sixth ... Bryce Cox was so-so (2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) ... Lars Anderson (2-for-5, now .312) and Josh Reddick (2-for-6, .332) keep hitting.

Greenville was led by Mike Jones (3-for-4, .344) and Ryan Khalish (2-for-4, .279).

According to the Lowell Spinners website, at least nine 2008 draft picks are signed and ready to go Tuesday, including third-round picks, Stephen Fife (RHP) of Utah and Kyle Weiland (RHP) of Notre Dame.

The Spinners also have reliever Bryan Price (sandwich round out of Rice) on the roster, but state that he has not signed ... Lowell also has unsigned catcher Tim Federowicz (7th round, University of North Carolina) on the roster.

The Red Sox 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th round picks are all out of high school and are expected to take longer to sign.

According to soxprospects.com, Yale catcher/third baseman Ryan Lavarnway (6th round) and Puerto Rico Basebal Academy catcher Christian Vazquez (9th) have signed, and will likely play in the rookie Gulf Coast League in Florida.

Lowell will have Oklahoma City RHP Mike Lee (8th round), Cumberland (Tenn.) LHP Lance McCain (12th), Central Florida LHP Mitch Herold (16th), Hawaii infielder Jon Hee (21st), Texas Christian RHP Seth Garrison (23rd), Richmond RHP Alex Hale (30th), and Western Michigan infielder Zach Gentile (49th).

Other Lowell notes: four touted teenagers are on the roster - RHP Stolmy Pimentel, 18 (Dominican Republic free agent); LHP Drake Britton, 19 (23rd-round in 2007, but with a $700,000 signing bonus); infielder Ryan Dent, 19 (1st round, 2007, $570,000 bonus); and infielder Will Middlebrooks (5th round, 2007, $925,000 bonus).

Infielder Michael Almanzar, 17, the $1.5-million bonus baby out of the Dominican, is not on the Lowell roster and will likely play in the Gulf Coast League.

Hope the blog was not too long - had to make up for taking Father's Day off.

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