From an article on MLB Trade Rumors, the Red Sox will definitely be one of the players in the Alex Rodriguez sweepstakes in the upcoming offseason. Word is Larry Lucchino, otherwise known as LL around these parts, is willing to do what it takes to get this done.

According to Bill Madden and Mark Feinsand, the Red Sox will make a “huge push” for Alex Rodriguez this winter if he opts out of his contract. The New York Daily News writers heard this from multiple sources.

Madden and Feinsand’s source seems to indicate the push for A-Rod would be driven by team president and CEO Larry Lucchino. In other words, this wil go past Theo Epstein (Buster Olney indicated today that he’d be loathe to tie up 20% of the payroll in one player).

The Red Sox entered 2007 with a $143MM payroll, up $23MM from 2006. Here are the major changes we can expect for 2008:

Additions:
$2MM more for Manny Ramirez
$1MM more for Julio Lugo
$2MM more for Daisuke Matsuzaka
$3.5MM more for Josh Beckett
$1.25MM more for Coco Crisp

An additional $9.75MM in escalating salaries

Subtractions:
$13MM for Curt Schilling
9.5MM for Matt Clement
$9MM for Mike Lowell
$2.81MM for Eric Hinske
$4MM for Joel Pineiro
$2.8MM for Mike Timlin

$41.11MM off the books

The Red Sox are essentially gaining $31MM to play with for 2008, if they are to keep payroll around $143MM. That gels nicely with the expected salary of Rodriguez. And the team isn’t overflowing with needs – they could conceivably just replace Schilling with Clay Buchholz and keep Julian Tavarez around as the fifth starter. And maybe they’ll toss another $6MM or so toward crappy veteran relievers. The trio of Papelbon, Okajima, and Delcarmen could be cheap and effective.

Bottom line: the Red Sox could sign A-Rod this winter and enter 2008 with a reasonable $150MM payroll (less than a 5% increase and still far less than the Yankees).

As much as I hate AROD, I really only hate him wearing the pinstripes. I could care less for his off the field troubles and his postseason success leaves little to be desired. But how could you not want him in your lineup. Imagine if you will a 3-4-5 combination of Big Papi, Manny and AROD. There’s the potential right there for over 120 homeruns and 400 RBI from the middle of your lineup.

By the time AROD is done playing, he will probably be the best player of our generation if he already isn’t. And looking at what the article says, it really wouldn’t put a huge dent in the Sox payroll. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the offseason but for right now the focus should be and is winning the World Series in 2007.

The Captain, Jason Varitek, launched a 2-run homer in the 6th inning to help propel the Red Sox past the Blue Jays 9-4 on a beautiful night at the Fens. Daisuke Matsuzaka had given up 3 runs in the top half of the 6th, allowing the Jays to tie the game. But the homer got the Sox jump started in the 6th as they scored 5 runs in all to put the Jays away.

David Ortiz got the Red Sox started in the 1st inning. After Jays starter Dustin McGowan got the first two outs of the inning, Big Papi crushed a McGowan fastball on a 3-0 count into the Jays bullpen putting the Sox up 1-0. Manny Ramirez struck out looking to end the first.

Dice-K had a relatively easy 1st inning. Vernon Wells led off with a double but was left there as Dice-K got Reed Johnson, Alex Rios and Frank Thomas to fly out. He got himself into a little trouble in the 2nd inning but worked out of it. Troy Glaus led off the inning with a single and he was thrown out by Manny trying to stretch it out into a double. Replays showed that Dustin Pedroia never got the tag on Glaus. Glaus was dumbfounded as no one from the Jays dugout came out to argue. Dice-K then walked Lyle Overbay and Aaron Hill followed with a single advancing Overbay to second base. Dice-K settled back in and got Greg Zaun to pop out and John McDonald to ground out.

Dice-K had another easy odd numbered inning. He got Wells to ground out and Johnson to strikeout, one of Dice-K’s two strikeouts on the night. He then walked Rios and Rios went to second on a Varitek passed ball with Thomas at the plate. The battery mates seemed to have their signals crossed and after a meeting between the two, Dice-K got Thomas to fly out to Coco Crisp in center for the third out of the inning.

After Eric Hinske, filling in for the injured J.D. Drew, made the first out of the 3rd inning, Julio Lugo singled, one of his three hits on the night. Lugo would come around to score the second run of the night for the Sox on a Crisp triple to the triangle in center. With the infield in, Pedroia grounded out to Overbay at first with Coco staying at third. Big Papi would bring home Crisp with a ground rule double that was almost a homerun. The run gave the Sox a 3-0 lead. McGowan then intentionally walked Manny to face Kevin Youkilis. Youkilis grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

The Jays would get a run back in the 4th. Glaus led off the inning with a mammoth blast to left field that hit the V in the Volvo sign above the Green Monster. Overbay flew out to center for the first out. Aaron Hill then crushed a fastball to deep center for a double. Dice-K was having trouble locating his pitches again as the ball to Hill was supposed to be outside but was left over the inner half of the plate. Hill would be stranded at third as Zaun popped out to Lowell at third and McDonald struck out swinging.

The Sox got the run back in the 4th for Dice-K. After Lowell and Varitek made the first two outs of the inning, Hinske crushed a McGowan offering into his former team’s bullpen putting the lead back at 3 runs (4-1). Lugo followed that with a single and stole second with Coco at the plate. Crisp would work a walk off of McGowan but Pedroia grounded out to end the 4th.

Toronto struck for three runs in the 6th inning. Thomas led off with a double off of Dice-K and was brought home on a Glaus double, cutting the lead to 4-2. Overbay got Glaus to third on a ground out to Youk at first. Hill would bring himself and Glaus home as he crushed a slider from Dice-K into the Green Monster seats tying the game at 4. Dice-K settled back in and got Zaun and McDonald out to end the inning.

Varitek and his Bosox teammates would bail out Dice-K in the 6th inning. After Lowell led off the inning with a single, Varitek crushed a ball into the bleachers for a 2-run homer, making it 6-4 Sox. The Captain’s homer would chase McGowan from the game. Brian Tallet came in and got Hinske to strikeout. Lugo then bunted his way on and Crisp worked a walk off of Tallet. Pedroia brought in Lugo with the seventh run of the game for the Sox with a single. With Big Papi at the plate, Crisp and Pedroia executed a double steal to perfection, putting themselves at second and third respectively. This took the bat out of Big Papi’s hands as he was intentionally walked. Brian Wolfe relieved Tallet. Manny hit a sacrifice fly bringing Coco and making it 8-4. Youk brought in Pedroia with a single of his own for the ninth and final run for the Sox. Wolfe got Lowell to strikeout swinging ending the big inning for the Sox.

Manny Delcarmen took over for Dice-K in the 7th and was absolutely dominating. He got Wells to ground out to Lugo and then struck out Johnson and Rios. In the 8th, he was masterful again. He got Thomas to strike out and Glaus to foul out for the first two outs. He then gave up a single to Overbay but got Hill to strikeout swinging.

Dice-K pitched 6 innings, gave up 9 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks and struck out 2 Blue Jays. Hideki Okajima came in and worked the 9th, only allowing a single to Wells.

The win tonight was Dice-K’s 11th on the season and helped the Sox preserve their 10 game lead over the Yankees who won tonight in Tampa. Josh Beckett will take the ball tomorrow in search of his 13th win.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced that he and Budweiser will be parting ways at the end of the 2007 NASCAR season. His personal services contract does run through 2008 but due to the fact that Hendricks Motorsports has commitments with other sponsors, all parties involved felt this was in their best interests.

Budweiser will still be active in NASCAR next season as they have their hopes pinned on signing Kasey Kahne, who drives for Ray Evernham. He is currently sponsored by Dodge.

“Budweiser has sponsored Dale Jr. for nearly a decade, and we wish him the very best,” said Tony Ponturo, vice president of global media and sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch Inc. “Budweiser will remain an active sponsor of NASCAR, and we look forward to building upon the legacy of the iconic Budweiser red car in 2008 and beyond.”

This what Dale Jr. had to say:

“Although Budweiser and I will be unable to continue our partnership beyond this season, I remain committed to driving for Bud the rest of this year,” Earnhardt said. “I’m a race car driver. All I can do is drive as hard as I can for my fans and sponsorship partners and give my best effort each weekend.”

Earnhardt said he had some regrets about splitting with the Budweiser brand, but he’s excited to see what new sponsorship deals the team will put together.

“We felt like we possibly only accomplished half of what we could do together, so that part of it’s kind of unfortunate,” Earnhardt said before qualifying at Chicagoland Speedway. “Sure, I would have loved to continue working with Bud. But under the circumstances, that’s not a possibility. We’ll have to change our frame of mind and see what the possibilities are for our primary sponsors next year. Those should be in line with what I like and what I enjoy, and I’m excited to put that together.”

Don’t worry though, Earnhardt said he will still drink Bud. Look for Little E to be sponsored by Pepsico next season.

Just one day after it was announced that Jason Giambi would meet with Bud Selig’s hired henchman George Mitchell, it happened. Giambi met with Mitchell yesterday and probably discussed his personal steriod usage.Why probably? No one is commenting about what was said. Giambi was the first active player to meet with Mitchell about the steroid problem in baseball.

Besides Giambi and Mitchell, there were some other lawyer type people there. My guess is that unless Giambi said he used steroids since testing has begun, he is probably free and clear. Or is that free and cream?

Texas Gal has a new blog called Center Field. She is a happy Sox fan as Julio Lugo is over the Mendoza Line right now.

Sooze over at Babes Love Baseball wants to know who will hit their milestone first. Barry Bonds or Alex Rodriguez.

Hacks with Haggs has a nice interview with Red Sox top pitching prospect Clay Buchholz.

The Ghosts of Wayne Fontes wants to know why the Red Sox didn’t re-sign Orlando Cabrera.

Dan at Red Sox Monster has a funny video of a Skanks fan having an office prank played on her.

Anthony from the Oriole Post was at the All-Star Festivities this past week. You can see his pictures here, here, here and here.

Awful Announcing gives you a video of Mike Greenberg rapping.

The awesome ladies at Ladies… give you a look into their minds.

My Brain Says Rage tells you how to make a sports blog.

Winning the Turnover Battle gives you a look at babes in jerseys.

And now for your favorite part and mine, Fitzy from Townie News gives you his latest Wicked Pissah webcast. As usual, this video is NSFW.

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Be sure to check out the new SOX & Dawgs media channel. It is still being built but be sure to check it out.

Julian Tavarez sucked, Shawn Marcum wasn’t much better but it was Marcum who got one more run than Tavarez in the Blue Jays 6-5 win. Marcum lasted 6 innings while Yo-Yo only lasted 4. It was Alex Rios who delivered the key blow in the 6th inning as his 2-run double was the difference. The win for the Jays gets them back into a tie for second place as the Yankees fell in Tampa Bay tonight. Both teams are still 10 games behind Boston.

The Sox got to Marcum for 2 runs in the 1st inning. Marcum got J.D. Drew and Dustin Pedroia out to start the inning but allowed a 2 out single to David Ortiz. Manny then said thank you very much for the fastball as he planted it in the Green Monster seats for a 2-0 Red Sox lead. Kevin Youkilis followed with a double but Marcum got Mike Lowell swinging to end the inning.

After a so-so 1st inning, Yo-Yo walked Lyle Overbay to lead off the inning and then allowed a single to Aaron Hill. Yo-Yo then settled down and got Greg Zaun to ground into a double play. He followed that up by getting Providence College alum John McDonald to ground out.

I am pretty sure that Yo-Yo would like to forget the 3rd inning as he completely fell apart. After striking out Vernon Wells, he plunked Reed Johnson with a pitch. Rios followed with the first of his two doubles on the night with Johnson advancing to third. With Frank Thomas at the plate, Tavarez uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Johnson to score and Rios moved down to second. Thomas would eventually walk. Troy Glaus brought in Rios with a single tying the game at 2. Lyle Overbay followed with a single scoring Thomas putting the Jays up 3-2. Glaus moved to third on the single. Yo-Yo then got a ground ball from Aaron Hill that got Overbay at second but Hill beat the throw at first with Glaus scoring for a 4-2 Jays lead. Zaun then uncorked a double to Manny who relayed the throw to Lugo who threw to Varitek at home to get Hill ending the inning.

The Sox bounced back in their half of the 3rd inning with three runs of their own. Drew led off the inning with a double. Pedroia then did his job by grounding out to second, allowing Drew to move to third base. Big Papi followed with a screaming liner to McDonald at short for the first out of the inning. Manny then brought Drew in with his 3rd RBI of the night, cutting the lead to at 4-3. Youk then grounded one to Glaus at 3rd who booted the ball allowing Youk to reach base. Glaus’ error would prove costly as Lowell hit a triple to deep center allowing Manny and Youk to score and giving the Sox a 5-4 lead. Little did we know that would the last time the Red Sox scored all night. Marcum got Varitek to strikeout for the final out of the inning.

Eric Hinske came in for Drew in the 4th inning as Drew had some tightness in his hamstring. Yo-Yo gave up another two hits in the 4th but pitched himself out of trouble. In the 5th, Glaus led off with a single that chased Yo-Yo from the game due to a high pitch count. Kyle Synder came in and got Overbay to fly out. With Glaus running, Hill lined into a inning ending double play.

Tavarez went 4 innings, allowing 9 hits, 4 runs, 3 walks and he struck out 3.

Toronto struck for the winning run in the 6th inning. After Snyder got the first two outs of the inning, he issued a walk to Wells. Johnson brought Wells in with a double, tying the game at 5. Rios followed with his second double of the night scoring Johnson with what would turn out to be the game-winning run. Rio’s double chased Snyder from the game. Mike Timlin came in and got Thomas to fly out ending the inning.

Marcum at this point had settled down. He worked a 1-2-3 fourth inning. He gave up a walk in the 5th but only faced 4 batters. And in the 6th inning, he only allowed a lead off single from Lowell.

Timlin worked a perfect 7th and 8th inning. He has now pitched 10 1/3 scoreless innings in his last 7 appearances. It was also his longest outing since 2004 when he worked 2 2/3 innings.

Scott Downs relieved Marcum in the 7th inning and allowed a lead-off single to Wily Mo Peña. He then got Pedroia to ground into a fielder’s choice and Big Papi to fly out. Casey Janssen came in for Downs and got Manny to fly out ending the inning.

The Sox threatened in the 8th inning. After Janssen got the first two outs of the inning, Varitek hit a double to the gap in right-center. Jays manager John Gibbons came out to the mound and called for his closer Jeremy Accardo. Accardo came in and got Coco to pop up to McDonald at short ending the threat.

Joel Piñero came in for the 9th inning. He got the first two outs of the inning but then gave up a double to Thomas to deep centerfield just over the outstretched glove of Coco. Howie Clark came into run for Thomas and went to third on a Piñero wild pitch with Glaus at the plate. Javier Lopez came in for Piñero and got Overbay to strikeout swinging.

The Bosox had their chances in the bottom of the 9th but were unable to capitalize. Lugo led off the inning with a single off of Accardo. Accardo then got Wily Mo to strikeout. With Pedroia at the plate, Lugo stole second to get himself into scoring position. Pedroia worked a walk, bringing Big Papi to the plate. Big Papi couldn’t get the job done as he flew out to center. The Sox had one more chance with Manny but he flew out to right ending the game.

With another poor outing by Tavarez, I am sure there will be some rumblings about Jon Lester. Daisuke Matsuzaka takes the hill tomorrow night in search of his 11th win.

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George meet Jason. Jason meet George.

Jason Giambi and George Mitchell will get to know each other better later this month as Giambi will be the first active player to testify to the Mitchell Committee. Giambi was basically bullied into testifying by the commish, Bud Selig.

Giambi has been out of the Yankees lineup for a long while know with a foot injury. It is still unknown whether or not Giambi will play again this year.

Giambi will testify about his own personal steroid usage and will not talk about any other players he may or may not know of. This was part of his agreement to testify. Basically, it’s going to end up being something like this.

George: Jason, did you use steroids?

Jason: Yes, I did.

George: Have you used steroids since testing began?

Jason: No (but really means yes)

George: Anything else you want to add

Jason: Tell Bud he’s an idiot.

Fitzy over at Townie News.com has his Red Sox mid-season report all ready for everyone to see. And with the start of the second half tonight, this is the appropriate time to watch it. So go ahead and enjoy. As always, the video is NSFW.

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Here is a press release that I received about a Red Sox mystery novel from Hall of Fame Press.

Hall of Fame Press is proud to announce that it will be publishing in 2008 a Red Sox mystery authored by acclaimed mystery novelist Mary-Ann Tirone Smith and her son Jere Smith. For Mary-Ann Tirone Smith, it will be her 10th book and will feature the return of Rocky Patel, the Boston homicide detective who first appeared in her novel SHE SMILED SWEETLY. Jere Smith is a fourth-generation Red Sox fan and first-generation Red Sox blogger. This book is the first in a planned series of baseball mysteries to be written by the Smiths and published by Hall of Fame Press.

Mary-Ann Tirone Smith has published nine books since 1985. Following the success of her acclaimed memoir, GIRLS OF TENDER AGE, which NPR named one of “The Year’s Best Books: Mystery and Nonfiction,” she welcomes a return to mystery, and to Boston cop Rocky Patel. Smith is currently working on a Civil War novel and one of her main characters is Captain Abner Doubleday, First United States Artillery, Fort Sumter, 1860-1861, who may have invented baseball after all. She has lived in Connecticut all her life except for the two years she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon.

Jere Smith spent the first 29 years of his life in the one county in New England that gets the Yankees on TV, but not the Red Sox. He’s got a 10-game plan at Fenway and regularly travels to watch the Sox in other cities. In 2005, he moved to Manhattan where he wore his Sox cap proudly, and worked with the elderly. He’s written about the Red Sox on his own time since April 2004 on his blog, “A Red Sox Fan from Pinstripe Territory” ( letsgosox.blogspot.com). He recently moved to the Boston area, where he has fulfilled his life-long dream of getting to see the Red Sox on TV every night.

Dan Doyle, Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for International Sport ( www.internationalsport.com ) at the University of Rhode Island, conceived Hall of Fame Press with the objective of publishing high-quality sport-themed books. “Mary-Ann Tirone Smith is one of the most respected mystery writers in America,” Doyle said. “The Red Sox mystery will be the first in what we plan to be a series of annual baseball mysteries written by the Smiths. One of the many exciting aspects of this announcement is the notion of an annual ‘rite of summer’ in the form of a first-rate baseball mystery. The series will bring much joy to thousands of baseball fans and other readers. It will also be great fun to see which franchise Mary-Ann chooses each summer as the base for that summer’s mystery.”

Hall of Fame Press is also exploring similar series in the sports of basketball and football.

“This doesn’t look like Coney Island.”