Shorter Post: "The Red Sox Are Good"

The Red Sox have the best record in the American League (39-26) and are second to the Phillies (40-26) in MLB.

                  W- L  RS/G  AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS   ERA
Since April 16*: 37-16  5.7  .287  .355  .471  .826  3.51
Since May 13:    22- 6  7.0  .302  .369  .513  .882  3.66
Since May 24:    14- 4  7.7  .305  .368  .536  .903  3.84
Since June 3:     9- 0  9.2  .329  .401  .565  .966  3.56

That 37-16 (.698, a 113-win pace) is the best record in MLB since April 16. The Red Sox had the best AL record for May (19-10) and they have the best AL record in June (9-1).

Hitting

RS:    350 (#1 in MLB; Yankees #2 with 330)
RS/G: 5.38 (#1 in MLB; Yankees #2 at 5.24)
H:     635 (#1 in MLB; Cardinals #2 with 629; Yankees #18 with 548)
2B:    142 (#1 in MLB; Cardinals #2 with 131; Yankees #23 with 99)
HR:     77 (#2 in MLB; Yankees #1 with 95)
BB:    241 (#4 in MLB; Yankees/Reds #1 with 246)
AVG:  .276 (#1 in MLB; Cardinals #2 at .274; Yankees #12 at .257)
OBP:  .349 (#1 in MLB; Cardinals #2 at .347; Yankees #3 at .340)
SLG:  .450 (#1 in MLB, tied with Yankees)
OPS:  .799 (#1 in MLB; Yankees #2 at .790)
TB:  1,034 (#1 in MLB; Rangers #2 with 968)
XBH%: 9.0% (#1 in MLB; Yankees/Diamondbacks #2 at 8.5%)

Boston is 25-19 against RHP and 14-7 against LHP. Both record are 4th-best in MLB and Boston is the only team in the Top 5 of both categories.

Pitching

RA/G:        4.32 (#7 in AL; Mariners #1 at 3.70; Yankees #5 at 4.05)
ERA:         4.08 (#8 in AL; Athletics #1 at 3.35)
Fewest Hits:  535 (#2 in AL; Rays #1 at 516; Yankees #4 at 540)
Fewest Walks: 222 (#12 in AL; Cleveland #1 with 180; Yankees/Rangers #10 at 216)
Strikeouts:   470 (#2 in AL; Jays #1 with 486)
WHIP:       1.295 (#5 in AL; Mariners #1 at 1.216)

Red Sox pitchers have also hit 40 batters, nine more than Toronto and 17 more than Texas, Detroit, and Cleveland.

Adrian Gonzalez has had at least one RBI in nine consecutive games (a career-high). It's the longest streak for a Red Sox hitter since Manny Ramirez went 10 games in 2002 (September 14-24).

The Red Sox record (since 1919) is 12 games, held by Ted Williams (August 31-September 13, 1942) and Joe Cronin (June 27-July 9, 1939). Williams also had an 11-game streak (May 30-June 10, 1950).

Gonzalez's streak ties Jason Bartlett (May 8-18) for the longest in the majors this season. The longest MLB streak since 2000 is 15 games (Mike Piazza, Mets, June 14-July 2, 2000). The MLB record is 17 games, set by Ray Grimes of the Cubs (June 27 to July 23, 1922).

After David Ortiz had three straight dismal seasons years against left-handed pitchers, the near-universal sentiment for 2011 was that Flo should not be in the lineup against southpaws. ... Ortiz's success against lefties has been perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this season. Among all American League hitters with at least 75 PA against LHP, Ortiz is 4th in average, 3rd in OBP, 5th in SLG, and 5th in OPS.

Ortiz vs LHP

         PA    AVG    OBP    SLG     OPS
2008    121   .221   .308   .433    .741
2009    188   .212   .298   .418    .716  
2010    200   .222   .275   .324    .599  
2011     81   .343   .432   .571   1.004

Overall, Ortiz is 4th in the AL in average (.325), 5th in OBP (.395) and 2nd in SLG (.624). His 1.019 OPS is 2nd in the league. He is slugging was well as he ever has. His career-highs were in 2006 (.636, 54 HR) and 2007 (.621).

In 30 games since May 10, Ortiz is hitting .370/.423/.815/1.238. And since May 19 (23 games), he is hitting .396/.444/.857/1.302, with two or more hits in 14 of his 22 starts.

Jacob Peterson, Beyond the Box Score, June 5:

Ortiz struck out in 28.0% of his at-bats last year, and has fanned in 21.6% of his career at-bats. This year, his K rate is [10.5%]. ...

I would guess that both players [Ortiz and Prince Fielder] ... sought to make changes in their batting style over the offseason ... [and] became determined to make better contact. ...

Regardless of where this change has come from, the results are striking. Fielder has cut his swing-and-miss rate on pitches in the strike zone from 9.0% to 2.5%. ... Ortiz's story is similar. On pitches in the zone, his swing-and-miss rate has fallen from 9.8% to 8.1%. Out of the zone, the drop is from 9.6% to 5.8%. On all pitches, he's whiffed 3% less often (6.8% this year vs. 9.8% career).

You often hear hitters (and hitting coaches) preach increased contact rates, but rarely do you see such dramatic examples of this strategy being successfully applied. ... It should be very interesting to see what happens if/when pitchers start picking up on these new approaches, and what adjustments these two great hitters make in response.

I'm not sure where Petersen got the swing-and-miss rates. Fangraphs has Ortiz's 2011 rate of "contact with the ball when swinging at pitches thrown inside the strike zone" at 88.9%, down from a career rate of 86.0%. Another category is "percentage of strikes that were swung at and missed" (which is measuring the same thing from the other side, right?), but in this category, it's 9.5% for his career and only 6.7% this year. Maybe I am missing something obvious, but those %s don't add up. ... Flo's contact rate on pitches outside the zone is 77.6% this year (way up from his career rate of 51.9%).

Roster Moves and Rehabs: Drew Sutton was sent back to Pawtucket as Darnell McDonald (strained left quadriceps) is expected to come off the disabled list tomorrow. In nine rehab games with the PawSox, McDonald hit .345 and drove in 11 runs. Franklin Morales (left forearm strain) began his rehab with PawSox and threw one perfect inning of relief (nine pitches) yesterday.

The Red Sox traded catcher Mike McKenry to Pittsburgh which opens up a spot on the 40-man roster. That spot could be taken by right-hander Junichi Tazawa, who has been pitching for Salem (A) as he returns from Tommy John surgery. His first two starts were rough -- 12 earned runs in 7.1 innings -- but he has now thrown nine consecutive scoreless innings and will likely be with the Red Sox at some point in the second half of the season.

Jacoby Ellsbury has a 10-game hitting streak (21-for-49, .429); he has a hit in 16 of the last 17 games (30-for-75, .400). His .318 batting average is 6th in the AL. He has 84 hits (#2 in AL), 49 runs scored, (#3), 56 singles (#4), 21 doubles (#2), 24 stolen bases (#1), 109 times on base (#8).

When Do Standings Matter?

So when do the standings matter? At the end of the season, when all the playoff spots are set. But when can we tell who is good and who is bad? It looks like somewhere in August. The terrible teams and great teams separate in June, but the middle is still muddled. This appears to clear up somewhere in August.

Times Oakland batters have had a 3-0 count: 107.
Times they have swing at the next pitch: 0.

Finally, the Balk of the Year.

Red Sox Score 14+ Runs in Back-To-Back Games Twice In Three Weeks

From 1901-2010, the Red Sox had scored 14+ runs in consecutive games eight times, but never in the same season.

They have now done it twice in 2011 ... within a span of only 17 games!

May 25: 14-2 at Cleveland
May 26: 14-1 at Tigers

June 10: 16-4 at Blue Jays
June 11: 14-1 at Blue Jays

Back on May 27, I posted the complete list of Boston's back-to-back 14+ run games. This weekend's routs were the first time the Red Sox had done it to the same team in 58 years.

The Blue Jays had allowed 14+ runs in back-to-back games once before: at home against Seattle on the weekend of April 15-16, 2000 (17-6, 19-7).

G65: Red Sox 14, Blue Jays 1

Red Sox   - 102 063 001 - 14 17  0
Blue Jays - 000 100 000 -  1  2  0

The Red Sox battered the Jays for the second day in a row, sweeping the three-game series by a combined score of 35-6 (and out-hitting them 46-12). Today's rout was Boston's ninth consecutive win. They are 6-0 on the current road trip -- and have scored 10+ runs in three of their last five games -- and now head to Tampa Bay for three games, beginning on Tuesday.

Lester (8-2-1-1-8, 102) was brilliant, allowing only a home run to Jose Bautista with two outs in the fourth, a single up the middle to Edwin Encarnacion in the fifth, and a full-count walk to Encarnacion in the eighth. Michael Bowden pitched a perfect ninth.

Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz hit home runs in the fifth, as the first seven Boston hitters reached base and the Red Sox scored five times before making an out. Kevin Youkilis, who reached base in five of his six trips to the plate, hit a two-run bomb in the ninth.

With his first inning home run, Adrian Gonzalez continued his career-high streak of games with at least one hit and one RBI to nine. ... Since the beginning of May, Ortiz leads with majors with 30 extra-base hits and 15 homers. He's hitting .360 with 32 RBIs over that span.

Like yesterday, it was a team effort with one exception:

Ellsbury: 2 singles, 3 runs, 1 walk (10-game hit streak)
Pedroia: home run, 2 RBI, 2 walks
Gonzalez: double, home run, 2 runs, 2 RBI
Youkilis: single, double, home run, 2 walks, 3 runs, 4 RBI
Ortiz: double, home run, 2 runs, 4 RBI
Crawford: single, run
Saltalamacchia: 2 singles, double, walk, RBI
Drew: 0-for-5, 4 K
Scutaro: single, double, walk, run, RBI

Drew Sutton had a double off the bench; Mike Cameron was 0-for-2.

Jon Lester / Kyle Drabek

AL East: Cleveland/Yankees at 1 PM and Rays/Orioles at 1:30 PM.

G64: Red Sox 16, Blue Jays 4

Red Sox   - 004 171 030 - 16 18  0
Blue Jays - 000 202 000 -  4  6  0

A team effort!

Except for Jed!

John Lackey / Brandon Morrow

Today is wmtc6 (our annual party), so any game thread will be here.

AL East: Cleveland/Yankees at 1 PM and Rays/Orioles at 7 PM.

G63: Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 1

Red Sox   - 002 020 001 - 5 11  2
Blue Jays - 000 100 000 - 1  4  1

An extra two days of rest did Buchholz's back a world of good. "Tonight I wasn't favoring it. I was able to get some good extension on pitches I needed to be extended on. It definitely felt a little different than it has the last couple of starts." (Buchholz did contend with a blister on his right middle finger, which he said felt like a splinter.)

Buchholz pitched seven innings (7-3-1-2-6, 100), before Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon finished up. He retired the first eight Jays, allowed two hits to start the fourth (a sac fly brought in Toronto's lone run). The only other real threat came in the seventh, when a walk, a wild pitch, and Jed Lowrie's second error of the game put runners on first and third with one out. Buchholz struck out pinch-hitter Edwin Encarnacion and got Mike McCoy to foul out to first.

Jacoby Ellsbury went 3-for-5, with a double, and scored three runs. He has hits in 14 of his last 15 games (26-for-64, .406). Ellsbury is hitting .447 in June. He also leads the AL with 21 doubles, and is #1 in stolen bases, #2 in hits (Adrian Gonzalez is #1), #3 in runs scored, #6 in average (.316; Gonzalez is #2 and David Ortiz is #5), #10 in extra-base hits, and #11 in OBP.

After getting good news concerning his right knee, Dustin Pedroia had three singles, a walk, a run, and an RBI. Gonzalez singled and doubled and knocked in two runs (a third scored on a 463 DP), extending his streak of games with at least one RBI to a career-high seven. He has had three previous streaks of six games, including one earlier this year (May 8-14).

Clay Buchholz / Jo-Jo Reyes

The Red Sox (36-26) have the best record in the American League, trailing only the Cardinals (38-26) and Phillies (37-26) in MLB.

Boston is 34-16 (.680) in the eight weeks since its 2-10 start. That's a 110-win pace, and it has been done with very poor performances from one-third of the lineup - Dustin Pedroia (.222/.347/.281 since April 15), J.D. Drew (.221/.331/.361 since April 15), and Jed Lowrie (.237/.295/.336 since April 26) - and some very bad pitching performances from John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Michael Bowden has been called up and Luis Exposito is on his way back to Pawtucket.

Peter Abraham, Globe:

Buchholz is pitching for the first time since June 3 because of a sore lower back. He is coming off two rough starts (10.2 IP, 14 H, 8 ER) ...

The Sox have won six straight, 11 of 15 and 22 of 30. ... David Ortiz has hit safely in nine straight at 16 of 34 (.471) with nine extra-base hits and 12 RBIs. ... Jacoby Ellsbury has hit safely in 13 of 14 games at .390 (23 of 59) with eight stolen bases, nine extra-base hits and 10 RBIs. ...

Adrian Gonzalez has driven in at least one run in six consecutive games, matching the longest such streak of his career.

With Derek Jeter 10 hits away from becoming the 28th player in history to reach 3,000 hits, B-Ref has posted a list of the 42 players who have reached base more than 4,000 times. ... Wow, Pete Rose batted 15,861 times, nearly 2,000 more times than the runner-up (Yaz, 13,991).

Top 5 active players, most hits: Jeter (2,990), Ivan Rodriguez (2,835), Omar Vizquel (2,823), Alex Rodriguez (2,731), Johnny Damon (2,637).

AL East: Cleveland/Yankees and Rays/Orioles at 7 PM.

Schadenfreude 113 (A Continuing Series)

We'll crawl through your back yard
And whack your yappin' dog
We're having much more fun

Mark Feinsand, Daily News:

After dropping the first two games against the Red Sox this week, players arrived at the Stadium Thursday night to find a piece of paper on each of their chairs - one containing a message of togetherness and inspiration:

"A championship team is a group of individuals that has committed themselves to handle all the highs and lows throughout the season, knowing the ultimate goal of winning comes from each and every one and more importantly, together as a team." ...

"It's frustrating to lose five games in a row to the Red Sox, your biggest foe," Joe Girardi said before the game. "We need to win, that's the bottom line. We need to win a game. There's a lot of pride in that room. You don't like having your pride put down." ...

"We need to win every day we take the field," [Brian] Cashman said. "We're trying to fight for a W. They've had their way with us for a few days and we need to push back and win back."

It didn't happen.

Joel Sherman, Post:

Joe Girardi opened his pregame news conference yesterday by saying, "I have some bad news and then I have some positive news."

Joba Chamberlain has a torn elbow ligament that almost certainly will necessitate season-ending Tommy John surgery and Phil Hughes had thrown two strong innings in a simulated game.

Girardi certainly needs to work on his proportionality. Hey, a planet-ending asteroid is hurtling toward earth, but on the positive side my last meal was splendid.

George A. King III, Post:

The Yankees day opened with terrible news about Joba Chamberlain's damaged right elbow.

And didn't improve.

That's because ace CC Sabathia spit out a late lead against the Red Sox ...

Through six frames Sabathia threw 82 pitches and faced just three batters with runners in scoring position.

Eleven batters later the Red Sox had a 7-2 lead and what was left of the crowd was howling.

Ben Shpigel, Times:

Babe Ruth was a 17-year-old pitching prodigy at the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys. The Red Sox had yet to win a World Series, and the Yankees did not exist. They were still called the Highlanders, playing not in the Bronx but in Manhattan, at Hilltop Park and the Polo Grounds.

The Red Sox won all 10 games in New York during that 1912 season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. But over the last 99 years of their rivalry, they had yet to win as many as six in a row. ... It took almost a century, but the Red Sox snapped that streak in the early hours of Friday morning, stunning the Yankees, 8-3.

Ian Browne, MLB.com:

The Red Sox have turned the normally hostile grounds of Yankee Stadium into their personal playground.

For the second time in less than a month, Boston has departed the Bronx with a three-game sweep. ...

The Red Sox are the first team to win six games in a row at the new Yankee Stadium, and this is the first time they've taken six consecutive road games from New York since 1912. It's also the first time since '12 that the Sox have swept two road series against the Yankees in one season.

Tim Smith, Daily News:

[T]he pillars of the team - the things that they thought were strengths coming into the season - are shaken.

There is nothing warm and fuzzy about that feeling that your bullpen is missing the seventh-inning guy and the eighth-inning guy and the bridges to your sure-thing closer, Mariano Rivera, are as shaky as your theories on the care and feeding of young pitchers. ...

[Sabathia] served as the big enforcer when he nailed David Ortiz in the thigh with a fastball in the fourth inning ... [I]t was what they needed most from one of their strongest performers. It will reverberate long after this series is over. ...

Brian Costello, Post:

The theory that hitting David Ortiz with a pitch might make him uncomfortable has been floating around this town for years?

Better come up with a new plan. ...

Since Ortiz began tormenting the Yankees in 2003, there has been an idea that he is too comfortable in the batter's box an drilling him might change that.

Ortiz disproved that theory by getting two hits in the seventh inning, starting and finishing the Red Sox's seven-run rally in that inning.

Matt Fortuna, MLB.com:

[A]s Thursday gave way to Friday, and as Ortiz recovered from a hit-by-pitch, the all-too-familiar scene of the Red Sox celebrating in the Bronx became inevitable. ...

Ortiz led off the inning with a single and recorded the Red Sox's eighth and final hit of the frame a short while later with a two-run double, this after hitting homers on Tuesday and Wednesday. He finished the series with four hits, four runs scored and six RBIs.

Mike Lupica, Daily News:

Of course you don't judge the Yankees on the 13-13 baseball they have played lately anymore than you judge the Red Sox on that 2-10 start that seems to have happened to them a lifetime ago. But right after the Yankees win six of their last seven on the West Coast, they look like crash dummies against the Boston Red Sox.

Again. ...

Making their fans worry more than ever about the rotation, the bullpen, the lack of a bench, the general age of the baseball team.

Surviving Grady:

And Now This Brief But Important Message from Puppet Red to the New York Yankees

G62: Red Sox 8, Yankees 3

Red Sox - 000 000 701 - 8 12  1
Yankees - 200 000 001 - 3  6  1

Boston had managed only two singles off Sabathia in six innings, but they battered him for six hits and six runs in the seventh and rolled to their AL-best 36th victory of the season. It was Boston's second three-game sweep in New York this season, something a Red Sox team has not done since 1913 (and no AL team has done since the 1990 A's).

Beckett (7-4-2-2-6, 104) hit Derek Jeter in the first inning and then gave up a home run to Curtis Granderson, putting the Sox in a 2-0 hole. And the visitors' bats were silent until the seventh.

David Ortiz (who was drilled in the right thigh in the fourth inning, prompting warnings to both benches) grounded a single to right-center to start the inning. Jed Lowrie's first-pitch line drive down the right field line got past Nick Swisher for a triple, cutting the Yankees' lead to 2-1. Carl Crawford grounded out to third (1B umpire Brian Knight took a long look at the first base bag before making his call), but Mike Cameron doubled to left, towards the corner, scoring Lowrie and tying the game. Jason Varitek singled to right, as did Jacoby Ellsbury (after fouling off a tough 1-2 pitch), and the Sox led 3-2.

Marco Scutaro then drilled a pitch to left center that the speedy Brent Gardner ran down in the gap and made a leaping catch on. Adrian Gonzalez, who had two fugly strikeouts against CC earlier in the evening, lined a single to center (4-2). That was finally it for Sabathia (6.2-8-6-2-5, 108) and David Robertson came in. Kevin Youkilis singled on an 0-2 pitch (5-2) and Ortiz belted a two-run double to the wall in left-center (7-2). Lowrie flied to left for the third out.

One-out doubles from Scutaro and Gonzalez gave Boston another run in the ninth. Seven of Boston's 12 hits came with runners at second and/or third base.

The game started at 10:32 - after a rain delay of 3:27.

Josh Beckett / CC Sabathia

Beckett has made two starts against the Yankees this season - April 10 (4-0) and May 14 (6-0) - pitching 14 scoreless innings, allowing only six hits and three walks, and striking out 19. He was matched up against Sabathia both times (12.1 innings, 16 hits, 7 runs, 7 walks, 10 strikeouts).

The Red Sox (7-1 against New York this year) have won 9 of their last 10 games against the Yankees (also 12 of 15 and 15 of 21) .

Terry Francona, on WEEI's Big Show, Wednesday afternoon:

How as Ortiz's ability to hit lefthanders affected the lineup this season?

It does a couple of things. One, it lets me answer a heck of a lot less questions. ...

AL East: Blue Jays/Royals at 4 PM.

Pedroia Has Bruised Knee, Likely Back In Lineup Tomorrow

Dustin Pedroia has only a bruised knee cap, according to a report this afternoon from Sean McAdam of Comcast Sportsnet, and will likely be back in the lineup tomorrow night against the Blue Jays..

Terry Francona:

That knee has been actually kind of sore, it was sore last year. ... It's been nagging at him a lot of this year. ... There's a difference between having your knee ache or hurt as opposed to maybe putting yourself in a place you don't want to. ... I fully expect he'll be hitting second tomorrow. ... We just want to make sure it's OK. ... He's got a little bit of a cartilage issue in there. We've known that for a long time. ... If that gets in the way, then you need to ... we just want to look at it and make sure.

Schadenfreude 112 (A Continuing Series)

Bill Madden, Daily News:

[T]he onus was on A.J. Burnett Wednesday night to stop this Red Sox carnage against the Yankees this year. "It's important for A.J. to give us distance," the manager understated before the game.

Presumably the 400-foot, two-run homer Ortiz deposited into the right-center field seats in the first inning was the not the sort of distance to which Girardi was referring. ...

Mark Feinsand, Daily News:

There was no David Ortiz bat flip and no Yankee retaliation Wednesday night at the Stadium, just another Red Sox rout in which the Bombers showed little fight and even less resistance. ...

This is the first time the Yankees have gone winless in their first five home games against the Red Sox since 1913. ...

Burnett was pounded for eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits and four walks in 5.2 innings, falling to 0-4 with an 8.71 ERA in eight starts against Boston since joining the Yankees after the 2008 season.

Burnett Against Boston

                GS   IP   H    R  ER  BB   K  HR   ERA  W-L
with Blue Jays   8  56.1  44  18  16  21  53   6  2.56  5-0
with Yankees     8  41.1  52  47  40  26  33  10  8.71  0-4

Mike Lupica, Daily News:

Burnett was asked to pitch big Wednesday night and got roughed up in the first and then again in the fourth and looked small enough to be riding at Belmont on Saturday.

Joel Sherman, Post:

[The Yankees'] ability to beat the Red Sox has disintegrated ... The Yankees are a second-place team now ... Heck, they are just 4.5 games ahead of last-place Baltimore in the congested AL East. ...

On nights like last night, when the Yankees needed Burnett most and he gave them the least, it was yet another reminder he is a heartbreaker. Despite all the propaganda of a new/improved Burnett, he crumbled once again at the sight of the Red Sox, and collapsed once more when a stand was needed against adversity. ...

Roger Rubin, Daily News:

This time, the Yankees didn't have to endure a celebratory gesture, just the sharp pain that another two-run homer by David Ortiz inflicted. ...

Ortiz didn't seem to anticipate any retaliation.

"Why should I?" he said. "I don't care about what Joe Girardi says, man."

Kevin Kernan, Post:

If Burnett is ever going to mean anything to the Yankees, he has to get over his Red Sox demons. ...

Amazingly, Burnett doesn’t even accept the reality of the Red Sox situation. ... "I'm not in Toronto anymore so I'm tired of hearing that. That’s just retarded. ..."

Oh, really. Of the 11 times in his career Burnett has allowed at least eight runs, four have come against the Red Sox. ...

To make matters worse, Burnett had the chance to make a statement against David Ortiz in the first inning, but once again allowed Big Papi to get the best of the Yankees with a rocket two-run home run into right-center. ...

Burnett came into the game having allowed three earned runs or less in nine of his previous 12 starts, but none of those starts were against the Red Sox. ...

It's one thing for overachieving Freddy Garcia to melt down against Boston. It's another for the underachieving Burnett to once again turn into a puddle of goo.

Stefan Bondy, Daily News:

Brett Gardner's mental lapse ruined what might have been a big inning Wednesday night, and the Yankees never recovered from his blunder.

With the bases loaded in the sixth inning and the Yankees trailing by three, Alfredo Aceves' wild pitch went past the catcher and off the wall ... But the team's fastest player hesitated with one out, saying he thought the pitch hit Derek Jeter. ...

Gardner would have scored even if Jeter was hit by the pitch, leaving him no reason to hesitate. ...

Jeter punctuated the missed opportunity by grounding into a double play two pitches later, just as the crowd was starting to believe the Yankees could climb out of the 7-0 hole.

Mark Hale, Post:

Career hit No. 2,990 could have been huge for Derek Jeter.

Instead, a huge sixth-inning at-bat turned into a double play that helped seal the Yankees' fate in last night's 11-6 loss to the Red Sox. ...

[Jeter] has been brutal in the clutch this season, with last night offering further evidence. ... For the year, Jeter's hitting a miserable .167 (10-for-60) with runners in scoring position.

Mark Feinsand, Daily News:

Joba Chamberlain became the latest member of the Bombers bullpen to land on the disabled list, sidelined by a strained flexor tendon in his elbow. ... [H]e's likely to miss at least a month overall. ...

Chamberlain has been receiving treatment for the elbow for nearly two weeks, and while he pitched only three times during the Yankees' nine-game West Coast trip, two of the three games featured his highest pitch counts of the season, including a baffling 35-pitch outing on Sunday. ...

Girardi dismissed the idea that the 35-pitch inning had anything to do with Chamberlain's trip to the DL ... Girardi went against his standard rules for relievers three weeks ago, pitching Chamberlain on three straight days May 15-17. Based on the timeline given by Girardi and Chamberlain, his problems began shortly after that period.

Needing A Healthy Back-Up Catcher, Sox Call Up Luis Exposito

The Red Sox have called up catcher Luis Exposito from Pawtucket and put Bobby Jenks back on the disabled list.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia was going to catch Wakefield on Wednesday night, but was vomiting during the day and "was sent to the hospital to rule out anything but the flu", according to Terry Francona. "We've got a lot going on right now. ... We're kind of scrambling here a little bit." Salty was tested for appendicitis, but apparently had nothing more than a "stomach illness" or "intestinal turmoil".

Exposito, 24, has not been hitting very well with the PawSox (.223/.277/.331, though he has batted .293 in his last 15 games), but the Red Sox need a healthy back-up catcher.

John Lackey said that he had "more normal soreness than actual pain" in his right elbow after his start on Sunday.

I know I have damage in there already [Lackey had issues with the elbow in 2009], so you never know for sure. But every pitcher will find something. Some of us just got a little more than others. ... It's going to get worse eventually, but the shot got the swelling down so things aren't hitting against each other. ... It's probably going to be something I have to stay on top of.

Tommy John Surgery Calendar:

Rich Hill - Thursday, June 9, Pensacola, Florida, Dr. James Andrews
Daisuke Matsuzaka - Friday, June 10, Los Angeles, California, Dr. Lewis Yocum

Anthony Rizzo, one of the players the Red Sox traded to San Diego for Adrian Gonzalez, will be in the Padres' lineup tomorrow against the Nationals' Livan Hernandez. Rizzo, 21, has been destroying AAA pitching in Tucson. In 52 games, he's batting .365 with 16 homers, 20 doubles, 63 RBI, and a 1.159 OPS.

Pedroia Returns To Boston, Surgery A Possibility

Peter Abraham and Nick Cafardo, Globe, 11:08 PM:

Dustin Pedroia will return to Boston tomorrow to have his right knee examined and is facing the possibility of surgery that would sideline him for at least a month.

Pedroia was injured on May 16 when he fell on his knee fielding a ball against the Orioles [the first play of the game when Brian Roberts lined a ball off Daisuke Matsuzaka's chest]. He described the procedure, which will be done at Massachusetts General Hospital, as a "needle with a camera on it" that will determine the extent of the damage.

If necessary, Pedroia would then have the surgery immediately. ... Pedroia's lack of production at the plate is likely attributable to his knee and surgically repaired left foot. ... Pedroia is hitting .247 with a .338 on-base percentage. ...

WTF?!?!?!?

Okay, it may not be as dire as first reported by the Globe.

Gordon Edes, ESPN/Twitter, 11:30 PM:

Pedroia heading back to Boston tomorrow bec of rt knee. Pedroia: "I'm not having surgery. I'm going to get it checked."

Rob Bradford, WEEI/Twitter, 11:45 PM:

Surgery not a likely scenario for Pedroia. Very good possibility he is in the lineup Friday in Toronto. Precautionary.

Rob Bradford, WEEI/Twitter, 11:56 PM:

RE Pedroia: Want to reiterate, surgery is not likely. While knee is same that had structural issues last season, this injury is not related.

Edes was on Baseball Tonight tonight and suggests Pedroia will have an arthroscopy.

Edes, ESPNBoston:

The Boston Globe reported on its website Wednesday night that Pedroia could require surgery that would sideline him a month. Asked about that possibility, Pedroia replied in a text message: "I'm not having surgery. I'm going to get it checked." A team source refuted the assertion that Pedroia needs surgery. "He's getting it checked, that's all," the source said.

G61: Red Sox 11, Yankees 6

Red Sox - 310 301 003 - 11 11  0
Yankees - 000 131 001 -  6  9  2

The Red Sox struck for three first-inning runs for the second night in a row - David Ortiz's two-run bomb to right-center (sans bat flip) was the big blow - and clobbered the Yankees, taking sole possession of first place.

Boston capped the night with a quick three-run burst with two outs in the top of the ninth: Carl Crawford homered, Marco Scutaro doubled, and J.D. Drew homered.

Tim Wakefield (5.1-5-5-3-3, 91) won his 182nd career game as a member of the Red Sox. He is only 11 wins away from becoming the all-time team leader in wins.

Jacoby Ellsbury singled to start the game, stole second and took third when catcher Francisco Cervelli's throw went into center field, and scored on Adrian Gonzalez's ground out. Kevin Youkilis walked and Ortiz hit his 15th dong of the year.

In the second, Scutaro singled and - in a repeat of the previous inning - stole second and raced to third when Cervelli's throw sailed into center. He scored on Drew's sac fly.

Ortiz walked to start the fourth and Crawford singled. After Scutaro grounded out, Drew was walked intentionally to load the bases. One run scored on Jason Varitek's grounder, then Ellsbury doubled in a run and Dustin Pedroia singled in another.

With two outs in the sixth, Varitek walked. Burnett was yanked and Boone Logan took over. He allowed a single to Ellsbury, then walked Pedroia and Gonzalez to force in a run.

Tim Wakefield / A.J. Burnett

The loss of Daisuke Matsuzaka has given Wakefield a golden chance to close in on the Red Sox's wins record of 192, shared by Cy Young and Fat Billy. Wakefield has 181 Red Sox wins. Exactly one year ago, he became the Red Sox's all-time leader in innings pitched, and has now thrown 2,894.1 innings for Boston.

Peter Abraham has a blog post about Wakefield and Derek Jeter, who have faced each other 127 times (including post-season games):

That's the most Wakefield has faced any batter and the most Jeter has faced any pitcher. ... They first met on July 15, 1996 at Fenway Park. ... Every other player who got in that game has retired.

Abraham did not provide a link to the results of those 127 meetings, so I will do it.

AL East: Blue Jays/Royals at 8 PM and Rays/Angels at 10 PM.

Lowrie And Jenks Scheduled For MRIs Today

Jed Lowrie hurt his left shoulder in a collision with Carl Crawford on May 29 in Detroit. And although Lowrie has played in five of the eight games since the collision, he says he has constant pain in the area behind the shoulder (the scapula), and was scheduled for an MRI today.

My shoulder started to feel better. I started feeling it [in] my back a little more. ... I'm not overly concerned, but at the same time it hasn't gotten any better. ... It never really really goes away. ... I haven't really felt anything too sharp. More like a dull ache. ... There's no reason not to [get an MRI], just for everybody's peace of mind.

In the five games since May 29, Lowrie is 4-for-21 (.190/.261/.238).

Bobby Jenks left last night's game after only four pitches with a muscle strain behind his left shoulder, a recurrence of an injury he suffered ten years ago while in the minor leagues.

It's an injury that happened years and years ago. Unfortunately it still gives me little fits every now and then. Everything is fine, once it cooled down and the muscle started relaxing.

Schadenfreude 111 (A Continuing Series)

George A. King III, Post:

The second part of Smoke & Mirrors shattered last night at Yankee Stadium and then David Ortiz dragged a shard of glass across the Yankees' throats.

During the first two months of the season, the Yankees hit the jackpot with Bartolo "Smoke" Colon and Freddy "Mirrors" Garcia, aging right-handers who exceeded every expectation by even the biggest Yankees supporter. ...

As Ortiz left the batter's box, he flipped his bat and it didn't go unnoticed.

"He took a long time getting out of the box and you never want someone to do that to you," catcher Russell Martin said. "It's up to us to do that back at them. ... He almost got hit by the [previous] pitch and kind of rubbed it in our faces."

John Harper, Daily News:

Joe Girardi is no pacifist. He fumes when Yankee players get plunked, even when he knows it isn't intentional. So you kept thinking that somebody was going to pay for Mark Teixeira getting drilled in the knee ...

And when David Ortiz punctuated a moon-shot home run with a showy bat flip in the fifth inning in giving the Sox a 6-1 lead, well, I would have bet the ranch that fireworks were coming at some point.

I mean, I know everybody loves Big Papi, but he showed up a kid pitcher, Hector Noesi ...

This was an issue during the Joe Torre years, the Yankees never making Ortiz or the Red Sox pay for their transgressions. But Girardi is much more of a hard-liner than Torre.

I still think fireworks are coming.

Kevin Kernan, Post:

David Ortiz' majestic bat flip ... didn't go over well with the Yankees manager.

"I didn't really care for it," Girardi said.

Ortiz couldn't care less about the criticism.

"It's not my first time. It's not going to be my last time. So, big deal. I'm a home run hitter. ... What can I tell you? ... I just went deep. It's another homer for Papi. That was one of the Papi good ones." ...

It's 2004 all over again. ... At some point, the Yankees are going to have to beat the Red Sox and they will have to solve their Gonzalez and Ortiz problem.

Even though the Red Sox got off to that dreadful 2-10 start they have bounced back. The Yankees might have to go into wild-card mode as October gets closer. Right now, the Rivalry belongs to the Red Sox ...

Mike Lupica, Daily News:

This time the Red Sox, who just look better than the Yankees right now, jumped them early at Yankee Stadium, came right back at them with more bad intentions. ...

The last time the two teams played ... the Red Sox were still under .500 and the Yankees could have dropped a safe on them with a sweep of their own. Didn't do it. This time when the Red Sox come in here, they are going good. Very good. Maybe good from now on. ...

One more negative on a long, negative night for the Yankees ... a game where it seemed the Yankees had been behind the Red Sox forever. ...

Bad night, bad trend.

Mark Hale, Post:

Freddy Garcia didn't adjust many things during his outing last night.

"[It was] too short to make any adjustments," he said. ...

Garcia posted the shortest start by a Yankee not because of injury in more than two years [May 9, 2009] ... It was not the first time Garcia has been shelled by the Sox this season. On May 15, he was lit up for five runs (four earned) on six hits, two walks and two homers in 5.1 innings. In his two starts against Boston this season, he's 0-2 with a 10.29 ERA, allowing 15 baserunners via a hit or walk and giving up three homers.

Mike Vaccaro, Post:

Freddy Garcia could tell early on that it was going to be one of the longest short nights -- or was it one of the shortest long nights? -- of his career. ...

Bad night at the big yard for Garcia. Bad night in the big rivalry for the Yankees. ... Garcia was only around for five outs worth, by which time it was already 4-1, by which time you could already sense a buzz traveling around the ballpark. ...

This is June, and the Yankees are still in first place despite Garcia's session of live batting practice last night, and they are there in large part because the replacements in that elaborate scheme -- Garcia, Bartolo Colon, Ivan Nova -- have played up, some to an almost otherworldly degree. ...

The question, of course, is how legitimate the arms really are. ... June's rotation still has a few more questions. They have been camouflaged for most of the season. The Red Sox merely drew them out in the open last night. They will stay there awhile.

Mark Feinsand, Daily News:

The Yankees' bad luck against the Red Sox continued Tuesday night, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. ...

The [Teixeira negative] X-ray results were the only encouraging developments for the Yankees ... The Yankees have lost all four games to the Red Sox at the Stadium this year - leaving them in a virtual tie for first place in the American League East.

Kristie Ackert, Roger Rubin, Sean Brennan and Peter Botte, Daily News:

[Papelbon's] day ended with him allowing a run but collecting his 12th save, making him the fastest player to reach 200 career saves.

Papelbon did it in 359 games; Mariano Rivera had the previous mark of 382 games, but unlike Papelbon, he started his career as a starter and then a set-up man.

Of Papelbon's 58 minor league games, 48 were starts. And he debuted with the Red Sox as a starting pitcher (July 31, August 16 and 21, 2005).

G60: Red Sox 6, Yankees 4

Red Sox - 310 020 000 - 6  7  0
Yankees - 100 020 001 - 4  9  0

Jacoby Ellsbury slammed Freddy Garcia's fifth pitch of the evening deep into the right-center bleachers for his 7th home run of the year. Dustin Pedroia walked, Adrian Gonzalez tripled (!) and Kevin Youkilis delivered a sac fly. Boston led 3-0 after only 15 pitches.

Lester (6-8-3-1-5, 112) threw 53 pitches in the first two innings, but was not seriously threatened, despite the pronouncements of impending doom from both Don Orsillo (TV) and Dave O'Brien (radio). Lester left the bases loaded in the first, allowed a two-out single in the second, gave up a leadoff single in the third but did not allow the runner to advance, stranded two in the fourth, and one in the fifth. His only 1-2-3 inning was the sixth.

Lester has received credit for a win in his last five starts against the Yankees (dating back to May 2010). It's the longest streak since Roger Clemens had five from June 1986 to June 1988. The club record is eight, by Tex Hughson (1942-43); Bill Lee had seven.

David Ortiz crushed a no-doubt, two-run dong (#14) in the fifth to give the Sox a 6-1 lead (which is also Boston's record against the MFY this season) and although New York answered with two runs in their half of the inning, there was not much real worry. After the Sox's lead was cut to 6-3, the Yankees brought the potential tying run to the plate only once - and that was the final batter of the game, Alex Rodriguez, who struck out against Jonathan Papelbon.

Bobby Jenks took over for Lester and threw only four pitches to Jorge Posada to start the seventh before having to leave the game because of back pain/tightness. ... Mark Teixeira was hit flush on the right knee by a pitch in the first inning and left the game in considerable pain. X-rays were negative.

Hector Noesi threw six innings of relief for the Yankees. It's not as rare as I thought.

The victory puts the Red Sox (34-26) into a first place tie with the Yankees (33-25), though New York's winning percentage is actually .002 better than Boston's. We'll deal with that tomorrow.

Jon Lester / Freddy Garcia

            W   L   PCT   GB    RS   RA  DIFF    PYTH
Yankees    33  24  .579  ---   293  222  + 71   36-21
Red Sox    33  26  .559  1.0   290  262  + 28   32-27
Rays       31  29  .517  3.5   248  238  + 10   31-29
Blue Jays  30  30  .500  4.5   292  265  + 27   33-27
orioles    27  31  .466  6.5   233  276  - 43   25-33

PYTH is each team's expected record, based on their runs scored and runs allowed.

The Post's George King writes: "Welcome to the real start of the baseball season." King says these games mean "a lot more than the seventh, eighth and ninth games of the season did."

But do they mean more than the 38th, 39th, and 40th games of the season, i.e., Boston's three-game sweep in the Bronx on May 13-15? King grudgingly mentions those games, in which the Yankees were 3-for-22 (.136) with RATS, towards the end of his article. Anyway, no matter when the games are played, each one "means" the same thing in the standings. Perhaps King means the anticipation is higher for this series.

Mike Lupica says this series is the start of "baseball summer ... a perfect time to find out what it looks like when the Red Sox are finally playing the way they are supposed to and the Yankees are doing the same."

The Red Sox are 5-1 against the Yankees in 2011, out-hitting them .292 to .216 and posting a better ERA, 3.67 to 5.37. ... Alex Rodriguez is only 6-for-29 (.207) against Lester, but has two doubles and three home runs. ... Among David Ortiz's 11 hits against Garcia are four doubles and three homers.

On this date in 2007, Curt Schilling was one out away from a no-hitter when Oakland's Shannon Stewart singles to right field. Schilling completes his one-hit, 1-0 win two pitches later.

AL East: Blue Jays/Royals at 8 PM and Rays/Angels at 10 PM.

Papelbon Suspended For Three Games

Major League Baseball:

Boston Red Sox reliever Jonathan Papelbon has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for his inappropriate actions, which included making contact with home plate umpire Tony Randazzo, during the top of the ninth inning of his Club's Saturday, June 4th game against the Oakland Athletics at Fenway Park. ...

Papelbon's suspension was scheduled to begin being served during Boston's game tonight against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, but he has elected to appeal. Thus, his suspension will be held in abeyance until the process is complete.

Epstein Pleased With Picks On Draft's First Day

Boston had four of the first 40 picks yesterday on Day 1 of the First-Year Player Draft.

19 - Matt Barnes, RHP, University of Connecticut
26 - Blake Swihart, C, Cleveland High School, Rio Rancho, New Mexico
36 - Henry Owens, LHP, Edison High School, Huntington Beach, California
40 - Jackie Bradley Jr., OF, University of South Carolina

Theo Epstein:

[W]e felt like some things broke our way, and we were able to get four players we feel really good about. Two high school [players], two college [players], two pitchers, two hitters. The hitters are up-the-middle guys with strong defensive tools and bats that we really like. Both pitchers we feel project as starters in the big leagues. We're real happy with how it went.

Sadly, Barnes says his favourite player is Joba Chamberlain. ... Links: SoSH threads on each player, Sox Prospects posts, and Full Count's wrap-up.

Gerry Callahan's Herald column is both a love-fest for Adrian Gonzalez -- "He's been here in cynical Boston for two months and not once have you heard his name uttered in the same breath as the words overrated, overpaid or overwhelmed." -- and a multi-pronged slam of Manny Ramirez. ... Why do so many writers feel that any time they write something positive about a Red Sox player they have to insult another player? (Did you know that Manny "bilked" the team for $160 million? I wonder how much the Herald has been "bilked" by Callahan?)

The Herald's Scott Lauber takes a look at Jacoby Ellsbury's intense off-season training program and how it has paid off this year. ... Rich Hill stated on Friday that an MRI revealed that the ulnar ligament in his left arm was "three-quarters of the way torn". Hill said he would get a second opinion about potential rehab options. In 2009, while with the Orioles, Hill had season-ending shoulder surgery after suffering a torn labrum.

Peter Gammons spoke at length on WEEI last week about Daisuke Matsuzaka, calling the injury "a very strange situation" and saying he did not believe Matsuzaka would pitch for the Red Sox again, despite Dice's vow to return.

If I were really cynical I would say he just made up his mind, he's going to get his elbow cleared out, and then he'll come back in 2013 in Japan. ... He had put it out in Japan that he was going to have Tommy John surgery before he even got to Los Angeles. I find it very odd. ...

He did help get them the World Series and pitched well in Game 3 of the World Series in Colorado. ... [A]t times he was a pretty good pitcher, his first two years. ... He never performed as well as the expectations surrounding him. I don't think he really made a great effort to adjust to this culture. ... One of his agents said to me, he doesn't trust people. ...

They allowed him to do everything he wanted to do at first, and it wasn't working. ... It was exasperating, him going out and throwing hard for forty minutes at 3:30 in the afternoon before a start at 7 or 8.

Jerry Remy said the same thing on the Dennis & Callahan show:

Communication-wise, pitching-wise, it's just been a bumpy road all the way through. I think that once he's gone for a couple of years, nobody will remember Daisuke. ... He had his own set way of doing things ... They tried and tried and tried to change the way he did things, and he was stubborn about it.

Buchholz Given Extra Rest, Scutaro Set To Return

Clay Buchholz, who was scheduled to face the Yankees on Wednesday, will be given some extra rest and open a weekend series in Toronto on Friday. Buchholz had been bothered by a sore lower back for most of the season and recently it has been difficult for him to fully extend himself when releasing the ball.

Starters for this week's series in the Bronx:

Tuesday: Jon Lester / Freddy Garcia
Wednesday: Tim Wakefield / A.J. Burnett
Thursday: Josh Beckett / CC Sabathia

David Ortiz was named the American League Player of the Week after he went 12-for-22 (.545/.583/1.000) with four doubles, two homers, six RBI, and five runs scored. In the last four weeks, three Boston players - Ortiz, Adrian Gonzalez, and Carl Crawford - have been named AL PotW.

Also: Ortiz is destroying lefties so far this season: .355/.444/.597/1.041, in 72 PA. It is a remarkable resurgence over his performance vs LHP in both 2009 (.212/.298/.418/.716) and 2010 (.222/.275/.324/.559).

I'm trying to go to the plate with an idea. It's making sense right now. ... Lefties, you have to wait for the ball to get to you with pretty much all of them. I'm a pull hitter and pulling everything against lefties wasn't working for me. We'll see. Got a long way to go still.

On The Shuttle: Josh Reddick was sent back to Pawtucket when John Lackey returned from the disabled list. Marco Scutaro (strained left oblique) went 5-for-11 in a three-game weekend rehab stint with Pawtucket, and will likely rejoin the team in New York, with Scott Atchison heading down. Darnell McDonald is also rehabbing with the PawSox (8-for-16 in his last five games) and is eligible to return on Friday.

Kevin Millwood (6.2-5-1-0-4, 62) pitched well for Pawtucket in an 11-3 win this afternoon.

Jayson Stark, ESPN:

Until Tim Wakefield (195-173 lifetime) wins five more games, we'll find ourselves in a unique time in baseball history - because the active leader in wins has yet to win his 200th game. So when was the last time that happened? Believe it or not, loyal reader Eric Lee reports, it was 1879. And there was a better excuse back then - since it was Season No. 4 in the life of some newfangled invention called "the major leagues."

G59: Red Sox 6, Athletics 3

Athletics - 001 101 000 - 3  5  0
Red Sox   - 030 201 00x - 6 12  0

Lackey (5.2-3-3-2-2, 93) did his job, Carl Crawford hit a three-run bomb (#5) in the second, Adrian Gonzalez followed with a two-run dong (#12) in the fourth, and David Ortiz and Jarrod Saltalamacchia both went 3-for-4 as the Red Sox swept a three-game series from the A's.

To close it out, Dan Wheeler (eighth inning) and Daniel Bard (ninth) set the A's down in order on only seven and eight pitches, respectively.

In his first three at-bats, Ortiz singled, doubled, and singled. He led off the seventh with a drive deep into the triangle that Coco Crisp, after a very long sprint, snagged with his glove stretched out in front of him. That catch robbed Flo of his first four-hit game since late 2007. It also kept alive a streak that Gary Marbry mentioned in his recent Nuggetpalooza column.

On September 27, 2007, Ortiz went 4-for-4. It was the 12th time in his career he had at least four hits in a game; he has yet to do it a 13th time. Today was his 296th consecutive game in which he had at least four at-bats without getting four hits. It's only two games shy of Rico Petrocelli's Red Sox record of 298 games (1967-1970). Arcane data of this type goes back only to 1950. Brooks Robinson of the Orioles holds the MLB record (558 games, 1965-1970).

Brett Anderson / John Lackey

Lackey (8.01 ERA) returns from the disabled list and makes his eighth start of the season.

In his two starts before being sidelined with a right elbow strain, the Blame Thrower allowed 17 runs, 19 hits, and eight walks in only 10.2 innings; opposing baserunners also stole seven bases in eight attempts. Lackey made one rehab start for Pawtucket, giving up one run in 5.1 innings. His pitch limit today will be approximately 90.

In his last start (May 31), Anderson allowed 10 runs and 11 hits in 5.1 innings to the Yankees. ... He threw eight shutout innings against the Red Sox back on April 19 in Oakland. (Did you know that the actual name of the A's home park is now "Overstock.com Coliseum"?)

AL East: Yankees/Angels at 3:30 PM and Rays/Mariners at 4 PM.

Papelbon, Saltalamacchia Discuss Randazzo And The Ninth Inning

This Globe story has some good quotes from Papelbon about what went on in the ninth inning yesterday. After Dustin Pedroia's error, Cliff Pennington's double cut Boston's lead to 7-5 - and Jason Varitek was ejected. Two pitches later - David DeJesus's game-tying single and a called strike to Mike Sweeney - Papelbon was tossed.

I felt like some of the pitches that I was not getting were strikes, and then I threw one that I felt like was a ball [to Sweeney] and then he called it a strike. I'm more or less just trying to get Salty out there and say, "Come talk to me, let's figure out this zone so I know how to go about this." I had no idea what his zone was. I guess [Randazzo] may have jumped to the conclusion that I was talking to him. I felt he threw his arms up in the air for no reason. Then everything unfolded the way it did. ...

When he threw up his arms and started barking at me, I said, "Tony, I'm not even talking to you, I'm talking to my catcher." I guess he felt like I may have been coming back at him or I may have been showing him up.

Saltalamacchia agreed:

[Papelbon] was talking to me and then [Randazzo] kind of turned around and walked away, and then I don't know what happened after that. He just kind of jumped out behind me and started talking to Pap. ... I don't think there was any reason for [the ejection]. Pap had already turned around and walked the other way. I think [the ump] should have just left it at that and moved on.

Crew Chief Brian Gorman refused to comment.

Peter Abraham of the Globe called that a "gutless" response and said that in unusual circumstances, MLB should make sure umpires are "made available to a pool reporter. If players, managers, coaches and team executives and even commissioner Bud Selig can answer questions and be accountable for their decisions, why can't umpires?"

In June 2006, Randazzo walked 40 feet up the first base line and chest-bumped (and ejected) both Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle and reliever Ray King. Afterwards, crew chief Joe West said, "I'm not taking questions. We have a plane to catch." (As if giving a 30-second comment would cause them to miss their flight.) King said Randazzo "was totally out of line. ... He gets right up in your face hoping I'd agitate him."

G58: Red Sox 9, Athletics 8 (14)

Athletics - 000 002 104 010 00 - 8 14  0
Red Sox   - 100 013 020 010 01 - 9 18  1

J.D. Drew, who had struck out in his previous four at-bats, lined a single to right-center with two outs in the fourteenth inning, scoring Carl Crawford (4-for-7, and 3 RBI) with the winning run. The hit came on the 495th pitch of the afternoon.

It took some effort, but the Red Sox remain undefeated this season (26-0) when leading after eight innings.

The Red Sox won despite blowing a four-run lead in the ninth with Jonathan Papelbon on the hill. The A's comeback was greatly assisted when Dustin Pedroia botched a double play ball that could have ended the game at 7-3. Later in the inning, Papelbon and Jason Varitek were both ejected, though in separate incidents, both involving home plate umpire Tony Randazzo.

Boston had to rally after Oakland scored a run in the 11th inning, as well. With two outs, Jarrod Saltamaachia and Jacoby Ellsbury (4-for-7, double, 2 SB) both doubled.

Adrian Gonzalez was 3-for-5 (he hit his 11th home run in the first inning), but he was pinch-run for in the 10th with Drew Sutton, and Boston missed his bat in extra innings. In the 11th, after Ellsbury had doubled to tie the game, Pedroia was intentionally walked. Sutton struck out to end th einning. Sutton also lined out to second to end the thirteenth with two men on.

The A's used nine pitchers, while Boston used "only" seven. Alfredo Aceves pitched the final four innings.

Trevor Cahill / Josh Beckett

This game was originally scheduled for 7 PM, but was moved to 1 PM so it did not conflict with the Bruins/Canucks in Stanley Cup G2.

One extremely pleasant surprise of the first two months of the season is the resurgence of David Ortiz. Among AL hitters, Flo is 8th in AVG and OBP, 4th in HR, SLG, OPS, and Total Bases, 9th in Hits, and 6th in Extra-Base Hits and Runs Created.

In 15 games since May 19, Ortiz is hitting .414/.452/.862/1.314. He has at least two hits in 10 of those 15 games. Of his 24 hits, he has eight doubles and six home runs.

After striking out in 21.4% and 23.9% of his plate appearances in 2009 and 2010, respectively, Ortiz is fanning only 10.2% of the time this year. (He has never had a season below 15% in his major league career.) Ortiz is putting the ball into play in 74% of his PA (his highest % for a full season in Boston is 66%). That in-play percentage, coupled with a big decrease in swings-and-misses is why his 2011 walk rate is the lowest since joining the Red Sox.

AL East: Rays/Mariners at 4 PM and Yankees/Angels at 9 PM.

Squanders

If you think the Red Sox are squandering more chances to score runs than usual this year, you are correct.

Gary Marbry (Nuggetpalooza) wrote recently:

Through Sunday [May 29], the Red Sox led the American League in "squanders" (three or more baserunners in an inning but no RBI) with 16:

16 – Red Sox
14 – Angels
13 – Blue Jays

[Cleveland has] just four squanders this season, one since April 21. ...

So far this season, the Red Sox have had a runner on third base with less than two outs 139 times, and they've scored him just 39 percent of the time, the lowest percentage in the majors:

39% – Red Sox
43% – Mets
46% – Braves

[Cleveland] (61 percent) lead[s] the majors in this category, one year after posting the worst mark in the league (44 percent). One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the Red Sox' 139 opportunities is the most in the majors.

Among individuals, David Ortiz (15 percent; 3-of-15) and Kevin Youkilis (25 percent; 4-of-16) rank worst and second worst in the majors (min. 15 opportunities). ... Leading the majors is Philadelphia's Placido Polanco, who has successfully driven in 12 of the 16 runners from third with less than two outs (75 percent). Honorable mention goes to Seattle's Brendan Ryan, who is 12-of-12 but doesn't meet the minimum.

Consecutive Triples

Eric Thames, Rajai Davis, and Jayson Nix of the Blue Jays hit three consecutive triples in the fifth inning of last Wednesday's game against Cleveland.

According to this BRef post, the most recent games with three consecutive triples are:

June 8, 1961, Athletics, Top 3 (G1) - Leo Posada, Norm Siebern, Joe Pignatano

April 25, 1981, Cubs, Bottom 4 - Steve Henderson, Leon Durham, Jerry Morales

May 6, 1981, Expos, Bottom 9 - Mike Gates, Tim Raines, Tim Wallach

(In that Expos game, Andre Dawson followed the three triples with a double. In the 1961 game, Hank Bauer doubled before the three triples. On September 25, 2010, the Rockies had three triples and a home run in four straight batters: Payton 3B, Gonzalez 3B, Tulowitzki HR, Mora 3B.)

The record for consecutive triples in a game is four, set by the Red Sox against the Tigers at Fenway Park on May 6, 1934. In a 12-run fourth inning, Carl Reynolds, Moose Solters, Rick Ferrell, and Bucky Walters tripled. Boston's five triples that day (Reynolds had two) are the most any team has had at Fenway since 1919 (earlier than that, play-by-play data is incomplete).

The only other game (since 1919) in which the Red Sox hit more than three triples at home was on June 30, 1938, when they hit four. Including road games, Boston has hit four or more triples in a game ten times since 1919, though only twice since 1938.

On June 29, 2010, Minnesota's Denard Span hit three triples against the Tigers. It was the 29th time since 1919 that a player has had three triples in a game, though only the fifth time in the last 30 years. The MLB record is four triples, set by George Strief of the Philadelphia Athletics (American Association) on June 25, 1885 and Bill Joyce of the Washington Senators (National League) on May 18, 1897. In Strief's other 43 games that season, he tripled only once.

G57: Red Sox 8, Athletics 6

Athletics - 400 110 000 - 6 11  2
Red Sox   - 212 000 21x - 8 11  1

Clay Buchholz (4.2-8-6-2-5, 99) allowed four runs on five hits in the top of the first inning and his teammates shrugged it off, erasing Oakland's lead and taking the lead after three innings.

After the A's rallied to go ahead 6-5, Carl Crawford and Jarrod Saltalamacchia knocked in the late-inning runs that gave Boston a win and snapped the team's four-game losing streak.

In the bottom of the first, Jacoby Ellsbury singled, stole second, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on Adrian Gonzalez's grounder to second. Kevin Youkilis doubled and David Ortiz singled him home.

Mike Cameron reached on a two-base throwing error in the second, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on Ellsbury's sac fly. With one out in the third, Youkilis walked and scored the tying run on Ortiz's double off the Wall in left. Then Flo scored the go-ahead run when Jed Lowrie singled to center.

Trailing 6-5 with one out in the seventh, Gonzalez doubled off Joey Devine, Youkilis was hit by a pitch, and Ortiz walked. With two outs, Brian Fuentes came in from the pen and gave up a full-count single to Crawford that gave Boston a 7-6 lead. Salty contributed some insurance by leading off the eighth with a dong over the Red Sox pen in right center.

Tommy Hottovy (#68) made his major league debut in the top of the sixth. Coco Crisp was on first with two outs. After a throw to first, Crisp stole second on ball one to David DeJesus. DeJesus then looked at a strike before grounding out to Pedroia to end the inning.

Bobby Jenks allowed a leadoff double in the seventh. After a strikeout, he balked the runner to third and issued a walked before getting an inning-ending double play. Daniel Bard pitched the eighth, giving up only a two-out single. Jonathan Papelbon made quick work of the A's in the ninth (F9, K, P6). After Buchholz left, five relievers put up a 4.1-3-0-1-2 line.

Gonzalez had three hits, Youkilis was on base four times and scored three runs, and Ortiz singled, doubled and walked. ... On the minus side, Dustin Pedroia was 0-for-5 and Ellsbury fouled out to the left side of the infield three times.

Josh Outman / Clay Buchholz

A pitcher named Outman!!! This will be his third start since returning from Tommy John surgery.

AL East: Yankees/Angels and Rays/Mariners at 10 PM.

Hottovy Called Up As Hill Considers TJ Surgery And Okajima Wants A Trade

The Red Sox have called up lefty Tommy Hottovy, according to a tweet by his Pawtucket roommate Brent Dlugach.

Hottovy, a fourth round draft pick in 2004, has pitched a combined 27 innings this year for Portland and Pawtucket, allowing 16 hits and five walks (0.78 WHIP), with 25 strikeouts. He turns 30 next month. Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal wrote about Hottovy's new delivery following TJ surgery (which he discusses here) in 2008.

Rich Hill may also need Tommy John surgery. He will get a second opinion before making a decision. Hill tore a ligament in his elbow in Wednesday's game.

Last weekend, Hottovy said that Hill's success in Boston -- both pitchers now have a similar motion -- had inspired him.

That's the type of role I see myself being in. To see him have success gives me confidence because I feel that's the type of role, the type of stuff I eventually see myself having.

Hideki Okajima says he'd rather be traded than called up to Boston to replace Hill. "I'd rather not be called up in this situation. ... [H]opefully along the line another team will show more interest in me and I can be traded." Clearly, Jeemer wants out of the Red Sox organization and doing well in AAA will accelerate that process.

Other stuff:

Dustin Pedroia hit .227/.331/.309 in May. Forty-one of his 52 hits this year have been singles. According to Fangraphs, Pedroia's line drive percentage this year is extremely low (15.2), a huge drop from last year's 22.2%. However, his walk rate last year was a career-best 10.5%, and this year, it's up to 14.2%.

J.D. Drew batted .188 in May (.200 BABIP) with only three extra-base hits and five RBI in 69 at-bats. For the season, he's hitting .228/.390/.342. ... Kevin Youkilis is 4-for-28 in his last seven games, dropping his average to .254. But he's still getting on base. Yook is 10th in the AL in OBP (.377, which is tied with Adrian Gonzalez for second-best on the Sox, behind David Ortiz's .382).

Manny Delcarmen was recently granted his release from Tacoma (AAA, Seattle), where he had a 5.14 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP in 18 appearances. He signed a minor league deal with the Rangers and has been assigned to Round Rock (AAA) of the Pacific Coast League.

Report: Matsuzaka Will Have Tommy John Surgery

Peter Abraham writes that, according to Nikkan Sports of Japan, Daisuke Matsuzaka will undergo season-ending surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament of his right elbow (aka Tommy John surgery).

Here is a rough translation of the Nikkon article, with some discussion. Matsuzaka may not have gone to Japan for family reasons, as was reported. He may have received several doses of platelet injection therapy, possibly without the Red Sox's knowledge or approval.

Recovery time from TJ surgery is between 12-18 months. If Matsuzaka has the operation soon (one report says he might have surgery next week), he could conceivably return to the Red Sox at the end of the 2012 season. It seems safer to assume his Boston career is over -- especially if he lied to the front office about the trip to Japan.

Globe Photo Offers Clear Evidence That Pedroia Tagged Pierre

Globe photographer Barry Chin has clear evidence - four photos, including the one posted here - that umpire Marty Foster blew the call on Dustin Pedroia's tag of Juan Pierre in the fifth inning of Wednesday's loss.

It seems like Foster must be looking directly at Pedroia's tag. Television replays were not 100% conclusive, but they did show Pierre stumbling forward as if pushed by the glove. Pierre also appeared surprised when Foster allowed him to remain at second base.

It was a turning point in the game, as the next two Chicago hitters each knocked in a run and the White Sox tied the game at 3-3. If the correct call had been made, Boston might have been able to keep the White Sox off the board and keep its 3-1 lead.

Hill Leaves Game In Pain, Gets MRI On Left Elbow

Immediately after throwing ball four to Adam Dunn in the top of the seventh inning, Rich Hill grabbed his left elbow, clearly in pain, and left the game. Hill was scheduled to have an MRI this evening.

Mike Petraglia, WEEI.com:

Initial physical tests at Fenway indicated the left-hander might have avoided serious structural damage, including a major injury to the ulnar collateral ligament (also known as the Tommy John ligament) in the elbow.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia:

I was just focused on catching the pitch, but then I looked out there and noticed he was clutching the elbow in some pain. He said he felt something pop in there and ... a burning ... [I]t's always scary when it's the elbow.

Daniel Bard:

I think Rich is OK, from what I heard ... They think it was just scar tissue that popped. Hopefully, that's the case and hopefully, he's OK. ...

Terry Francona:

Just on his cursory examination, he actually looked OK, which is good. ... Hopefully, we'll know a little more tonight.

Hill has not allowed a run in eight innings of work this year. Dating back to last year, he has not allowed a run in any of his 15 appearances (12 innings) for the Red Sox.

G56: White Sox 7, Red Sox 4

White Sox - 000 121 102 - 7 12  0
Red Sox   - 030 001 000 - 4  9  0

Gavin Floyd / Tim Wakefield

Expanding on yesterday's post, the Red Sox are only the fifth team in baseball history to have lost at least 10 of their first 12 games and then reached first place at any point during the rest of the season:

               12 GMS  IN FIRST           RECORD  END OF SEASON
1951 Giants     2-10   September 29 G153  95-58   98-59 Lost WS
1973 Cardinals  1-11   July 22      G 96  51-45   81-81 2nd in NLE
1974 Pirates    2-10   August 25    G126  65-61   88-74 Lost NLCS
1982 Orioles    2-10   October 2    G162  94-67*  94-68 2nd in ALE
2011 Red Sox    2-10   May 26       G 50  28-22
* - Baltimore's record was actually 94-67-1.

Beckett's 1.00 ERA for May (6 starts, 36 IP) is the lowest ERA by a Red Sox pitcher in any full month since Pedro Martinez had a 0.82 ERA in September 2003. Before Beckett's start on Sunday, his 1.69 ERA was the fifth lowest in team history (since 1920) for a starter through the first 52 games of a season:

Pedro Martinez  2000  1.05
Boo Ferriss     1945  1.34
Pedro Martinez  2001  1.44
Roger Clemens   1992  1.56
Josh Beckett    2011  1.69

Adrian Gonzalez (9) and David Ortiz (10) are the first pair of Red Sox to hit at least nine home runs each in one month since Ortiz (14) and Manny Ramirez (9) did it in July 2006. Gonzalez's 31 RBI in May are the most by a Sock in one month since Ortiz knocked in 35 runs in July 2006.

Red Sox with 30+ RBI in one month, since 1995:

David Ortiz        July 2006       35
Nomar Garciaparra  May 1999        33
Nomar Garciaparra  July 1998       33
Adrian Gonzalez    May 2011        31
David Ortiz        June 2004       31
Manny Ramirez      April 2001      31
John Valentin      August 1995     31
Jason Bay          May 2009        30
David Ortiz        August 2006     30
Manny Ramirez      September 2002  30

Jason Varitek played in only 14 of May's 29 games, but he led the team in OBP, and was third in average and slugging during the month:

AVG:
Ortiz     .342
Gonzalez  .341
Varitek   .333
Ellsbury  .314
Crawford  .304
  
OBP: 
Varitek   .400
Ortiz     .387
Ellsbury  .381
Youkilis  .377
Gonzalez  .371
  
SLG:
Ortiz     .694
Gonzalez  .618
Varitek   .533
Youkilis  .485
Crawford  .482

Before his loss last night, Alfredo Aceves had a career record of 16-1. Whitey Ford and Howie Krist are the only other pitchers in history (since 1876) to have won 16 of their first 17 decisions.

AL East: Rangers/Rays at 1 PM and Yankees/Athletics at 3:30 PM.