G47: Red Sox 2, Rays 0

Red Sox - 002 000 000 - 2  4  0
Rays    - 000 000 000 - 0  1  0

Lester (6-1-0-5-9, 111) allowed at least one base runner in five of his six innings, but only two Rays got further than first base against him.

After two quick outs in the third, J.D. Drew singled to right and Kevin Youkilis walked. They both scored on David Ortiz's first-pitch double to the wall in left-center. The other two Boston hits came within the first five pitches of the game, as Marco Scutaro and Dustin Pedroia began the first inning with hard singles off Small Game (8-4-2-2-5, 107).

The pen was solid yet again. Manny Delcarmen and Daniel Bard each pitched perfect innings. Jonathan Papelbon allowed a one-out walk in the ninth, but got Carlos Pena on a weak grounder and struck out B.J. Upton.

The Rays has serious issues with several strike calls for Lester from umpire Bob Davidson. Things boiled over in the bottom of the fifth, when Carl Crawford and Joe Maddon were both ejected within a span of maybe 15 seconds.

I was stuck with the Rays TV feed and Dewayne Staats and (I think) Kevin Kennedy starting whining about Davidson's calls in the fourth. More coming in a separate post.

The Yankees/Twins game was suspended after five innings (0-0) because of rain. The game will be completed on Wednesday. The Angels are leading the Jays 7-2 in the 6th.

Jon Lester / James Shields

Scutaro, SS
Pedroia, 2B
Drew, RF
Youkilis, 1B
Ortiz, DH
Beltre, 3B
Hermida, LF
Varitek, C
Cameron, CF

To make room on the roster for Mike Cameron (who has been out since April 18), Darnell McDonald (.263/.320/.400 in 31 games) was designated for assignment.

Last Six Starts:

         ERA    IP   H  BB   K   AVG   OBP   SLG
Shields 2.49  43.1  45   6  48  .262  .285  .372
Lester  1.65  43.2  24  14  49  .164  .244  .267

In that time, Lester has lowered his ERA from 8.44 to 3.47.

Lester is 4th in the AL in strikeouts and K/9. Shields in 2nd in strikeouts and 3rd in K/9. Shields has the best K/BB ratio in MLB, but he has also allowed nine dongs, one shy of the most in the AL, and he's tied for 2nd in most hits allowed.

Pitching has carried the Rays so far this season -- their team ERA+ is 146! (Phil Hughes is 8th in the AL at 149) -- and the hitting has been only a bit above average. Tampa has hit .249/.322/.383 in May and is scoring 4.4 runs a game, way down from their April average of 6.3.

Remember Jed Lowrie? Turns out he's still alive.

That Peter Abraham guy has some good ideas: "I think people doing the wave should be escorted from the stadium."

Here is something I did not expect to type on May 25: "The Blue Jays have won more games than the Yankees."

Kevin Kernan, Post:

It's time for the World Series champions to step up and play like champions. Since last Sunday, they've lost six of eight and have looked sloppy. Going back to April 23, the Yankees are 15-14.

How scary is that? That is the exact same record as the Mets over that span. Is this the beginning of the end for the aging Yankees or just a rough patch?

Joe Girardi's club needs to turn it on ... It's time for the World Series champions to wake up and realize 2010 is a new season.

Tonight:

Yankees/Twins, 8 PM
Blue Jays/Angels, 10 PM