After enjoying an off day on Monday, the Boston Red Sox woke up this morning and found themselves with a 4-game lead over the Texas Rangers in the wild card standings. Their opponent for the next three games, the Tampa Bay Rays, are 5-games back. While I’m not saying the AL East championship is out of reach yet, the Red Sox do trail the New York Yankees by 6.5 games.
With Tampa Bay in their rearview mirror, the Red Sox have a great opportunity to dig a deeper hole in the Rays playoff chances. But it’s not going to be an easy task unlike in past years.
The Red Sox and Rays have met twelve times this year. The Rays hold an 8-4 advantage in those games. What makes it worse for the Red Sox is the fact that they have won just one of out of six games at Tropicana Field this year.
The two teams will meet again for three more games on September 11-13 but now is the chance to put some distance between them and their AL East rivals.
With rosters expanding today, expect the Red Sox to be adding some new and old faces to the team. It’s expected that Junichi Tazawa will rejoin the team from the GCL Red Sox since their season is now over. There’s also rumors that newly acquired Joey Gaithright and Brian Anderson will also get the call today.
Tazawa is expected to make a start this weekend against the White Sox, a team that hit him hard in his last start. But after last night’s trades of Jim Thome and Jose Contreras, it appears the White Sox have thrown in the towel on the 2009 season.
It should be a great three days of baseball at the Trop. Let’s just hope the Red Sox can take at least 2-of-3 from the Rays.
Deep thoughts about the Sox entering September [Hacks with Haggs]
September: Hardest month ever for Red Sox? [Batter-up with Bruno]
Sox hope Drew stays in the swing of things [Boston Globe]
Locale makes this series extra juicy [Boston Globe]
Wagner’s focus is on a championship [RedSox.com]
Red Sox good bet for October [Boston Herald]
Giants do shopping at Penny saver [Boston Herald]
Odds in their favor [Boston Herald]
Minor League Reinforcements Set to Bolster Red Sox Roster [Wicked Good Sports]
Report: Gathright, Anderson will be among callups [Extra Bases]
The Misinterpreted J.D. Drew [Full Count]
Tuesday Quickie: Sox Hitters At Tampa Bay [Nuggetpalooza]
Anderson and Gathright promoted to Boston; Josh Papelbon up to PawSox [Projo Sox Blog]
Report: Penny wanted out of American League [Projo Sox Blog]
Who is likely to get the call when Red Sox expand their roster for September [Providence Journal]
For Tampa Bay Rays, the task of saving the season begins tonight, against Red Sox [Providence Journal]
Southpaw Strikeout King: Lester’s Path to the Red Sox Record Book [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Providence Journal websites.
And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times websites.
