Sox Sweep Fenway Finale

Holt celebrates after scoring the first run of Sunday's game (Washington Post)

The Red Sox put their fans through a lot of pain and suffering this summer. But on a beautiful fall weekend in New England, they treated the Fenway Faithful to their best baseball of the season.

 

With Baltimore in town for the season's final series at the Fens, Boston did not allow a single run in the three-game set. In just their third sweep of the season (all at home), they had more shutouts in one weekend than they did in the previous three months.

 

Friday night featured another dominant start by Rich Hill, who has struck out 10 batters in each of his three starts since joining the Red Sox two weeks ago. The area-native was near-perfect, allowing just two hits and one walk as he breezed through a tough Orioles lineup. Boston backed him up with plenty of run support, breaking through for three runs in the sixth to send Kevin Gausman to the showers and give Hill a 5-0 advantage.

 

It was 7-0 when he came back out for the ninth, seeking his first complete game shutout since 2006 and just the second of his career. He nearly lost it with one out to go when Chris Davis launched his 116th pitch of the evening towards the right field bullpen, only to be saved by a spectacular leaping catch at the wall by Mookie Betts--the kind of catch Torii Hunter just missed making two Octobers ago.

 

If Hill's shutout was unexpected, surely nobody thought the Sox would get another one on Saturday--Boston's bullpen day. Interim manager Torey Luvollo gave Craig Breslow his first career start. Breslow--terrible this year and last out--baffled the O's through four in the longest outing of his career. A half-dozen relievers followed him out of the bullpen as Heath Embree worked out of a two-on, two-out jam in the fifth, Matt Barnes kept Baltimore at Bay in the sixth and seventh, and a different pitcher recorded each of the three outs in the eighth. 24 year-old rookie Jonathan Aro closed out the ninth,.

 

Once again Boston's bats were quiet in the first half of the game but erupted in the second. Held scoreless by Wei-Yin Chen through four, the Red Sox got on the board thanks to a RBI double from Josh Rutledge. Though they left the bases loaded, their bats had come alive and would add another run in the sixth, two more in the seventh, and four in a lead-padding bottom of the eighth. Only two of Boston's eight runs were earned, however, as Baltimore committed three errors in the field.

 

That sloppy defense persisted on Sunday, as Orioles outfielders lost a pair of fly balls in the early-autumn sun. Neither time did the Red Sox capitalize, though they did break the ice on a wild pitch by the notoriously erratic Ubaldo Jimenez, who has led his league in that dubious statistic twice in the past five years. His errant offering to Big Papi bounced up off the glove of Caleb Joseph, rolling far away enough for Brock Holt to score easily off his terrific jump. Boston doubled its lead on a Blake Swihart home run--his third of the season, and that proved plenty on a sleepy afternoon for both offenses.

 

Because while Jimenez was actually quite good, Henry Owens was even better. For the second time in 12 days, he pitched 7 and 2/3 scoreless against the Orioles. It was, according to GameScore, the best outing of his young career, which consists of the 10 starts he's made since his early August call-up. He's now gone at least seven in each of his last three starts after doing so just once in his first seven.

 

Owens walked off the mound to a thunderous cheer from the Fenway crowd (paid attendance: 33,306), but that was nothing compared to the receptions given to Larry Lucchino and Don Orsillo. Both received outstanding video tributes as well as a big hand from the fans. But while Lucchino was named honorary President/CEO and threw out the first pitch, it was Orsillo who felt the warm, loving embrace of the fans. Sad to see their popular play-by-play announcer go, the Fenway Faithful followed a stirring highlight reel of Orsillo's most memorable calls and hijinks (which NESN, true to form, did not show) with a full-throated standing ovation. Many of whom hoisted cutout images of  of the recently-fired TV commentator's face, while even more chanted his name. Orsillo returned the salute with one of his own, grateful for the groundswell of support he's received throughout this entire episode, then sat in silence, momentarily unable to describe what was happening on the field.

 

It hasn't been a pretty year for the Red Sox, a season most would like to soon forget. But yesterday, which ended with thousands of fans circling the bases as the sun set over their beloved ballpark, was one that many, myself included, will always remember.

We'll miss you, Don (ESPN)

 

Ranking Red Sox Southpaws

Lester is one of the top lefties in Red Sox history, but where does he stand?

Jon Lester is gone, leaving a legacy in Boston as one of the club's greatest southpaws ever. So that got me thinking: if his time in Boston is truly finished (and it probably is), where does that leave him on the organization's short list of best left-handed pitchers?

Since there aren't that many (turns out Fenway Park is a really tough place for lefty throwers to thrive), here are the six best I could come up with.

Honorable Mention: Bill Lee (3.92 FIP  110 ERA+  18.9 bWAR  5.2 WAA)
Had Spaceman not gotten involved in a career-altering Yankees-Red Sox fray early in the 1976 season, he likely would rank higher on this list. As it is, he must settle for just missing the top-five. 29 at the time of the brawl, Lee was coming off three straight 17-win seasons in which he compiled a 3.38 ERA across 827 innings. Though he pitched until 1982 the one-time All-Star was never the same, for only once more after that would he make more than 25 starts or complete more than 180 innings in a season. His legacy would also be much different had he held on to win the seventh game of the 1975 World Series, rather than allow Tony Perez to launch his "Leephus" pitch to the moon. Or had he not antagonized Don Zimmer so much, Lee might have actually pitched some meaningful games for the Red Sox as their 14 and 1/2 game lead over the Yankees slipped away in the second half of 1978. Two months after Boston completed its epic collapse, his ten-year Red Sox career came to an end when he was unceremoniously swapped with utilityman Stan Papi of the Montreal Expos.

5. Babe Ruth (2.76 FIP  125 ERA+  20.8 bWAR  9.9 WAA)
Before the Babe became the best slugger in baseball history, he was one of the game's premier pitchers. A two-time 20-game winner, Ruth compiled a 2.19 ERA in his six seasons with the Sox, winning the 1916 ERA crown with his 1.75 mark (maintained over 323.67 innings, I might add). His nine shutouts that year are still a record for an American League lefthander, since tied by Ron Guidry in 1978. The following season he was almost as good, with a 2.01 ERA in 326 and 1/3 innings and 35 complete games. After that the Red Sox realized how valuable the Bambino's bat was and limited his workload. But even after he became more renowned for his exploits as a hard-hitting outfielder Ruth remained effective when he toed the rubber, posting a 2.22 ERA in 1918 and 2.97 mark in 1919, his final year with the Red Sox. The Sultan of Swat also strung together 29 and 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings in World Series play, a record that stood until Whitey Ford bested it in the 1961 Fall Classic.

4. Dutch Leonard (2.39 FIP 129 ERA+ 27.2 bWAR 14.6 WAA)
Leonard spent his first six seasons with Boston, compiling a 2.13 ERA in his time there. After notching a 2.39 ERA across 259 and 1/3 innings as a 21 year-old rookie in 1913, for an encore he set the single season ERA record (post-1900) with his 0.96 mark the following year. He did not allow a single home run that year in 224 and 2/3 innings (it was the Deadball Era, after all) and also paced the majors in adjusted ERA, FIP, WHIP, H/9 and K/9. All told, Leonard's historic campaign was valued at 9.2 bWAR. His ERA rose to 2.36 in 1915-'16, years he helped Boston win the World Series with complete game victories in each Fall Classic. He also achieved two no-hitters with the Sox, his first in 1916 and his second two years later shortly before he had to leave the team because of World War I. The Olde Towne Team won the World Series without him that fall and traded him to Detroit, the team he'd no-hit just a few months earlier. Already on his way down, Leonard was unable to sustain the success that made him one of the best pitchers in baseball history through age 25.

3. Jon Lester (3.61 FIP 120 ERA+ 31 bWAR 16.6 WAA)
A three-time All-Star with Boston, Lester topped 15 wins and 200 innings in a season five times. Consistently great in the regular season save for his poor 2012, Lester was at his absolute best in October, helping the Sox capture two World Series titles with his 2.11 ERA in 13 postseason appearances (11 starts). He deserved to share last year's World Series MVP with David Ortiz after allowing just one earned run in 15 and 1/3 stellar innings. In 2008 he became the first Sox lefty in 52 years to pitch a no-hitter when he blanked the Royals at Fenway on May 19th, three weeks after holding the Blue Jays to one hit in eight innings. Lester is one of only three Red Sox pitchers (Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez are the others) to strike out 15 batters in a single game.

2. Mel Parnell (3.79 FIP 125 ERA+ 27.4 bWAR 13.5 WAA)
Parnell pitched his entire ten-year career with the Red Sox, making two All-Star teams and drawing MVP votes four times. His 1949 campaign was Cy Young caliber, with his 25 wins, 27 complete games and 7.9 bWAR tops in baseball to go along with his league-leading 2.77 ERA, 295 and 1/3 innings, and 0.2 HR/9. He started that year's Midsummer Classic and nearly pitched Boston to the pennant before Joe McCarthy exhausted him down the stretch. Overused during his early years Parnell burned out fast but still had flashes of former brilliance, as he did when he twirled a no-hitter in his final season, 1956, on July 14th against the White Sox at Fenway. It was the first by a Boston pitcher since Howard Ehmke's 1923 no-no, and it would take 52 years before a Sox southpaw hurled another. Nearly 60 years after his last game, Parnell still holds the franchise records for most starts, innings, and wins by a lefthander.

1. Lefty Grove (3.60 FIP 143 ERA+ 44.7 bWAR)
The Pedro of his era, Grove wasn't known for his durability but still put up outstanding numbers in the face of high-scoring times. Like Josh Beckett, Grove's first season in Boston was a nightmare but he pitched well after that, winning four ERA titles (each time with the best league and park-adjusted ERA in baseball) and leading the league in pitcher bWAR in 1935, '36, and '37. One of Tom Yawkey's most prized possessions, the former Philadelphia Athletics star made five straight All-Star teams from 1935-39 and won the final 105 games of his Hall of Fame career in eight seasons wearing the Boston uniform, including his 300th (and last) victory in 1941. While Grove was past his physical prime when he joined the Red Sox at age 34, he perfected his curveball and, using it as an out pitch, remained an elite pitcher throughout his 30s, making it (just barely) to 300 wins. It makes sense that the best lefthanded pitcher of all-time (sorry, Sandy Koufax worshipers) is also the best lefthanded pitcher in Red Sox history.

Grove overcame arm troubles and put together a strong second act with Boston

Ranaudo Rises to Occasion

Ranaudo shined in his major league debut last night (NESN.com)

The new-look Boston Red Sox won their first game following Thursday's fire sale that sent Jon Lester, Jonny Gomes, John Lackey, Stephen Drew, and Andrew Miller packing, beating the New York Yankees 4-3 at Fenway Park last night. Allen Craig went 1-for-4 with a double in his Red Sox debut.

The skidding Sox stopped their three-game losing streak in Anthony Ranaudo's first big league start. The 24 year-old, fresh from Pawtucket, notched his first major league win in front of a sellout crowd that included his parents. Ranaudo went six innings, allowing two runs on four hits and four walks while striking out two.

Wearing number 63, Ranaudo kept the Yankees off the board until the fourth, by which point Boston had staked him to a 2-0 lead on run-scoring hits by Dustin Pedroia (ground-rule double) and David Ortiz (single) the previous inning. Ranaudo's shutout bid ended when Carlos Beltran led off the fourth by lining the rookie's second pitch of the inning and 50th of the game into the right field bullpens.

Unfazed, Ranaudo set down the Yankees in order on 10 pitches and needed only nine to dispatch them the following inning. With Boston leading 3-1 and one out in the sixth Beltran struck again, smoking Ranaudo's 80th offering of the evening into center field for a single that plated Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury, who'd reached on a leadoff walk and stolen second, came around to score and trim Boston's lead to one.

Once again, Ranaudo rebounded from a Beltran breakthrough, this time with the potential tying run on base. He effectively neutralized the threat, first by freezing Brian McCann, then by getting Chase Headley to ground out and end the inning. That was all for Ranaudo, who after 91 pitches was done for the evening.

Tommy Layne, also up from Pawtucket, pitched a 1-2-3 seventh by retiring Drew, new Yankee Martin Prado and old Yankee Brett Gardner. Pedroia got Boston a much-needed insurance run in the bottom of the frame, poking a single up the middle to score Mookie Betts and pick up his second RBI of the game.

That run would prove crucial as Derek Jeter greeted Junichi Tazawa with a home run--Jeter's third of the season--over the Monster, cutting Boston's lead in half with one swing of the bat. Tazawa worked around Mark Teixeira's one out double and a two out walk to Brian McCann, escaping the inning with Boston's lead still intact.

The Red Sox were still nursing that one-run lead when Koji Uehara entered the game in the top of the ninth, looking to nail down his 22nd save of the season. The ever-reliable Uehara made quick work of  the Bombers, retiring the side on 13 pitches.

Bolstered by the arrival of Yoenis Cespedes, Boston will go for its 50th win of the season today. Allen Webster, another recent call-up, is making his second start of the year and first career start against New York. Hopefully he fares as well as Ranaudo did yesterday.

Yaz or Papi?

As great as Ortiz has been, he can't hold a candle to Yaz 

With David Ortiz passing Carl Yastrzemski on the all-time home run list last night, sports radio was rife today with passionate debate over which one was better.

To me, this isn't even an argument. Yaz by a lot. Case closed.

Now I'll readily concede that Ortiz, at least since he's come over to the Red Sox, has been a better hitter than Yastrzemski. Interestingly enough their career batting averages are identical at .285, and their career OBPs are within a point of each other as well. Both were fantastic in the clutch, too. Still, there's no question that Ortiz, with his 84 point edge in slugging percentage/ISo and superior home run total in about 5,300 fewer plate appearances, has been the superior slugger. Yaz managed only eight seasons with at least 20 homers in his 23-year career, while Ortiz already has 13 such seasons (consecutively, I might add) in his 18 years.

That said, it must also be remembered that the long ball is much more commonplace nowadays than it was when Yaz played. For most of Ortiz's career, baseball teams have typically averaged around one home run per game, usually a little more. Back in Yastrzemski's day, that number tended to be around 0.7 or 0.8. So for Yaz to have as many 40 homer seasons--three--as Ortiz really is quite impressive. For all of Ortiz's dingers, he still has only one home run title--same as Yastrzemski (who, fun fact, shared his with Harmon Killebrew in 1967).

Looking at batting runs, Ortiz also comes out on top on a per-game basis. With 372 batting runs above average in just over 2,000 games, Ortiz has averaged a batting run every 5.5 games played. With 450 in 3,308 games, Yaz tallied one every 7.35 games. A pretty sizable difference, but also note that Yastrzemski produced next to nothing in this category over his final nine seasons, managing only 50 in his last 1,200 or so games. Before 1975 he had 400 batting runs in in just over 2,100 games, meaning he was right there with Ortiz.

So yes, Ortiz been a better hitter and run producer than Yaz was, but not by as much as his advantage in power numbers would suggest. It's really close, actually, after considering the context of the eras in which they played. Yastrzemski's greatest seasons came during the offensively-suppressed 1960s and '70s, while many of Ortiz's best years came when offense was booming in the mid and late 2000s, before the recent downturn for hitters. Thus, Yastrzemski's career adjusted OPS of 130 (134 through age 38) isn't that far off from Ortiz's 139 mark (and, don't forget, was maintained for thousands of more at-bats). Similarly, his .375 wOBA is not dwarfed by Ortiz's .390, but is rather quite comparable.

Also don't forget that Ortiz had Manny Ramirez hitting behind or in front of him during his best seasons. Yaz was surrounded by his fair share of talent, especially during the second half of his career, but never a hitter of Manny's quality (Jim Rice was great, but not quite on Manny's level). Yastrzemski's supporting cast was especially weak during his peak seasons, when Boston's biggest threat besides Yaz was Reggie Smith. Another good player, but no Manny.

But if these past two MVP debates between Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera have taught us anything, it's that there's more to baseball than hitting. With 168 stolen bases, Yastrzemski holds a clear edge on the bases compared to Ortiz, who's managed a meager 15. Yaz was a good baserunner in his younger days and basically broke even for his career in terms of added value there, whereas Ortiz has always been a liability because of his size and lack of foot speed. That closes the gap some.

Then there's defense, which puts Yaz way over the top. A seven-time Gold Glover, Yaz learned to play the Green Monster to perfection and earned a reputation as one of the best defensive outfielders of all-time. In his heyday Yaz was like a young Barry Bonds, a complete package capable of winning ballgames with his bat, legs, and glove. Ortiz, a full-time DH, has only ever been able to win games with the lumber. He almost never plays the field and adds no value via defensive contributions. He can barely play first base competently, let alone one of the trickiest outfields the majors.

So whatever edge one grants to Ortiz for his hitting, a bigger edge must be given to Yastrzemski to account for his better baserunning and superlative defense. According to Baseball-Reference, Yaz had one 12-win season (his MVP/Triple Crown year in 1967, of course), one 10-win season (1968--The Year of the Pitcher) and a nine-win season (in 1970). Ortiz has had one season--2007--where he was worth more than six, and zero where he was worth over seven. Yastrzemski compiled nearly 100 WAR (B-R and FanGraphs) in his Hall of Fame career; Ortiz will be lucky if he gets to 50. Even if you gave Ortiz as many plate appearances as Yastrzemski, there would still be no question as to which one was more valuable.

For one at-bat, I'd take Ortiz. But for an entire game, season, career, what have you, it's gotta be Yastrzemski.

Streaking Sox Sweep Royals

With their 8-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox on July 8th, the Boston Red Sox hit rock bottom. They'd dropped seven of their last eight games, all at home, to fall 12 games below .500 and 10.5 games out of first. They were last-place in the AL East. They were dead.

Except that they weren't. They salvaged their miserable homestand in thrilling fashion with a [air of walkoff wins against Chicago. Then they traveled to Houston and closed out the first half by taking two of three from the Astros, the last of which was their most convincing victory of the season--an 11-0 romp.. Following the All-Star Break, they returned home for a three-game set with Kansas City and took all three for their first sweep at Fenway in over a month. And just like that, well, maybe the Red Sox weren't dead after all.

With their sweep of the Royals, the Sox have now won seven of their last eight games. It hasn't been enough to climb out of the AL East basement, where Boston's still mired in last place, but at least it's closed the gap for first place to 7.5 games. That's still a sizable deficit, but significantly smaller and easier to overcome than a double digit one.

More importantly, with five straight wins at Fenway the Sox now have a .500 record at home, something they haven't been able to say for much of the year. There were those two walk-offs against the White Sox, of course, followed by the three-game sweep of Kansas City. Boston beat KC 5-4 in Friday's series opener, overcoming a 4-1 deficit with a four-run rally in the sixth inning, a comeback keyed by two-run homers from Xander Bogaerts and Jonny Gomes. With Clay Buchholz gone, four Red Sox relievers made the lead stand up.

Saturday's game was a classic pitcher's duel between Danny Duffy and Rubby De La Rosa, both of whom have pitched surprisingly well this year and with almost identical levels of success (Duffy's ERA after the game was 2.66, just a smidge worse than De La Rosa's 2.64). Once again it was the Royals who took the early lead, only to watch the Red Sox fight back and win with a six-inning deathblow. This time it was Mike Napoli snapping a 1-1 tie with a majestic home run--his 11th of the season--over the Green Monster. Andrew Miller and Koji Uehara kept Kansas City at bay to preserve the lead and De La Rosa's third win of the season.

Sunday's series finale was all-Boston. The Sox scored early and often, hanging six runs on young Yordano Ventura through four. He was gone after one out in the bottom of the fifth, leaving a bases loaded mess for Francisley Bueno to clean up (which he did). That was more than enough for Jon Lester, who dominated the Royals with eight shutout innings. The All-Star lefty was in top form, permitting just four hits (three singles) and two walks while striking out eight. Junichi Tazawa and Edward Mujica retired the Royals 1-2-3 in the ninth to finish off the shutout and the sweep.

The Red Sox will be back on the road this week, first in Toronto against the scuffling Blue Jays and then in Tampa to take on the red-hot Rays. By playing well against both Boston could improve its position in the standings and potentially gain some ground on the first place Orioles. John Lackey will look to put his recent woes behind him in first start of the second half tomorrow night.

Sox Sweep Twins

Napoli was the hero today with his seventh home run of the year

The Red Sox capped their three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins in dramatic fashion today, overcoming a 1-0 deficit in the bottom of the tenth with back-to-back home runs.

Kyle Gibson and John Lackey squared off in what has been one of the best pitching duels of the season thus far. Gibson delivered seven innings of one-hit ball for the Twins, yielding no walks and striking out eight. Lackey was even sharper, keeping Minnesota off the board for nine innings and fanning nine.

The Twins finally broke through in the top of the tenth when Chris Parmelee launched his fourth home run of the season off Koji Uehara. The go-ahead tater capped a three-hit day for the Minnesota right fielder, who broke the scoreless tie with a two-strike, two-out line drive into the bullpen that just barely escaped the grasp of Brock Holt.

The heart of Boston's order wasted little time mounting a comeback in the bottom half versus Casey Freri. Dustin Pedroia flew out to lead off the frame, but that would be the last out Fieri would get. Bona fide Twin-killer David Ortiz followed with a game-tying solo shot wrapped around Pesky's Pole to put a charge into the Fenway crowd, and Mike Napoli sent them home happy with a wall-scraping smash to dead center. When it landed in the batter's eye, the Sox had themselves a rare come-from-behind extra inning victory, not to mention an even more unlikely sweep in which they scored only five runs to Minnesota's two.

It was fitting that, on an afternoon when the bats fell silent on both sides, all three runs scored on long balls that weren't particularly long. Put together, all three probably couldn't have cleared Fenway's green fences by more than ten feet. They were the definition of just-enough, in a game where two runs turned out to be just enough.

Boston's Bats Break Out, Batter Cleveland

Boston's bats have been unusually quiet this season, but that was not the case tonight at Fenway Park, where the Olde Towne Team crushed the Cleveland Indians by a score of 10-3.

It was surprising to see the Red Sox score so many runs in one game given the way they've struggled at the plate this year, and especially lately. Earlier in the week they managed only one run in a three-game series in Baltimore against one of the worst pitching staffs in the American League, making mediocre hurlers such as Bud Norris, Chris Tillman and Wei-Yin Chen look like Cy Young candidates. They were shutout for the fifth and sixth times this season, unable to take advantage of soft competition in a hitter's park.

Thus ended a horrible road trip in which the Sox dropped seven out of nine, falling to seven games below .500 and nine out of first place in the process. Even the two wins were lucky, for the first required David Ortiz's ninth inning go-ahead home run off Joba Chamberlain, and the second saw Boston score one measly run. If Ortiz doesn't take Chamberlain deep and Brandon Workman doesn't blank the O's two days later, then the Sox return home with a nine game losing streak and their tails between their legs.

Thankfully, that didn't happen.

The Red Sox played uncharacteristically poor baseball at home during the season's first two months, going 10-17 and being swept three times. Red Sox teams are known for dominating at Fenway, but through Memorial Day enjoyed no home field advantage whatsoever.

That's changed lately however, practically on a dime. After tonight's pasting of the Indians, the Sox have now won seven straight at the Fens. Tonight's win was special, though, for it marked the first time this season that Boston scored 10 runs in a game, finally breaking the double digit barrier 67 games into what has been an immensely frustrating and uneven season.

John Lackey and the Sox fell behind early on a two-run shot by Carlos Santana in the second, only to return the favor with three of their own in the bottom of the frame as A.J. Pierzynski plated two with a double and Jackie Bradley, Jr. tripled him home.

Cleveland quickly responded with back-to-back doubles from Asdrubal Cabrera and Michael Brantley to open the third and seemed to have Lackey on the ropes. But the 35 year-old veteran settled down, bouncing back to whiff Jason Kipnis and Lonnie Chisenhall before retiring David Murphy on a ground out to Dustin Pedroia.

After that it was smooth sailing for Lackey, who cruised into the seventh inning before Cabrera's two-out double forced John Farrell to go to his bullpen. Andrew Miller came in and Lackey left after 110 pitches, leading 5-3 and in line for his eighth win of the season. Miller kept it that way by retiring Brantley, the potential tying-run, on a grounder to Mike Napoli at first.

Napoli helped Boston tack on some insurance runs after the seventh inning stretch, plating Pedroia after Bryan Shaw intentionally walked Ortiz. Daniel Nava followed suit by spanking a double down the left field line that scored Ortiz and put Boston up 9-3, capping their four-run seventh inning. The Sox added one more in the bottom of the eighth on a Xander Bogaerts solo shot that caromed off the light tower, a breathtaking blast that reminded everyone watching why Bogaerts is regarded as one of the game's top young talents.

Miller took care of Cleveland in the eighth, setting them down 1-2-3, and Burke Badenhop silenced them in the ninth by fanning George Kottaras, Santana, and Ryan Raburn to close out the win. Hopefully Boston keeps swinging hot bats tomorrow versus Cleveland's T.J. House. With Jake Peavy (6.69 ERA in his last six starts) on the mound, they're gonna have to.

Red Sox Reach .500

Uehara (right) sealed the win with a perfect ninth inning

For the first time in over a month, the Red Sox don't have a losing record. They evened their record at .500 (17-17) with last night's come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

The visiting Reds jumped out to an early lead, scoring two in the top of the third on a rare home run into the bullpen from Skip Schumaker, his 26th career blast and first of the season. Mike Leake held Boston scoreless until the sixth, when the Sox struck back to knot the score at two. David Ortiz singled home Jonathan Herrera and Mike Napoli followed with an opposite field double into the corner, plating Shane Victorino and sending Papi to third. Despite having two runners in scoring position with one out, Boston was unable to take the lead.

Cincinnati re-took the lead in the seventh, driving Jake Peavy from the game by loading the bases with nobody out. Chris Capuano induced a run-scoring groundout from Roger Bernadina before giving way to Burke Badenhop, who neutralized the still-bases loaded threat and escape the inning without further damage.

That proved crucial when the Red Sox rallied in the bottom of the eighth. With Leake finally out of the game, Boston got to Cincy's bullpen. Following an Ortiz strikeout, Napoli and Jonny Gomes worked one-out walks, then A.J. Pierzynski drove home Napoli with a game-tying ground-rule double. After J.J. Hoover intentionally walked Jackie Bradley, Jr. to load the bases and set up a potential force out at the plate/inning-ending double play, the slumping Will Middlebrooks ripped a single up the middle, past a diving Zack Cozart to score Gomes and give Boston the lead.

With the bases loaded and only one out, the Red Sox were poised to grab some insurance runs, but once again failed to get a big hit with men on base. Sean Marshall came on in relief and fanned pinch-hitter Mike Carp and Dustin Pedroia (Pedey's fourth whiff of the game) to end the frame.

No matter, for Koji Uehara came in and nailed down the save--his eighth of the season--by retiring Todd Frazier, Bryan Pena and Ryan Ludwick in order, all with K's. Koji now his 22 strikeouts (against just three walks) in 14.2 innings.

After taking both games of their short two-game interleague series with the Reds, Boston gets the day off today to travel to Texas. The Sox send a struggling Clay Buchholz to the mound as try to get over .500 for the first time since April 3rd, but to do so they'll have to get the best of Yu Darvish.

Game 2: Missed Opportunities

Gomes' throw gets past Salty as Pete Kozma scores the tying run (NYTimes)

Game 2 of the World Series felt very much like one of the ALCS games, which is to say it was a pitching duel decided by a handful of key plays/mistakes. After scoring eight runs in Game 1 Boston's bats went quiet, mustering just four hits off St. Louis. They were unable to do much of anything against Michael Wacha, the Cardinals' rookie who did not look the least bit intimidated in his first World Series start. John Lackey was every bit as good, but his final stat line doesn't quite bear that out because the Red Sox bullpen, so infallible throughout Boston's postseason run, let him down.

Whereas in Game 1 Boston went up 5-0 in the blink of an eye, Game 2 saw the Cardinals strike first. Matt Holliday, whose solo homer was the extent of St. Louis's scoring in Game 1, missed another dinger by about three feet when he tripled into the Triangle to lead off the fourth. Two batters later he scored on Yadier Molina's RBI groundout, giving the Cardinals their first lead of the series.

In the bottom half of the frame it looked like Boston would answer right back after Dustin Pedroia led off with a ringing double. David Ortiz followed with a five-pitch walk, setting the stage for Mike Napoli to deliver another huge hit. Instead, Napoli bounced into a 6-4-3 double play that all but snuffed out the Red Sox rally. Pedroia advanced to third on the play but was stranded there when Jonny Gomes popped out to end the inning.

The score remained 1-to-nothing until the bottom of the sixth, when Wacha ran into trouble in his third time through the order. With one out Dustin Pedroia walked, bringing up Ortiz as the potential go-ahead run. Wacha pitched to Big Papi carefully, running the count full. But the payoff pitch was a mistake, and Ortiz blasted it over the Green Monster for his second home run of the series and 17th of his postseason career.

The lead was short-lived, however, for the seventh inning was when the Red Sox fell apart. The inning started well enough--Lackey was at 80 pitches and, after striking out Allen Craig on three pitches, still looked sharp. The slide began when David Freese battled Lackey to a full count, then took the eighth pitch of the AB for a walk. Lackey got two strikes on the next better (Jon Jay) as well, but by now he was clearly running out of steam and was once again unable to finish off the hitter. Jay roped a single into right, sending Freese to second and Lackey back into the Boston dugout. The Fenway Faithful, who for three years despised Lackey as much as any sports fans are capable of hating one of their own, rose to cheer their redeemed hurler as he departed the mound.

With three lefties due up, John Farrell summoned southpaw Craig Breslow, who had not allowed an earned run in his seven innings of postseason relief duty. Mike Matheny made a move of his own, inserting Game 1 goat Pete Kozma to run for Freese. Then the Cardinals, who stole fewer bases than every team except for the slow-footed Tigers during the regular season, pulled off a double steal. Breslow's pitch was too high for Jarrod Saltalamacchia to even attempt a throw. The hitter, Daniel Descalso, proceeded to take an incredibly close 3-2 pitch for ball four and load the bases.

That brought up Matt Carpenter, who lifted the first pitch into shallow left field, where Gomes caught it and fired home. His throw was wide and the ball got past Salty, who tried to stretch for it rather than come off the plate and gather it. Breslow fielded the ball and promptly whipped it to third, hoping to nail Jay as he tried to take the extra base. The throw was high and bounced into the stands, an error that allowed Jay to score, moved Descalso to third and gave St. Louis the lead again.

Incredibly, Farrell did not pull Breslow from the game right away. He let him stay in to face Carlos Beltran, who smacked a run-scoring single. That made it 4-2 Cardinals, and Breslow, mercifully, was done for the evening. Junichi Tazawa came in and got Holliday to ground out to end the inning, but the damage had been done.

So the Red Sox, who had nearly a 75 percent chance of winning the game after Craig's strikeout, had suffered a complete reversal of fortune. They now had a 78 percent chance of losing the game, all because they didn't use their best reliever--the best reliever in baseball this year--until the ninth inning, by which point their win probability was down to a mere 7.6 percent. Koji Uehara did his job of course, keeping the deficit at two runs by setting down the Cardinals in order. But Boston was unable to come back against Trevor Rosenthal, who struck out the side (Gomes, Salty, and pinch-hitter Daniel Nava) to seal the win for the Cards.

For Boston, the loss was disappointing for several reasons. Not only did the Red Sox waste Lackey's gem of a start, but they also missed out on a big opportunity. Had they held on to win, they would have left Boston with a commanding 2-0 lead--teams that win the first two games go on to win the Series more than 82 percent of the time. Furthermore, they could have potentially forced Matheny into making some hard decisions, like starting Adam Wainwright on short rest in Game 4 and/or using him or Wacha out of the 'pen to prolong the series. But with the guarantee of at least a fifth game, Wainwright will start on normal rest against Jon Lester.

Now, the Red Sox will have to rely on Jake Peavy to win Game 3 tonight, and I can't say I'm too optimistic about that with the memory of his train-wreck start against the Tigers still fresh in my mind. It's also hard to feel good about a guy who has a postseason ERA on the wrong side of 10, small sample size (four starts) be damned. To be fair, Peavy did pitch well against Tampa Bay in the ALDS and has flourished at Busch Stadium in the past, so there is some hope for a bounce back performance, especially since Boston's bats should show more life against Joe Kelly. But the way the Red Sox have been hitting over the past few weeks, there's no guarantee of that.

Red Sox Take Game 1

The Red Sox are one step closer to becoming world champions after beating the Cardinals 8-1 in the first game of the World Series last night.

It was an easy win for the Red Sox, who built a big lead early and never looked back. Adam Wainwright didn't have his best stuff, but the Cardinals' defense let him down right from the get go. In the bottom of the first Pete Kozma flubbed the catch on what would have started an inning-ending double play, the first of three St. Louis errors. Boston's next batter--Mike Napoli--made him pay dearly for it by delivering a bases-clearing double that gave Boston the early 3-0 advantage.

 From there things only got worse for the Cards, who kept making costly mistakes and fell behind 5-0 by the end of the next inning. It could have easily been 8-0 if David Ortiz's heart-stopping sacrifice fly had traveled just a few feet more, but Carlos Beltran was able to reach over the right field fence and snag the would-be grand slam before it could leave the yard (Beltran suffered a bruised rib on the play and was forced to leave the game--he is day-to-day. Not to be denied, Ortiz took Kevin Siegrist deep in the seventh to add to his impressive playoff track record).

After that it was smooth sailing for the Sox. St. Louis did make some noise when they loaded the bases in the fourth, but failed to score because October legend David Freese grounded into an inning-ending double play. The Cardinals didn't get too many more chances against Jon Lester, who continued his stellar postseason with 7 and 2/3 shutout innings and eight Ks. Junichi Tazawa finished out the eighth for him and a rusty Ryan Dempster, after allowing a solo shot to Matt Holliday, got the final three outs to make the win official.

And with that, the Red Sox have now won nine World Series games in a row. They haven't suffered a defeat in the Fall Classic since Game 7 of the 1986 Series. October veteran John Lackey will look to keep the streak alive tonight versus rookie Michael Wacha, who's permitted only one earned run in 21 innings of work this fall.

Lackey Leads the Way

For the first time since 2009, the Boston Red Sox are headed back to the playoffs.

After dropping a pair of close games with Baltimore, the Red Sox avoided the sweep by beating the Orioles 3-1 Thursday night. John Lackey went the distance for Boston, yielding just two hits in what was easily his finest performance of the season (highlighted by 6 and 1/3 innings of no-hit ball). Adam Jones took him deep in the top of the seventh, but Lackey bore down to retire Nick Markakis and Danny Valencia, escaping the innings without allowing further damage.

It was fitting that Lackey, whose improbable/remarkable/where-did-that-come-from? turnaround has mirrored that of his team, was the one who pitched Boston into the postseason. Lackey caught a lot of flak (much of it deserved) during his first three seasons with the Sox, whose decline coincided with their signing him to a five-year, $82.5 million contract. Lackey's historically awful 2011 season contributed to the team missing the playoffs by one game that year, made worse by his role as one of the now infamous fried chicken and beer pitchers (Jon Lester and Josh Beckett were the others). His poor performance, negative attitude, questionable work ethic and high price tag made him the team's most despicable player, not to mention the poster boy for everything that had gone wrong with the Red Sox.

This year has been different. He's symbolized everything that's gone right for the Sox. After missing all of 2012 to recover from Tommy John Surgery, Lackey reported to spring training noticably trimmer.  Nobody expected much from him, but the new-look Lackey has responded with his best season in years. While Clay Buchholz missed three months and Lester, Felix Doubront and Ryan Dempster have all battled bouts of inconsistency, Lackey's been the team's most reliable starter all season long. He's been a rock, and his resurgence has been instrumental to Boston's success. He may not be the most likable guy, but at least he's helping the team win (and earning his keep, too).

As well as Lackey's pitched this year, he hasn't received much run support from his teammates. That wasn't the case on Thursday, as the Red Sox scored three runs in the second to give him a nice early cushion. Stephen Drew smacked a two-run homer that just barely cleared the Green Monster, and two batters later Dustin Pedroia drove home Jackie Bradley Jr. with an opposite field single. Orioles starter Chris Tillman did his best to keep Baltimore in the game but was unable to match Lackey's brilliance.

The O's will try to bounce back in Tampa Bay this weekend as the Red Sox host the last place Toronto Blue Jays for their final home series of the regular season.

Sox Sweep Yankees

The Red Sox swept the Yankees in their final showdown of the season

The red-hot Red Sox kept rolling over the weekend by sweeping a three game set from the Yankees at Fenway Park.

The series opener was the closest and thus the most exciting. Boston jumped out to an early four-run lead, only to watch the Yankees battle back and tie the score. Jarrod Saltalamacchia became the hero when he smashed a grand slam that propelled Boston to an 8-4 victory.

The middle game was billed as a pitching duel between southpaws Jon Lester and CC Sabathia, and while Sabathia turned in another stinker, Lester was masterful. Lester's been lights-out over the past month and was exceptional once again on Saturday afternoon, delivering eight innings of one-run ball and allowing just five baserunners. Sabathia was not up to snuff and Boston prevailed 5-1.

After honoring Mariano Rivera before Sunday's game, the Red Sox routed the Yankees in their final regular season meeting of the year The Sox shelled Ivan Nova and co. for nine runs. That was more than enough for Clay Buchholz, who surrendered a lone run (unearned) in six innings of work.

Though the games didn't mean much for Boston--who now lead the AL East by 9.5 games--they could cripple New York's postseason hopes. The Yankees came into the series with a 23 percent chance of winning the wild card, but left town with their odds down to 6.5 percent. They trail Tampa and Texas by three games for the second wild card spot with 12 remaining, which means they're still alive, but only barely.

The Red Sox magic number to clinch the AL East is down to four, so they should wrap up the division title sometime this week. They finished the year 13-6 against their archrivals.

Sox Sellout Streak Ends, Collapse in Ninth

The Boston Red Sox's sellout streak officially came to an end last night in just the second home game of the season. For the first time since May 14th, 2003, Fenway Park failed to sell out. The streak lasted 794 games, a record for North American sports teams. It also coincided with the organization's most successful era since the Olde Towne Team captured four World Series titles in a span of seven years from 1912 (when the park opened) to 1918.

For almost a full decade, Fenway Park sold out every home game, rain or shine, as fans came from far and wide to root for (or against) the Red Sox. They saw their team win two World Series and make six postseason appearances. They witnessed two no-hitters from young pitchers Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. They experienced Nomar Garciaparra going into the hole, David Ortiz's dramatic home runs and Jacoby Ellsbury stealing home against Andy Pettitte. They were there to see Pedro Martinez's mastery, Curt Schilling's grit, and Tim Wakefield's floating knuckler.

But in the past calendar year, they've endured a lot of losing, too, including a devastating defeat last night at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles.

Baltimore drew first blood by scoring a run on Nick Markakis's RBI groundout (plating Nate McLouth) in the top of the first. It didn't take long for Boston to answer, though. Jarrod Saltalamacchia evened the score with an RBI double to drive in Daniel Nava in the bottom of the second. The Sox scored twice in the third to take a 3-1 lead, but the Orioles quickly responded with two runs of their own in the top of the fourth. Both starters--Jake Arrieta and Ryan Dempster--departed after five, turning the game over to the bullpens.

Boston regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth on back-to-back homers from Nava and Jarrod Salty. The score remained 5-3 until the top of the ninth, when Baltimore rallied for five runs off Joel Hanrahan, who came within one strike of closing the door before allowing the Orioles to prop it back open. While Hanrahan was screwed over by home plate umpire Cory Blaser, he exacerbated the situation by spiking a wild pitch and making mistakes to Chris Davis and Manny Machado, both of whom took Hanrahan deep.

The Red Sox look to bounce back against Baltimore and take the rubber game of the series with (gulp) Alfredo Aceves on the bump.

Boston Beats Baltimore in Home Opener

Nava puts the Sox ahead with a three-run bomb

Fresh off consecutive series wins over the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays, the first-place Boston Red Sox made their way back to Fenway Park for their home opener against the Baltimore Orioles. The last time the Fenway Faithful saw them, the sorry Red Sox resembled a Triple-A ballclub as they stumbled towards their worst season since 1965.

That was only six months ago, but so much has changed since then that it might as well have been six years ago. Boston's roster is much improved, and given their hot start it's hard not to feel optimistic about their chances in an up-for-grabs division. Even the weather reflected Red Sox Nation's upbeat mood: with warm sunshine drenching their century-old ballpark and a slight breeze blowing in from left field, it was a perfect day for baseball.

The capacity crowd at the Fens was treated to an old-fashioned pitcher's duel between Wei-Yin Chen and Clay Buchholz, watching helplessly as the hurlers traded zeroes for the first six and a half innings. Boston's sluggers were held in check, unable to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather or the short porch in left. Baltimore's batters were equally baffled, fanning eight times against Buchholz and mustering just three hits--all singles.

In this pitcher's version of a staring contest, it was Chen who blinked first when he seemed to run out of gas in the bottom of the seventh   With his pitch count pushing triple digits, the tiring starter got himself into a jam when Dustin Pedroia singled and Mike Napoli doubled with nobody out.

With two men in scoring position and Will Middlebrooks in the batter's box, just 24 hours removed from a three-homer game north of the border, the Fenway Faithful sprang to life. Things were finally getting interesting, for Middlebrooks appeared to be a good bet to provide some fireworks. But today was not his day; the young slugger struck out for the second time against Chen. He shuffled back to the dugout, head down, his face darkened by the long shadows creeping across the infield.

That brought up Daniel Nava, who with a walk and a single was the only Red Sox player that had given Chen even the slightest bit of trouble. Whatever sorcery Chen had used to confound the rest of Boston's lineup, it wasn't fooling Nava. Sure enough, he got the better of Chen once more, becoming the unlikely hero by swatting a three-run shot over the Monster. When it came down, Boston had itself a 3-0 lead, Chen was done and Fenway Park was rocking like it was 2004.

Given that Buchholz had already logged 113 pitches on the afternoon, John Farrell turned the game over to his bullpen. He used Andrew Bailey as a bridge to the ninth inning, then brought in Joel Hanrahan to close out the win.

Hanrahan had an adventurous last inning not unlike the stressful situations his predecessor, Jonathan Papelbon, created so often during his tenure in Boston.  It started when the red-hot Adam Jones jacked a solo shot--his first homer of the year--to lead off the ninth and get Baltimore on the board. Hanrahan recovered, retiring Chris Davis with a groundout and striking out Matt Wieters.

Then, just when Sox seemed to be in the clear, J.J. Hardy hammered a double to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Ryan Flaherty. The crowd was growing restless. Even though most Red Sox loyalists have endured countless chokes and meltdowns in their lifetimes, each new wound stings just as much as the one that preceded it. Nevermind Flaherty's thoroughly mediocre batting record--Bucky Dent and Aaron Boone taught Sox fans to never underestimate their opponents, no matter how non-threatening they appear.

Thankfully, the seldom-used second baseman was just as harmless as his numbers suggested. He ended the game by popping out to Middlebrooks in foul territory. The fans breathed a collective sigh of relief, "Dirty Water" echoed through the grandstands, and the Olde Towne Team lined up for congratulatory high-fives.

Baseball is back, and so are the Red Sox.