Red Sox News & Notes – 9/7

Bobby Valentine

Back in Boston is the hometown team. Does anyone even care?

Most have moved on to football already but for those who are still enduring this trying 2012 season, there is a bright side.

Last year when the Boston Red Sox completed their collapse (yes I had to go there and last time I will), the Red Sox played most of September against their AL East brethren. Well in 2012, the Red Sox will finish up the rest of the schedule with games against the AL East.

Here’s how it breaks down:

Toronto Blue Jays – six games (three at home, three on the road)

New York Yankees – six games (three at home, three on the road)

Tampa Bay Rays – six games (two at home, four on the road)

Baltimore Orioles – six games (three at home, three on the road.

On the season, the Red Sox are 5-7 against the Jays, 4-8 against the Yankees, 7-5 against the Rays and 4-8 against the Orioles.

The Red Sox are battling the Jays to stay out of the basement. The Orioles, Rays and Yankees are all fighting for playoff spots. As of this morning, the Orioles and Yankees are tied for first in the AL East (no that’s not a typo) while the Rays are two games out.

In the AL Wild Card, the O’s and Yanks are tied at the top. The A’s are listed as a 1/2 game out but obviously if the season ended today, they’d be in along with those two teams. As in the AL East standings, the Rays are two games out of the leaders and 1.5 games behind the A’s.

So the Red Sox have 24 games left. At this point, it’d be nice to see them make a run at .500. But don’t you think it would be more fun to see them beat up on their AL East foes not named the Blue Jays so that maybe one of those three teams don’t make the playoffs.

It’d be great if the Red Sox were playing the Orioles on the final night of the season, they’re aren’t. They play the Yankees.

Now how spectacular would it be if the Red Sox kept the Evil Empire from making the playoffs. It would probably make this miserable season all the much better.

But first things first. We have to avoid the basement.

A Blue Jays sweep puts them into 4th. Two wins by the Jays ties them for fourth. Personally, I’m hoping for at least two wins from the local nine.

We’ll be back later with today’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. So for now, let’s take at look at the overnight links from the media by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

Not a lot to save here [boston globe]

Checkout time has arrived [boston globe]

Kalish keeps healthy outlook [boston globe]

Red Sox may again go seek John Farrell [boston herald]

Sox smolder to end of lost year [boston herald]

Bobby Valentine’s Frustration Obviously Mounting As Manager’s Words Continue to Baffle [tom caron – nesn.com]

Mike from Attleboro: Don’t fire Bobby V [csn new england]

Schilling: Valentine’s clearly miserable [espn boston]

Francona on rejoining Sox: Not happening [espn boston]

What would Bobby Valentine tell John Farrell about managing the Boston Red Sox? We can only guess … [espn boston]

Boston Red Sox must sprint to a strong finish to restore some hope entering a key offseason [espn boston]