G154: Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 3

Red Sox   - 003 000 000 - 3  7  1
Blue Jays - 140 000 01x - 6  9  1

Each starter struggled early -- and the Red Sox wasted three scoring chances.

In the first, Boston had runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs, then 1st and 3rd with one out, but could not score. They loaded the bases against Halladay (6-6-3-3-3, 106) with two outs in the fifth, but Jed Lowrie struck out. And facing Brandon League in the eighth, they had men at 1st and 2nd with one out, and came up empty yet again.

Toronto batted around in the second against Lester (7-8-5-3-4, 102). After that rough inning (he also allowed two hits and a run in the first), he settled down. Over the next five innings, he allowed only three singles and a walk -- and no Blue Jay runner got past second base. However, his teammates' bats could do much with the Toronto staff.

With one out in the third, Dustin Pedroia doubled and David Ortiz singled him home. One out later, Jason Bay homered to left to cut the score to 5-3.

The Yankees scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to beat Baltimore 1-0 and stave off YED for another 24 hours. Tampa Bay beat Minnesota 7-2, eliminating the Yankees from the AL East race.

***

Jon Lester (3.15, 145 ERA+) / Roy Halladay (2.77, 155 ERA+)

It's a rematch of last Sunday's game, which Boston won 4-3 behind a strong showing from Lester (8-4-1-2-6, 103).

J.D. Drew wonders if he will be able return at all this season.

I took some swings today [Friday] and it tightened up. ... [I'm] just wondering if the injury is healed, or if you just keep scratching at it like a scab and picking at it and it's not fully healing ... One day it's going to get better. I don't know what day it's going to be.

Bartolo Colon has been suspended without pay. Ian Browne, MLB:

Colon went to the Dominican Republic earlier this week to tend to a personal matter and expressed a preference to stay there, rather than return to the Red Sox and serve as, at most, a long reliever or spot starter for the rest of the regular season.

Jacoby Ellsbury has a 10-game hitting streak (.351/.368/.486).

***

Today could be Yankee Elimination Day. If the Red Sox win and the Yankees lose (in the penultimate game at the 33-year-old "Yankee Stadium II"), then New York will be officially eliminated from both the division race and the wild card race.

In the YED contest, Joe Grav, redsauce04, and Bruce B all picked 0920. (However, Bruce picked 81 NYY wins in the tiebreaker and they have 83 right now, so he cannot win the tiebreaker; Joe has 88 and redsauce 87.)

(It could also be BJED, if Boston wins.)

Orioles/Yankees at 1
Twins/Rays at 3:45
White Sox/Royals at 7

East                     Magic #
Rays       91  61   ---
Red Sox    90  63   1.5     9
Yankees    83  71   9.0     1
Blue Jays  82  72  10.0     E
Orioles    67  85  24.0     E
  
Wild Card                Magic #
Red Sox    90  63   ---
Twins      83  71   7.5     2
Yankees    83  71   7.5     2
Blue Jays  82  72   8.5     1