G118: Red Sox 3, Rangers 1

Red Sox - 000 100 002 - 3 10  1
Rangers - 000 000 001 - 1  7  1

Lester (8-5-0-0-5) did exactly what was needed -- shut down the Rangers and rest the bullpen. He allowed only one baserunner past second base (it came with with one out in the seventh) and the bottom of the order tacked on two important insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Felix Doubront got the save, but it also could have be awarded to Vladimir Guerrero.

After Lester had thrown 109 pitches in the 102-degree evening heat -- although he told John Farrell around the sixth inning that he was not feeling well, he retired 15 of the last 16 hitters he faced -- Scott Atchison started the ninth. Michael Young lined out to second, Josh Hamilton hit an opposite-field home run to left, and Guerrero beat out a single to the shortstop hole.

Terry Francona brought in Doubront to face pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland. On Doubront's second pitch, Vlad took off for second - WTF? -- and Victor Martinez gunned him down by five feet. Moreland watched a game-ending strike three curveball two pitches later.

Felix has made four relief appearances:

I'm enjoying it. I'm excited to be a reliever now. I like the challenge. Coming in for the seventh of eighth inning, that pressure makes me feel good.

Boston scored in the fifth when Ryan Kalish singled and scored on J.D. Drew's two-out hit to right. In the ninth, Mike Lowell doubled to left-center and Kalish got his second single of the night (he also walked). Bill Hall singled to left to make it 2-0. After a pitching change, Eric Patterson singled to load the bases and Scutaro lofted a fly ball towards left-center. Pedro Borbon tried to make a waist-high catch, but the ball clanged off his glove, and Kalish scored.

The Red Sox squandered a scoring chance in the second when they loaded the bases with one out. Hall struck out looking and Patterson flew out to left.

The Yankees beat the Royals 8-3 and the Rays beat the Orioles 7-3, so the East remains the same: Tampa Bay 2 GB; Boston 6 GB. We have 44 games remaining.

Jon Lester / Colby Lewis

Scutaro, SS
Drew, RF
Martinez, C
Ortiz, DH
Beltre, 3B
Lowell, 1B
Kalish, LF
Hall, 2B
Patterson, CF

Jacoby Ellsbury is on the disabled list for the third time this season, "with some swelling in the same area and a 'faint line' around the same area as a previous fracture".

I really wonder if he will play again this season. (And if so, has he played his last game in a Red Sox uniform?)

All is well.

Orioles/Rays, 4 PM
Yankees/Royals, 7 PM

August 14:

1919 - The Robins and Cubs split a doubleheader in only two hours and seventeen minutes. Chicago win the opener 2-0 in 1:10 and Brooklyn takes the nightcap 1-0 in 1:07.

1922 - Lizzie Murphy plays first base for an American League all-star team in an exhibition game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, making her the first woman to play for a major-league team.

1942 - The Yankees turn a record seven double plays in an 11-2 win over the Athletics. It looks like two of them may have involved a runner caught stealing.