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Boston Red Sox (89-63) @ Tampa Bay Rays (89-60) |
GAME NOTES: Tessie’s Dad: 152 regular-season games are in the books, with ten remaining. Barring either tragedy or miracle, the Red Sox seem destined to take the Wild Card spot this season. We’ll know soon if Francona intends to make a move to take the division away from the Rays or if he intends to use these final regular season games to evaluate pitchers and set the playoff rotation. My money’s on the Red Sox coasting into the postseason, not straining.
The Sox send Paul Byrd to the Rogers Centre mound tonight against A.J. Burnett in a rematch of Game 1 of last Saturday’s doubleheader at Fenway. Byrd’s two losses in a Red Sox uniform have both come against the Jays, and he has received a total of zero runs of support while on the mound in those games. Last time, Burnett limited the Sox to one unearned run on three measly hits over seven innings, while Byrd gave up 5 ER on 10 hits in only 5.0 IP. If Byrd wants to pitch in October, he’ll have to make a better showing than that, but it would be great if the offense decided to show up for him tonight.
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From Extra Bases: We get Jason Bay back tonight, but Mike Lowell is not expected to play again until Tuesday or Wednesday. Also, Bartolo Colon is apparently suspended for staying in the Dominican Republic after deciding he’s unsatisfied with his new role in the bullpen.
Here are the starting lineups for tonight’s game…
Boston Red Sox
1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
5. Sean Casey, 1B
6. Jason Bay, LF
7. Mark Kotsay, RF
8. Jed Lowrie, SS
9. Jason Varitek, C
SP — Paul Byrd
Toronto Blue Jays
1. Joe Inglett, 2B
2. Marco Scutaro, SS
3. Alex Rios, RF
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Lyle Overbay, 1B
6. Adam Lind, Dh
7. Scott Rolen, 3B
8. Gregg Zaun, C
9. Travis Snider, LF
SP — AJ Burnett
Well I guess Bartolo gets to have a nice vacation back home … good for him … he better get used to the unpaid part though…
That’s too bad about Colon. I wanted to see him start at least one more time to know if he could help. Sure would love to know what all went down while he was rehabbing from his swing for the fences moments. I thought I would like the guy, now I’m tempted to put him in the “prick I wouldn’t want to know” category.
What is most dissapointing to me is … if he apparently can’t even accept his lesser role as a relief pitcher … how is he ever going to lower himself and admit to his true calling as competative eater?
If only he knew how much joy (unrestrained laughter?) he could bring to baseball fans around the country…
Jeez…Kotsay just can’t buy a hit these days.
WTF? Dominicans not named “David Ortiz” are all selfish a**holes?
Why is Kotsay playing in the early innings and why does my Name default to Sam every time I reset my browsers.
Rays lead Minnesota 6-0 after two. At this point, I’m fully content with the Wildcard. But…can we find a way to score against Burnett?
That doesn’t matter at this point. What we need is to find ways to score against Weaver, Garland, Lackey & Santana.
CASEY!!!
About time we caught a break from an ump that made a difference…
Please elaborate – I’m just watching gameday… what happened?
Ooh. Byrd held the lead for a whole third of an inning. Nice.
At this point it’s more important to get healthy for the playoffs then anything. I would like to see drew for at least one game before october though
Papelbon – seriously?
In case my comment about Kotsay was misconstrued, I meant I want to see the kids playing, not Drew or Lowell. Health is the most important thing right now, with getting an idea of who will flesh out the 25 man roster in case injuries and/or pregnancies linger.
looks like paps is sticking with that fastball
A narrow escape for our hero…
In my opinion you can’t give Byrd enough credit tonight. For a guy who lives and dies with deception to face a team for the 5th time in a little over a month to pitch as well as Byrd did tonight was very impressive to me.
Byrd did impress. I feared the worst, and am happy to be wrong. As Remy said, one of the most dominant pitchers faced a pitcher with pure finesse, and the score was 3 – 3.
Without Bartolo, it’s really a matter of figuring who will be coming out of the Pen, Wake or Byrd . . . which means someone from the Pen won’t be playing. Without Bartolo, and if AJ opts out, he would sure look good at Fenway, though whether we need another SP depends entirely on the immediate and long term impacts of Buchholz, Masterson, Bowden on the rotation. We don’t want to block THESE guys.
I also stand corrected about Kotsay. His career September stats are incredible, and he broke his slump tonight. Maybe he will somewhat offset the loss of JD or Mike’s bat. IMO, more good news, that Ells keeps getting hits, Lowrie, Youk and Bay looked good, too.
The rotation for next year is an interesting topic. I personally feel that Burnett is too risky for the type of salary he will demand. I would have loved CC until the Brewers rode him like a rented mule, now I don’t think he’s an injury riddled year waiting to happen. Byrd is a below-average starter. I don’t know what type of mid-level starting pitching is on the market, but that is where I would look. The top 4 spots in the rotation are set, all the Sox would need is a cheap middle-rotation type.
As for the young guys I don’t think that any of them will be the 5th starter next year. Buchholz needs at least half a season in the minors to get his confidence back, hopefully the Arizona fall league will help him out. Bowden is close to ready, but he’s been young at every level and needs to keep developing his secondary stuff. I think Masterson is/should be in the ‘pen to stay. He has a relievers delivery and I think his stuff translates better in a relief role also because he can rely on just the sinker and slider and not worry about the flat changeup. If things go right he could be like Paps was in 2006 before the injury concerns, a multi-inning bullpen ace. Him and Paps at the end of games could be a great combo for years.
I’d like to point out that the Sox are 3-0 when I write the game notes. Woo-hoo!