During his postgame press conference last night, Boston Red Sox skipper Terry Francona passed along a story about Victor Martinez texting him at 1:15 a.m. on Monday night asking Francona to let him (VMart) play. Tito told him you’ll come off the bench to pinch-hit and bring home the winning run.
Well Francona was almost right as VMart came off the bench and delivered the game-tying run in the 7th inning and then added an insurance run in the 8th inning as the Red Sox rallied for a 6-3 win over the Chicago White Sox.
Jon Lester threw the ball well last night and if not for a wild pitch on a strikeout of Alexei Ramirez in the top half of the 7th, he may have come away with a win. Things got even stranger in the 8th inning as Hideki Okajima missed an easy popup and then VMart threw the ball into center field when he missed Okajima throwing the ball back. But Okajima and Manny Delcarmen recovered to get the Red Sox out of first and third situation with no outs to set up the 8th inning heroics for Jason Bay, whose home run gave the Red Sox the lead for good.
Jacoby Ellsbury stole his way into the Red Sox record books as well last night in the 1st inning with his 55th stolen base of the season. It broke Tommy Harper’s 36-year old record of 54 stolen bases.
The Red Sox will welcome back Tim Wakefield from the disabled list tonight. It should be interesting as VMart will be behind the plate catching him. I’d expect to see the White Sox running if they get on base tonight.
Boston loves Jacoby Ellsbury, which can make life interesting for the love of his life [The Oregonian]
Stolen goods [Boston Globe]
Closer is open to this [Boston Globe]
A real scene-stealer with this team record [Boston Globe]
Hoping that bringing in the lefty works out [Boston Globe]
Covering the bases with Youkilis [Boston Globe]
Red Sox Rally To Beat White Sox; Ellsbury Sets Steals Record [Hartford Courant]
Wagner’s Sacrifice: Salary, Role [Hartford Courant]
Red Sox, Wagner, Papelbon, Ellsbury [Rivalry Central]
A Look at New Red Sox Reliever Billy Wagner [Full Count]
Papelbon eager to work with Wagner [RedSox.com]
Martinez accepts challenge of knuckler [RedSox.com]
Welcome back Wakefield [Projo Sox Blog]
Matsuzaka returns to Fenway, but don’t expect savior, Epstein warns [Projo Sox Blog]
Bullpen saves the day [Providence Journal]
Ellsbury steals his way into the record book [Providence Journal]
Wagner gives Sox more relief [Providence Journal]
Red Sox journal: Epstein says Wagner’s acquisition is the final move for this year’s Sox [Providence Journal]
Five Things We Learned: Billy Wagner Helps Reshape the Red Sox Roster [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]
Five Things We Learned: The Bullpen’s Most Important Left-Hander Remains Unchanged [Joe Haggerty – WEEI.com]
Jason Bay’s having a blast [Boston Herald]
Tommy Harper welcomes Jacoby Ellsbury to the record book [Boston Herald]
Theo Epstein cautious, hopeful [Boston Herald]
Team ‘excited’ to get lefty Billy Wagner [Boston Herald]
Jacoby Ellsbury: Sox’ new man of steal [Boston Herald]
Metropolitan Intro To Billy Wagner [Center Field]
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.
And if the enemy papers are more your style you can check out the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune or the Arlington Daily-Herald websites.
