Daily Red Sox Links: Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kevin Youkilis, Josh Beckett

I almost hesitate to say it out loud. Listen in... closer... closer... THE RED SOX HAVE WON FOUR IN A ROW! (Why not?)

Daisuke Matsuzaka could be back from his rehab from Tommy John surgery really, really soon. Or, you know, not. (Alex Speier; WEEI.com)

The Major League Baseball draft effectively ranks all the players chosen but, and you'll be shocked by this, those rankings aren't always correct. To wit: Brandon Beachy. (Sam Miller; Baseball Prospectus) (free!)

Bryce Brentz started slow but that is all over now. (James Crowell; Sox Prospects)

Sometimes, bad luck just seems to follow a certain team around. Other times, a certain team seems to make their own bad luck. Like the Royals, who are experts in the field... of bad luck, not baseball. (Matthew Pouliot; Hardball Talk)

Rather than saves and holds, some people and websites have started keeping track of shutdowns and meltdowns. The idea is an interesting one (Jonah Keri wrote about it a while back at Grantland). Here are the leader-boards for those stats. Note the presence of a certain Red Sox closer. (Bryan Grosnick; Beyond the Boxscore)

Albert Pujols hasn't had the best year. Maybe you've heard? A few days ago though he finally hit his first homer. People thought he was back to being Albert Pujols again. Nope. (Jeff Sullivan; Baseball Nation)

There's some weird to-dos in the power rankings world. Sports Illustrated has the Red Sox seventh while Grantland's Jonah Keri has them 18th. Baseball Prospectus is in the middle, putting them 11th.

Sports Illustrated's Will Carroll has injury updates on Jacoby Ellsbury, Kevin Youkilis, and Josh Beckett. (Will Carroll; Sports Illustrated)

Finally, really? You know it's Little League, right? (Kevin Kaduk; Big League Stew)