Red Sox News & Notes – 7/31

Adrian Gonzalez(notes) #28 of the Boston Red Sox is greeted by teammate David Ortiz(notes) #34 after hitting a two-run home run in the ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox on July 30, 2011 at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Illinois.

As the MLB Trade Deadline approaches, the Boston Red Sox do have one less thing to worry about it when it comes to their starting rotation. And no, I’m not talking about the health of Clay Buchholz but rather Jon Lester.

Lester made his return from the DL last week and went just 5.1 innings. Last night was a totally different story though.

With the help of his catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the pair did a good job of keeping the Chicago White Sox batters at bay for the game. Lester used all of his arsenal last night and commanded and located all of them well. He pounded the zone and threw strikes. More importantly, he did it very efficiently.

Jon Lester(notes) #31 of the Boston Red Sox pitches agianst the Chicago White Sox on July 30, 2011 at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Illinois. He entered the 7th inning at just 62 pitches, a little over 10 an inning up to that point. He would end up throwing 36 pitches over the final two innings with the only damage being a home run by Gordan Beckham in the 8th that cut the Red Sox lead to 5-2 and saw Jonathan Papelbon warming up for the 9th.

The offense made sure that Paps wasn’t needed though as they exploded for five more runs in the top half of the 9th.

After a Dustin Pedroia single, Adrian Gonzalez hit a no doubt home run to push the lead to 7-2 and immediately made Paps sit back down. They weren’t done yet though as Kevin Youkilis followed the Gonzo shot with a solo one of his own. Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Marco Scutaro would add RBIs in the inning as well to push it to the final margin of 10-2.

For the first four innings last night, it looked as though the Red Sox would suffer yet another defeat to the hands of Ozzie Guillen‘s White Sox. They were only able to manage two hits up until the 5th inning when things changed for the better for the visiting nine.

Carl Crawford led off the inning, stole second and reached third on a throwing error by A.J. Pierzynski. Salty doubled to bring him in and he then came into score on a Scutaro sac fly after a Josh Reddick bunt single moved him over. Two batters later another sacrifice fly, this one from Pedroia pushed it to 3-0. After an intentional walk to Gonzo, Youk’s infield single scored Jacoby Ellsbury and chased Humber from the game.

Knowing Lester is back and being his old dominant self is great news for the team. With Josh Beckett being the most reliable pitcher lately, Lester’s outing shows the top two guys are solid. John Lackey right now is hit or miss when he steps to the mound and for the most part Tim Wakefield has been decent. It’s today’s starter Andrew Miller where things are a little sketchy.

With the uncertainty of the health of Buchholz, the Red Sox did make a move during the game to acquire Rich Harden from the Oakland A’s for Triple-A first baseman Lars Anderson. But as I was going to bed earlier this morning, the trade broke down, apparently over the medicals of Harden.

So now we’ll sit back and watch the rumors fly today until 4 p.m. when the trade deadline comes up to see whether or not Theo Epstein makes another move to bring another starter to the Red Sox.

We’ll be back in a short while with this afternoon’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the morning/early afternoon. But for now, enjoy the overnight links from the media by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

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On a crazy night, Jon Lester restored order to the Red Sox [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]

Lester looks strong, Red Sox pile on [Boston Globe]

Hard push at deadline [Boston Globe]

Aviles happy with new role [Boston Globe]

Teams are waiting for them to bust out [Boston Globe]

Lester shows aces [Boston Herald]

Aviles enters the mix [Boston Herald]

Red Sox back out of Harden deal [Boston Herald]

Harden deal collapses — now what? [Boston Herald]

As Rich Harden trade falls through, what’s next for Red Sox? [Clubhouse Insider]

Lester exorcises demons, Sox roll, 10-2 [CSNNE.com]