G82: Red Sox 7, Rangers 4

About three hours before last night's game, it was announced that Keith Foulke had taken Terry Francona's advice and was heading back to Boston to have MRIs done on both of his knees. Foulke did not have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee over the winter, and now his right knee is also acting up because he has been favoring it. A DL stint seems likely.

How bad was Foulke's outing on Monday? Kevin Mench, who got the Rangers' game-winning hit, said: "I was thinking he was going to throw me a changeup, and I got a fastball in." So Mench got what should have been a much quicker pitch than he was expecting and still pulled it solidly to deep left field.

Tim Wakefield threw eight fantastic innings (eight hits, four runs, one walk, 5 strikeouts, 114 pitches) last night for his 122nd victory with the Red Sox, tying Luis Tiant for fourth place in team history.

Mike Timlin pitched the ninth inning, throwing six pitches (all strikes) for a 1-2-3 inning. He got the first two Rangers on one pitch each. The second out was caught by Johnny Damon, who made a diving catch in shallow center, landing on his shoulder and bouncing on the turf. "I kind of popped some body parts out of place, but they put them back. It's all taken care of." I wouldn't be surprised if he takes tonight off.

As a side note to the bullpen mess, David Wells thinks he might be able to close, though no one has asked him. "I've done it before and I could do it again, but it just would take me longer to get ready. I'd have to know exactly when I was going to pitch. I suppose I could do it."

That may sound crazy, but it's a lot more sane that whatever is going through Lou Piniella's head down in Tampa. According to Rotoworld:

Casey Fossum won't start Wednesday. After watching his bullpen struggle again tonight, manager Lou Piniella said he plans to use a reliever initially and then bring in Fossum later on. ... "People are going to think I'm crazy, but we're just going to try it. Starting tomorrow, I'll bring in whatever reliever I feel like starting the game with, and I'll bring my starter in in the third inning and we'll play nine innings of baseball that way."

Damon extended his hitting streak to 21 games, John Olerud did not record a putout at first base until the ninth (though he had three assists in the first) and Manny Ramirez hit his third grand slam of the season.

               GS     AB
Lou Gehrig     23   8,001
Manny Ramirez  20   5,858
Eddie Murray   19  11,336
Robin Ventura  18   7,064
Willie McCovey 18   8,197
Jimmie Foxx    17   8,134
Ted Williams   17   7,706

Curt Schilling called Monday's outing in Pawtucket "frustrating." He'll make at least one more minor league start, perhaps two. The Herald's Steve Buckley writes (while making clear he is not ragging on Clement or Wakefield):

Without Curt Schilling, the Red Sox have no real, live, stop-the-presses, get-out-of-my-way, I-can-lick-any-man-in-the-bar No. 1 starter. ... [W]ithout a tough, healthy, on-top-of-his-game Curt Schilling, the Red Sox simply aren't that scary. ... Until Schilling is back with the big club, and winning, October is just a fantasy for the Red Sox.

No. We don't need scary, we need good. And we have good. October would be nicer with Schilling pitching and winning, but getting there without him is not a pipe dream.

The Red Sox -- even with all of their problems -- lead the AL East this morning by 3.5 games. It's their largest lead of the season.