A Fix for Interleague Play

We are in the middle of inter-league play. Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers are coming to Boston. It is going to be an exciting weekend, but the last series with the Diamondbacks does not get circled on any fan's schedule in January nor does the All-Star Game unless it is in your home city. A few slight schedule changes could assist in making inter-league play tolerable for even the purists. As my colleague mentioned a few days ago, inter-league play generates too much revenue to be eliminated in the near future. But below is a plan to alleviate the two major negatives to those contests: too many games and the unbalanced schedule.

6/17 Online Seats Game Thread: Saving Time for the Celtics

John Lackey and the Boston Red Sox are nice enough to start their last game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at tad early. Let's just hope that the Celtics take advantage as they face the Laker's in Game 7.

6/16 Online Seats Game Thread: Lester Looks to Lift Boston’s Spirits

Last night's systematic dismantling of the Boston Celtics may have shaken your confidence in Boston sports, but fear not... Jon Lester returns to the mound tonight for the Boston Red Sox to take on Rodrigo Lopez and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Is it Time to Get Rid of Interleague Play?

This will be the fourteenth season of interleague play in the Major Leagues. Perhaps the most controversial of Bud Selig's innovations, interleague has had a good run with some wonderful moments, but it has also produced some head-scratching matchups, highlighted the gap in talent between the American and National Leagues, and introduced a level of imbalance that is, at least in my view, antithetical to the spirit of baseball. Despite the revenue boost it has given some clubs, it may be time to end - or at least reduce - the interleague experiment.

6/15 Online Seats Game Thread: Raising Arizona

After a long anticipated day off, the Boston Red Sox are back in action against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks, who will hand Ian Kennedy the ball to face Clay Buchholz.

Defense starts to silence the critics

After an off season that centered around pitching and defense we had the standard jokes this April, but since May those jokes have not been able to joke about defense. There has been some trouble finding solid options in left field and center field, but the defense has solidified to hold up its end. According to UZR/150 the defense has been worth 6.0 runs for every 150 defensive games played. Last year the team was worth only 0.5 runs for every 150 games. Depending on how many innings they total that could be an improvement of 30-40 defensive runs.

Injuries Mounting, Boof Bonser to the Rotation? Nava Who?

Who is Daniel Nava? The Sox have quite the interesting player on their hands. With injuries to outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury, Jeremy Hermida, and Mike Cameron forcing the BoSox to dig deep into the minors once again, the Sox may have caught lightning in a bottle for the second time this season. Darnell McDonald admirably filling in for Hermida and Cameron, the Sox promoted Daniel Nava to the bigs on Saturday to take over Josh Reddick's fourth outfielder spot. Like McDonald, Nava wasted no time endearing himself to fans -- connecting for a grand slam on the first pitch of his MLB career Saturday, leading the Sox to a 10-2 win over Philadelphia. Nava, 27, has had quite the journey to the Majors. Making his professional debut for the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League in 2007, Nava impressed the scouts with a bit of speed (18 SBs in 20 attempts), pop (12 home runs in 314 plate appearances), and plate discipline (48 BB : 42 Ks) while with Chico. Signed by the Sox in 2008 at the age of 25, Nava kept rolling with hi-A Lancaster. Slugging 10 homers in 379 plate appearances to go along with a very impressive .341/.424/.523 line, the outfielder’s plate discipline (43 BB : 70 K) carried over to affliated ball as well.

6/13 Online Seats Game Thread: Phils without the Fight

The Boston Red Sox look to continue their interleague success against the floundering Phillies, who continued to serve up easy runs to the Boston yesterday. Sunday's contest, which will send Cole Hamels out to face Tim Wakefield, may not be as easy.

Red Sox Banking on Some Great Genes.

If blood lines mean anything, the Red Sox may have hit a home run when they made center fielder Reymond Fuentes their first-round pick (28th overall) in the 2009 draft. The 19-year-old Fuentes is a first cousin of New York Mets’ All-Star center fielder Carlos Beltran – who also graduated from the same high school (Fernando Callejo in Manati, Puerto Rico) as Fuentes. Fuentes, a high school sprint champion, was rated as the third-fastest runner among draft-eligible high school players. He’s been clocked in 6.2 seconds for the 60-yard dash. Not surprisingly, Fuentes admits he models his game after his star cousin. “I consider myself very similar to Carlos because when he’s playing, he just plays the game and nothing else,” Fuentes told The Boston Globe. “When I play, I get very focused on what I do. I don’t pay any mind to anything outside the game.”

6/12 Online Seats Game Thread: Can Boston Bomb Blanton Too?

A day after the Boston Red Sox took the Phillies out to the yard to play yesterday. Today, Daisuke Matsuzaka will do his part against Joe Blanton, who has been struggling since his return.