Vernon Wells went 4-for-5 with 2 home runs and 3 RBI while Lyle Overbay added 3 RBI to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to an 11-0 ass whooping of the Boston Red Sox in front of 44,896 at Rogers Centre. The loss for the Red Sox means they are now tied with the White Sox for the lead in the wild card pending the outcome of their game with the Rays that is being played right now.

It just wasn’t Jon Lester’s day today. He really couldn’t get into a rhythm on the mound and it showed as he was pounded for 7 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks while striking out 2 in 2 1/3 innings. Chris Smith wasn’t much better either as he was tagged for 4 runs on 6 hits in 2 1/3 innings.. Mike Timlin, Javier Lopez and Manny Delcarmen held down the fort for the final 3 1/3 innings giving up a combined 2 hits and a walk.

Jesse Litsch and 3 relievers did a good job keeping the Red Sox hitters at bay as they combined on a 4-hitter. Jacoby Ellsbury, Kevin Youkilis, Jed Lowrie and Alex Cora had the hits for the Red Sox.

It looked like the Red Sox were poised for a big inning to start the game as Ellsbury reached on an infield single and the Litsch walked Dustin Pedroia. Litsch recovered though as he got David Ortiz to pop out to short and then he had back-to-back strikeouts of David Ortiz and Jason Bay.

Things started well for Lester as Marcos Scutaro grounded back to him and then Jose Bautista flew out. Alex Rios followed with a single and Wells cleared the bases with a 2-run blast to go up 2-0. The home run seemed to rattle Lester a little as he walked Adam Lind and then plunked Rod Barajas. He recovered to strike out Overbay to end the inning.

The Red Sox 2nd inning at the plate was similar to the 1st.

Jason Varitek reached on a 1-out walk and the Litsch hit Alex Cora with a pitch. Litsch settled down though as he got Coco Crisp to fly out and Ellsbury to ground out.

Kevin Mench led off the 2nd with a double and went to third on a McDonald ground out. After a walk to Scutaro, Bautista’s sacrifice fly scoring Mench made it 3-0 Jays.

Things came totally unraveled for the Red Sox in the 3rd inning.

Wells led off with a single and then Lind hit a shot that looked like it was going into the outfield but Cora made a great diving stop on it. Unfortunately, Cora’s throw got past Pedroia at second which allowed Wells to get to third and Lind to second. A Barajas’ ground out scored Wells to make it 4-0 and Overbay followed with a double to score Lind to push it to 5-0. It quickly became 6-0 as Mench’s double scored Overbay and then a McDonald single moved Mench to third and ended Lester’s afternoon.  Smith came in and gave up a sacrifice fly to Scutaro closing the book on Lester as the lead went to 7-0.

The Jays added two more in the 4th when an Overbay single scored Rios and Wells to make it 9-0.

Scutaro made it 10-0 when he led off the 5th with a solo home run and two batters later, Wells ended Smith’s afternoon with his second home run, this one a solo shot to provide the final margin of 11-0.

The Red Sox desperately need a win tomorrow afternoon and their hopes are pinned on Daisuke Matsuzaka. We don’t want to see him have to work his Houdini magic at all tomorrow.

Notes and musings:

Red Sox @ Blue Jays 8.23.08 boxscore

Toronto demoted struggling RHP Shaun Marcum to Triple-A Syracuse and recalled LHP John Parrish from its top farm club in Syracuse.

Paul Byrd became the 15th different Red Sox pitcher to record a victory this season with his win on Friday. 19 different Sox pitchers won a game in 2007.

Daisuke Matsuzaka enters Sunday’s start against Toronto with a 15-2 record in 2008. That matches his win total for all of 2007 and is one shy of the single season record for a native of Japan. Hideo Nomo won 16 games in 1996, 2002, and 2003, all with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Jonathan Papelbon’s 0.69 (2 ER/26.0 IP) ERA is the 2nd lowest in history versus Toronto (25.0 or more IP) to Rollie Fingers at 0.61 (2 ER/29.2 IP).

Jason Varitek has homered in each of his last 3 games, the 1st time in his career has accomplished that. Last Red Sox catcher to accomplish that feat was Doug Mirabelli, August 10-13, 2006.

Sox on streaks:

• Dustin Pedroia saw his 9-game hitting streak come to an end
• Jason Varitek saw his 5-game hitting streak end
• Alex Cora has a 6-game hitting streak
• Jason Bay saw his 4-game hitting streak end.
• Coco Crisp saw his 4-game hitting streak end
• Jacoby Ellsbury has a 4-game hitting streak
• Kevin Youkilis has a 4-game hitting streak
• Jeff Bailey saw his 3-game hitting streak end