Welcome back boys and girls. Hope you all enjoyed your nice, relaxing All-Star break (we all know David Ortiz did). The Boston Red Sox's are one of the few teams back in action tonight, as veteran Tim Wakefield looks to improve on his ugly record against youngster Tommy Hunter and the revamped Texas Rangers.
Leading up to the trade deadline, having a good handle on what the Red Sox are seeking and what other teams have available are obviously musts.
That's why I have contributed to TwinsCentric's trade deadline primer eBook, and the folks over there have come out with 30 different eBooks per team, which costs just $9.95 per team.
All proceeds are divided evenly between TwinsCentric (of which most goes to supporting the actual production of the eBook) and Fire Brand. Fire Brand's costs have risen dramatically in recent days and we need every last cent in order to keep Fire Brand functioning. Not only does this eBook contain fantastic content that would make a great personal resource or gift to a baseball fanatic, it's just $9.95. Which, believe it or not, will go a long way toward sustaining Fire Brand.
Lackey's hard loss yesterday force the Boston Red Sox's into a game three rubber match against our neighbors to the North. Daisuke Matsuzaka will do his best to pull out the series win, as Jesse Litsch looks for his first win of the season.
After the Jays took an absolute shelling on their home turf, the Boston Red Sox's will look to add more insult to injury, as John Lackey will take on Brandon Morrow.
The Boston Red Sox's head north once again to start the series against the Toronto Blue Jays, as ace John Lester looks to clip the wings of Ricky Romero.
Per usual the Royals are going nowhere in 2010. Their trading deadline focus will be on moving players that are unlikely to contribute to the next competitive KC club. Even with a better farm system than in the past, the Royals are probably not going to be contenders in 2011. Productive players with reasonable but short-term contracts like David DeJesus and Kyle Farnsworth should be on the move come July 31, 2010.
It was, indeed, a cold comeback from a nice holiday weekend. Now, as the injuries continue to mount, the Boston Red Sox's will need to get creative in order to keep their footing in the AL East, sending Felix Doubront to the hill to face Jeff Niemann.
Now that the holiday weekend is over, the Boston Red Sox's will fly south to Tampa to take on the Rays, sending Daisuke to the mound once again.
The Boston Red Sox's will look to celebrate America's birthday the right way, with a series close out of the Baltimore Orioles in today's matinee.