Yankees Beware

These are not the same Sox that you knocked around starting in game #9 of the season. After getting your collectives asses kicked 8 times in a row, you finally rise up and show some life like it was a pro wrestling smackdown. These Sox however, have won 9 of their last 10 games.

These Sox knocked the birds of Baltimore out of their nests for the 15th time in 17 contests between the 2 clubs this season. Jon Lester was good tonight, but not overpowering, and garnered his 14th win and team leading 22nd quality start, as the Sox beat the Orioles 11-5 at Fenway South. He allowed 10 hits in 6 innings, yet with all those hits, including 2 home runs, he kept the damage to 3 runs allowed. He did not issue any free passes.

Wagner, Saito, and Ramirez pitched 3 scoreless innings, allowing only 1 baserunner. Unfortunately, sandwiched in there was Manny Delcarmen's tough outing. He served up a phat meatball sandwich: 2 walks, 2 home runs, 0 outs. After a lights out April in which he tossed 13 scoreless innings, his ERA has been steadily rising ever since. I love a good home-town-boy-makes-good story, so I certainly hope he can correct his miscues before October. I'd hate to see him go. The Sox will certainly need the April MDC in about 2 & 1/2 weeks. Barring a '78esque implosion, the Sox will be squaring off against the Angels in the ALDS. They technically have not been eliminated from the AL East crown, but they are 7 games ahead of the reeling Rangers, the magic number down to 9 for the wild card slot. Let's not dismiss the fact that the Sox are 9 and 1 in their last 10 games, and have reduced the Yankees lead from 9 games to 6, but only 5 in the loss column. Yankees! You'd better not look over your shoulder lest you trip and fall! It still could happen, yaknow. Just sayin'....

OK, let's get back to tonight's game. Every starter had at least 1 hit, Pedroia and Ortiz 2 hits each, and Drew and Lowell 3 hits each, including a home run by Drew. Rookie Josh "Glenda" Reddick hit his 2nd home run of the season.

Alex Gonzalez made a 'Web Gem' worthy stab and turned a great 6-4-3 double play! I'm tellin' ya- sign this guy for the next 3 years!

Sox Win 11-5 BOX SCORE

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Red Sox Lineup 9/19 vs the O's

Jacoby Ellsbury-CF

Dustin Pedroia-2B

Victor Martinez-C

Kevin Youkilis-1B

David Ortiz-DH

J.D. Drew-RF

Mike Lowell-3B

Josh Reddick-LF Alex Gonzalez-SS Jon Lester-SP

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Time To Start Thinking About the Playoff Rotation

The Red Sox are going to be in the playoffs and they are going to be playing the Angels in the first round.  A six game Yankee lead is too much to overcome at this point.  How would you set up the rotation?  Josh Beckett is the defacto ace of the staff but Lester has been a better pitcher lately.  Here is a look at what the playoffs might look like:

Game 1 Josh Beckett/Jon Lester in Anaheim
Game 2 Josh Beckett/Jon Lester  in Anaheim
Game 3 Clay Buchholz/Dice-K/Tim Wakefield in Boston
Game 4 Josh Beckett/Jon Lester in Boston
Game 5 Josh Beckett/Jon Lester in Anaheim

If Lester pitches game one he can also start at Fenway where he is unstoppable.  He did not pitch against the Angels this season and had one start against them last season where he gave up 4 runs in 5 innings, but I think most in Red Sox Nation would feel more comfortable with him on the mound to start the series.  My rotation is in bold but I have a feeling that Beckett will get the start in Game 1.

The Angels are going to have a tough time figuring out their rotation, they have Lackey, Weaver, Saunders, Santana and Kazmir all wanting to start and all with similar numbers. (Santana looks to be the odd man out and Kazmir is a big question mark for the Angels)

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Roger Clemens* Keeps Digging Via Twitter

Even though his defimation lawsuit against his former trainer was thrown out earlier this month, Roger Clemens* continues to dig deeper into the massive hole of denial.  Now he has turned to twitter to get his message out.  Since speaking to millions through national TV interviews and appearing in front of Congress did not get his version of the story out he is posting updates like these to get people on his side:

Some people are just ASS CLOWNS! it would be nice to one day have a chance to have our say in a fair setting


And yes we will. Our side is loaded with info. Can't wait to get it out there!!! Coming soon

So I guess he was just waiting until after his lawsuit to get the info out there?  If Roger* wants to get people to believe his side of the story he might want to start by using a twitter background that doesn't have a cartoon baseball player straight out of a Hans and Frans episode.

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Sox & Dawgs Goes On Hiatus

One of the great Red Sox sites on the web came to a halt tonight.  Ian Bethune posted a note on his site Sox & Dawgs to explain his decision:

I've always been someone who has given 110% on no matter what I do in life. So when I realized I could no longer offer that, I decided this was the best step to take right now. I'd rather not do anything at all then give you something half ass when you expect more of me. Believe me this decision didn't come easily. I've gone back in forth in my head all day.But in the end, I knew when I wrote down that I couldn't give the 110% on everything that it was time to think about things....Maybe I'll have a change of heart in the morning, maybe I won't. I do know for right now, I need to take time to figure things out.

Over the last two years Ian has linked to my stories countless times, he was the first big site to put a link up for Fenway West back when we were getting about 4 hits a day.  I owe him a great deal of thanks for all of the support he has given me and hope he will have his great site back up soon.

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Sox Roll Over O's on Way to Red October

The Red Sox continued to look like a team that is ready for the playoffs and Clay Buchholz looked like a true number three starter.  Buchholz gave up 5 hits and 1 run in 6 innings tonight and earned his 6th win.

The Red Sox offense was powered by J-Bay who went yard in the 4th before leaving the game with the flu.  Casey Kotchman seemed to benefit from his recent time in the lineup by going 3-4 with a RBI in the game.

The bullpen was spectacular; Bard, Oki, and Papelbon combined for 3 hitless innings.

Red Sox Win 3-1 BOX SCORE

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Red Sox	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	3	11	0
Orioles	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0

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Red Sox Lineup 9/18 vs Baltimore

Jacoby Ellsbury-CF
Dustin Pedroia-2B
Victor Martinez-C
Kevin Youkilis-3B
David Ortiz-DH
Jason Bay-LF
J.D. Drew-RF
Casey Kotchman-1B
Alex Gonzalez-SS  Clay Buchholz-SP

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John Henry Takes on the Boston Media for Ortiz Reporting

Red Sox owner John Henry has a new post up on NESN where he vehemently defends David Ortiz and says that the media owes him an apology for their reporting. He specifically calls out Dan Shaughnessy and Tony Masserotti. in the article.

David spent more than a week trying to get to the bottom of why he was on that list. He began only with the knowledge that he had never used steroids. It was a nightmarish week of frustration for David. I could not believe the rush to judgment that took place.

I understand why people want to support Ortiz in this matter and I understand why the members of the media are skeptical. We still do not have the full story and Henry has a right to defend his star player but the way Ortiz addressed the situation at the beginning and during the press conference has allowed for some doubt in his story. The Boston media is not responsible for an injustice to Ortiz. The MLBPA, MLB and those that have broken the rules before him have led to a climate of guilty until proven innocent, especially when there is circumstantial evidence. Henry never apologized for the Red Sox signing Gagne when they knew he was a steroid user.

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Tek. That's it. You're Grounded!

We all know I am a Tek fan. Always have been. This off season, I was just sick thinking that he might not get resigned by the team. When he did sign, I was happy as could be...jumping up and down...and singing from the roof tops. I think the world of our Captain.

I also think it's time for the Captain to be the Captain from the bench. I had accepted his diminished bat for the other things he does. But with two glaring errors in the past two days, umm...yeah, it's time to call a spade a spade.

In the game on Wednesday....Tek let a ball get beyond him on a strike 3 from Ramon Ramirez that caused all hell to break loose and our boys to go from having a 2 run lead to having a 2 run deficit.

Then last night. Josh Beckett threw a nasty breaking ball...that Tek went to the mound and called. And, Tek lost the ball again and it allowed the runner on 3rd to score...game tied.

Ugh with a side of ugh. With defense like that, I can no longer defend his lack of offense. V MART should be our starting catcher, in my lowly opinion.

Sorry Captain. I still love you. Always will. I just can't stand strong in your defense any longer. Sad times, sad times.

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Red Sox Rookies Get Some New Clothes

To welcome the rookies to the team the veterans provided them with some special outfits from the Wizard of Oz that they had to wear to Baltimore.  Here is the list courtesy of the ProJo:

• Junichi Tazawa - Dorothy
• Josh Reddick- the Fairy Godmother
• Michael Bowden - the Tin Man
• Dusty Brown - the Scarecrow
• Daniel Bard - the Cowardly Lion
• Jed Lowrie - a Flying Monkey.

Center Field has the photos.

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No Brooms Tonight

Josh Beckett went 8 full tonight, allowing 7 hits and 3 runs while striking out 7 Halos. That and 2 home runs, 1 each by Ellsbury and Bay, were not enough to sweep the Angels out of Boston. Tied 3-3 going into the top of the 9th, Billy Wagner suffered his 1st loss in a Sox uni by a combination of Angel's small ball (sac bunt in the 9th) and Howie Kendrick going 3/4, including a HR, 2 RBI's, and 2 runs scored. Victor Martinez was back in the line up and connected for another hit.

I don't know much about the Angel's 2nd baseman, except that he's 26 yo, has a .304 average spanning his 4 season in the bigs so far, and has played 1st base for Ellay before moving over 1 base.

Sox Lose 3-4 BOX SCORE

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Peter Abraham Will Soon Be Covering the Red Sox

Yankees Beat Writer Peter Abraham of the LoHud Yankees blog has accepted a job with the Boston Globe to blog about the Red Sox. Before you get mad and say why is a Yankee guy going to cover the Red Sox, take a step back from the rivalry and understand that Boston is getting one of the great beat writers in baseball.  Earlier this season we interviewed Peter Abraham prior to a Yankees/Red Sox series here on Fenway West.  He has a great following and will bring outstanding baseball writing to the Hub.  So let us be among the many who wish him good luck now that he is on the right side of the rivalry.

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Red Sox Lineup 9/17 vs the Angels

Jacoby Ellsbury-CF
Dustin Pedroia-2B
Victor Martinez-1B
Jason Bay-LF
David Ortiz-DH
Mike Lowell-3B
J.D. Drew-RF
Jason Varitek-C
Alex Gonzalez-SS

Josh Beckett-SP

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Sox and Charity: The August Edition!

Hi All! It's time for another charity update. As I have stated in previous months, I committed to donating $10 to charity for every Red Sox win in 2009. After the All Star Break...the Red Sox seemed to hate charity since they seemed hell bent against racking up wins. However, they seem to be a fan of the charity once again!

For the month of August, the Red Sox won 15 games, so that mean $150 going to charity. This month, the money was donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The money is spent to fund research in hopes of finding a cure to Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes.



I participate in our local walk each and every year, so this month was an easy one to pick the charity. Diabetes is a disease that pulls at my heart strings. My mom unfortunately passed away in 2007 from diabetes related complications. It's one of those diseases that can be managed, but if it is not....it can lead to countless problems. I have such hopes that there will be a cure for the disease in my lifetime so that people do not need to suffer like my mom did.

I used to walk for my mom when she was with us...and since she has passed away, I have walked in her honor. If you happen to have a few extra dollars lying around and want to donate, feel free to donate to my walk page. The walk has come and gone, but they accept donations for about another month.

Now let's review the charities we have given money in 2009.

April $140.00 Donated to MalariaNoMore.Org
May $150.00 Donated to Bob Woodruff Foundation
June/July $310.00 Donated to The Jimmy Fund
August $150.00 Donated to JDRF

for a total of $750.00 being donated in 2009. And in September, we have won 10 games...and I hope we finish all kinds of STRONG! And let's not forget OCTOBER!

Let's Go Red Sox! Not only do walk off wins like last night bring us all kinds of warm fuzzy happiness, but they also help our some really amazing charities.

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Fenway Faithful are in the Angels' Heads

You can see the panic beginning to set in among the Angels as the reality of facing the Red Sox in the playoffs has once again arrived.  Perhaps the most evident example of this comes from Torri Hunter who called out his teammates for getting rattled:

"I don't give a damn about this place. I just play. I can't speak for everybody else," Hunter said. "We gotta play better. … If you do this in the regular season, what's going to happen in the playoffs?
"A lot of players on this team are getting it wrong. It's not more important to play this team (the Red Sox) than the Tampa Bay Rays or Seattle Mariners. You play the same game. You do what you do. You have fun. You don't change your game because it's the Red Sox or the Yankees. If you play nervous, you're going to make mistakes. Show some (guts)."

When you have Fuentes saying the umps are too scared to make a call and you add that to the Angels' history against the Red Sox in the playoffs you have a team that is playing scared and may be looking at another post season to forget.

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So...walk off goodness and all that jazz!

So, last night walk off by Alex Gonzalez happened. It did. I am smiling from ear to ear as a result. After the game, I had some Red Sox induced adrenaline so I had a hard time falling asleep. I spent way too much time blathering about the awesomeness of the Red Sox on the twitter. Then, I read this article at 1:35 AM EST by Adam Kilgore over at the Globe. Let's just highlight a few things.

Green revealed after the game that he has been battling a "dead leg" and he thought he was going to collapse during the at-bat and had no chance to get a hit.

So, looks like Greenie has been experiencing a "dead leg" since Monday and did not mention it to anyone. Nick's at bat looked bizarre before we knew what was going on...and hearing his "dead leg" story explained a lot of things. But, umm..I have a bone to pick with you Nick Green. How could you NOT mention it to anyone? You could have been getting treatment for the past 2 days. You allowed Tito to put you into a game to pinch hit with the GAME ON THE LINE when you could not put any weight on your freakin' leg. Not cool. At all. It worked out...since you worked a walk...kind of, but seriously. Next time...you have trainers for a reason...clue them in when your leg is umm...shall we say...dead.

And the controversy continues with Nick Green. Mainly...did he or did he not actually strike out. Umm, let's be honest...he did. I will accept the "it could go either way" of the check swing. The umps could justify that call, no doubt. However, Ball 4...umm, complete strike. We know it. The umps now know it. The Amica Strike Zone surely made sure that Jerry Remy knew it last night. That pitch was dead center in the strike zone. However...the umps called it a ball. It happens sometimes. I am sure that Fuentes is unhappy that he gets a blown save because of a bad call. I can get him being mad as hell about it. However...this is what he had to say after the game about the umpiring.

Afterward, closer Brian Fuentes claimed the Red Sox get calls from umpires at Fenway because the umps are afraid, and that players on his team and on others agreed with him. "It seems like some times, especially here and some other places, some guys are timid to make a call," Fuentes said. "It just seems like that’s the way it is. At Fenway. You hear it time and time again from other guys. The same thing happens when they come through. It’s something you have to live with. It’s either human mistake, or they’re scared. It’s one of the two."

Umm. Really? The umps don't make the right calls because they are scared at Fenway? Seriously? Even if that is true....and well, it's utter malarkey...why would you say that? Next time Fuentes is up in a do and die situation....and the umps see a call that could "go either way"....no chance in hell that the umps are giving the call Fuentes way. I guess our closer isn't the only one with a need to STFU.

Great game. It may have made it so I was up at 3am and still unable to sleep. Ah, good times. Reminded me of October and that's a very good thing.

P.S. Tek. You're grounded. Just sayin....

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Red Sox Win! Red Sox Win! Red Sox Win!

You're once, twice, three times...
No, that one won't work.

Three times a charm?
Naah, been done before.

Three's company?
No, not that one, either.

I'm wrackin' the ol' noggin tryin' to come up with some snappy title to this post about the Red Sox coming back 3 (three) times tonight, but not having much luck, so I'm going to type away and see if any lightbulbs flash on along the way.

Paul Byrd was adequate tonight. (I promise no aviary humor tonight.) He went 5+ innings allowing only 3 runs to score by the Angels. Well, there is the matter of the 9 hits he allowed, but as the final score would indicate, it's not how many hits you make, it's how many runs you score. Despite holding the Halos to 3 runs, he left the game on the short end of 3-0 deficit. Not to worry as the Sox scored 5 times in the bottom of the 6th (comeback #1) After Byrd handed over the ball to the bullpen, Saito came in and pitched 1 inning and allowed another run in. Next up was Ramirez who had nothin', nada, zippo, zilch tonight as he allowed 3 more Angels around the diamond while registering only 1 out. So now the Sox are down 7-5. (Around about that time the Bums from da Bronx tallied a comeback of their own, as they were down 2-4 and came back to beat Toronto 5-4.) The Sox scored twice in the 8th for comeback #2, tying the game, but not for long, as the Angels put another run up in the top of the 9th. (Are you following all this?) Down by 1 run in the bottom of the 9th, Ortiz draws a 2 out walk. Joey Gathright enters to run for Papi. J.D. Drew singles. Reddick had pinch hit earlier for 'Tek and scored one of the 8th inning runs, so now enter Dusty Brown at catcher. Enter Jed Lowrie to pinch hit for Brown before he even had a chance to step up to the plate. Lowrie singles. Nick Green coaxed a walk to load the bases. Next up, A-Gonz who singled to drive in Drew and win the game.

Earlier I said it's not how many hits, but how many runs that counts (Baseball 101.) The Sox had 13 of 'em tonight, but the Halos had 17. Thankfully, the Sox pitchers scattered them just barely enough to offset that lopsided statistic.

Now, about this shortstop dilemma. I commented on an earlier post about the possibility of a long term future for Alex Gonzalez in a Sox uni. The usually light hitting (yet vacuum like sweeping of just about any ball hit in between 2nd and 3rd bases) Gonzalez was hitting at a fugly .210 clip when he arrived for his 2nd tour of duty in Boston. He has lifted his batting average by a full 25 points in the past month. Since August 16th, he has 29 hits in 93 at-bats for a nice .312 average. He's only 32 years old. Both Lowell and Jeter are 35 years old, and are doing just fine, thank you very much. Theo would do well to lock him up for the next 3 years.

Despite winning 7 in a row, the Sox remain 6.5 games behind the Yanks, but only 5 behind in the loss column. Texas has lost 4 in a row, distancing themselves from the Red Sox in the Wild Card race by 6.5 games.

Sox Win 9-8 BOX SCORE

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Injury Update

Tim Wakefield is "losing strength" in his leg due to the back injury. He met with doctors today and it is not looking good

Kevin Youkilis: lower back spasms near his kidneys have him out again tonight and possibly for tomorrow.

Victor Martinez: he is away from the team for a personal matter and should be back tomorrow.

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Red Sox Lineup 9/16 vs the Angels

Jacoby Ellsbury-CF
Dustin Pedroia-2B
Jason Bay-LF
Mike Lowell-3B
David Ortiz-DH
Rocco Baldelli-RF
Jason Varitek-C
Casey Kotchman-1B
Alex Gonzalez-SS

Paul Byrd-SP

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Tek Talks About Dice-K's Return

Jason Varitek spoke with reporters after last night's win over the Angels.  Watch below:

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A-Rod* Scandal of the Week: Gum Littering

Alex Rodriguez* does not respect the stadium he plays in nor his fellow teammates according to a post from YankeesMix.com:

He has this habit between almost every inning where he takes this slobbered mass of pink matter, comprised of at least five or six pieces of synthetic rubber (or gum) from his pie hole, and throws it on the Stadium's fine Kentucky bluegrass. When the Yanks notch a win, take notice, he has a special gum flip where he pops it out of his mouth and into the air, then whacks it away just before he starts shaking his drooly hands with his teammates.

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Yankee Fight Video

The Yankees and Jays were involved in a bench clearing brawl tonight.  Watch the video below before MLB takes it down:



You can expect a slew of suspensions are forthcoming...ha ha.

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BEAT LAA

For this series or for the first round of the playoffs we offer you some proper attire:

 

click on the picture to order one of your own.

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Ortiz Blogs Again!!

After several weeks of silence David Ortiz is blogging again and he is ready for the playoffs:

Not everybody gets prepared to be playing in October, but this ballclub gets prepared to be playing in October. We've made some moves the last couple of months that are going to help us get where we want to go. 

 Things are quickly falling into place for another special fall for the Red Sox.

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Dice-K Comes Up Huge

Admit it, you thought Dice-K would last about 4 innings and would give up 5 runs tonight. Matsuzaka proved everybody wrong and pitched a great game at the Fens tonight.  In 6 scoreless innings he gave up just 3 hits and struck out 5.  RR, Wagner, Bard, and Paps went the rest of the way.  Papelbon looked a little shaky and gave up one run but in the end he shut down the Angels.

The game was tied at 0-0 until the 6th when the Red Sox took the lead on a throwing error by John Lackey.  Ells and Big Papi each had 2 hits in the game.

With the dominating performance by Dice-K tonight, the Red Sox suddenly have the best rotation in baseball.  Going into the playoffs with Beckett, Lester, Buchholz, and Dice-K all pitching well could spell trouble for any team standing in their way.

After the game Matsuzaka talked about how he was feeling:

"On the road back I've been a burden on my teammates more than anything, and I feel that I owe them."

 The Rangers lost again so the Red Sox now lead the wild-card race by 5.5 games.

Red Sox Win 4-1 BOX SCORE

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
LA Angels	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	6	1
Red Sox	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	4	9	0

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Red Sox Lineup 9/15 vs the Angels

Jacoby Ellsbury-CF
Dustin Pedroia-2B
J.D. Drew-RF
Jason Bay-LF
David Ortiz-DH
Mike Lowell-3B
Casey Kotchman-1B
Jason Varitek-C
Alex Gonzalez-SS

Dice-K-SP

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Red Sox to Visit the Bay Area 3 Times in 2010

MLB has released the 2010 schedule.  After only coming to the Bay Area once in 2009, the Red Sox will play out here 3 times in 2010; twice against the A's and once against the Giants. 

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Dice-K's Leash

The Ranger's loss last night gave Terry Francona and John Farrell a little more wiggle room in dealing with Dice-K tonight.  With a 4.5 game lead in the wild-card, tonight's match up with the Angels in not a must win game so you won't see a pitching change if Matsuzaka looks bad early.  The Red Sox are going to give him a pretty long leash to see what they have; especially since Wake's future is up in the air.  John Farrell is optimistic that Dice-K is ready to go:

“He has done an outstanding job of committing to a program and getting himself in what we consider, just to the naked eye, better shape,” Farrell said. “He’s reshaped his body. He’s added core strength. He’s gotten the strength levels in his shoulder back to a level where he was a year ago. I think he feels good about himself as well, so we’re all looking forward to his next time out here.”

If Matsuzaka can pitch well tonight then look out; with a rotation of Beckett, Lester, Buchholz, and Dice-K going into the post-season the Red Sox could go deep into the month of October.

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How does Tito pick his lineup?

Ortiz, Varitek, Martinez, Youkilis, Lowell, Kochman, Kotteras, Gonzalez, Lowrie, Green, and Pedroia are all involved in Tito’s daily ordeal of trying to come up with a line-up for the day. You could almost pull the whole outfield onto that list, as Youkilis has done some time in left field, but for this discussion we’ll stay with the DH and infield positions:

Ortiz~ DH, 1B
Varitek~ C
Martinez~ C, 1B
Youkilis~ 1B, 3B
Lowell~ 3B
Kochman~ 1B
Kotteras~ C
Gonzalez~ SS
Lowrie~ SS, 3B, 2B
Green~ SS, 2B, 3B, P
Pedroia~ 2B

You can see how many players and positions are involved, it’s downright incestuous. Actually, any one of them could fill the DH slot.

An unconfirmed source reports that Tito has used several methods of picking his line-up for the day: dart board, wheel of fortune, roll of the dice, pulling straws, NASA computers, tarot cards, tea leaves, astrology, palm readings, consult with a team of Jamesian statisticians, and rock/paper/scissors. The only exception to these rituals comes when Dustin Pedroia beats Tito at cribbage. Then Pedey gets to pick the line-up.

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Peter Gammons Uses a Little Grateful Dead to Explain the State of the Red Sox

In his latest blog post Peter Gammons tries to explain the current Red Sox season and where it could possibly end up.  To get his point across he throws in some Garcia/Hunter:

It has been a long, strange trip to get here, with three weeks remaining and the team having a chance to reach the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years.

and to finish off the article he throws in : 

For now, it comes down to the final 20 games, half of which are away from Fenway. It starts with Matsuzaka against Lackey, which goes to show you never can tell.

So enjoy a little Jerry on this off day:

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Jason Bay Talks About His "Bomb"

J-Bay wraped one around the Pesky Pole yesterday for on of the shortest homers anyone could hit.  He joked about it after the game.  Watch below:

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Jon Lester is God

As of right now, the Ace of the Boston starting rotation is Jon Lester. Beckett may have had that title, and he may well earn it back (as evidenced by his latest start), but right now it’s Lester.

He has been a formidable force in his last 19 starts. Going back to May 31st, he has won 10 and lost 2, while posting an absurdly low 2.02 ERA. In 11 of those starts, he allowed 1 earned run or less. No left hander has succeeded in Fenway Park as Lester has done since Mel Parnell stood on the Fenway mound back in the ‘50’s. The 2nd game of today’s double-header bears witness to this. Lester went 8 shutout innings and allowed only 2 hits, while striking out 7 to lead the Sox of a doubleheader sweep and a series sweep over the reeling Rays. Billy Wagner tossed a scoreless 9th inning.

Offensively, the Sox scored 4 runs on 7 hits. It was a relatively quiet day with the bats, but Jason Bay did mash hit 32nd tater of the year in the 8th inning. In Tito’s daily ‘pick the line up’ game (does he use a dart board?), he had Ortiz at DH, ‘Tek catching, Martinez at 1st, and Lowell at 3rd, while Youk had the day off.

3 Dead Rays

Sox Win 4-0 BOX SCORE

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Rays	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Red Sox	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	4	7	0

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Red Sox Lineup 9/13 Game 2

Jacoby Ellsbury-CF
Dustin Pedroia-2B
Victor Martinez-1B
J.D. Drew-RF
Jason Bay-LF
David Ortiz-DH
Mike Lowell-3B
Jason Varitek-C
Alex Gonzalez-SS

Jon Lester-SP

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Clay Does it Again

Clay Buchhoz had a no decision in game one of today's doubleheader against the Rays, but he is the reason the Red Sox won; he pitched 7 innings and gave up just 1 run on 5 hits. He took another step in becoming the #3 starter if the Red Sox make the post-season.  Oki pitched a perfect 8th and Papelbon came in to earn his 36th save in the 9th.

The offense was having a hard time getting hits off of Rays starter Matt Garza, but in the 6th Pedey just missed a homer with a wall-ball double and V-Mart drove him to put the Sox on the board.  Pedroia also had a 2-run homer off of Garza in the 8th.

Game 1 of the Rangers doubleheader is delayed until at least 5pm so the Red Sox now have a 3.5 game lead in the wild-card standings.

Red Sox Win 3-1 BOX SCORE

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Rays	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6	0
Red Sox	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	3	9	0

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John Henry Joins the Blogosphere

Red Sox owner John Henry has started a blog on NESN and in his first post he warned readers not to take him so seriously:

Now I realize that if I, for instance, joke around about a curse ... oooeuff! Some people seem to take everything seriously in sports -- everything. I don’t know how anyone can take curses seriously!

I kidded about Yankees Universe and the fact that Red Sox Nation has ceded many of the planets in our own solar system to the Yanks ... oh boy. Some took great offense. “SOX OWNER BASHES YANKS!”

So let's be clear. This blog will often be written with a sense of humor. And it will be controversial for at least a couple of reasons. Number one -- I'm writing it. Number two -- I have had a lifelong tendency to be blunt.

It should be an interesting read.

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Red Sox Lineup 9/13 Game 1

Jacoby Ellsbury-CF
Dustin Pedroia-2B
Victor Martinez-C
Kevin Youkilis-3B
Jason Bay-DH
Casey Kotchman-1B
Rocco Baldelli-RF
Josh Reddick-LF
Nick Green-SS

Clay Buchholz-SP

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