Will Carroll’s Team Health Reports: Red Sox

Will Carroll is known far and wide as the “injury expert” — as his Twitter name suggests — and having…

2011 Red Sox Projected Stolen Bases

photo © 2007 Eric Kilby | more info (via: Wylio) ^ Bill James’s total projected stolen bases: 143 My total…

Ten Things to Watch for this Spring

photo © 2005 Ken Curtis | more info (via: Wylio)Spring training is finally “official”! Before we know it, lineup cards…

Is the Sox Offense Too Left-Handed Heavy?

The Red Sox have accumulated so much talent this offseason that they have a problem. OK, so it’s a good,…

Quant Going Qual – Part 2 Jacoby Ellsbury

Jacoby Ellsbury Optimist: Ellsbury is healthy. The outfielder’s ribs are healed and he is ready to make up for loss…

2011 Projections: Jacoby Ellsbury

Jacoby Ellsbury 2011 projection: Last season was a lost one for emerging speedster Jacoby Ellsbury. After fracturing four ribs early…

Sox Farmhands Make Good: Buchholz, Kalish, Pedroia, and the Future

Last night's 6-0 victory over the Angels didn't gain the Sox any games in the standings. With the Yankees and Rays both victorious, Boston still sits five and a half games behind the AL East's co-leaders. You'd be forgiven, though, if you felt a surge of hope after the final out, because this game displayed all the reasons the Sox are still in contention this year, and a harbinger of the one recovery that might propel them ahead.

This season has been as trying as any in recent Red Sox history, but it has also been as inspiring. Going into the year, I anticipated this club to be one of my favorites, and it turns out I was right, but for the wrong reasons: while I was expecting a run-prevention monster with a solid, top-five AL offense, what I got was a ragtag crew beset by injury but still, through a better than expected offense and contributions from the most unexpected of places, managing to hang in contention all year. Between the strong and consistent pitching of Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester to the season-saving heroics of journeymen and minor leaguers like Darnell McDonald, Bill Hall, Daniel Nava and Ryan Kalish, this team has kept on the trail of a playoff berth when they should have been written off. And now, the day after Dustin Pedroia's emotional return, the most important cog in the team's machinery is back where he belongs. This season has defied every prediction so far, but if the Sox were to go on a tear from here on out, count me among those who wouldn't be in the least surprised.

Constructing the best lineup to get to October

The Red Sox ended up splitting their four-game series in the Bronx Monday with a 2-1 win. While it was pitching that won the game, it was a small change in lineup construction that could pay dividends over the last two months, should it stick. However, along with hitting Ellsbury ninth, there are other ways to re-work the Red Sox lineup and maximize their run scoring potential

Marco Scutaro has done a fine job filling in as the leadoff hitter for the majority of the season and Dustin Pedroia may be back next week. Once Pedroia returns, his best fit would be at leadoff as he is second on the the Sox in OBP (just under Adrian Beltre, who's OBP is mostly due to his AVG) and pitches per plate appearance (which comes into play later). Pedroia and Scutaro at the top of the order provide plenty of contact and good OBP. That, hopefully more often than not, sets the stage for Adrian Beltre--hitting third--to take the same approach he has all season and David Ortiz to swing for the fences in the cleanup spot.

Ellsbury goes 3-for-5 as DH in third rehab start

Boston outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury took great pains Tuesday to explain how he feels about playing through pain.

“I’m willing to play through pain,” Ellsbury said after his latest rehab game (of a 20-day assignment) with the Pawtucket Red Sox who beat Durham, 5-4. “That’s never been an issue. That’s never been a problem for me. It’s just knowing that when I do play through it, it’s not going to make my situation worse.

“That’s the biggest thing - not making my situation worse. I’ll play through any kind of pain, just as long as it doesn’t jeopardize my career and make the situation worse where I’m not helping the team.”

Ellsbury nearly steals homer in second rehab start

If there was a defining moment during the second game of Jacoby Ellsbury’s rehab assignment with Pawtucket, it occurred during the fourth inning yesterday against the Durham Bulls at McCoy Stadium.

Durham’s Chris Richard crushed a Ramon Ramirez pitch over the fence in right-center for a solo home run.

Ellsbury, who again batted leadoff and played center field, scaled the fence and came within inches of making a spectacular catch.