G157: Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 2

Blue Jays - 010 010 000 - 2  6  0
Red Sox   - 040 001 00x - 5  6  0

Felix Doubront (7-4-2-2-2, 97) was excellent in his final start of the season as Boston won its 95th game. Doubront will be in the bullpen for the postseason.

Jackie Bradley hit a three-run home run to snap a 1-1 tie in the second inning. ... David Ortiz (2-for-4) doubled in the third and donged in the sixth. ... Koji Uehara pitched a perfect ninth inning.

The game was played in only 2:13, the second fastest game of at least nine innings for the Red Sox this year.

R.A. Dickey / Felix Doubront

Pedroia, 2B
Victorino, RF
Ortiz, DH
Carp, 1B
Nava, LF
Middlebrooks, 3B
Drew, SS
Lavarnway, C
Bradley, CF

G156: Blue Jays 4, Red Sox 2

Blue Jays - 000 300 001 - 4  9  1
Red Sox   - 000 001 100 - 2  5  1

Mark Buehrle / Clay Buchholz

Drew, SS
Victorino, CF
Ortiz, DH
Gomes, LF
Nava, RF
Middlebrooks, 1B
Bogaerts, 3B
Ross, C
McDonald, 2B

Alex Speier, WEEI: "How 2013 Red Sox Defied Probability And Built A Worst-To-First Division Winner":

The Sox tried to find players with excellent clubhouse reputations and passion for the game to complement skills that suggested a fit for what they wanted to do. They wanted to find personalities who wouldn't shy from the fact that the team was attempting to fix a very negative environment and turn it into one where players could flourish again. They wanted players who ... would embrace the scrutiny of Boston rather than shrink under its glare.

The sense started to emerge in spring training that they might have just such a group. Over time, with a host of late-innings heroics and victories, the team's self-belief became further solidified. An unseen fabric began to weave throughout the clubhouse -- the obsessive attention to detail behind the scenes among players, the joy in hard work, the concern for the team's performance rather than dwelling on individual roles and accomplishments.

Koji Uehara has a chance to become the first major league pitcher in history with 100+ strikeouts and fewer than 10 walks in a full season. Right now, he has nine walks (two of which were intentional) and 98 strikeouts.

Celebration & Stuff To Read

Video of last night's celebration at Fenway Park from the Globe and MLB.

Bugs Bunny, Greatest Banned Player Ever
DMZ, U.S.S. Mariner, March 12, 2006

In Search of Baseball's Holy Grail
Bryan Curtis, Grantland, September 18, 2013

The Unbreakable Records
Shane Tourtellotte, The Hardball Times, September 18, 2013

Why Do Baseball Players Still Bunt So Damn Much?
Erik Malinowski, Buzzfeed, September 16, 2013

Hey, If It Works So Well For TSA ...
Rob Neyer, SB Nation, September 16 2013

The Strike Zone Advantage For The Home Team
James Gentile, The Hardball Times, September 13, 2013

The Calls That Replay Won't Fix
Brian Costa, Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2013

G155: Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 3

Blue Jays - 000 010 020 - 3 10  0
Red Sox   - 101 000 31x - 6 12  2

The brand-new gray-and-red shirts passed out on the field after the final out said it all: We Own The East.

The Red Sox clinched the AL East title for the first time since 2007.

Lester (7-5-1-2-8, 123) earned his 100th career victory.

Mike Carp drove in three runs, including two in the seventh to salt the game away. ... Dustin Pedroia went 3-for-5; Daniel Nava, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Jackie Bradley each had two hits. .. Koji Uehara got the five-out save, striking out Brett Lawrie to end the game.

As a reminder, here are ESPN's 43 pre-season predictions:

AL East

Blue Jays     20
Rays          20
Orioles        2
Yankees        1
Red Sox        0

And MLB.com's 20 pre-season picks:

AL East

Rays          10
Blue Jays      6
Orioles        3
Red Sox        1
Yankees        0

Esmil Rogers / Jon Lester

Pedroia, 2B
Victorino, CF Nava, RF
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Carp, LF
Nava, RF Saltalamacchia, C
Saltalamacchia, C Middlebrooks, 3B
Drew, SS
Middlebrooks, 3B Bradley, CF

Shane Victorino (jammed right thumb) was scratched from the original lineup.

A Red Sox win or a Rays loss = AL East Champs! (Tampa Bay hosts the Orioles this weekend.)

Boston (93-61) leads Oakland (90-63) and Detroit (89-64) in the race for the league's best record - and home field advantage throughout the postseason. The team with the AL's best record will play the Wild Card winner in the ALDS, which begins Friday, October 4.

In 11 starts since the All-Star break, Lester has a 2.38 ERA.

Manager John Farrell flip-flopped Clay Buchholz and Felix Doubront in the rotation, with Buchholz pitching tomorrow and Doubront going on Sunday.

G154: Red Sox 3, Orioles 1

Orioles - 000 000 100 - 1  2  0
Red Sox - 030 000 00x - 3  7  0

The Red Sox are in the postseason for the first time since 2009!

Lackey (9-2-1-2-8, 113) threw 6.1 innings of no-hit ball before Adam Jones hit a bomb over the Monster seats and out of Fenway.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia began the bottom of the second with a double to right. With one out, Stephen Drew hit a home run that just cleared the Wall. Jackie Bradley followed with a double to left and came around to score on Dustin Pedroia's single.

Drew also tripled. ... Bradley and Pedroia also had two hits. ... The Rays lost to Texas, so Boston's magic number to clinch the AL East - for the first time since 2007 - is 1.

Chris Tillman / John Lackey

Pedroia, 2B
Nava, RF
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Carp, LF
Saltalamacchia, C
Middlebrooks, 3B
Drew, SS
Bradley, CF

G153: Orioles 5, Red Sox 3 (12)

Orioles - 000 021 000 002 - 5 10  0
Red Sox - 200 001 000 000 - 3 15  0

Chris Davis's two-run, bases-loaded single in the twelfth postponed the Red Sox's playoff-spot celebration. Boston's magic number for making the postseason is one and its magic number for clinching the AL East remains at three.

Franklin Morales allowed one-out singles to J.J. Hardy and Brian Roberts in the twelfth. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, and pinch-hitter Steve Pearce was walked intentionally. Manny Machado fouled out to first before Davis delivered his big hit.

The Red Sox put the leadoff man on base in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth innings, but moved only one of them as far as second base. (Boston also failed to score back in the third inning after loading the bases with none out. Mike Napoli lined to shortstop and Jonny Gomes tapped into a 1-2-3 double play, one of four DPs turned by the Orioles.)

The night began with David Ortiz belting a long two-run home run to right field. Jake Peavy (7-6-3-1-8, 113) struck out four of the first five batters, and did not allow a hit through the first four innings.

However, Baltimore struck for three runs and six hits over the next two frames. Matt Wieters and Roberts hit run-scoring doubles in the fifth and Wieters added another RBI-double in the sixth.

Napoli tied the score with a home run to dead center to begin the home half of the sixth.

Will Middlebrooks had three singles and an intentional walk. Shane Victorino also had three hits.

Wei-Yin Chen / Jake Peavy

A playoff berth can be clinched tonight, if Boston wins and Kansas City beats Cleveland. The Magic # to clinch the AL East is 3. The second-place Rays (9 GB) play the Rangers at the Trop.

Peavy has allowed more than three runs only once in his last six starts (2.95 ERA).

Pedroia, 2B
Victorino, CF
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Gomes, LF
Nava, RF
Middlebrooks, 3B
Drew, SS
Ross, C

How Koji Uehara Retired 37 Batters In A Row

Here is a stupendous article by Sam Miller (Baseball Prospectus) describing - with video, and an appropriate sense of awe - how Koji Uehara retired 37 consecutive opposing batters. Go read it. Now.

Uehara's splitter is not about changing speeds so much as destroying the batter's sense of place in the world. ...

We are now 21 batters in, and we've seen one two-ball count ...

Better: Uehara has gone to 3-0 counts three times this year. Three times! You're excited by this fun fact but the fun fact has not begun; I am merely establishing setting and character. The fun fact starts now: Of those three 3-0 counts, two were intentional walks. Uehara struck out the third batter. ...

This completes the hidden perfect game, and over the course of 27 batters he has thrown 104 pitches, just 19 of them balls, 28 of them swinging strikes. The fastest pitch he threw was 91 mph. ...

Total: 143 pitches, 26 balls. Five batters who reached so much as a two-ball count. Nineteen, more than half, never saw even one ball, and only two of those 19 put the ball in play on the first pitch. ...

If I'm reading the numbers below right, the odds of an average pitcher retiring these 37 batters in a row are like 1 in 2 million.

Unhittable:

G152: Orioles 3, Red Sox 2

Orioles - 000 011 001 - 3  6  3
Red Sox - 100 100 000 - 2  3  0

Scott Feldman / Ryan Dempster

Pedroia, 2B
Victorino, CF
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Nava, RF
Carp, LF
Saltalamacchia, C
Drew, SS
Bogaerts, 3B

The Red Sox can clinch a playoff spot tonight if they beat the Orioles and the Royals beat Cleveland.

Boston has won 10 of its last 12 games, and 17 of its last 21. ... The magic number to clinch the AL East is four. ... The Rays host the Rangers.

This year's team got to 92 wins faster (151 games) than any Red Sox team since the 1950 club (also 151 games).

NYP: Yankees Gotta Believe – Just Recall '04 Red Sox

Joel Sherman, Post:

Inappropriate or not, the Red Sox's decision to honor Mariano Rivera while celebrating themselves Sunday night should provide the 2013 Yankees inspiration. ...

The pre-game program was built around one of Rivera's greatest failures, a pitch-by-pitch accounting of the Red Sox rallying in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. ...

For these 2013 Yankees, though, what they needed to see was not Rivera's dignity, but rather the subtle context of possibility.

Understand those 2004 Red Sox were as close to a baseball grave as a team could be. It is one thing to be down 3-0 in a best-of-seven, a deficit from which – at that point – no club ever had rebounded. It is another to be coming off a 19-8 humiliation in Game 3. ... Still another to be three outs from continuing the greatest self-fulfilling prophecy in sports – the doom and gloom that came with The Curse.

And there on the mound to get those three outs was Rivera. The greatest closer ever. Greater in the playoffs.

Boston's probability of winning that game, much less that series, much less eight straight games to take both the ALCS and their first World Series in 86 years, was microscopic, tinier than tiny, certainly smaller than 6.5 percent, which is how Coolstandings.com projected the Yanks' chances of making the playoffs on Monday morning following the lost weekend at Fenway.

There is an opportunity for the Yankees here. But is their self-belief intact? Because it starts there. These Yankees have an awful lot of work to do over the final 12 games simply to reach a one-game wild-card play-in, loser go home and winner almost certainly face the Red Sox – which for the Yankees feels like go home soon after. ...

In an attempt to honor Rivera or themselves, the Red Sox showed the Yankees a film that should be a reminder to keep hope alive.

Schadenfreude 169 (A Continuing Series)

Mark Feinsand, Daily News:

On second thought, do the Yankees even want a wild card spot?

If the Yankees find a way to capture one of the two wild-card berths during the next two weeks, then win the one-game playoff, their reward likely will be a first-round matchup with the Red Sox. ...

The Red Sox outscored the Yankees 22-7 during the series, finishing the year with 13 wins in 19 meetings, their highest total since beating the Yankees 14 times in 1973. It's also the most wins by any team in a single season against the Yankees since 1976.

John Harper, Daily News:

The wild-card leaders refuse to put the Yankees out of their misery, but it's hardly a race at the moment. More like a crawl, as Joe Girardi's ballclub limps out of town here hoping that being outclassed by the Red Sox this weekend doesn't mean they've simply hit the skids.

As Alex Rodriguez put it after the 9-2 loss on Sunday night: "They've basically whipped our ass."

Joel Sherman, Post:

All the Yankee misery this season would be more tolerable — even without a playoff appearance — if positives for next year were derived from the despair.

But do you see many? Any? ...

Consider that the Yanks have deployed a team-record 56 players without offering one high-end prospect. Zero-for-56. ...

So if you are discouraged by the Yanks' 2013, what are you seeing that makes you feel more optimistic about next year?

G151: Red Sox 9, Yankees 2

Yankees - 100 000 001 - 2  5  0
Red Sox - 300 112 20x - 9 11  1

Video (12:28) of the pre-game ceremony for Rivera here.

Ivan Nova / Clay Buchholz

Pedroia, 2B
Nava, RF
Ortiz, DH
Carp, LF
Napoli, 1B
Saltalamacchia, C
Drew, SS
Bogaerts, 3B
Bradley, CF

The Red Sox will honour Mariano Rivera in a pregame ceremony tonight.

Mike Napoli has struck out 176 times this season. The Red Sox record is 177 (Mark Bellhorn, 2004).

Boston has the best base stealing percentage in MLB (86%; 114 SB/19 CS). Since August 9, the Red Sox are 30-for-30 in steals.

A win tonight would mathematically eliminate the Yankees (11.5 GB) from the AL East race.

John Harper, Daily News:

[T]he very sight of the Red Sox is enough to make [the Yankees] run for cover at the moment, as they have lost five out of six games to their famed rivals over the last nine days. Furthermore, the Yankees can't get through a day without another player getting hurt.

Cruising, Beards, And Other Miscellany

Boston (91-59) is 32 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2004 season (98-64).

This season is only the third time since 1951 that the Red Sox reached 90 wins before the 150th game of the year (1986 and 2007 were the other seasons).

Seasons in which the Red Sox were above .500 from start to finish: 1912, 1917, 1918, 1940, 1946, 2013.

Red Sox's largest increase in wins from season to season

33 games - 1945: 71-83   1946: 104-50
27 games - 1911: 78-75   1912: 105-47
22 games - 2012: 69-93   2013:  91-59 (12 games to play)

Koji Uehara:

Has made 27 straight scoreless appearances covering 30.1 innings (since July 9)

Has retired 37 consecutive batters over his last 12 games (since August 17)

Has not allowed an earned run in his last 33.2 innings (June 30)

Of his last 96 batters, only 7 have reached base

Since June 10: 41 games, 0.21 ERA, 3 walks, 60 strikeouts, .076 opponents average

Wednesday, September 18 is Dollar Beard Night at Fenway Park. Any fan wearing a real or fake beard can buy a ticket to that night's game against the Orioles for $1 (at Gate E).

Derek Jeter is a VHS cassette.

Most home-run stare-downs are erotic French films.

R.A. Dickey throws a sidearm knuckleball.

Rob Neyer: Major League Baseball's mixed 9/11 messages.

G150: Red Sox 5, Yankees 1

Yankees - 000 100 000 - 1  3  1
Red Sox - 012 110 00x - 5  9  0

91-59, with 12 more games to play.

Lester: 8-3-1-2-5, 115. ... He has a 1.86 ERA over his last eight starts.

Mike Napoli and Jonny Gomes each reached base four times, going 2-for-2 with two walks. ... Shane Victorino also had two hits. ... Napoli scored twice.

The Red Sox's magic number of clinching the East is 6. The Rays play the Twins tonight.

CC Sabathia / Jon Lester

Pedroia, 2B
Victorino, CF
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Gomes, LF
Nava, RF
Middlebrooks, 3B
Ross, C
Bogaerts, SS

G149: Red Sox 8, Yankees 4

Yankees - 001 001 200 - 4  8  0
Red Sox - 400 000 40x - 8 11  1

Jarrod Saltalamacchia's grand slam in the seventh inning snapped a 4-4 tie and gave Boston its 90th win of the year.

Koji Uehara set down the Yankees in order in the ninth; he has retired the last 37 batters to face him.

Hiroki Kuroda / John Lackey

Pedroia, 2B
Victorino, RF
Ortiz, DH
Carp, 1B
Nava, LF
Saltalamacchia, C
Drew, SS
Middlebrooks, 3B
Bradley, CF

Boston kicks off its final homestand of the year, playing three games apiece against the Yankees, Orioles, and Blue Jays.

The second-place Rays (8.5 GB) are in Minnesota.

G148: Rays 4, Red Sox 3

Red Sox - 000 102 000 - 3  6  1
Rays    - 011 100 01x - 4  6  0

Jake Peavy / Jeremy Hellickson

Pedroia, 2B
Nava, RF
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Saltalamacchia, C
Gomes, LF
Drew, SS
Bogaerts, 3B
Bradley, CF

G147: Red Sox 7, Rays 3 (10)

Red Sox - 003 000 000 4 - 7  9  0
Rays    - 001 000 110 0 - 3  6  0

Pinch-hitter Mike Carp saw one pitch with the bases loaded in the tenth. He pounded it over the center field fence for a grand slam. It was the first pinch-hit, extra-inning grand slam in Red Sox history. The win gave Boston a 9.5-game lead in the East.

David Ortiz: To come in and do what he did, you only see that in the movies.

Rays reliever Joel Peralta began the tenth inning by walking Dustin Pedroia. Shane Victorino bunted FY to second. Peralta then intentionally walked David Ortiz. Roberto Hernandez came in from the bullpen and he walked Mike Napoli on four pitches. Carp batted for Jonny Gomes and donged Hernandez's first offering to dead center field. (The last Sock to hit a pinch-hit slam? Kevin Millar, June 7, 2003.)

Junichi Tazawa set down the Rays in order in the bottom half.

Ryan Dempster / Alex Cobb

Pedroia, 2B
Victorino, RF
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Nava, LF
Drew, SS
Middlebrooks, 3B
Ross, C
Bradley, CF

Dempster has a 6.39 ERA over his last nine starts. Thanks to the Red Sox's big bats - which lead the AL in runs, doubles, walks, and slugging, and are 2nd in batting, on-base, and total bases - the team is 8-1 in those games.

Koji Uehara has retired the last 31 batters he's faced since August 17. That streak ties Hideo Nomo for the Red Sox record, set in 2001. Uehara's scoreless streak of 28.1 innings is the longest by a Red Sox reliever since Dick Radatz went 33 innings in 1963. Uehara has not allowed an earned run over his past 31.2 innings, dating back to June 30.

Derek Lowe made his broadcasting debut with NESN last night. He will be in the booth for the next two games. Click here for a little bit of video from his phenomenal start in 2004 ALCS 7.

Red Sox Release 2014 Schedule

The Red Sox have released their 2014 schedule.

Boston begins the season in Baltimore on Monday, March 31. The home opener is Friday, April 4 against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Red Sox play the Yankees seven times in April, visiting the Bronx on April 10-13 and hosting the MFY on April 22-24.

The season ends at Fenway Park with three-game series against the Rays and Yankees.

G146: Red Sox 2, Rays 0

Red Sox - 000 020 000 - 2  4  0
Rays    - 000 000 000 - 0  4  0

Despite not having pitched against major league hitters since June 8, Clay Buchholz (5-3-0-1-6, 74) picked up right where he left off, throwing five shutout innings. He allowed three hits and one walk, and struck out six, lowering his ERA to 1.61. Boston increased its AL East lead to 8.5 games.

David Price (8-3-2-0-9, 127) was the hard-luck loser. He set down the first 12 Boston batters he faced, but gave up a double to Mike Napoli to start the fifth. Napoli hit the ball deep to center and Desmond Jennings appeared to have a play on it, but Jennings looked away at the last moment and the ball missed his glove and hit off the padded wall. Jonny Gomes followed with a ground-ball single to left-center and Jennings' throw to the plate was way off the mark, allowing Gomes to take second. Daniel Nava bunted Gomes to third and Jarrod Saltalamacchia's sacrifice fly to center brought him home.

Buchholz allowed two singles in the second inning, one with one out and another with two down, then retired Jose Molina to end the minor threat. David DeJesus singled with one out in the third and was thrown out stealing. Matt Joyce walked with one down in the fourth and was gunned down as part of a double play with James Loney gawking at strike three.

Craig Breslow pitched two innings after Buchholz departed. He walked two Rays, but neither runner got past first base. Junichi Tazawa surrendered a two-out double to Yunel Escobar in the eighth and gave way to Koji Uehara. The unhittable Uehara got Wil Myers to end the eighth, then set down the Rays' 2-3-4 hitters in the ninth for the save.

Uehara has retired the last 31 batters he has faced. Since July 9, he has pitched 28.1 scoreless innings, walking one and striking out 38! In those two months, opposing batters are hitting [sic] .071/.081 /.094.

Clay Buchholz / David Price

Pedroia, 2B
Victorino, CF
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Gomes, LF
Nava, RF
Saltalamacchia, C
Middlebrooks, 3B
Drew, SS

Up by 7.5 with 17 games to play.

Buchholz (1.71 ERA) returns - on 94 days rest - to the starting rotation to kick off a three-game series against the second-place Rays. ... In noting the last three weeks of the regular season, the Globe's Peter Abraham calls Tampa Bay's upcoming schedule "brutal".

When it comes to chemistry and camaraderie, Pedro Martinez sees a lot of similarities between this year's team and the 2004 Red Sox.

Will Middlebrooks (13-for-28, four HRs, nine RBIs, eight runs scored) and Mike Napoli (10-for-21, four doubles, four HRs, nine RBIs, 1.143 slugging) were named AL Co-Players of the Week.

As you probably know, Jacoby Ellsbury has a compression fracture in the navicular bone of his right foot. John Farrell believes Ellsbury will return before the end of the regular season.

Koji Uehara has retired the last 27 batters he has faced, dating back to August 17, the first Red Sox reliever to do so since 1980. Uehara has also gone 27 innings without allowing a run.

John Tomase of the Herald and WEEI's Alex Speier say it's not too early to start thinking about the Red Sox's playoff roster.

Cool Standings has the Red Sox at 99% to win the East and 99.9% to make the playoffs. Baseball Prospectus has the odds at 99.4% and 100%, respectively.

Book

I made the announcement on March 1 that I was writing a book celebrating the glorious events of October 2004. That book is now complete. I emailed the manuscript to my editor at Triumph Books at 2:25 this afternoon.

Here is a Wordle diagram of the ALCS portion of the book:

I look forward to once again watching the Red Sox (99.9% probability of making the playoffs, for the first time since 2009) in the evening. ... Good timing with the FKR series starting tomorrow night.

2013 Postseason Schedule

2013 Major League Baseball Postseason Schedule

Wild Card Games (TBS)

T1001 - National League (TBS)
W1002 - American League (TBS)

American League Division Series (TBS/MLBN)

F1004 - ALDS 1
S1005 - ALDS 2
M1007 - ALDS 3
T1008 - ALDS 4
T1010 - ALDS 5

National League Division Series (TBS/MLBN)

T1003 - NLDS 1
F1004 - NLDS 2
S1006 - NLDS 3
M1007 - NLDS 4
W1009 - NLDS 5

American League Championship Series (FOX)

S1012 - ALCS 1
S1013 - ALCS 2
T1015 - ALCS 3
W1016 - ALCS 4
T1017 - ALCS 5
S1019 - ALCS 6
S1020 - ALCS 7

National League Championship Series (TBS)

F1011 - NLCS 1
S1012 - NLCS 2
M1014 - NLCS 3
T1015 - NLCS 4
W1016 - NLCS 5
F1018 - NLCS 6
S1019 - NLCS 7

World Series (FOX)

W1023 - WS 1 at AL
T1024 - WS 2 at AL
S1026 - WS 3 at NL
S1027 - WS 4 at NL
M1028 - WS 5 at NL
T1030 - WS 6 at AL
W1031 - WS 7 at AL

Nick Cafardo Remembers 2004's Closer "Kevin Foulke"

Nick also wrote this sentence (and used 7 commas!!):

Instead, the Yankees, fighting for a playoff berth, knowing the Orioles, one of teams they're competing with, had won, had took an 8-7 lead after being down, 7-2.

G145: Yankees 4, Red Sox 3

Red Sox - 010 001 001 - 3  9  0
Yankees - 000 120 001 - 4 11  0

Will Middlebrooks' solo home run off Mariano Rivera tied the game in the top of the ninth, but Ichiro Suzuki scored on Brandon Workman's wild pitch with two outs in the bottom half to prevent Boston from sweeping the four-game series.

David Ortiz doubled twice and scored the Red Sox' other two runs. ... Middlebrooks, Jonny Gomes and Mike Carp also had two hits.

The Red Sox are off on Monday and begin a three-game series in Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Clay Buchholz may return to the rotation for the first game; he last pitched on June 8.

Jon Lester / Hiroki Kuroda

Nava, RF
Gomes, LF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Carp, 1B
Saltalamacchia, C
Drew, SS
Middlebrooks, 3B
Bradley, CF

Schadenfreude 168 (A Continuing Series)

Mark Feinsand, Daily News:

Whatever the opposite of the Boston Massacre is, we're witnessing it this weekend at Yankee Stadium.

For the first time in three days, there was no late-inning collapse by the Yankees bullpen. Instead, it was an early-inning failure by the starter that doomed the Bombers on Saturday afternoon.

Bill Madden, Daily News:

They have somehow given New York a baseball season with meaningful games in September, the Yankees have, but it is an illusionary one and, judging by all those empty seats at Yankee Stadium against the Red Sox, their fans seem to agree. ...

You get the feeling Yankee fans understand this. Maybe it's because the common fans have been priced out of the new Stadium, leaving the moated fortress to the privileged, dispassionate corporate millionaires and their equally privileged guests. ... How else to explain the 10,000 empty seats Thursday night in what was the most important game of the year — against the Red Sox — and the general apathy in the stands until the Yankees’ six-run rally in the seventh (when a lot of those fans had already left)?

John Harper, Daily News:

[T]hey're hemorrhaging blood after being assaulted by the Red Sox for an astounding total of 34 runs the last three days at the Stadium, making you wonder how they'll survive Game 4 of this Demolition Derby, never mind the next seven days in Baltimore and Boston.

Their bullpen is suddenly decimated by injuries, to the point where the Yankee brass may be only another sore arm away from holding open tryouts for pitchers.

Ken Davidoff, Post:

Where are they going to find the arms that will stop this bleeding?

Even another injury departure for Derek Jeter couldn't overshadow a third consecutive pitching meltdown that left the Yankees as 13-9 losers to the rival Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon, giving them a historic dishonor. As FOX's sideline reporter Ken Rosenthal shared (courtesy of Stats Inc.), never before had an American League team lost three straight home games in which it scored at least eight runs per contest.

Joel Sherman, Post:

[Derek] Jeter continues to symbolize Yankees decay. ...

In the top of the sixth, Jeter could not muster the leg strength to plant and deliver accurately from the hole, throwing away a Jonny Gomes grounder. Jeter did produce what has become a rare hit in the bottom of the frame, an RBI single, but he ran with such a gimp that he was removed for a pinch-runner.

Peter Botte, Daily News:

Derek Jeter seemingly has had as many medical tests as hits this season, and the Yankee captain landed back at the hospital on Saturday.

Jeter, who has been on the disabled list three times in 2013, was sent to New York-Presbyterian to have his surgically repaired left ankle checked out after the hobbling shortstop was removed for a pinch runner in the sixth inning of a 13-9 loss to the Red Sox at the Stadium.

Fun Facts From Yankee Stadium III

The Red Sox are first visiting team in 102 years to score 9+ runs on three consecutive days against the Yankees. (Cleveland did it in 1911 and the Red Sox did it in four games in 1912.)

The Yankees are the first home team in history to lose three consecutive games while scoring eight or more runs.

The Yankees gave up 12+ runs in back-to-back home games for the first time in 107 years (1907).

The Red Sox scored 9+ runs in three straight games against the Yankees for only the third time in franchise history, and the first time since June 17-19, 1977.

This is the first Red Sox-Yankees series ever in which both teams scored at least eight runs in each of three consecutive games.

The 54 runs the Red Sox have scored in their last four games are not even close to a team record. On June 5-8, 1950, Boston scored 65 runs in four consecutive games (12-0, 4-8, 20-4, 29-4).

G144: Red Sox 13, Yankees 9

Red Sox - 023 520 001 - 13 14  0
Yankees - 011 104 020 -  9 12  0

Another game against the Yankees, another win against the Yankees. ... Same old, same old. ... Yet this isn't getting boring.

Boston hit four home runs: Mike Napoli (2), Jonny Gomes, Xander Bogaerts. ... Gomes drove in four runs, X and Napoli drove in three. ... Everyone in the starting lineup had a hit and five different players scored two runs. ... The Red Sox have scored 54 runs in their last four games.

With this win, the Red Sox's lead in the AL East is a season-best eight games. Tampa Bay plays at Seattle tonight.

John Lackey / David Huff

Victorino, RF
Gomes, LF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Middlebrooks, 3B
Bradley, CF
Lavarnway, C
Bogaerts, SS

Jacoby Ellsbury is out indefinitely with a foot injury. Jackie Bradley Jr. has been called up and is playing today.

Schadenfreude 167 (A Continuing Series)

Friday's Papers

Christian Red, Daily News:

In an eerie flashback to another Yankee-Red Sox dramatic moment, Quintin Berry became the 2013 version of Dave Roberts, who turned the tide in the 2004 ALCS with his steal off Rivera in Game 4. Berry pinch-ran for Mike Napoli Thursday night, after Napoli singled with two outs in the ninth. On the first pitch to the following batter, Stephen Drew, Berry took off for second, slid in safely, and then scrambled to third as Austin Romine's throw squirted into left center. Drew drove Berry in with a bloop single to right as the Sox tied the game 8-8.

George King, Post:

There are bad losses, heart-breaking losses and losses that freeze bone marrow.

It remains to be known if the Yankees can rebound from the most devastating defeat of the season ...

Kevin Kernan, Post:

The Promise that once was Joba Chamberlain continues to be a dead end for the Yankees.

... for manager Joe Girardi to continue to run Chamberlain out there in big games is a losing proposition.

Mike Vaccaro, Post:

This is the fix you find yourself in when the final month of the season feels less like a series of baseball games and more a daily dance with elimination.

This is what it feels like when you have less margin for error than a man juggling six chainsaws on a wire above Niagara Falls.

John Harper, Daily News:

If your ballclub is destined for some magical late-season run that won't end until sometime in October, you almost certainly don't lose on a night like this.

You don't rise up and score six runs in the seventh inning against the first-place Red Sox and then see such an astonishing comeback go to waste because the greatest closer in baseball history blows a ninth-inning lead.

I mean, that's just cruel.

Saturday's Papers

Mike Mazzeo, ESPNNewYork:

And you thought Thursday night's loss was bad.

This was worse.

The Yankees outdid themselves on Friday night with an epic meltdown. They took an 8-3 lead into the seventh inning, but their bullpen imploded from there, allowing nine runs, and the Red Sox claimed a stunning 12-8 victory at the Stadium in exactly four hours.

The bullpen's line: 3 IP, 10 H, 9 ER, 4 BB, 2 HR. ...

Phil Hughes' first regular-season relief appearance since Sept. 28, 2011, couldn't have gone any worse. ...

Joba Chamberlain was his usual horrendous self. No surprise there.

Anthony McCarron, Daily News:

In the span of two days, the Red Sox have broken Yankee hearts twice with remarkable victories in games the Bombers need desperately. ...

A team with questionable intestinal fortitude might be wiped out by consecutive gut-wrenching losses to its bitter rivals in the heat of a pennant race. We'll see if the Yanks can respond in the final two games of the series Saturday and Sunday, but one thing is clear - pinstriped playoff hopes are dimming as the Sox thrive.

Kevin Kernan, Post:

This has suddenly become the bullpen from hell.

Friday night's collapse put Thursday night's dreadful performance to shame.

Mark Feinsand, Daily News:

The Yankees have gallantly battled the injury bug all season, finding one replacement after another, living to see the next round in the fight.

Friday night, the knockout punch may have finally been delivered.

On the field, the Yankees suffered their second devastating loss in as many nights, wasting a five-run lead in the seventh inning thanks to some dreadful pitching by Phil Hughes and Boone Logan. ...

Logan was being sent for an MRI Saturday after complaining of tightness in his left elbow area, while Dave Robertson would be unavailable for the next five or six days with tendinitis in his shoulder.

Ken Davidoff, Post:

How [much] can one baseball team withstand? When does resilience devolve into sheer exhaustion?

The Yankees seem determined to find out.

Joe Girardi's group followed its Worst Loss of the Season on Thursday night with ...the Even Worse Worst Loss of the Season on Friday night. A seemingly comfortable lead intersected with a battered bullpen at Yankee Stadium, and the result couldn't have been any uglier: 12-8 Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, dropping the Yankees (75-66) behind both Baltimore (75-65) and Cleveland (75-65) — with all of them trailing Tampa Bay (77-63) — in the American League wild-card race.

G143: Red Sox 12, Yankees 8

Red Sox - 010 110 540 - 12 15  0
Yankees - 220 220 000 -  8  7  0

Felix Doubront / Andy Pettitte

Victorino, CF
Gomes, LF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Nava, RF
Drew, SS
Ross, C
Middlebrooks, 3B

The Red Sox have a 6.5-game lead in the AL East. The second-place Rays are in Seattle.

G142: Red Sox 9, Yankees 8 (10)

Red Sox - 002 130 101 1 - 9  16  0
Yankees - 002 000 600 0 - 8  10  1

Jake Peavy / Ivan Nova

Ellsbury, CF
Victorino, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Nava, LF
Napoli, 1B
Drew, SS
Lavarnway, C
Middlebrooks, 3B

A four-game series against the third-place Yankees (8 GB) begins tonight in the Bronx.

The other match-ups:

Friday: Felix Doubront / Andy Pettitte, 7 PM
Saturday: John Lackey / David Huff, 1 PM
Sunday: Jon Lester / Hiroki Kuroda, 1 PM

The Rays (5.5 GB) wrap up their series in Anaheim tonight. Tampa Bay goes to Seattle for the weekend. The Red Sox's Magic Number in the AL East is 18.

G141: Red Sox 20, Tigers 4

Tigers  - 003 100 000 -  4  8  1
Red Sox - 021 118 52x - 20 19  0

David Ortiz's sixth-inning double was his 2,000th career hit.

Ortiz also hit two of Boston's eight home runs. Will Middlebrooks hit a grand slam.

Rick Porcello / Ryan Dempster

Ellsbury, CF
Victorino, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Nava, LF
Napoli, 1B
Drew, SS
Ross, C
Middlebrooks, 3B

G140: Red Sox 2, Tigers 1

Tigers  - 010 000 000 - 1  9  0
Red Sox - 000 020 00x - 2  6  1

Max Scherzer / Jon Lester

Victorino, CF
Nava, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Carp, 1B
Gomes, LF
Drew, SS
Ross, C
Middlebrooks, 3B

G139: Tigers 3, Red Sox 0

Tigers  - 000 000 210 - 3  8  0
Red Sox - 000 000 000 - 0  6  1

Doug Fister / John Lackey

The Rays (5.5 GB) play in Anaheim tonight.

G138: Red Sox 7, White Sox 6

White Sox - 000 410 010 - 6 11  1
Red Sox   - 041 200 00x - 7  8  0

Boston increased its AL East lead to 5.5 games with a win today. The Rays lost their fourth straight game, 5-1 to Oakland. The lead is the Red Sox's largest of the season (they were also 5.5 GA after winning on July 5).

David Ortiz went 2-for-3, with three RBI. ... Jacoby Ellsbury was 2-for-4, with two runs scored and two RBI. ... Xander Bogaerts is 6-for-19 (.316).

Andre Rienzo / Felix Doubront

Ellsbury, CF
Victorino, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Nava, LF
Carp, 1B
Saltalamacchia, C
Drew, SS
Bogaerts, 3B

Daniel Bard has been designated for assignment. Two immediate SoSH comments pretty much sum this move up: "Holy shit" and "Sad but inevitable".

The following players were added to the roster: newly-acquired infielder John McDonald, outfielder Quintin Berry, Brandon Snyder, Ryan Lavarnway, and Rubby De La Rosa.

Koji

Koji Uehara is having a remarkable season.

Since June 10, he has pitched 36 innings in 34 games. He has allowed one earned run. Of the 121 batters he has faced, he has allowed 11 hits, walked three and struck out 48. The earned run came on a solo home run.

His ERA since June 10 is 0.25, and opponents are hitting .093/.116/.144 for an OPS of .260!

For the season, Uehara's ERA is 1.19 and his WHIP is a minuscule 0.63. The only number that is mildly troublesome is his innings pitched, which stands at 60.1, only 6.1 innings away from his career high in 2009, when he was a starter. He threw 65 innings as a reliever in 2011.