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.

6/11 Online Seats Game Thread: The Best of the NL

Sometimes interleague play brings you the Pittsburgh Pirates. Other times, it brings you the Philadelphia Phillies. Let's hope the Boston Red Sox can maintain their swagger as they take on one of the best squads in the NL.

Looking for Signals that the Draftees Will Sign

In a chat on BaseballAmerica.com, Jim Callis thinks “…the Red Sox have drafted the most highly regarded talent. To have the best draft, they'll have to sign a lot of those guys. No reason they won't, though, that's their approach.” Callis is dead on; a successful 2010 amateur draft will be if Yawkey Way signs most of the amateurs mentioned below.

6/10 Online Seats Game Thread: The Hangover, Masterson Edition

Justin Masterson routing Clay Buchholz to embarrass his former team was a forgone conclusion? Say whaaaaaa? After a stunningly, shockingly, horrifyingly inane loss last night, the Boston Red Sox will scrape up their shattered dignity and finish an otherwise strong series in Cleveland. And what better man to slam the door than Jon Lester? Certainly not Boof Bonser... that's for sure.

Bullpen positives and negatives

Look on the bright side. When it comes to the Sox best relief pitchers, all are home grown.

Yet, outside of Jonathan Papelbon, Daniel Bard and Manny Delcarmen there has not been a lot to like about the Sox bullpen this year. You probably had the feeling, as I did, heading into the season that the relief corps would be somewhat of a problem when the big decision heading out of Fort Myers was whether to carry Scott Schoeneweis or Scott Atchison.

Into the second week of June, the Sox bullpen has an ERA of 4.24. Compare that to the strong relief that a team like the Padres are getting (2.70 ERA) or or the Rays (3.23) and you see just how far off the pace Boston has fallen in an area that presumably was a strength coming into the season and was a relative strength last year (3.80 ERA).