G162: Red Sox 9, Orioles 0 (5)

Devern Hansack pitched a no-hitter!

Sort of.

After a 3:23 rain delay, Mike Lowell clubbed a three-run home run in the first to give Boston a quick lead. In the third, a bases-loaded walk to Carlos Pena and Gabe kapler's three-run double upped the score to 7-0. Mark Loretta and Eric Hinske hit solo home runs in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, for the other two runs.

Hansack (5-0-0-1-6, 61) retired 14 of the 15 batters he faced (six on strikeouts) and picked up his first major-league win. He walked Fernando Tatis in the second, but then got an inning-ending double play. It will not be recorded as an official no-hitter, since the game did not go nine innings.

The game began at 5:28. As Hansack was finishing his warmup pitches for the sixth inning at 7:05, the umpires called for the tarp.

An odd way to end the season.

***

There's a chance of rain this afternoon. Lineups for the final game of the year:

Roberts, 2B      Nixon, RF
Patterson, CF    Loretta, 2B
Mora, 3B         Ortiz, DH
Tejada, DH       Lowell, 3B
Tatis, LF        Varitek, C
Gomez, 1B        Hinske, 1B
Newhan, RF       C Pena, 1B
Fahey, SS        Kapler, CF
Chavez, C        Cora, SS

***

Hayden Penn (13.76) / Devern Hansack (5.40), 2 PM

Will this be Trot Nixon's last game in a Red Sox uniform? ... Penn has made five starts this year and pitched out of the fourth inning only once.

To finish in a second-place tie (and not in third), Boston must win this afternoon and the Yankees have to beat the Blue Jays.

G161: Orioles 5, Red Sox 4

Heckuva job, Mike.

Timlin comes in to save a 4-3 Red Sox lead -- and he allows four hits to five batters. Millar gets the big blow, driving in the two runs that give Baltimore the victory.

Ortiz came close to tying in as a pinch-hitter leading off the ninth, but flew out to deep center, just to the left of the bullpens. ... Manny hit home run #35 and also picked up a single and a walk.

***

Adam Loewen (5.30) / Tim Wakefield (4.63), 7 PM

Red Sox lineup -- Ortiz out, Manny in:

Pedroia, SS
Loretta, 2B
Lowell, 3B
Ramirez, DH
WM Pena, CF
Nixon, RF
Mirabelli, C
Kapler, LF
C Pena, 1B

G160: Red Sox 4, Orioles 3

No taters for the Big Man -- he took three walks, smacked a double and scored twice.

***

Erik Bedard (3.67) / Julian Tavarez (4.52), 7 PM

G159: Devil Rays 11, Red Sox 0

Tampa scores nine times in the seventh (six off Beckett, three off Corey).

Bonus Headache: FSN/Rays announcer Joe Migraine pronouncing Pedroia's last name as both "Ped-row-a" (multiple times) and "Pedroza".

***

Tim Corcoran (4.73) / Josh Beckett (4.82), 7 PM

G158: Red Sox 5, Devil Rays 1

Curt Schilling (7-5-1-4-9, 101) allowed a first-inning run, but David Ortiz tied the game with his 54th home run of the year in the third.

Then, with two outs and Jason Varitek at second in the fourth inning, Eric Hinske doubled to left-center (2-1), Alex Cora tripled into the triangle (3-1), Kevin Youkilis walked, Mark Loretta walked, and Ortiz singled to left-center (5-1).

Tizzle finished the night 3-for-4 with 3 RBI. Hinske was also 3-for-4.

The Tigers beat the Blue Jays 4-3, so we're back in second place.

***

Jason Hammel (7.01) / Curt Schilling (4.07), 7 PM

Carl Crawford is 14-for-43 (.326) vs Schilling with four doubles and a home run.

Scoreboard Watch: The second-place Blue Jays -- one-half game in front of Boston -- are in Detroit.

G157: Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 0

Cable problems prevented me from posting anything today. Then I was at Skydome watching Cy Marcum cut down the Red Sox in a quick 2:03.

Two ground ball singles -- Cora in the sixth and Hinske in the eighth -- and only Hinske's made it into the outfield. Two long balls off Wakefield (Rios and Molina) in the middle innings was more than enough.

0-2 at Skydome this season (the other game was Beckett's night of BP and Wells's three home runs on May 30). Bah.

G156: Blue Jays 13, Red Sox 4

Bright spots from an ugly game:

David Ortiz hit HR #53 in the first inning. If he can go deep tomorrow night (with me in attendance!), he'll set a new record for most road homers in a season. Right now, he's tied with Babe Ruth with 32 (1927).

Mike Lowell doubled twice, Kevin Youkilis singled and tripled, and Alex Gonzalez and Wily Mo Pena both singled and doubled. ... Kason Gabbard pitched 2.2 hitless innings, walking two Jays who eventually scored.

Which brings us to the ugliness.

Snyder faced nine batters in the third, and left after that inning trailing 4-2. Gabbard took over and retired eight of nine hitters -- with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Toronto led 4-3. Then the next 14 Blue Jays batters unloaded:

Gabbard in 6th: walk, walk
Delcarmen in 6th: 2-run triple, rbi-single, rbi-double, groundout
DiNardo in 7th: walk, double, 2-run single, popout, single
Burns in 7th: rbi-double, rbi-sac fly, rbi-double

With the Yankees' loss to Tampa, Boston is 10.5 GB and Toronto is 11.

***

Kyle Snyder (6.28) / Gustavo Chacin (4.87), 1 PM

G155: Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 3

Hansack pitched quite well (5-6-3-0-2, 80), allowing only three balls out of the infield before surrendering back-to-back home runs to Lyle Overbay and Troy Glaus in the fourth. That gave Toronto a 2-1 lead (Dustin Pedroia had led off the game with his 2nd home run).

Boston tied it at 2-2 in the sixth on Jason Varitek's one-out grounder, but Trot Nixon bumbled on the basepaths and was caught off second for an inning-ending double play. Hansack allowed two hits to start the home sixth and was relieved. One of those runners scored and the Jays added two more runs off Mike Burns in the eighth.

Manny Ramirez walked in a pinch-hit appearance in the seventh. In addition to the home run, Pedroia singled, walked and lined out twice. David Ortiz singled twice, as did Mike Lowell.

***

Devern Hansack (ML Debut) / A.J. Burnett (3.97), 4 PM

G154: Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 1

Are you sitting down?

Julian Tavarez pitched a complete game (9-7-1-1-1, 99). His pitch count by innings:

6-21-11 12-8-13 11-8-9 = 99

It was his second career CG; he threw his first for the Rockies, on September 5, 2000.

Sexy Lips recorded 19 outs on ground balls. He was in a bit of trouble in the second inning. Three singles and a walk had loaded the bases with one run in. Reed Johnson drilled a line drive right at Mike Lowell, who got an easy unassisted double play to end the threat.

After that, Toronto managed only three base runners: Lyle Overbay's 2-out double in the 3rd (which fell between Wily Mo Pena and Gabe Kapler and should have been caught), Alex Rios's leadoff single in the 4th, and Vernon Wells's infield hit in the 9th.

Lowell clubbed a two-run home run to get the Sox on the board in the second; Alex Gonzalez doubled twice and drove in three runs, Kapler and Mark Loretta each had two hits.

David Ortiz, who is one home run shy of tying Babe Ruth's record for road HRs in a season (32, 1927), was 0-for-3 with two walks.

***

Julian Tavarez (4.89) / Ted Lilly (4.44), 7 PM

Pedroia, 2B     Johnson, LF
Loretta, 1B     Catalonotto, DH
Ortiz, DH       Wells, CF
Youkilis, LF    Overbay, 1B
Lowell, 3B      Glaus, 3B
WM Pena, RF,    Rios, RF
Mirabelli, C    Molina, C
Kapler, CF      Hill, 2B
Gonzalez, SS    Adams, SS

G153: Red Sox 6, Twins 0

And in the seventh, Ortiz (#52) and Lowell (#18) go back-to-back for a 6-0 lead. Beckett brings his too-seldom-seen A-game (8-6-0-0-5, 103) and the Red Sox keep elimination at bay for another day.

***

7:24 PM -- Bottom of the first, none on, 2 outs, first pitch, crushed to deep right-center:


***

Johan Santana (2.77) / Josh Beckett (5.02), 7 PM

If the Twins win tonight, Boston will be officially eliminated from the wild card race.

Dustin Pedroia has hit safely in his last five games (6-for-12).

G152: Twins 8, Red Sox 2

David Ortiz's 50th home run -- tying the Red Sox single season record -- gave Boston a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning. After seven innings, they needed only six outs to grab a win.

After only recording four of those six outs, Minnesota led 8-2. Craig Hansen started the eighth and surrendered: double, wild pitch, walk, three-run HR (by Torii Hunter over the Volvo sign), double. Bryan Corey got out of that inning but allowed three more runs in the ninth -- to 5 batters on only 6 pitches.

***

Manny Ramirez had an MRI on his ailing knee this afternoon. Kevin Youkilis is on the bench with a strained neck.

***

Boof Bonser (4.52) / Curt Schilling (4.13), 7 PM

G151: Twins 7, Red Sox 3

Even the most optimistic of us (really, probably only me, and a few mental patients) have to say: It is over. 8.5 back in the wild card with 11 to play.

***

Newest Sock: 28-year-old RHP Devern Hansack, called up from Portland. He made two starts in the Eastern League Championship Series against Akron, going 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA (The Sea Dogs won the Championship). For the season, he was 8-7, 3.26. He will wear #68.

***

Matt Garza (5.50) / Tim Wakefield (4.19), 7 PM

With 12 games left in the regular season, the Red Sox trail the Twins by 7.5 games in the wild card race (the White Sox, who host Detroit, are 4.5 games back).

G150: Red Sox 5, Yankees 4

Alex Rodriguez is more brake than clutch.

With one out and one on in the bottom of the ninth, Slappy, pinch-hitting and representing the winning run, popped out to second. Then Melky Cabrera flew out to left -- denying Derek Jeter another chance to extend his 25-game hitting streak -- and Boston had a sweep of today's doubleheader.

Jorge Posada drove in three of New York's first four runs and with the score tied 4-4 in the eighth, he was robbed of a two-run home run by Coco Crisp, who leapt high over the wall in left-center and pulled his fly ball back.

In the top of the ninth, after Carlos Pena doubled and Alex Cora went in to run, Crisp laid down a bunt in front of the plate. Posada's throw to first was wide, pulling Andy Phillips's foot off the bag. Crisp was safe and Cora took third. Mark Loretta's fly out to short center brought in the go-ahead run, as Bernie Williams's five-hopper to the plate was too late.

***

Late with this one. 2-2 after four.

Kevin Jarvis / Mike Mussina, 8 PM

G149: Red Sox 6, Yankees 3

There will be no Yankee division-winning celebration in this series.

Kevin Youkilis's three-run double in the sixth was the big blow. ... David Ortiz hit #49. ... David Murphy led off the game with his first major league home run.

***

Kyle Snyder (6.54) / Jaret Wright (4.60), 1 PM

G148: Yankees 7, Red Sox 5

After watching Alex Gonzalez work his magic for months, it was more obvious than ever that Derek Jeter has very little range at shortstop.

This was crystal clear in the top of the sixth inning. The game was tied 3-3 and Randy Johnson had gotten Lowell to line out to first. Varitek grounded a ball into the shortstop hole. It was playable but Jeter could only wave his glove at it. Single to left. Then Kapler hit a grounder to Jeter's left. It was a play that Gonzo would have gloved, worked through a couple of sudokus and still got his man at first. Jeter stood there and watched it go into center for another single.

The inning should have been over, but the Unit would end up throwing 18 more pitches before being pulled. With runners at first and second, Johnson walked Pedroia and allowed a two-out double to Crisp. Boston 5-3.

The Yankees came right back and re-tied the game a 5-5 in their half of the inning (Jeter ended that rally by flying to center with the go-ahead run at second). New York added two more in the seventh and that was that.

I'm pretty sure he's bringing in more with the bat than he's letting get away in the field, but damn -- he is really immobile.

MVP Watch: Jeter was 1-for-5 with a run scored; Ortiz did not play (he should have batted for Lowell or Varitek (as the tying run) in the 9th).

***

Julian Tavarez (4.74) / Randy Johnson (4.84), 8 PM

Question: When was the last matchup of two pitchers in such dire need of dermabrasion as these two gentlemen?

Sexy Lips has not allowed a run to the Yankees this season -- 7.1 innings in five appearances. And his ERA is lower than the Eunuch's.

G147: Red Sox 5, Yankees 2

Beckett allowed a two-run home run to Cano in the second, then followed it up by giving up a single, double and a HBP. Rut row. But Damon hit into a double play and Beckett allowed only one hit over the next four innings (6-4-2-5-4, 112).

RBIs from Mirabelli, Murphy and Cora gave Boston a 3-2 lead in the fourth, four consecutive walks brought in a run in the seventh, and a wild pitch scored a run in the ninth.

And now a look at two MVP candidates and how they did under the glare of the Fox national audience and 55,091 fans in the Bronx:

David Ortiz (2 doubles, 3 walks):

1st: One out, Loretta on first, doubled to right
3rd: Two outs, Murphy on first, ground rule double to left
5th: Lead off walk
7th: One out, Loretta on first, walked
9th: No outs, Loretta on second, walked intentionally

Derek Jeter (1-for-5, SB):

1st: One out, grounded out to third
3rd: Lead off strikeout (looking)
5th: One out, single to center; stole third
7th: One out, one on, grounds into force play to third (as tying run), beats relay and avoids inning-ending double play
9th: One out, strikeout (swinging)
Jeter also made a throwing error in the third inning on Carlos Pena's infield hit.

Point, Papi.

***

Josh Beckett (5.09) / Chien-Ming Wang (3.60), 1:20 PM

Red Sox at Yankees, ppd. rain

Rained out in New York.

So we'll have a day-night doubleheader tomorrow and a day-night doubleheader on Sunday.

***

Josh Beckett (5.09) / Chien-Ming Wang (3.60), 7 PM

There haven't been many games between the Yankees and Red Sox in the last four seasons that have been devoid of meaning. Sadly, we'll get four of them this weekend.

A few days ago, David Ortiz explained that he wasn't ripping Derek Jeter a few days ago when talking about the MVP -- "Hell no! C'mon, dude. That guy is one of my favorite players. ... I look like a freaking [idiot] out there because people haven't heard what I said." -- but he knows that won't soften the reception he'll get tonight: "Like always, boooooo. I might go like Matsui and tip my hat."

Manny Ramirez's season may be over. ... Carlos Pena really wants to stay in Boston. Really.

When I first got here, I was like a little kid, to be part of the Red Sox. I'm being real about that, and I don't mind saying that. I'm also professional, but if you don't love it, what is left? I'm glad I'm not like a rock.

If New York wins three of the four games this weekend, they will clinch the East. Many fans are adamant about that not happening, but I don't think I care.

The Yankees are going to win the division anyway, they likely will not go wild celebrating, and their fans (and the media) won't be any less obnoxinous if they only split. And considering who the Sox are sending to the mound this weekend -- Beckett, Tavarez, Snyder, Gabbard -- winning one out of four is probably a reasonable expectation.

G146: Red Sox 6, Orioles 5

A come-from-behind win!

Which I did not get a chance to see. Any details?

***

Lenny DiNardo (7.42) / Adam Loewen (5.32), 7 PM

G145: Orioles 4, Red Sox 0

Two hits.

Singles from WM Pena and Krapler in the second inning. Two runners as far as second base. ... Errors from Gonzo and Belli help the Birds get two in the second and Cabin Mirror pops a two-run shot in the fourth. ... At least the game zipped by (ending at 9:37).

***

Tim Wakefield (4.14) / Erik Bedard (3.91), 7 PM

Wakefield returns to the mound for the first time since July 17.

Sorry for not having anything new today. Busy working on some non-baseball writing.

G144: Red Sox 6, Orioles 5

Mike Timlin?

Bottom of the 9th, Red Sox up 6-1:
Single, single, F8, 3-run home run, single, single, K, RBI-single.

Not. A. Fan.

***

Kason Gabbard (3.93) / Daniel Cabrera (4.84), 7 PM

From the Dept. Of Information You Probably Shouldn't Think Too Much About, Lest You Run Straight To The Kitchen And Start Swigging Drano:

On the morning of Sunday, July 30, the Red Sox had the second-best record in baseball. There is now the very real possibility that they won't finish the season with 85 wins.