Will an injured Lowell and/or Drew hurt more than help?

Francona has yet to announce the 25-man roster that will take on the Angels tomorrow night, but announce a few names that will NOT be on the roster:

Devern Hansack, David Pauley, and David Aardsma will be going to pitch in the instructional league in Fort Myers, Fla. Hansack and Pauley will be stretched out as starters, while Aardsma pitches in relief. Chris Smith and George Kottaras will be heading home. That leaves the rest of the roster going to Anaheim, where the team will announce its 25 players for the first round by the 10 a.m. deadline tomorrow...

That leaves: Ortiz, Youk, Pedroia, Lowrie, Casey, Cora, Tek, Cash, Bay, Ellsbury, Coco, Kotsay ... and ... Beckett, Lester, Matsuzaka, Wake, Byrd, Papelbon, Okajima, Matserson, Delcarmen, Lopez, Timlin ... Lowell and Drew = 25.

Mike Lowell (hip) and JD Drew (back) participated in the option practice yesterday. Lowell and Drew both took BP, but the real test for Lowell will be how the hip feels while fielding groundballs:

"I feel pretty good," Lowell said. "It's not really bothering me to swing, so I think today was more just getting into the flow of trying to get ready for the game. Then tomorrow will be a big day for me 'cause I'm going to take ground balls and see how that goes. That will give me a lot more information on how things are going.

"I'd definitely like to [play in Game 1], but I've got to see how I'm moving defensively. But I'm anticipating something good."

Bottom Line: The Sox held it together with guys like Lowrie, Coco, Youk and Kotsay filling in for Lowell and Drew, but if healthy, the Sox are a better team with these guys in the lineup... the question is: If they aren't healthy, will they hurt the team more than they will help?

The Beckett Butterfly Effect

Josh Beckett injured his oblique during a side session on Friday. Expected to start game one of the ALDS against the Angels on Wednesday Oct. 1, Bekett will now be pushed back to Game 3, set for Sunday Oct. 5 at Fenway.

Francona on Beckett:

"I don’t think we would slot him in. Now certainly, if it goes the wrong way, we’re going to use pretty good, hopefully very good, judgment. But I think that we’re slotting him in there because we think he can pitch there. I don’t think – Friday was actually discussed. I think after Theo [Epstein] and I and John Farrell talked about it more and more and more, we thought that was pushing it. Because then you’re messing around with maybe cutting short a side session. It’s not just health, but it’s competing also. He has to be able to go out there and execute his pitches. I think he’s going to be OK."

An injured Josh Beckett is cause for concern, but the ripple effect it has on the team and the ALDS is interesting:

1. Jon Lester will now start Game 1 in Anaheim. A look at Lester's home/road splits reveals cause for concern:

Home: 11-1, 2.49 ERA, .240 BAA
Away: 5-5, 4.09 ERA, .275 BAA

Lester probably would have started Game 2 in Anaheim anyway, but a healthy Beckett would have given him the option to save Lester for Game 3 at Fenway... Game 1 will be a challenge for Lester, but even if the Sox lose the opener, they'll have Beckett and Lester set for Games 3 and 4 at Fenway... not such a bad thing.

2. Dice-K will now start game 2. He's been solid both at home and on the road this year, but Matsuzaka seems to buckle down a little more on the road. His ERA is almost a full point lower away from Fenway: 2.37 vs 3.34... batters are hitting just .178 against him in road starts, compared to .236 at Fenway... and the WHIP significantly better on the road: 1.16 vs 1.46.

3. Beckett's post season history almost nullifies all other stats, but a look at him home/away splits makes me a little concerned about Game 3:

Home: 5-5, 5.65 ERA, .295 BAA
Away: 7-5, 2.85 ERA, .226 BAA

Josh was looking extra nasty in September, but it's clearly been a struggle for him at home this year. The long ball has been an issue at home - 10/73.1 (.137) compared to 8/101 (0.79) and despite the September surge, Beckett has had it rough at home since the start of July:

Jul 9 MIN - Beckett and the Sox got the win despite 5 runs and 2 HRs through 5
Jul 25 NYY - Beckett was the tough luck loser, holding the Yanks to 1 run through 7
Jul 30 LAA - 11 hits, 8 run, 7 earned, despite 8 Ks though 5+ innings
Aug 17 TOR - Beckett didn't make it out of the 3rd thanks to 8 runs on 8 hits
Sep 10 TAM - Tough luck again, but things seemed to be clicking here - 6 IP, 1 ER, 7 K
Sep 22 CLE - The Sept. surge stopped here with 4 rin on 7 hits a 3-4 loss.

4. Wake has been solid at Fenway this year: 7-4, 3.10 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, .206 BAA. If Beckett can't go or appears to be struggling early, you may see Wake out of the pen in Game 3...

Bottom Line: Things just got a little more interesting...

Photo from Centerfield.

Red Sox v Yankees Update - Ortiz to play 1B

Extra Bases says that the Sox are planning to play tonight, despite constant and heavy rain all day today...

But the Sox are postponing the ceremony for Johnny Pesky and the retirement of his uniform number until Sunday because of the uncertainty of the weather. It will now take place at 1:15 p.m. on Sunday, before that day's game.

The Sox also announced tonight's lineups and David Ortiz will be playing first base with Mike Lowell at DH... JD Drew is out agiain with Kotsay in RF...

Let's all take a minute to pray that this game is rained out and/or that Ortiz doesn't injure himself in the field...

Wrigley beats Fenway for No. 1 "Old School Venue"

Fox Sports posted their Top 10 Old School Sports Venues earlier this week. Wrigley Field managed to beat out Fenway Park - here's the write up on both parks:

Wrigley

Impossibly narrow concourses, cramped seating and poor sightlines from the back of the grandstand can make watching a Cubs game a chore. But hardship is just part of the charm here, along with the outfield-wall ivy, day games, bleacher bums, rooftop grandstands, blustery winds off Lake Michigan, the ghost of Harry Caray and the hard-partying Wrigleyville neighborhood. The history of this place is especially colorful, from the Billy Goat Curse to the Bartman Incident. Fans wear the team's famous postseason futility like a badge of honor. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is the beer drinkers' national anthem in Chicago. The Second City has many great sports bars, but this is the biggest of them all. What would happen to this place if the Cubs actually won a World Series?

Fenway

The Green Monster looms large in our national pastime. It may be the most distinctive single stadium feature in the sport's history. But there is more to Fenway than the 37-foot left-field wall, which allegedly stands 310 feet from home plate. It oozes history. This is where Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski ruled. Like Wrigley, it subjects real fans to narrow concourses and wedge-in seating. In that way, the stadium hasn't changed much since it opened in 1912. Like Wrigley, it sits in a great neighborhood and offers ample party opportunities within the immediate vicinity. And unlike Wrigley, it has been home to recent World Championship glory. Caroline is sweet indeed.

Bottom Line: Since this survey was designed to rate the most "Old School" venues, I can't say that I disagree with the results... Wrigley has maintained most of it's original charm - maybe to a fault - while Fenway has been through a number of changes during the Henry/Warner administration.

But I will say this - My friends in Chi-Town have told me that Wrigley is often filled with "rich snobs" (to use a term from the comments below) and many baseball fans would rather attend a White Sox game than fight for seats with the Chicago "elite." ... But despite the steadily increasing prices at Fenway, the rich snobs have yet to take over The Fens - like they did in the Garden - and that, coupled with the fact that parts of the stadium aren't likely to fall on me during the game, makes Fenway the better venue in my oinion.

Personally, it think the ownership has done a great job of updating the park without losing all the charm... but not everyone agrees... take these comments from the original post with a grain of salt... some of them are just plain idiotic...

"there was an article on espn.com about 2-4 months ago written by a new york (yankee fan) journalist who attended a yankee redsox game and wrote about his experience stating that it was single handedly the best baseball game experience you could possibly ever have. the funny part was at the end of the article he states "and even the yankees lost and it was still that good" i have never been there but i follow the history of the game closely and to me that matters more than luxury boxes or high dollar ammenities, especially when you can impress your bitterest rival like that."

"this place is called a `toilet` by most real fans. even smells like u-r-i-n-e. Cramped and filthy, there`s absolutely NOTHING nostalgic about this dump, as it`s `charm` faded a long time ago and has been replaced by the hassles of attending a game there (lack of amenities being the number one problem, and we`re not talking skyboxes and luxury items, wer`re talking BATHROOMS and CONCESSIONS and seats with good sightlines!!!!)"

"Just wondering if you have sat with the fans at Wrigley and Fenway? I am a Dodger fan, and Ilove baseball, but by far the best venue is FENWAY PARK. I hate the Red Sox, but FENWAY is the best as a true fan of the game. Wringley is not even in my top 5. I would even put Camden Yards ahead of Wringley, get away from the rich snobs!"

What say you?

Jed Lowrie breaks through rookie wall

I just thought it was worth noting that despite being stuck in an 0 for his last 18 slump, Tito put Jed Lowrie in the 2 hole last night and the kid responded with two hits, his 45th RBI and two runs scored.

We mentioned that Jed hit the cages after failing to drive in the tying run on two separate occasions on Monday. That didn't seem to help much on Tuesday when he struck two more time and went 0-4 on the night, so Tito gave him a night off on Wednesday and pulled some managerial trickery in last night's game.

Remy has commended Tito on a number of occasions for using the old "hit and run" to break guys out of slumps. The idea is to make the batter focus on making contact - any contact - and have them forget about aiming for gaps or guessing pitches.

In Lowrie's first at-bat last night, Tito put the hit and run on with Ellsbury at 1st and Lowrie lined a shot to center. Jacoby may have been running on his own (he is trying for the club record for steals), but that seemed to wake Jed up because he came back in the second with an RBI double to left. He would pop out in his final two at-bats, but he made contact in all four chances... a good sign considering he had struck out 13 times in 30 at-bats before getting the night off on Wednesday.

Bottom Line: The Sox need Lowrie to get back on track and sandwiching him between Ellsbury (14-game hitting streak) and Pedroia (.325 BA)... something should rub off, right?

Lester keeps division hopes alive

Jon Lester bounced back from a rough outing against the Jays, flirting with a no hitter through 5 innings and eventually earning his 16th win of the season.

I spent the night roaming the stands with SRO tickets, but ended up watching the second half of the game about 15 rows back from third base.

Seeing Lester get back on track was a good sign and has many Sox fans wondering if he should be the No. 2 starter in the playoffs... but if the Sox have to head to Cali next week, Lester would be pitching on the road, and as Dan at Red Sox Monster, reminds us, Jonny's been much better at the Fens this year:

Home: 11-1, 2.49 ERA, .240 BAA
Away: 5-5, 4.09 ERA, .275 BAA

Thanks to Lester's dominance, another nice night from Youk (2-3, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R), a clean set of innings from Masterson, Okie-Dokie and Paps... and a Rays loss to the Tigers... the Sox still have a shot at AL East.

A weekend full of rain will make it all but impossible for that to happen, but if it did, the Sox would then play host to the Chi-Sox or Twins and Lester could pitch second at Fenway...

Bottom Line: We'll have to see how things play out this weekend but we still have meaningful baseball to watch!

Drew and Lowell Injury Update

Terry Francona has some tough decisions to make this weekend as he prepares for an ALDS match-up, most likely with the Los Angeles Angels.

Mike Lowell is is still nursing a bad hip and JD Drew saw his first action since August 17th and looked pretty rusty. The Sox would love to get both Lowell and Drew back into the heart of the lineup for the postseason, but both players could do more harm than good if they aren't healthy.

Lowell has been playing with a torn labrum in his hip and playing the field seems to aggravate the injury. Therefore, Francona told reporters the Lowell could remain on the bench through the weekend:

"It's not necessary," Francona said. "If we feel like we have the ability to get at-bats, it can only help. Last time [coming back from his oblique injury], he proved it didn't matter. Maybe, so he knows he can go out there and do it, that would be one thing. Also, just to see live pitching." Francona added, "He is improving. I think he thinks he's going to be OK. For the sake of getting him four or five at-bats, I would hate to hurt him on Saturday or Sunday and lose him for the playoffs."

As for Drew, despite having trouble in the outfield and playing with "Jell-O legs," he told reporters he feels good and plans to play as much as possible over the next 4 days:

"Not bad, a little stiff," Drew said. "But no worse for the wear, I don't think. I'm still fighting off that injury a little bit. I felt it before the game started, felt it yesterday, but felt like I could play, start trying to play through it a little bit. Hopefully, it won't get any worse, and just kind of continue to bounce back.

"I didn't expect to get as Jell-O-legged out there as I did. But you think of not really doing anything for five or six weeks but sit down and lay down because of the back injury. We've got some catching up to do."

Bottom Line: With Jed Lowrie is a rut and Jason Varitek batting .222 on the season, getting a healthy Drew and Lowell back in time for the Angels would be huge. But Tito will have to decide if either player is healthy enough to stay on the postseason roster.

Below are 20 players I expect to be on the roster for the ALDS:

IF: Youkilis, Pedroia, Ortiz, Varitek, Lowell, Lowrie, Casey
OF: Bay, Ellsbury, Crisp, Drew
SP: Beckett, Lester, Matsuzaka, Byrd
RP: Papelbon, Okajima, Delcarmen, Masterson, Lopez

That leaves 5 spots. Some think the Sox will carry both Wake and Byrd, so there's one ... Timlin and Aardsma could also earn a spot in the bullpen - two, three ... And Kevin Cash will likely be the other catcher - four.

So that leaves one spot for guys like Cora and Kotasy... and if Lowell or Drew can't get healthy, Tito will have to decide which back-up player is more valuable to the team.

Quotes from the Boston Globe.

Red Sox v Indians: Decision time for Francona and Sox

The clinched a playoff spot last night, so Tito is now tasked with setting up the October rotation and getting the core group rested. But that is easier said than done.

Red Sox Nation will continue to push for another division title until the Sox are mathematically eliminated... Some of the guys you'd like to rest have started heating up, i.e. David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury... and then you have Jed Lowrie, who's been a Swiss army knife for Francona, but is currently marred in a major slump.

Mike Lowell could spell Lowrie and play third tonight, and an definitely don't want him getting rusty, Lowell is another guy you'd probably prefer to rest as much as possible... JD Drew says he feels better than he has in months, but even if he gets a few hacks in this weekend, you have to wonder how he'll perform in the playoffs after so much time off.

The bullpen should be a little easier to manage. In my opinion, Paps shouldn't make more than 2 appearances between now and Sunday, and when he does get into a game he should be on a quasi- pitch count. A healthy and rested closer is key to successful post season run.

For now the Sox still have a shot at winning the AL East, so Tito most of the regulars will likely be in there tonight against Fausto Carmona. Carmona was unable to replicate his 2007 success, posting 8-7 record with a 5.19 ERA this season. He's 2-2 with a 7.58 ERA in his last five outings and was involved in a bench-clearing brawl in his last start against Detroit...

The Sox will counter with Paul Byrd, who will be facing his old team for the first time since the trade in July. Interestingly, Byrd has tallied a 5-0 career record and a 1.60 ERA against the Tribe, but those games go back to the early 2000's.

Tonight's performance will go a long way toward to determining whether or not Byrd will be on the post season roster for the Sox. Tim Wakefield pitched well last night, but both veterans are 50/50 at best... but they are veterans... If Byrd can shut down this red hot Cleveland lineup tonight, I might have to give him the edge over Wake.

Who to Watch: Ortiz is 2 for 4 with a homer and 3 RBI against Carmona ... Peratkat (2-4, HR) and Sizemore (3-5, 3B) are two of only a few with experience against Byrd ...

And there are some stats on the line as we close the season out: Pedroia (.324) is five points behind Mauer (.329) for the batting title ... Ellsbury needs 5 steals to tie the clib record and Tito may give him the green light to go after it now that they've clinched ... and Ortiz needs 12 more RBI to reach 100, if he doesn't, it will the first time in his Red Sox career.

Bottom Line: It's time to have fun and get healthy.

The Red Sox are headed to the playoffs... again.

"It's probably a little different every time, different emotions, but it certainly doesn't become less enjoyable or less satisfying and it's nice to know that we have more baseball to play," said Sox manager Terry Francona. "We'll see how this week unfolds and keep everybody healthy, feeling good, winning, and we'll see what happens."








Some of my personal faves:

"It feels great," said Red Sox left fielder Jason Bay. "I can't really describe it right now. I'm just jumping around like a kid. We've been on the doorstep for a while, but to finally get in and be able to celebrate, it does feel pretty special for me. Especially the journey that I carved to get here."

The Pirates are 65-92 and haven't sniffed the playoffs since the early 90's... Bay is abot to blow his "beeker."




MLB.com

"Fittingly, Kevin Youkilis (two-run homer in the fourth) and Dustin Pedroia (two-run double in the fifth) provided two of the biggest hits of the night. They've been Boston's most consistent offensive players all season."

True 'dat. It's great to see Big Papi crushing the ball again, but last night's victory couldn't have been more fitting. It hasn't come easy this year, due to injuries, trips to Japan and the Manny Saga... but the Sox put up another 90+ win season thanks to guys like Youk and Pedroia filling in all over the place... not to mention the rooks.






"By earning their spot into the postseason, the Red Sox officially eliminated the Yankees, who are out of the postseason for the first time since 1993."

'Nuff said.

Papelbon didn't dance... he didn't even take his pants off... but he did steal all three bases and hand them to fans...











Lost in the celebration was the fact that Wake beat Cy-Young favorite Cliff Lee and earned his 10th win, giving him double digit wins if 6 of his last 7 seasons. He's been battling the injury bug and father time for a while now, but Wake has been Mr. Consistency for the Sox for over a decade.







We did it without the "greatest RBI man of this generation." Theo deserves alot of the credit for having the balls to make that move, but Jason Bay is the guy playing in Manny's spot and he's been more than solid... and the team overall has rallied since Manny's departure...











Tek slowly walked the perimeter of Fenway shaking hands and giving thanks... It's the image that makes this moment a favorite of mine, but the idea of a Red Sox team without Tek behind the plate is hard to swallow. Unfortunately, most of us know that Boras will get Jason a deal he can't refuse with another team this offseason, and it appears that The Captain knows it too.











video courtesy of NESN






video courtesy of NESN

Images and video courtesy of Centerfield, Surviving Grady and the Boston Herald.

Lowrie fails in the clutch, goes straight to the cages

We've got a few connections here at The Bottom Line and one of those connections passed along an interesting tid-bit from last night's game.

Jed Lowrie, who has been an RBI machine with men on third base, failed to drive in the tying run - twice - last night, in the 3-4 loss to the Tribe.

Our sources tell us that Lowrie was so frustrated with himself that he immediately hit the cages for 20 minutes, working on his swing, while steam poured out of his ears - Popeye style.

Overall, Jed has been solid, driving in runs from the bottom of the order and getting clutch hits, while batting .284 with 24 RBI in August... but he's just 3 for his last 26 (.115), including 11 strikeouts and is currently 0 for his last 13...

Bottom Line: I give him a ton of credit for hitting the cages and trying to fix the problem. Lugo isn't coming back and Lowrie is going to be an important part of the repeat run... we need to rally around this kid and get back to moments like the one above.

Also, here's an interesting excerpt from an interview in the Maple Street Press back in 2006

MSP: How would you describe your approach at the plate?

JL: It’s to be patient and go gap-to-gap. Patience is very important, and the last few years I’ve been able to draw more walks than times I’ve struck out. I believe in the whole Ted Williams thing about needing to get a good pitch to hit. You don’t want to hit pitcher’s pitches—you want to wait for one you can do something with.

MSP: While the Red Sox hitting philosophy stresses plate discipline, it also expects aggressiveness. Is that a contradiction?

JL: I know it sounds like one, but it really isn’t. Even before I came to the organization, I’ve always thought that you need to do both. What you can’t be is tentative. You need to know yourself—what pitches you can handle—and go after them aggressively. You want to be selectively aggressive.

Read more here.

Lowrie and Sox blow clincher, but Big Papi is hot

“Tons of opportunities,” Jason Bay said. “For some reason, it seemed like it wasn’t going to go for us.”

You said it Jason.

Josh Beckett had been fanning 7 batters per game and looked ready to continue kicking asses right through October... instead, he beaned 3 guys and allowed 7 hits and 4 runs through 6.

But the Sox climbed back in it, thanks to the continuing power surge that Big Papi has been on and Youk's recent turn around after a slumpy start to September.

But the Red Sox wasted chances in three of the last four innings, losing a run when a ball hit an umpire, missing a three-run homer when Youk’s drive hit the left-field wall a few feet from the top and stranding two runners in the ninth when Lewis earned his 12th save in 13 chances.

Jed Lowrie was right in the thick of those opportunities - twice.

Jed is now batting .474 with a runner at 3rd and less than 2 outs. That was the exact scenario last night in the 7th with the Sox down by one. All he needed to do was pop one to the outfield, and he even fouled one deep to left, but then Jed decided to get picky and took a called third strike. With the chance for a sac fly gone... Mark Kotsay needed a base hit, but Kotsay seems to bne out of those lately (.164 in Sept) and he flied out to end the threat.

Then, as fate would have it, Lowrie was grated a chance at redemption in the 9th. Jason Bay's double had men at second and third with 2 outs, but Lowrie struck out - swinging this time at least.

Bottom Line: Jed Lowrie didn't lose this game single handedly, and to be honest, the Tribe caught some lucky breaks... but this game was the latest in a line of missed opportunities this month, and the Sox will not go far in the playoffs if they can't find a way to win these close games...

ps. Despite being just 1.5 games back from the Rays at 7PM yesterday, Tito opted to start Kotsay (0-4) and Bailey (1-3, tough luck) over Coco (.315 vs CLE, .309 home) and Casey (.400 home, .333 vs LHP)... I'm just saying...

Beckett and Sox can clinch playoff berth tonight

The Sox are still in the hunt for the AL East division title, but the can assure themselves a spot in the post season with a win over the Indians tonight - or a Yankee loss.

Josh Beckett will get the start for the Sox and has been looking more and more like the pitcher that dominated the post season in 2007. In his last three starts he's posted a 0.95 ERA while fanning 7 batters per start - and his last time out, he held the Rays to just 3 hits and 1 run through 8 innings.

Josh hasn't faced the Tribe this year, but he beat the Indians twice in the ALCS last season, striking out 18 batters and allowing just 3 runs over 14 innings. His recent dominance is a great sign, but it's interesting to note that Beckett hasn't won at Fenway since the 18-5 blowout against the Twins back on July 9th - he gave up 5 ER in 5 innings that day but earned the win...

The Indians will counter with lefty Zach Jackson, who has yet to earn a victory this season. He's 0-3 with a 6.35 ERA in 7 starts and most recently took an ND against the Twins after allowing 7 runs on 9 hits. The Sox lead the MLB with a .291 average against southpaws, and with a playoff berth on the line, I expect the Sox to beat up on this kid tonight.

Who to Watch: Jacoby has been on fire this month, batting .309 in September. He's riding a 10-game hitting streak and had 2 doubles and a triple last night ... Sean Casey is batting .393 at Fenway this year, and with Lowell's bad hip and .256 BA at home, he could get a start tonight a first base ... The Tribe have been hot, winning their last six games. Much of the credit can go to Ryan Garko: 10 for his last 12 with 9 RBI... the return of Victor Martinez: .429 over the past 7 days... and Sin-Soo Choo: .429 with 10 RBI this week.

Bottom Line: The Indians are hot... and you know they would love to play spoiler after losing to the ALCS last year... Josh will have his work cut out for him tonight... but the match-up is in our favor, so let's clinch tonight and get it over with!

Halladay thwarts Sox, Matsuzaka must win

You can’t spot a pitcher like Halladay five runs in the second inning and hope to have a chance to win,” said Red Sox starter Jon Lester said.

There's really not much more to say. Lester, who went toe to toe with Halladay and earned the win his last time out, gave up 4 runs in the second inning yesterday - a hole the Sox were unable to climb out of.

The bad news: The Rays beat up on the Twins again and now have a 2 1/2 game lead in the East, so a loss this afternoon may all but solidify the Rays as division champs.

The good news: Jason Bay returned to action, hitting his 31st homer of the season and extending his hitting streak to 5 games. With Drew's back continuing to flare up and Lowell's hip still acting up, the Sox need Bay to hold down the middle of the lineup with Youk and Ortiz...

Jacoby Ellsbury also kept his hitting streak alive and snagged his 49th stolen base.

Matsuzaka has a chance to get the Sox back in the hunt with a win today. He had a solid outing his last time out, but he continues to throw too many pitches too early. The bullpen has not been worked hard this series, but Dice-K needs to prove he can go 6+ innings before the Sox enter the postseason.

The Jays have been using a more aggresive philosophy lately which could work to Dice-K's adavantage, but the last time he was in Toronto they knocked him aroun for 5 runs on 8 hits, despite 8 strikeouts... he needs to better than that today.

After facing the Jays best starters, Toronto will start call-up Scott Richmond. Richmond (0-2, 5.06) has spent most of this season in the minors, going 1-3 with a 3.56 ERA in eight starts for Triple-A Syracuse. The 29-year-old right-hander hasn’t pitched for Toronto since Aug. 10, when he lost after allowing three runs in five innings to Cleveland in his third major league start.

Bottom Line: This one is ripe for the picking. Now if we casn get the twins to cooperate...

Casey's big hit enough to beat Burnett and Jays

Last night the Red Sox watched the scoreboard as the Rays hammered the Twins while AJ Burnett mowed down their our lineup through he first four innings.

But Burnett seemed to lose it for a moment when Youk tried to check his swing in the 5th... the umps said he checked it and Youk eventually lined a single up the middle that score Tek and cut the Jays lead to 2-1. Burnett was visibly annoyed with the non-call and Sean Casey, in the lineup due his .500+ BA against AJ and Mike Lowell's bad hip, took advantage.

“If you can get (Burnett) in trouble, you’ve got to take advantage of it because if you don’t, he has the stuff to just shut the door,” Casey said. “He left the door open a little bit right there for us.”

Casey jumped on a fastball but Burnett and lied it into the gap for a 2-run double, giving the Sox a temporary 3-4 lead. But up to that moment, Burnett seemed untouchable...

The Jays would tied it up at 4 in their half of the inning, so it took some late inning magic - something we haven't see from the Sox lately - to grab the important win and keep pace with the Rays.

Brian Tallet (1-2) replaced Burnett to begin the eighth but left after giving up a one-out single to Jason Bay and walking Mark Kotsay. Shawn Camp loaded the bases by walking Jed Lowrie, then gave up Varitek’s RBI groundout, with Lowrie forced at second.

“I hit a nice-and-soft groundball to the right place,” a smiling Varitek said.

Bottom Line: We said here yesterday that if Byrd could keep the Jays under 4 runs, the Sox should be able to squeak out a win. I guess the crystal ball was working that day...

Paul Byrd is sick and tired of the Blue Jays

Thanks to a late comeback by the Twins last night, the Sox are just 1.5 games back of the Rays in the AL East... again...

But if the Sox want to get back in the hunt, they really need to sweep this series in Toronto. That will be a tall order given that they'll have to beat Burnett tonight - who has never lost to the Sox - and Doc Hallady.

Paul byrd gets the call tonight against Burnett. This will be his 5th start against the Jays since the start of August. Thanks to a shellacking by the Jays his last time out, Byrd has a 2-2 split in those four games. His biggest problem has been the long ball - he's given up 8 as a Red Sox - but he still managed to win 5 straight games before losing to the Jays last week.

The Jays tagged him for 5 runs and 10 hits over 5 innings at Fenway, suggesting that the Toronto hitters may have seen too much of Byrd for his own good lately. It's possible Byrd is also giving away pitches, something he thought he had fixed in his win over the Rangers - but he better be sure with a shot at the division title in his hands tonight...

As I mentioned, the Jays will be throwing AJ Burnett at us again. He's 5-0 with a 2.37 ERA and 47 Ks in 49+ innings against the Sox... he's also 10-3 at home this year... and he's coming into this game with back-to-back shut out victories.

Bottom Line: The Jays have the advantage here, but with Lowell and Bay likely to be back in the lineup, the Sox could put up enough runs to win if Byrd can keep a mediocre Jays lineup under 4 runs.

Surviving Grady also warns us that there maybe some "advertising shenanigans" going on in Canada... and since Centerfield showed us this afternoon that Byrd is an expert on "spread killing" these ads could prove troublesome...

Ex-Fins Welker & Morris will lead the Pats to victory

We like show off our multi-tasking skills here at The Bottom Line, so each Friday, we switch things up and talk about the upcoming Patriots game...

This week the Pats host the Dolphins.

The Dolphins are 26th in the NFL in both points per game (12) and total yards per game (256.5)... They're o-2 to start the 2008 season and were 1-15 in 2007, but as the Globe's Eric Wilbur points out - the last time the Patriots lost to a team not named the Giants, it was the Dolphins in December of 2006.

So what does that mean?

Nothing.

The Dolphins are not good. We're all familiar with QB Chad Pennington and so are the Patriots. In 9 games against the Pats, "Poisington" has tallied 9 TDs and 9 INTs to go with a 78.2 QB rating. Pennington was able to post mediocre numbers in New York because he had two decent WR target in Coles and Cotchery... in Miami his best options have been the Tight Ends Martin (7 rec, TD) and Fasano (8 rec, TD).

And despite Ronnie Brown being healthy again, the Dolphins are averaging just 60.5 rushing yards per game - good for 27th in the league. Oh, and Ricky Williams has already fumbled 3 times this season...

So, now that we've covered the stinky fish, lets take a look at the Pats. QB Matt Caseel has a solid game last week against a good Jets defense, but the key for me was that he didn't turn the ball over. Even though he has all the same seapns as Brady, Cassel will not be throwing for 3 TDs and 300 yards very often, so keeping the turn overs to a minimum will be key.

Dolphins LB Joey Porter seems to think that with Brady out, his team should have an easy day with Caseel and the Pats:

I just know he's not a Tom Brady. So if it's not Tom Brady, it shouldn't be that hard... It'll be good to go out there and get our first victory.... You treat him like you treat a backup. How do you prepare for a backup? He don't get that many snaps, right? So you throw the kitchen sink at him. That's what we're going to do.

But as Chris at Boston Sports Buzz reminds us - the last thing you want to to is give Belichik and the Pats something to put up on the locker room bulletin board.

Look for Seymour and Co. to cause al kinds of problems for Pennington and the Dolphins running game. Chad just ins't going to have anywhere to go with the ball - trust me.

But I expect Cassel to be slinging the ball to my boy Wes Welker all day long. Wes currently leads the teams with 13 receptions and 7 first down catches. And the last time he faced his old team, he lit them up for 9 catches, 138 yards and 2 TDs... and speaking of former Fins... look for Sammy Morris to get lost of resp with Mariney and Jordan banged up. Morris will be more than a goal line back this week even if Maroney suits up and I expect him to pound on the NFL's worst run defense (153.5 RYPG) in 2007.

Bottom Line Prediction: Patriots win 27-13.

Here are some thoughts from Eric Wilbur's "Prediction Roundup" :

Jim McCabe, Boston Globe: Patriots. “Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown have combined to run 38 times for 100 yards, a 2.63 average per carry. At this rate they should crack 1,000 yards by August 2009.”

Peter King, Sports Illustrated: Patriots 33, Dolphins 7. “Who'd have ever thought in Week 3, by the middle of the third quarter, the Pats-Fish would be a Cassel-Henne duel? By the way, do you think it's possible that, before the game, Bill Belichick sidles up to Matt Cassel and says, 'We're taking the training wheels off today, kid?' Not sure those words will be spoken, but I do think you'll see three deep throws to Randy Moss this weekend.”

... and T-bone like the Pats as well:

What's the Red Sox biggest weakness?

Fire Brand's Evan Brunell asks Red Sox bloggers what they think is the Red Sox biggest weakness right now... here are a few responses, starting with yours truly:

“Injuries and fatigue. I’m not sure you can “fix” this problem, but it has become a serious issue. Drew’s back in not getting better, Lowell’s hip is getting worse and Youk, although he fought if off through August, looks like the usual 2nd half Youk so far this month. Big Papi has driven in 18 runs, but he’s batting .237 in September. And the bullpen needs to step up for Paps, because he’s already at 64 IPs and, personally, I think all the innings are starting to hurt him...

Bottom Line: If the Sox can’t tie things back up in the East after the Toronto series - I think Tito will have to accept the WC spot and start getting some of these guys rested and healthy."

Paul at YFSF is most troubled by the Sox road record:

"Is winning on the road a legitimate weakness? This club cannot finish with a .500 record on the road, the first time they’ve managed that and still made the playoffs since 1990. That team was swept out quickly, as were the 1998 and 2005 clubs — both of which finished with road records of just a game over .500. I’m not sure that “losing on the road” is just something you can fix, however; it tends to be more of a symptom. And that’s the problem..."

The Sox are 13-9 on the road since August 1st, a little better than .500, but the only real trouble they had was most recently in Tampa Bay... Also, with less than 2 weeks to go, only the Angels (44-30) have 40+ wins on the road, so this is a league-wide phenomenon... but since the Sox seemed destined to face the Halos in the ALDS - it's not good to see that they are tghe best road team in the AL... the Sox are 37-41.

And MC at Sox Addict thinks the bullpen will make or break our repeat hopes:

“The biggest problem the Red Sox are faced with is the bullpen’s consistency. Don’t get me wrong, injuries are a huge problem too (Sean Casey, Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett, etc.) but the pen is where it’s at. Daisuke Matsuzaka gives the team 10 innings of starting pitching every week, that means that the bullpen needs to be on their game for the other 8 innings..."

The biggest fear I have about the bullpen is Papelbon's health... He's approaching the 70 inning mark, a mark he's never reached before, and the extra innings are starting to show... but Mike makes a great point about Dice-K - If he continues to be a 5-inning starter, it's going to be very hard for the bullpen to get rested form the postseason... Tito is going to lean on the "call-ups" to close out his games while still trying to win the game - not easy.

Get more answers from the Red Sox blogosphere at Fire Brand of the AL and check out the new Masterson T-shirt they just created.

Off-day Videos: "Who Knows Cinco Ocho?"

Comcast's Gary Tanguay's game show host impression is as annoying at losing 4 of 6 to the Rays... but Justin Masterson's antics during this bit almost make up for his Tuesday night meltdown... almost.


video courtesy of ComcastSports

Hat tip to Centerfield for the video.

Rays finally found the knuckleball antidote

Tim Wakefield had 19 wins in 30 starts against the Rays before taking the mound last night. He was also 9-2 at the Trop, but his dome dominance has officially become a thing of the past...

You see, in the past, the "Devil Rays," as they were once called, weren't very good. Wake and the Sox would head down to Florida and whoop the Rays in front of 15,000 Sox fans and 5,000 Floridians with nothing better to do than buy some Rays tickets.

But somewhere along the line, the Rays got good. From July 27th to August 20th of 2007 Wake continued to dish out the knuckle sandwiches, beating the Rays three times, while holding them to just 1 run over 19 innings of work. But since then, the Rays have been drinking the knuckleball antidote:

2007

Sep 11 TAM - WIN/ND, 16-10 - 3.0 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 1 HR, 4 K
Sep 23 @ TAM - LOSS, 4-5 - 5.0 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 HR, 3 BB, 5 K

2008

Apr 25 @ TAM - LOSS/ND, 4-5 - 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 1 K
Jul 1 @ TAM - LOSS, 1-3 - 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
Sep 17 @ TAM - LOSS, 3-10 - 2.1 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 3 HR, 0 BB, 2 K

Maybe Wake is just getting old ... or maybe the law of averages is finally evening things out for Wake and the Rays, like it has for every other teams he's faced - the guy's 177-157 in his career with a 4.32 ERA, could he be more "50/50" ??

But I think what's really happening here is the Rays simply got better, and last night was the latest example. They took Tim deep 3 times through 2 innings and chased him from the game with one out in the 3rd... and then proceeded to beat up on Hansack - leaving Wake with 6 earned runs in 3.1 innings.

Bottom Line: Wake's days of dome dominance appear to be over, and as much as I hate to say it, his career may be over too. He's at 170 innings now and he hasn't made it out of the third in two of his last three starts... he missed the postseason last year, and the rotation after Beckett, Lester and Dice-K is suspect, so I predict that Tito will try and keep him on the post season roster somehow, but these may be the final days of the Wakefield era...

Silver Lining

David Ortiz hit two home runs last night and had 7 RBI in the series. He's still batting just .265 on the season and .237 in September, but the Large Father may be heating up at just the right time...

Red Sox @ Rays: Wake looks to tie things back up

I'm short for time today, so here are some tid-bits for tonight's match-up:

Wakefield is 19-4 with a 3.10 ERA against the Rays in his career. He's also 9-2 with a 2.45 ERA at the Trop.

Matt Garza will be pitching on three days rest tonight, after throwing 83 pitches through 5 innings against the Yankees on Saturday. Garza is 3-1 with a 3.54 ERA in five career starts against the Red Sox, and he's 7-3 with a 2.74 ERA in 14 starts at Tropicana Field this season.

---

Just when we thought Iron Mike was on the mend that chopper by Jason Bartlett in the bottom of the fourth inning on Tuesday night seems to have made things worse.

"It's the off-balanced throw," said Lowell. "All the weight goes on your off-balanced leg, I guess. It just really grabs me. Then it kind of goes away, but it burns a little. That doesn't' feel really good."

Now Mike may be out of the lineup tonight in an effort to give him back-to-back days off before the series in Toronto.

"I don't know, I'll talk to [manager Terry Francona]," said Lowell. "I'll see how I wake up tomorrow. If he feels like I'm hurting the team, I don't want to be on the field if I'm hurting the team. I've been able to get to the balls. It's just probably not too pretty doing it. We'll see. I'm not closing that door yet."

It wouldn't be a bad idea, but with Yukje and Ortiz hitting in the .200's, Lowell has been the only solid bay in the middle of the lineup (.324 w/ 3 HR in Sept.)

---

And to make matters worse, Jason Bay will also be out of the lineup tonight. He will stay in Boston with his newborn child and meet the team in Toronto on Thursday.

And... JD Drew's return is still a complete question mark... and with 3 more games on the turf in Toronto, he may not get back in the lineup until Monday:

"It's been so tricky," said Drew. "You'll have a good day and feel pretty good and hit well and run well, and then 30 minutes later, can't hardly walk. Like I said, I don't want to jump the gun and be redundant, but I do want to take some swings, run around, just see how it reacts.

"Well, it is artificial turf, and I think it takes its wear and tear on everybody. But yeah, you have some hesitancy to that, but you've got to realize, you've got to push ahead regardless," said Drew. "We're at the end of the year. It would be nice to get back out there on the field regardless of its on turf or at home. Try to get some at-bats and see if we can get things going."

---
Who to Watch

Jacoby Ellsbury grabbed two more hits last night, giving him four 2-hit games in his last five starts... He's 4 for 10 against Garza and needs 8 steals to tie toe Red Sox record for most swipes in a single season (54)... with the lineup we're likely to have tonight, I hope Jacoby goes 4 for 4 with 4 steals, 'cause we're gonna need it.

For the Rays, watch out for Akinori Iwamura. He's not afraid of the knuckle ball: 9 for 22 (.409) with 3 doubles and 5 walks and he loves playing the Red Sox: .328 with 4 HRs versus Boston... Evan Longoria also hits Wake well: 2 for 4 with 2 walks.

Bottom Line: Wake stepped up with 8 huge innings last time out... we need some more of the Shakey Wakey magic tonight!

Batting Stance Guy does Nomar... for Nomar!

You may recall that we featured the Batting Stance Guy doing his impression of some of our favorite Red Sox players a little while back... well, BSG found himself a press pass and earned a chance to show Nomar Garciaparra his impression of... Nomar Garciaparra... and Nomar seems to like it.



Hat Tip to Big League Stew for the link... BLS (and SG) also wants to know if Jason Bay would have stayed in Tampa, and seen his newbord child on the Thursday oof=day, if the Sox weren't so far ahead in the Wild Card race... a harsh, but intresting question...

The thrill of victory... the agony of defeat

Five days ago Josh Beckett and And Sonnastine squared off in a pitchers duel that eventually turned into a dramatic victory that kept the Rays atop the AL East, and frustrated Red Sox Nation.

Last night, Beckett was even more dominating, holding the Rays to 3 hits and 1 run while fanning 7, but the Red Sox offense was shut down again by "Andy bleeping Sonnastine" and the Rays walked off with another comeback win when Justin Masterson faltered in the 9th.

Masterson (only 23 mind you) may have been feeling the pressure, but it's not Justin's struggles that worry me... it's the lack of offense, particularly from the heart of the lineup that killed us again last night.

When Beckett and "Sonny" did this dance a week ago, Ortiz, Yuke, Bay and Lowell combined to go 0 for 17 while Beckett was mowing the Rays down... Last night, the Sox were without Bay (having a baby) and still without Drew ("tricky" back) and Ortiz, Youk and Lowell combined to go 1 for 10 - Yuke's sac fly being the only run we scored in the game.

Now I can't say that there's been a lack of offense, one day after the Sox cracked 6 homers and scored 13 runs, but it seems like the timely hitting we have become accustomed to seeing from Big Papi and Yuke has disappeared... Ortiz is hitting .218 this month, Yuke is batting .211, Bay is batting .265 amd Mike Lowell is playing with a torn labrum...

And I'll give credit to Sonnastine, despite being mediocre against everyone else, he's stepped up against the Sox, posting a 0.00 ERA and fanning 12 through 13 innings this year. But if the Sox want to repeat, they're going to need to get the big bats going, especially against pitching staffs like the Angels and Rays...

All that said, the guys at Surviving Grady remind us that there was something good to take away from last night's heartbreaking loss - Josh Beckett looked like Josh Beckett again. As we mentioned yesterday, he's been lights out since coming back from the elbow tingles, and has done it on limited pitches. He's got a ridiculous 0.95 ERA over his last 3 starts (19 IP) and has collected 7 strikeouts in each outing.

Bottom Line: I'm happy to see Beckett back to his 2007 form, but you can't win games without offense... maybe we should have saved one of those home runs from Monday for last night. Now, the pressure is back on us to win today and tie things up again before heading to Toronto...

This is what I get for making those ice cream jokes yesterday...

It's time to bury the Rays - Texas style

This is what Ray's Manager Joe Maddon said about last night's game:

"That was just a good old-fashioned whippin’ tonight,” said Maddon. “Believe it or not, this is an easier loss to accept. When you lose 2-1 or 3-2 on one play... those are the ones you go home and kind of beat yourself up after."

Tell that to Scott Kazmir (left)... I hope someone took him out for some ice cream, and maybe the strip club, cause that suicide stare he's got going makes me nervous for him.

Joe can tell Scott and all the other guys that's they need to push past last night's shellacking, but the fact of the matter is, the Rays have been struggling all month. The Rays have dropped 9 of 13 in September, erasing the magical 5-game lead they had over the Sox to start the month. Coming home this week was the one ray of hope (pun intended) but they were not prepared for a hungry Red Sox lineup fresh from a grind it out series with the Jays...

Now they'll have to dig against Josh Beckett, the man who laughed in the face of pressure through the 2007 postseason... He's still working his way back from his stint on the DL, but he's been extremely economic and efficient in his last two starts:

Sep 5 - 5.0 IP, 80 P / 49 strikes, 4 H, 7 K
Sep 10 - 6.0 IP, 84 P / 55 strikes, 6 H, 7 K

Josh has also dominated the Rays this season, though both starts came very early on. He fanned 13 and allowed just 1 earned run though 7 back on April 27th, but took the 0-3 loss thanks to James Shields' complete game effort. He faced them again on May 3rd and gave up 4 runs through 8 innings, earning the win.

Tonight the Rays will be countering with Sonnastine. He held the Sox to 4 hits through 7 in his last outing, but that was an abnormality for him as of late. "Sonny" had been averaged 4.3 RPG in the three starts before coming to Fenway and hadn't won since August 18th... It's not likely he'll hold the Sox down again this time. Sonny is also 7-3 at the Trop but has a 4.88 ERA and a .293 BAA...

After last night's home run derby, it's hard to guess Who to Watch tonight... but here's a few: Tek is 5 for 9 (.556) wit ha homer and 5 RBI against Sonny ... Jacoby has been hot lately, batting .333 over the past 7 games and has a homer off of Sonny ... and with Drew out until at least Friday, Coco and his .407 BA against Rays pitching should see more playing time ... Evan Longoria is 4 for 9 (.444) with a homer against Beckett, and he's batting .364 over the past 7 days...

Bottom Line: Beckett has been a bit of a question mark all season, but based on his last two starts, I think Captain Kickass is ready to prove that he is still the ace of this team.

I hope Maddon brought more money for ice creams again tonight.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

With the AL East division title on the line, the Red Sox pounded the most senior of the Rays starters, Scott Kazmir, for four home runs and 8 earned runs on their way to a 13-5 victory last night.

With the pressure heating up, the Rays appear to be dimming. Kazmir started the game with back to back walks to Coco and Pedroia, and then tried to stop aiming the ball against Ortiz... the result was a 3-run blast in to the right field bleachers. Mike Lowell followed suit with a solo shot and the Sox kept their cleats on his throat through the fourth, tagging Kazmir for 2 more homers (Bay and Tek), and then running the score to 11-1 before Jason Bay finally K'd to end the inning.

Ellsbury added the 6th ding dong for the Sox in the fifth and Youk added a run with an RBI single in the 6th to give the Sox 13 runs on 6 homers, 11 hits and 9 walks.

With a 7-1, 2.10 ERA line at home, the Sox did not expect to have an easy night against Kazmir, but you have to wonder if the pressure got to the Rays lefty.

"I think when you come into a game and you're facing [Kazmir], you know you have your hands full," manager Terry Francona said. "We did an exceptional job tonight, 'cause he's one of the, if not the best pitchers, certainly one of the best lefthanders in the league.

"He left some balls over the middle uncharacteristically. It didn't look like in the first inning he had his real good pop. We took advantage of that before he could settle into the game."

Bottom Line: This was an important win for the Sox, who hadn't won at the Trop this year, and taking advantage of your opportunities is what playoff baseball is all about.

This win puts them in a tie for first place and puts almost all the pressure on the Rays with two weeks left. Now we just need Josh Beckett to jump back into his 2007 shoes and kick some ass tonight.

The weirdest MLB debut EVER!

Reserve catcher George Kottaras made his major league debut on Saturday, taking over for Tek in the 7th and leading off the bottom half of the inning.

But his first at-bat as strange as they come. Kottaras struck out, but reached on a passed ball... then he managed to reach second on a fielding error ... THEN Ellsbury grounded into a fielder's choice, advancing George to third... and Kevin Cash, who pinch hit for Pedroia, finally drove him in with a sac fly.

The Sox scored a run, but nobody got a hit and it all started with a strikeout. And as if that wasn't wacky enough... Kevin Cash filled in at third base in the 8th - for the first time ever...

And then this happened...














Thanks to Mike for the factoid.

The Red Sox have the sexiest Rookies...

Center Field has the, until now, ellusive photos of the Red Sox rookies dressed in their initiation/hazing outfits... here are a few:



Thanks to Kelly and Liza for the photos!

Red Sox @ Rays: This one's for all the marbles...

The Sox and Rays will do battle one last time when they start a 3-game series in the Trop tonight. The Rays hold a 1 game lead over the Sox in the AL East and both teams will be fighting tooth and nail to avoid the Angels in the ALDS come October.

There's a lot to look at when trying to break down this series, and the Globe's Tony Mazz does a great job of it here, but the Bottom Line is this: The Sox control their own destiny right now.

They did what they needed to do this weekend, taking 3 of 4 from the red hot Blue Jays and put some of the pressure back on the Rays, who look rejuvenated after two dramatic wins at Fenway last week. Meanwhile, the Rays lost two of three to the Yankees in the Bronx and have lost 8 of 12 this month.

The Sox have been given a second chance, but the scenario isn't much different from the last time these two teams met. The Sox were riding high then as well, while the Rays were stumbling... the Sox will again have Matsuzaka and Beckett taking the mound... and the Rays will again counter with Kazmir and Sonannstine... but this series will not be played in front of the Fenway Faithful. Instead, the Sox will be subjected to the mind-numbing clanging of 40,000 (or maybe just 30,000 - sad)cowbells echoing off the walls of the Trop.

The other key difference in this series will be Game 3. Matt Garza is set to lock horns with Time Wakefield and a split of the first two games could make Game 3 the most important of all. We'll break down that game on Wednesday, but here's a teaser:

Wake is 9-2 with a .201 BAA at Tropicana Field - He's been nasty down there, but the two losses have come in the past two years and the Rays are a better squad these days... Matt Garza is 7-3 with a 2.54 ERA at home this year, but he's given up 4 runs per start in 3 of his last 4 outings at home - the Rays lost all three of those games.

But on to tonight's match up. Here's what MLB.com has to say:

BOS: RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (16-2, 2.97 ERA)
Matsuzaka worked his way through a less-than-stellar performance in his Tuesday outing, a no-decision against Tampa Bay. Dice-K tossed 102 pitches in just five innings, allowing eight hits and three runs and walking four. He's slated to face those same Rays on Monday in St. Petersburg. When he does, it will be his third start against Tampa Bay this season. He's yet to earn a decision against the Rays in 2008.

TB: LHP Scott Kazmir (11-6, 2.99 ERA)
Kazmir earned a no-decision Tuesday night against the Red Sox when he allowed two runs on five hits while walking three and striking out four in six innings. The 24-year-old left-hander has struggled with his mechanics all season but has seemingly ironed out some wrinkles lately, particularly in relation to command of his slider. He is 7-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 12 starts at Tropicana Field this season.

Who to Watch: The Sox didn't exactly light up the score board this weekend, thank to excellent Jays pitching, but Coco remained hot, grabbing two key RBI singles yesterday and batting .465 in September ... Ellsbury has also come around - he's currently riding a 5-game hitting steak and has 5 steals this month ... and Dustin Pedroia could have a big game - he's 5 for 8 (.625) with a double triple and a homer versus Kazmir this year and 14 for 24 (.583) lifetime.

Bottom Line: I'll be praying for the brooms to come out, but something tells be Game 3 is gonna be crucial...

** I have no idea what "All the Marbles" is about, but who knew that Columbo was such a stud!? **

Wake steps up for Sox

Tim Wakefield did exactly what the Red Sox needed him to do last night: Keep the Jays off the board, get deep into the game, secure the victory.

Wake knuckled the Jays for 8 innings, fanning 4 and earning the 7-0 win.

Bottom Line: They guy just doesn't get enough credit. Wake - that was huge! Strong work!

Yahoo! Recap

Saturday Sox/Jays Double Header Preview

Game 1

Paul Byrd (4-1, 3.82) vs AJ Burnett (17-10, 4.31)

Byrd faced the Blue Jays three starts in a row in August, once with the Tribe and twice with the Sox. He went 2-1 with a 4.07 ERA in those games. That's pretty much what youy get from Uncle Paul... 6 or 7 innings and 4 runs, but he's won 4 of 5 starts since coming to Boston and wins are what the Red Sox need before they head to Tampa next week.

The long ball has been Byrd's biggest problem, giving up 7 ding dongs in 33 innings with the Sox. Alex Rios (2) and Lyle Overbay (1) have taken him deep this year and both players are red hot right now. Byrd need to keep the ball in the park and the Jays off the board because he'll be sharing the rubber with a guy that has never lost to the Red Sox...

AJ Burnett is 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA against Boston. He gives his team 6+ innings almost every time he starts and averages 6.7 Ks per outing. The Sox will have their work cut out form them in Game 1, but they did get to Burnett the last time he faced them. The Sox score 5 runs on 7 hits and Pedroia and Coco took him deep, but it took 11 innings and a game winning homer from Jed Lowrie to beat the Jays that night.

Who to Watch: Sean Casey is due to start and with a .565 BA against Burnett, this should be the game.

Game 2

Bartolo Colon (4-2, 4.09) vs Jesse Litsch (11-8, 3.70)

El Gordo gets the call in Game 2. Colon hasn't pitched in the majors since June 16th. He's been rehabbing a strained oblique in the minors and finally got stretched out to 6 innings in his last outing with the Paw Sox on Sept. 1, giving up 1 run on 4 hits. Colon is a total wild card here... he managed to average 5.5 innings in his 6 starts with the Sox and never gave up for than 4 runs in a game, but mowing down a minor league lineup in September is a lot different than facing the red hot Blue Jays.

Facing Jesse Litsch won't make it any easier for Colon and the Sox. Litsch has been on a tear lately, blanking the Tigers, Red Sox and Twins in 3 of his last 5 starts while posting a 1.28 ERA during that stretch. The Sox were pretty useless against him back on August 23rd and he's 4-1 in 5 starts against Boston... However, Litsch is much better at home (2.78 ERA, .242 BAA) than his on the road (4.54 ERA, .297 BAA) so the Sox could catch a break there.

Who to Watch: Mike Lowell - .300, HR, 23 RBI and JD Drew - .333, 2B, HR 2 RBI have hit Litsch well.

Bottom Line: With Doc Halladay set to pitch on Sunday, the perfect scenario would be to sweep the double header, but it's unlikely the duo of Byrd and Colon will keep the Jays off the board, so it's going to require some offense and a full team effort.

Sox/Jays starters announced: Lester vs Doc on Sunday

Jon Lester will take the ball on Sunday at Fenway Park against Roy Halladay and the Toronto Blue Jays as part of the TBS Game of the Week. He'll put his 14-5 record on the line against a scorching hot Jays squad that won 10 straight contests between Aug. 30 and Sept. 9.

But that doesn't seem to worry Francona, who is impressed with the way his young hurler is quietly becoming one of the top left-handed hurlers in the game.

"The ball is coming out of his hand really well," Francona said. "Now you've got the experience factor in several situations, and you've got yourself a pretty good pitcher."

Football Friday: Patriots defense will be the key to victory

With the baseball season winding down, I thought it would be fun to talk football on Friday as we gear up for the weekend.

The Bottom Line: The obvious assumption heading into this week's game with the Jets is that Belichick will opt to run the ball often in an effort to help Cassel avoid mistakes... but the Jets held RB's Ronnie Brown and Rickie Williams to just 47 yards on 16 attempts last week. Most likely the Patriots will run the ball much more than that (22 attempts last week), but it should be noted that the Jets called passing plays on 31 of 35 chances in the second half last week, while attempting a late game comeback... so the low rushing stat is a little suspect.

I expect Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris to do alot of running, but I think you'll see them sneaking out of the backfield as well for some short passes. I also expect a big game from Wes Welker, since the Jets will likely focus on Randy Moss and Ben Watson has been hurting his week.

But the key to this game will performance of the Patriots defense. Look for Seymout and Co. to bring the pain on Sunday and force Favre to make those bad decisions he's famous for... This game will be a hug test for the new Patriots secondary - of they can take away WRs Coles and Cotchery, Favre is going to have a long day... and RB Thomas Jones doesn't scare me, his 101 yards last week came against a Miami squad that allowed a league worst 153.5 rushing YPG in 2007.

Prediction: Patriots 19, Jets 17

Here's some more Patriots talk:

From the Globe's Eric Wilbur:

Peter King, Sports Illustrated - Patriots 20, Jets 19. “Who'd have thought two weeks ago the big players in this game would be Matt Cassel and Jay Feely? Cassel, the Patriots quarterback, plays with enough poise to eke one out, and Feely, just signed to kick for the ailing Mike Nugent, almost spoils Cassel's first start in nine years.”

Cold, Hard, Football Facts - Patriots 19, Jets 17. “Brett Favre makes his first home start for the Jets, while Matt Cassel makes his first start . . . wait for it . . . since high school. Tom Brady’s understudy becomes the trigger man of an aerial attack that led the league in Yards Per Passing Attempt last season. But Cassel is expected to be more of a caretaker early on, and New England’s defense should be the difference.”

Hank Gola, New York Daily News: Patriots. “Lost in the local euphoria over the Patriots' misfortune is that the Jets barely beat the Dolphins, who were 1-15 last year. They did some good things. They did some not-so-good things. While no one knows how Matt Cassel will perform, there is enough talent (Randy Moss for instance) and experience around him to get him through this, provided the Patriots can shorten the game by running the ball, get a big play from Moss and come up with a takeaway or two. Bill Belichick can dust off part of the game plan he undoubtedly had ready for Brett Favre in a potential Super Bowl last year and try to pressure him into mistakes. Favre, who was knocked out of the game the last time he played the Pats in '06, is still learning the Jets' offense and admitted last week that he had made a few improper protection calls that led to sacks. The Jets can certainly win this game, but there has always been something about the Patriots when they face adversity.”

And an interesting factoid from "Woodrow" - In 97 total games played between the Patriots and the Jets, the Patriots are 48-48-1...

Click here NFL.com's game preview.

Red Sox host Blue Jays in do or die series

This 4-game set at Fenway is a do or die series for both the Sox and the Jays.

Toronto has surged to within 5 1/2 games of the AL Wild Card spot and two or win over the weekend could mean a realistic shot at the post season. In turn, the Red Sox can squash those dreams and move much closer to locking up the WC spot with a solid series.

But the real goal here is the Division title. The Sox are 2 1/2 games behind the Ray and head to Tampa on Monday. They need to at least split this 4-game series with the Toronto if they want that Tampa series to mean anything. The Rays are in the Bronx and have the luxury of facing Ponson, Mussina and Pavano over the weekend, while the Sox lock horns with the league's best pitching staff (TOR: 3.52 ERA).

Like I said this is a huge series for the Sox and it starts tonight. The Jays are 7-4 against us this year and won both games last time they came to Fenway. But We took two of 3 in Toronto a week later...

Wake will take the mound to night and there is one glaring concern here - Timmy was shelled in Texas the last time he took the mound, giving up 7 runs on four hits and four walks through 1+ innings. Batterymate Kevin Cash said the Rangers simply waited out the knuckleballer, forcing him to put it over the plate... With the bullpen still recovering from the 14-inning showdown on Wednesday, the Sox are hoping the "knucklah" will be dancing a litle more tonight.

Wake is 0-1 against the Jays this season and 15-11 with a 3.87 ERA in his career. Those are typical, "50/50" Wakefield stats, so who the hell knows what to expect tonight.

The Jays will counter with rookie David Purcey. Purcey was nasty in his last outing, blanking the Rays through 8 innings and fanning 8 in a 1-0 win. But the young lefty has been sporadic this season. For every solid outing, he seems to follow up with a stinker - before blanking the Rays he gave up 5 runs and lasted just 3 innings against the Twins... but before that he held the Rays to 1 run through 8 innings and fanned 11... but before that he was tagged for 5 runs through 4 innings by the Yankess... and the list goes on...

So, in theory Purcey is due for a stinker, so the Sox should be able to make it happen. The Sox have a league best .296 batting average against southpaws this year and, strangely, they have the exact same BA at home this season - .296 - also tops in the league.

As for Who to Watch, the Sox have never seen Purcey, so that could give the kid an edge, but the Sox are a veteran team with lots of patience and with 26 walks through 53.1 innings, I expect our boys to make Purcey work for everything tonight.

Coco is batting .579 over the past 7 days, .294 against lefties, and Tito held him on the bench on Wednesday, so I expect him in the lineup over the lefty Ellsbury tonight ... Jason Bay also kills lefties (.375) and should be itching to make up for his 0-7 showing against Tampa ... Tek (.345) and Drew (.375) have done well against the Jays, but Cash (.379 vs lefties) will get the start and Drew (lefty) may not come off the shelf until tomorrow - based on the match-up.

Toronto's Lyle Overbay has been on fire this week, hitting .429 with 2 homers and 9 RBI ... Alex Rios has also been hot, hitting .387 with 3 homers this week. Rios also has 3 career homers off Wake, one coming this season ... SS/2B Mark Scutaro also hits the kuckleball well (5-13, .385) and he's batting .381 over the past 7 days.

Bottom Line: Wake has stepped up and fought his way through 7 or 8 innings so many times over his career. We need one of those vintage Wakefield outing tonight... and the offense needs to wake up the bats and back him up. We need 3 of 4 at worst this weekend and it starts tonight...

Oh, and go Yankees.

Photo by Paul at flickr.

Off-day Videos: Papelbon does his best Swayze impression

Thanks to NESN, Red Sox Monster and Comcast's Wicked Good Sports, as well as Jonathan Papelbon's parents, Red Sox fans got to see some more on Cinco Ocho's dancing moves this week...

I can only assume that this is the cause of the frustration we've had to endured over the past few days... Paps probably needed years of therapy to wipe this from the memory banks and now Big Papi has unwittingly brought these disturbing images back.

Would you be able to locate your 97 mph fastball or line a RBI single to the gap with these images racing through your mind?

Missed opportunities will cost Red Sox

The Red Sox stranded 31 base runners through 14 innings last night. Dustin Pedroia reached base 6 times, but never scored, thanks to an 0-17 showing from the heart of the line up - Papi, Yuke, Bay and Lowell.

In a battle of the bullpens that lasted into the wee hours of Thursday morning, the Red Sox failed to push across a second run against the Rays, and the Rays finally took advantage in the 14 with a 3-run home run from Carlos Pena.

"I thought it was a popup. Everybody else did, too," Timlin said. "If you look at it, it's a borderline pitch, down and away on the black. It's not a pitch you expect a left-hander to drive, but it happened."

Said Red Sox manager Terry Francona: "He didn't miss with that pitch. That was off the plate. I bet that was a couple inches off with some movement. Falling behind to Iwamura ... we didn't want to Pena to hit that inning because of what he can do."

Maybe Pena did get lucky, but the Rays have been lucky all year, and the Sox had a chance to go for the jugular this week and they blew it.

The hadn't won at Fenway all year. They were 1-6 in September. The pressure was all on them when they entered this 3-game set, but with two more dramatic wins to add to their record, the Rays are 2 1/2 games up on the Sox and, as NESN's Lou Merloni said last night, "They should feel pretty good right now."

Bottom Line: Now the Rays are rejuvenated and with another 3-game series coming up in Tampa Bay, the Rays could make it almost impossible for the Red Sox to catch them in the AL East. The Sox are 0-6 at the Trop this season. The Rays are 53-21 at home.

There's still 17 games to be played, but the pressure will be on the Red Sox now, and on Monday it will be in the form of 40,000 cow bells.

Notes: There were some wacky decisions made in this game... Beckett fanned 7 Rays through 6 innings, needing just 84 pitches to do so, but Tito pulled him with the score ties at 1-1. You have to wonder if one more inning from Beckett might have enabled Francona to avoid Timlin in the end ... With Pedroia at first base in the 12th, Ortiz chose to sneak a bunt down the third base line against the shift. But the pitch was inside, and Papi plunked it right at the pitcher. If it was almost any other guy, I'd applaud him for moving the runner along, but you really want the large father swinging away there ... and I know were down to Chris Smith and David Pauley, but Timlin gave up 5 hits and 4 run in his last outing in Texas and 4 of the 7 long balls he had given up this season had come in August and September - It's just not there for Mike anymore, but he would have likely been called on to close the game if he had taken the lead, and I'm not sure if that is any better...

Too many innings catching up to Papelbon...?

Despite walking a combined seven batters, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Scott Kazmir kept runs off the score board through much of last night's game. But Jason Bay's 2-run home run in the bottom of the 8th gave the Red Sox a 4-3 lead with Jonathan Papelbon set to close out the game...

But the Rays, much like they have all season, refused to quit. Pinch hitter Dan Johnson, who's flight landed at Logan Airport at 6:30PM yesterday, took Paps deep to tie the game in the 9th. Then back to back doubles by the Rays gave them the 5-4 lead and the Sox would fail to in their comeback attempt.. stranding Ellsbury at third base after his 45th steal of the season.

"Jason’s home run gave us a good feeling and we have all the confidence in the world in Pap,” Lowell said. “But Pap’s a human being. He’s been so good for three years, it’s almost like he’s automatic.”

But Paps has not been automatic this year. After blowing just 3 save chances in 2007, last night was Papelbon's fifth blown save this season, and his BAA is up from .146 last year to .212 this year. Paps is still nasty, but thanks to a shaky bullpen, Paps is already 4+ innings over last years total... with most of September still to be played.

The normally untouchable Papelbon has allowed 8 hits and two runs in September. To put that in perspective, in August he allowed 7 hits total in 12+ innings while posting a 0.00 ERA.

Bottom Line: In 2006 Paps threw 68.1 innings, and in 2007 he threw 69 total innings, including the playoffs and World Series. Tito is going to need to find a way to keep Papelbon out of games down the stretch because he is on pace to reach that 70 innings mark on the last game of the regular season.

Yahoo! Box Score

The rest of the world just found out that Coco's on fire...

The Bottom Line has been spreading the word about Coco's recent surge for almost two weeks now... it seems the rest of the local media outlets finally stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop:

From the Herald:

A guy once written off as spare baggage and expected to spend an awful lot of time on the bench, Crisp instead has saved his best for when it matters most during this postseason push. His three-hit start to this crucial series came on the heals of a 7-for-11 showing in the previous series in Texas. That’s 10-for-14 in the last four games. Go back a bit farther, and you’re talking 15-for-22.

“It’s just been a long road back from injuries and suspensions and here and there not playing every day, to try and find myself,” Crisp said. “You know, it does take some time. Hopefully I’ve figured something out. Hopefully I can keep this going as long as possible, try to continue throughout the whole season.”

From Yahoo! Sports:

The 28-year-old outfielder’s struggles were so pronounced that he seemed to be the odd man out this season after losing his job to heralded rookie Jacoby Ellsbury during last season’s ALCS. Despite a jam-packed outfield situation, though, Crisp has 105 games played and 323 at-bats this year—a generous helping of playing time that has allowed Crisp a chance to regain his slashing stroke over the last two weeks.

"He’s gotten some bunts down, some balls have found holes—he’s using the whole field and with his speed he’s going to get some hits,” said manager Terry Francona. “It’s been very welcome, especially if he’s hitting down in the nine hole.”

From MLB.com:

Crisp, who was hitting .248 as recently at Aug. 19, is all the way up to .291.

"It's been a good stretch for him," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "His batting average tells you that. He's been a big help to us. He's playing. Early on that wasn't the case. He's just gotten hot. All players go through periods where they get hot. If you could explain it, everybody would get hot. Sometimes you catch a break. Some of the balls he's hit have found holes. He got a bunt down the other day and it hit a rock. Sometimes you go through periods like that where you get some breaks."

It will be interesting to see how Francona divvies up the playing time between Crisp and Ellsbury [ now that JD Drew has been activated ], who has struggled of late, hitting .227 over his last 20 games.

As long as Crisp remains hot, Francona is likely to be able to find at-bats for him.

In typical Crisp fashion, he didn't want to have an elaborate discussion about it.

"You know me," said Crisp. "I don't like to talk about myself."

Lately, his bat has done plenty of talking.

Bottom Line: JD is back, but I expect Tito to stick with the hot hand and ease Drew back into playing full time. I'm a big fan of Coco, so I hope he keeps it up right through October.

T-Storms likely to delay Sox from toppling Rays

Ironically, a large T-storm has become a "ray" of hope for Scott Kazmir and the Rays.

Tonight's match-up with Daisuke Matsuzaka and the surging Red Sox is likely to be postponed due to heavy rain fall... delaying the inevitable swap atop the AL East for at least one more day.

If the Sox and Rays get a chance to square off tonight, Matsuzaka will be looking for his sixth win in a row. He's 9-2 in 14 starts at Fenway this year and held the Rays to 1 runs and 2 hits through 5 innings the last time he faced the Rays... he did, however, walk 5 batters in that outing.

The Rays will counter with Scott Kazmir. In his last two outings, Kazmir has held opponents to just four hits and zero runs through 11.1 innings, but like Matsuzaka, he has struggled with walks this year, offer 8 free passes in those two starts.

Kazmir has been known as a Red Sox killer in the past, posting a 3.02 ERA and 126 strikeouts in 110.1 innings... and he could give the Sox trouble again. Deespite getting a late start on the season, Kaz has 146 K's and a 2.99 ERA to go along with 11 wins, and he's really settled in as of late.

Tito is likely to stack the lineup with righties, but save for Dustin Pedroia (13-21, .619) most of the Sox have struggled against the southpaw...

Bottom Line: Whether this game gets played tonight or tomorrow, it will be a very interesting match-up. Both pitchers have the stuff to make it a 1-0 game with lots of strikeouts, but walks have hurt both pitchers as well, meaning it could also come down to a battle of the bullpens.

If the game gets called, both teams have an off day on Thursday - it's the only day off the Rays had this month...

Red Sox v Rays: Game 1 - Advantage Red Sox

The Red Sox appear to be holding all the cards as they head into Game 1 of a very important 3-game series with the first place Rays.

- The Red Sox are 48-19 at Fenway Park this year.

- Jon Lester is 8-0 with a 2.64 ERA in his last 13 starts at Fenway.

- The Red Sox have won 14 of their last 18 games and are 5-1 in September.

- The Rays are 1-5 in September, and 41-72 (.363) in that month dating back to 2004.

- The Rays have not won a game at Fenway this year - posting an 0-6 record while getting outscored 45-16 thanks to a staff ERA of 7.88.

- Jays starter Edwin Jackson is 0-2 with a 6.19 ERA in three starts versus Boston this year, most recently getting shelled for 10 runs and 15 hits in his last two visits.

- Jackson is 0-3 with an 8.18 ERA in five lifetime appearances at Fenway.

- Jackson also had his worst game of the season last time out, lasting just 3 1/3 innings, while giving up 6 runs on 10 hits to the Yankees.

- Meanwhile, Jon Lester has allowed just 2 runs total in his past two outings, while fanning 13 batters.

- Lester is also 3-0 in 6 career starts against the Rays.

- David Ortiz is 5 for 11 (.455) with a homer, 5 RBI and 6 walks against Jackson.

- Jason Bay is batting .391 with a home run and 6 RBI against the Rays.

- Dustin Pedroia is batting .347 at Fenway and went 17 for 25 (.680) on the last home stand while grabbing 3 or more hits in 4 of those 6 games.

- Tampa Bay is batting .246 against southpaws this season, ranking them 27th.

- The Rays are batting just .277 against Lester .224 against Boston pitching, but they have hit 5 ding dongs off of Lester this year.

Other Notes: Rhode Island native Rocco Baldelli has made a miraculous return from a number of injuries. He's batting .326 with 3 homers, 4 doubles and 9 RBI in 46 at-bats this year... Carlos Pena hit 16 homers through July and August and has 2 against Lester in 12 at-bats... Evan Longoria was activated from the DL over the weekend, but will likely remain out of the starting lineup during this series... David Ortiz admitted that his wrist is "not okay" but says it hurts less when his team is winning... Coco Crisp is batting .565 over the past 7 days and is 6 for 17 (.353 against Jackson in his career...

Bottom Line: The deck has been stacked in favor of the Red Sox here... they need to take advantage and go for the sweep.

Red Sox beat Texas, ready to take over the AL East

The Red Sox beat the Rangers 7-2 yesterday, earning yet another series win and moving within 1.5 games of the Rays thanks to the Blue Jays sweeping them over the weekend.

The Sox have gone 13-5 since dropping tow games in a row to Toronto back in August. Meanwhile, the Rays have lost 5 of 6 since sweeping the Orioles to close out August. Many suspected that the inexperienced Rays might "dim" under the pressure of a pennant race... but the Sox have remained focuse on themselves.

“There’s no other story than us focusing on ourselves and what we have to do, period, like we’ve been doing,” Red Sox captain Jason Varitek said.

With a thre game series set to kickoff tonight at Fenway, the Red Sox could take over the AL East with a sweep. Things couldn't have lined more perfectly for the Sox in that regard... they'll throw Lester, Matsuzaka and Beckett in the series while the Rays counter with Jackson, Kazmir and Sonnanstine.

“Now we get to go home and play hopefully some of the most exciting baseball of the year,” manager Terry Francona said. “We’ve played ourselves into a position where these games are really important. It’s exciting. We feel good about urselves, about how we’re playing.”

The Sox should feel good. Despite watching Tim Wakefield and theor bullpen get shelled for 15 runs on Saturday, the Sox put up 13 hits and 8 runs (4 in the 9th) in the 15-8 loss. Then they bounced right back on Sunday behind yet another solid outing from Paul Byrd. Byrd went 6 2/3, fanning 4 and allowing just 3 hits. He's now 4-1 since coming to Boston.

David Ortiz was the offensive hero, blasting a 400-foot homer in the 5th to make it 4-0, but I think it should be noted that Coco had 2 more hits, scored twice and grabbed another stolen base... He's now batting .284 on the season thanks to a five game multi-hit streak and an insane .565 BA in September.

Bottom Line: We've got 6 games against the struggling Rays over the next 10 days... I smell blood.

Red Sox @ Rangers: Rangers rack up 15 against Wake and the 'pen

Yesterday, Tim Wakefield reached a personal and professional milestone that really deserves to be recognized. The Red Sox' elder statesman joined a select group by appearing in his 500th game for the same team. He joined an even more select group as he became the 23rd pitcher in MLB history to accomplish the aforementioned feat AND make 350 starts for that team.

Unfortunately for the Red Sox and their fans, that was about the only memorable thing about Wakefield's start in Texas last evening.

Wake was absolutely shelled to the tune of 7 earned runs in less than 2 innings of work. He also gave up 4 hits and 4 walks in just 1.2 innings pitched. Needless to say, it wasn't one of the finer outings he's had in his 14 seasons with the Sox.

The bulk of the damage was done by Rangers outfielders. MVP candidate Josh Hamilton went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI, Brandon Boggs finished 1-for-3 with 2 runs scored, and most impressively, Nelson Cruz had 2 homers and 5 RBI in a 3-for-5 performance. The Rangers finished with 16 total hits as a team.

The Sox weren't exactly slouches at the plate as they strung together 13 hits themselves. Youk hit his 25th homer of the season and plated 3, while 6-through-8 batters Lowell, Lowrie and Crisp had 2 hits apiece. Normally, 8 runs is enough to get the job done, but with the knuckleball flying around Ameriquest Field in Arlington in the first 2 innings, the Sox were already too deep in the hole to be able to dig themselves out.

Theo Epstein is smarter than you

Red Sox Nation is full of wanna be GMs, many of which probably shake their heads with frustration every time they see Manny hit another home run in a Dodgers uniform. But it’s been over a month now since Theo Epstein was finally able to shed the ball and chain that was Manny Ramirez… and the Red Sox have been a better team because of it.

The Red Sox went 18-9 in August and swept the Orioles to kick off September, giving them a 0.70% winning percentage since the trade. I’d say that’s a tad better than the 11-13 (0.46 W%) the Sox posted while Manny played “How to lose a team in 10 days” through July.

If you’re wondering why those numbers sound familiar, its because that’s the exact same winning percentage the Sox had through the last 60 games of the 2004 season … you know, after a young Theo Epstein shocked the Nation by trading the face of the franchise, Nomar Garciaparra. The Red Sox went 42-18 after Nomar was shipped off to Chicago in a last minute, three-team deal (freaky). And, oh yeah, they won the World Series… I almost forgot.

Epstein has admitted to having a few sleepless nights after trading Nomar, but he had the cajones to make the right move then, and the chill of déjà vu probably made it a little easier for him to pull the trigger this time around.

“We didn't have to move Manny, but we had to take a good hard look at it what we could do to make it a positive situation for us to make the playoffs and do some damage in October. The team comes first. We just had a meeting, 25 guys down there feel like a team. We haven't felt like that for a while.”

Now that 30+ days have passed, it’s clear to this fan, that Theo knew what he was doing. Sure, Manny has been on fire, batting .407 with 10 ding-dongs and 29 RBI since donning the Dodger blue, but the shenanigans continued in L.A., first with Manny’s playful refusal to cut his dreads and later the mid-game bathroom break… while Jason Bay and his refreshingly quiet confidence, has hit .305 since coming to Boston and driven in exactly 29 runs of his own.

Theo knew that addition by subtraction was going to help this team succeed; after all, he’d been to that party before. He knew that Jason Bay could hold his own in the middle of the line up. He knew he could replace Craig Hansen (10.34 ERA w/ PIT) with Justin Masterson (1.58 ERA since Aug 1). And Paul Byrd has won three starts in a row and Mark Kotsay is batting .333 with 7 RBI in 6 games since Theo snatched them off the wire.

Bottom Line: It took me a while to admit it too, but it’s true: Theo Epstein is smarter than you. He’s smarter than all of us.

Off-day Videos: ROTY - check, MVP - almost a check, Oscar - not so much...

Dustin Pedroia hit .680 during this past home stand and is now leading the majors with a .333 BA... As the most unlikely of all cleanup hitters, he went 6 for 9 with 2 homers and 6 RBI in two games... He talks trash to 300-lb linemen and has enough balls to call out the President of Red Sox Nation...

But if your looking for Pedroia's kryptonite, you need only click play:



And it doesn't get much better here or here...

He's already earned a ROTY award, and he could be this year's AL MVP and/or batting champ... but I don't think we'll see any Oscars or Emmys on the mantle anytime soon.

A Tony maybe...

Off-day Videos: Coco gets his day in the sun

As stated here yesterday, Coco Crisp has been on fire since JD Drew went down back in mid August. He was batting .421 since Aug. 17th coming into yesterday's day game and was a big part of the walk-off win against the O's.

Crisp earned a walk with the bases loaded in the 7th to cut the O's lead to 4-2. Then, with Alex Cora on first and the score tied at 4-4 in the 9th, Coco laid down a perfect bunt to move Cora into scoring position.

Jacoby Ellsbury, the other half of the dynamic duo know as "Jacoco" followed suit, laying down a bunt that force the pitcher to make a play... Jim Miller threw the ball away and Cora jogged home for the win - capping a sweep of the Orioles.

Bottom Line: Coco has been a big part of this recent sruge by the Sox, but Mark Kotsay has also been hot and JD Drew is on the mend... Tito is going to have some decisions to make over the next few weeks, but having lots of options isn't such a bad thing is it?

Listen to Coco talk about how speed can kill your opponent and how playing small ball can be tougher than it looks...



Video from NECN

Pedroia: "Jerry Remy stunk!"

I saw this video posted at Red Sox Monster this morning, but a few other bloggers (Center Field, Joy of Sox) have linked it as well in the hopes that NESN will see it and tell Remy...

I've got some peeps at NESN, so I figured I'd post it as well and shoot one across their bow...

Daisuke takes the mound at 1:35 PM EST time today, so tune and see just how powerful the Red Sox Blogosphere really is... or isn't...



ps. JoS had a good point - a smirk after the comment would have gine a long way... but that's not how Dustin rolls... you don't like it? Piss off!

JaCoco CrispBury

JacCoco CrispBury has been red hot since JD Drew hit the DL back on August 17th.

He’s hitting at a .320 clip thanks to a 16 for 38 run (.421) by the Coco half and an 8 for 18 (.444) streak by the Jacoby half over the past four games.

Forming a dangerous 1-2 punch at the bottom and top of the lineup, JacCoco has been a key part of the recent surge by the Red Sox – driving in 12 runs and scoring 20 and stealing 10 bases during the streak.

With regular playing time, Coco has really caught fire, notching three 3-hit games and raising his average twenty points, from .248 to .268. He’s still not playing every day, but he’s made the most of the opportunity and it’s been a welcome surprise, since JD Drew just started taking BP this week…

Jacoby has also flipped the switch over the past few games, posting back-to-back 3-hit performances in Chi-town and riding a 4-game hitting streak into today’s match-up. Ellsbury is no stranger to late season surges – he hit .361 in September last year, and this could be the beginnings of another September explosion…

Bottom Line: Sure, Dustin Pedroia is hitting eight thousand right now, but both the offense and defensive displayed by JaCoco Crispbury over the past few weeks has been an equally important part of the current tear that the Red Sox have been on – and it couldn’t be happening at a better time.

The Bottom Line joins Sports Blog Net

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Check out over 50 different sports blogs at SBN and read stuff from me, our freinds at Fenway West and more.

Pedroia and Sox crush Orioles; Yanks beat Rays

Kevin Youkilis was a game-time scratch last night due to back spasms. So when Tito needed a clean up hitter at the last minute, he looked to his left, but David Ortiz kinda loves the 3-hole... so he looked to his right, but Mike Lowell and Sean Casey are still hurting... then he looked down to see Dustin Pedroia tapping his leg.

With a smirk (I'm sure of it) Francona penciled the 5 foot 9, 170 lbs of mouth into the clean up spot. The result? Pedroia the Destroya rampaged through the Oriole pitching staff, crushing a 3-run blast over the Monster seats, grabbing his 43rd double of the season and finishing the night with 2 hits, 5 RBI and 37,000 Fenway Faithful chanting "MVP! MVP!"

"I don't know about any of that stuff," said the always humble (snicker) Pedroia . "I'm just trying to go out there and put a good swing on the ball."

If only it were that easy Dustin...

When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, the Sox had posted 20 hits, 8 walks, 2 stolen bases and I think they're still looking for bodies under the mound...

The offense was impressive last night, but Jon Lester was not. Tito pulled him after 99 pitches thanks to a huge lead, but Lester was noticeably frustrated with himself all night. But despite missing his locations and walking four, Lester fanned five batter and held the O's to just 1 run over 5 innings - earning his 13th win.

Bottom Line: The Sox are clicking at the right time, winning 7 of their last 10... the Rays have been equally hot, but they lost to the Yankees last night, so we grab a game in the loss column.

Red Sox win 14-2 -- Yahoo! Box Score

Pedroia leads Sox to another win

Dustin Pedroia is doing everything right this year.

After grabbing two more hits last night, he leads the AL with a .327 BA. He also leads the entire league witgh 185 hits - five more than Ichiro (AL) and Jose Reyes (NL). His 42 doubles also puts him at 4th in the MLB... interestingly surrounded by Orioles (Brian Roberts, 46, 1st / Aubrey Huff, 44, 2nd / Nick Markakis, 42, T-4th).

Pedroia the Destroyah's also got some pop and some speed. He's one ding doing away from doubling his 2007 HR total (8) and with 2 more RBI last night, he's totaled 70 on the season, while hitting at the top of the lineup. Speedy Pedey also stole his 17th base of the season last night - 10 more than his 2007 total.

It was his fifth stolen base in his last four games, and his 17th of the season. He has been caught just one time this year, for a success rate of 94.4 percent - tops in the AL among players with at least 15 attempts.

"He's getting to know the league," Francona said. "He's a very intelligent player. I do think he's faster. I think he worked hard, and he is faster. More confident."

Pedroia's 2-run single in the 6th turned a 4-3 lead into a 6-3 lead and pretty much secured the win for the Sox... he also scored in the 8th after recording his second hit of the game when Jed Lowrie walked with the bases loaded.

The Sox pulled out a much needed win, since the Rays refuse to lose (5 in a row)... we're 5 games back and it would be nice to knock it down to 4 or even 3 before the series next week.

Pitching Note: Paul Byrd continues to pitch as advertised. He allowed 4 runs over 7 innings, and grabbed the win (his 3rd straight) - but he gave up 3 homers on the night. That's 7 homers in the last 4 games, but somehow, he managed to avoid the ding dongs in New York... go figure.

Bottom Line: The Sox are facing the AL's two worst pitchng staffs this week: Bal - 5.00 ERA and Texas - 5.34 ERA... they need to continue rolling if they want a shot at the AL East title.

Yahoo! Box Score