The Red Sox were in action tonight, looking for the sweep of their interdivision foes the Baltimore Orioles and looking to perhaps gain some ground on the elusive Rays in the AL East standings. These games are especially big for the Red Sox because, with the Rays and Yankees playing each other, if the Red Sox win, it would guarantee that the Red Sox either gain a game on the Rays in the AL East or add a game to their lead over the Yankees for the Wild Card.

The Red Sox looked sluggish to start the game, most likely because of their injuries. Injuries have ravaged the team over the past few weeks as the Red Sox were without three of their biggest bats in the lineup, Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis, and JD Drew once again in tonight’s game. Recent acquisition Mark Kotsay filled in for Kevin Youkilis at first. Rookie shortstop Jed Lowrie played third base once again in place of Lowell, while utility man Alex Cora played in place of Lowrie at short. Coco Crisp filled in for Drew in the outfield. However, injuries are excuses, and their injuries are not an excuse for the fact that after 6 innings of play, the Red Sox were losing 4-0.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/3"

The Red Sox are off today, but plenty of things that are happening that could affect the Sox playoff chances. The Yankees beat the Rays yesterday which put the Sox back within 3 of the Rays in the AL East. The Twins lost to the Blue Jays as the Red Sox allowing the Red Sox to take a commanding 5 game lead in the Wild Card. As of right now, the Twins are losing 1-0 to the Jays and the Rays have a commanding 5-0 lead over the Yankees in the 3rd.

This might actually be the first them that I, as a Red Sox fan, have wanted to see the Yankees win. If the Yankees beat the Rays, they are actually helping the Sox. Right now, the Yankees look to be too far out to do any damage to the Sox, 7 back now, but the Rays are a legitimate threat because of the fact that they are the ones the Sox are chasing.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/4"

The Red Sox took on the Rangers today. I'll get to that in a moment, but first, some other happenings that could effect the Sox in the long run. The Rays won yesterday over the Yankees. The Red Sox thus gained a half game on the Yankees but fell a half game to the division leading Rays. The Twins ended their long road trip by losing again as they were swept by the Blue Jays. Boston now leads the Twins by 5.5 in the Wild Card. The Jays then helped the Red Sox some more today. They extended their winning streak to 6 in a win over the Rays. The Twins won and the Yankees currently trail the lowly Mariners 3-0 in the 7th as Brandon Morrow has a no hitter going for the Mariners. On to today's game.

Because of the Rays' loss, if the Red Sox were to win over the Rangers, not only would it be their 7th straight win over Texas, but it would move to Red Sox within 2.5 games of the division lead, the closest they would have been in a while. Helping the cause is the return of Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett. Lowell started at 3rd for the first time in over 3 weeks and Beckett made his first start since his return from the DL as well.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/5"

Be careful what you predict because it might come true. Due to an unfavorable matchup, I predicted a poor start from Tim Wakefield in tonight's game against the Rangers and a poor start was what we got. Wakefield gave up 7 runs in the 2nd, an inning which he did not finish. The final line for Wakey, is 1.2 pitched 7 earned and his 10th loss of the season. Even worse is the fact that Red Sox officials think Wakefield possibly reinjured the shoulder that put him on the DL a couple weeks in tonights game and the last thing they need right now is another longterm injury. They should play it safe with Wake and use Michael Bowden to spot start for him his next time around. It would be smart to have caution with Wakefield and a good chance to let Bowden prove that his last start wasn't just a fluke.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/6"

The Red Sox took on the Rangers today looking to win their 5th in 6 games and avenge their loss to the Rangers last night. Also, because the Rays were shutout by the red hot Blue Jays earlier today, losing 1-0, a win by the Red Sox would mean that they would be only 1.5 back of the Rays heading into an intriguing matchup in Boston between the Rays and Sox which begins Monday. The Yankees lost today as well and fell into 4th in the AL East, below the Jays, showing once again that a big payroll does not equal success. They are all but out of it.

So the Sox sent recent acquisition Paul Byrd to the mound tonight to face off with young Rangers' starter Brandon McCarthy. Byrd has proved to be a very good pickup as he has stabilized the end of their rotation and provided a locker room presence, exactly what the Red Sox acquired him to do. Early 2nd inning RBIs from Alex Cora and Coco Crisp gave the Sox an early 2-0 lead. A David Ortiz two run shot, his 18th, in the 5th pushed it to a 4-0 advantage. 6th inning RBIs from Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, as well as a 7th inning solo shot from Jason Bay, his 27th, made it a 7-0 lead.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/7"

The Red Sox have been gaining major ground on the Rays in the recent week or so, but there is one thing that they haven't done in around 3 months and that is actually win a game against the team they were chasing, the Tampa Bay Rays. After being swept in the Trop in Tampa in early July, the Sox have had to wait 2 months to get revenge, but their meeting with the Rays, who have lead the division almost every day since their last meeting, couldn't have come at a better time or in a better place. The Red Sox have the momentum coming into the series, having gained 4 games in the standings over the last 6 games, setting them in a position where they could overtake the Rays with a sweep, and the have the homefield. The Red Sox have won all 6 of the meetings between them and the Rays in Fenway, which is where this game would be played in front of their new Major League record 456th straight sellout crowd.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/8"

The Red Sox have not been in first place since the All-Star break, but had a chance to change that tonight against the elusive division leading Rays. Boston won last night and had won 7 straight home contests against the Rays. Two excellent pitchers took the mound, Daisuke Matsuzaka for the Red Sox and Scott Kazmir for the Rays. The game was as you might expect a game between two teams of this caliber to be, close and entertaining throughout.

The Sox struck first taking a 1-0 lead in the first, scoring first for the 2nd consecutive night. The Rays regained the lead with 2 in the 3rd and would hold the lead until the 8th. In the 8th, 3-2 ballgame, Jason Bay, who has been as good as they could have imagined coming over from Pittsburgh, hits a 2 run homerun, his 29th on the season and 3rd in a week. The Red Sox are in good position heading into the 9th with the momentum, the lead, the homefield and the Jonathan Papelbon.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/9"

I was unable to write yesterday because the Red Sox extra inning game went too long into the night, but today was an off day so i'll kind of combine today's and yesterday's. The Red Sox lost two days ago, but yesterday, with a win, still had a chance to put the pressure on the Rays by moving a half a game behind them for first in the AL East. If the Red Sox lose the game, they'd be 2.5 back have the momentum drained as the Rays would have won a series in Fenway. For those of you who don't see the importance of winning the division, while they are going to the playoffs anyway. The winner of the division gets either the Twins or White Sox in the first round. The loser of the division has to go to Anahiem to play the league leading Angels.

The Rays struck first in the game on a Willy Aybar triple in the 2nd inning. Aybar himself would have also scored on the play, on the misplay at 3rd, but Jason Bay, the left fielder, was backing him up. That proved to be a crucial play as the Rays did not score again in the inning. If Manny Ramirez had been playing left field, he'd be in the bathroom, not backing up 3rd. Bay might not be as good of a hitter as Manny, although it is close, but he plays harder, that's for sure.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/11"

A lot has happened in the AL East over the past 2 days, so I decided to combine it all into one gigantic Red Sox report. First, the Red Sox. They played the Blue Jays yesterday and then had a double header against the Jays today, with all three games being played in Boston. The Blue Jays had been red hot coming into the four game series, which wraps up tomorrow, but the Red Sox, if they could win 3 in 2 days, could build some serious momentum and gain some ground on the division leading Rays. Winning all 3 games would at least mean the Red Sox would gain a half game on the Rays. I'll start with Friday night's game.

Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield took the mound for the Red Sox on Friday. He had been roughed up pretty badly in his last start against Texas, but if there is anyone that can rebound, it's Wakefield. He was going good in the early innings and just needed some run support. The Red Sox got him that in the 2nd and 4th innings, both coming off of the bat of Jed Lowrie. Rookie Lowrie had been a run producing machine driving in 42 in 66 games, while batting .305 with runners in scoring position.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/13"

The Red Sox played today, against the Jays, in what is their last game to gain ground before a pivotal series against the division leading Rays. If everything goes right, the Red Sox would only sit a game back heading into the 3 game set in Tampa. Both the Jays and the Red Sox sent their most consistent pitchers to the mound today, Jon Lester for Boston and Roy Halladay for the Jays.

Both gave the type of performances you'd expect from pitchers of this caliber. Every each gave up a run in the first, both calmed down. All told, Halladay went 7 strong, 3 runs, 2 earned and Lester went 8 innings of 1 run ball, with that lone run being surrendered in the first inning.

The Red Sox however had the advantage. After getting another run in the 8th, as Kevin Youkilis hit a sac fly to drive in David Ortiz who was standing on 3rd after hitting his 1st triple of the season, they lead 4-1. Leading by less than 3 with an inning to go, the Sox handed to ball to their closer, Jonathan Papelbon. Papelbon blew a save earlier this week against Tampa, but also had a perfect 3 out save yesterday against the Jays. This time, the job was shaky, but he had room for error. He did surrender 2 runs to the Jays in the 9th, bringing his ERA up to 2.11, but he got the job done as he got the save for Jon Lester, and the Red Sox won their 88th game on the season.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/14"

The Red Sox played the Rays today in what was the first game of the last series of the season between these two. Daisuke Matsuzaka started today against Scott Kazmir in Tampa, where the Red Sox are yet to win this season. If the Red Sox were to win tonight they would move into a virtual tie with the Rays, who they have trailed since late July.

Because of the fact that they have yet to win in Tampa and because they lost a series to the Rays just last week in Boston, the odds were against the Red Sox. However, they came out firing tonight. They had four runs in the first, off of homeruns from David Ortiz and Mike Lowell. After getting seven more in the fourth, including homeruns from Jason Bay, Kevin Youkilis, and Jason Varitek, they had a commanding 11-1 lead that they would not give back.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/15"

The Red Sox entered today in a virtual tie for first place, looking to move into first place for the first time in 2 months. Josh Beckett started today looking to get his 13th win of the season, a season which has been a down one by his standards as he won 20 games last season. He would face Andy Sonnanstine in what would be one of the most important games for the Red Sox and Rays this season.

The game was a pitchers dual until the 6th, when the Red Sox struck first on an RBI sac fly by Kevin Youkilis, scoring Jacoby Ellsbury. Beckett would go until the 7th without surrendering a run, which he did on a solo shot by Carlos Pena. Beckett had another fine night, 8 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned, but because he left with the game tied, he would not factor into the decision and this was still anyone's game.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/16"

The Red Sox were off tonight, but last night they were far from it. They had their last remaining regular season game with the division leading Rays. If the Sox were to win, they would come out of the series with a road series win and a virtual tie. If they were to lose, it would be the 3rd straight series lost to the Rays and the Sox would be 3 back in the loss column.

Tim Wakefield got the start which was not a good move. Wakefield struggles in domes because there is no wind. Wakefield is a knuckleballer and without some wind, that knuckleball is just going to be a flat mess, the equivilant of a batting practice fastball. Wakefield's ERA is 1.70 higher this season in domes as opposed to open stadiums. Nonetheless, he got an early 2-0 lead to work with thanks to a top of the 1st 2 run homerun by Big Papi.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/18"

The Red Sox entered Friday trailing Major League Baseball's feel good story of the year, the Tampa Bay Rays, by only 1.5 games in the AL East. However, with the Rays winning 11-1 against the Twins, and inching closer to their first postseason berth in franchise history, the Red Sox had the pressure on them to win and keep pace. The pitcher the Red Sox put their hope it to do that for them was Paul Byrd, a midseason acquisition from Cleveland, who has provided the stability in the rotation that they haven't really had since Curt Schilling went down. Byrd faced AJ Burnett of the Blue Jays.

The Jays got to Byrd first, with 2 in the 2nd, but some clutch hitting in the 5th gave the Red Sox the lead. However, because the Jays would also score in the 5th, the game was tied heading into the 8th. However, the Red Sox would score Jason Bay from 3rd on an RBI fielders choice by The Captain Jason Varitek, giving the Sox the 4-3.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/19"

The Red Sox entered Saturday needing only a win or a Yankees loss to clinch their 2nd straight playoff berth. However, they got more than they bargained for when they send Jon Lester to the mound to face Toronto Blue Jay ace Roy Halladay. The Jays got to Jon Lester, who has been the Red Sox most consistent starter in his first full season, for 5 in the first two innings, including a 4 run 2nd.

The Red Sox didn't back down though, despite being down 5-0 early. They cut it to 5-1 with a David Ortiz RBI single, and then 5-3 with a Jason Bay 2 run 2 out homerun. Jon Lester, luckily would settle down. He didn't allow a run over the next 5 innings, finishing with a decent line, 7 innings 5 earned, but he was on the hook for the loss as his offense couldn't get him anymore than those 3 runs.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/21 (2nd time's the charm as Red Sox clinch playoff berth)"