Boston Red Sox News & Notes – 9/24

The Red Sox celebrate yet another trip to the postseason.

Ever since David Ortiz arrived in 2003, the Boston Red Sox have been in the postseason only 5 times missing out on the dance in 2006. Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia arrived in 2007 and now will be going to the postseason for the second straight season. The Red Sox are beginning to spoil us a little bit and for the youngsters on the team, they don’t know anything else.

But we can’t get ahead of ourselves, there’s still a lot of work to be done as there’s still an outside chance at the AL East crown. And like Josh Beckett said last night, it’s the first team to 11 for the ultimate prize, a World Series Trophy.

The big news of yesterday before the Red Sox clinched a spot in the postseason and eliminated the Yankees was the announcement that the Red Sox were planning to retire Johnny Pesky’s No. 6 on Friday night. The Red Sox had had a long standing policy of only retiring numbers of players who were in the Baseball Hall of Fame among other stipulations.

“It’s an announcement we make with pride and admiration, with respect and with gratitude, the announcement that the Boston Red Sox organization will be retiring forever the No. 6 worn by Johnny Pesky,” Red Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino said. “It will be placed in proud display on the right field façade this weekend, Friday night, on the eve of Johnny’s 89th birthday.

“Johnny has been with this franchise for nearly six decades, and he is a very special ambassador, a very special person in this organization and has been for many, many years.”

“It’s something that John (Henry), Tom (Werner) and I and many people in and out of the organization have given plenty of thought to over the years,” Lucchino added. “We don’t enter into these kinds of decisions lightly but it is one for which we feel an enormous sense of appropriateness, fitness, rightness.”

If you missed the video of the Red Sox postgame celebration, don’t worry I’ve got you covered. Texy’s got you covered with the latest episode from the Mayor at City Hall and WEEI.com has video of the postgame celebration as well from an insider’s perspective. And here are some photos of the celebration from the Boston Globe.

Texy’s also got some pictures of the many different uses of champagne last night.

Terry Francona has gotten better through the years.

Asdrubal Cabrera decided to serve his 3-game suspension stemming from last week’s brawl with the Tigers.

Mike Lowell is definitely planning on being a part of the Red Sox postseason plans.

The Red Sox have proved now that they can win without Manny Ramirez.

Jed Lowrie will likely get some rest over the last 5 games.

For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.

And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying, you can check out The Plain Dealer and Akron Beacon Journal websites.

Boston Red Sox Enter Postseason With 5-4 Win

Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury congratulate each other as Cliff Lee looks on.

Jason Bay had the go-ahead RBI single in the 5th inning as Tim Wakefield and the Boston Red Sox bullpen made it hold up as they went on to win 5-4 over the Cleveland Indians in front of 37,882 at Fenway Park.

The win for the Red Sox gets them into the postseason for the 5th time in 6 years. An AL East crown though is likely out of the question as the Tampa Bay Rays swept a doubleheader to increase their lead to 3 games and put their magic number at 2 to clinch the division.

Tim wakefield helped the Red Sox into the postseason for the 5th time in 6 years.

Tim Wakefield helped the Red Sox into the postseason for the 5th time in 6 years

Tim Wakefield started this one for the Red Sox and on the whole he was pretty good. He hit a few rough patches but his effort was still good enough for his 10th win of the season.

Manny Delcarmen worked 2/3 of an inning allowing 2 hits and a walk but Hideki Okajima bailed him out by retiring the only batter he faced. Justin Masterson gave up a hit, a walk while striking out 2 in 2/3 of an inning, Javier Lopez walked the only batter he faced and Jonathan Papelbon got the final 4 outs for his 41st save on the season.

Dustin Pedroia led the Red Sox offense with 2 hits and 2 RBI. Kevin Youkilis added 2 RBI as well going 1-for-1 with a homer and 3 walks. Every member of the starting nine had a hit with the exception of Jed Lowrie who was 0-for-4.

Early on it was a battle between Indians starter Cliff Lee and Wakefield. Both had one inning in the first 3 where they worked out of a little trouble.

The Red Sox would finally crack Lee though in the bottom of the 4th.

David Ortiz absolutely crushed the ball to start the inning but the problem was he hit it to the biggest part of the ballpark. He ended up with a double and just shrugged his shoulders when he got to second. Lee then hung a pitch out over the plate for Youk who didn’t miss it and put in the Green Monster seats to put the local nine up 2-0.

Cleveland battled back though with 4 runs in the top of the 5th.

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Afternoon Red Sox Delight – 9/23

The Boston Red Sox take the field again tonight once again trying to clinch a playoff spot in the American League. A Red Sox or a Yankees loss gets the Red Sox into the playoffs for the 5th time in 6 years. I know we would all rather see them win it themselves tonight then have to wait to see if the Yanks lose to the Blue Jays.

Please let it be the good knuckleball tonight!

Please let it be the good knuckleball for Tim Wakefield tonight!

It will be up to the knuckleball of Tim Wakefield to see if the Red Sox can get the job done tonight. He’s been awful in 2 of his last 3 starts so hopefully this is the start where the knuckleball is fluttering in the strike zone. Wake has faced the Indians once this year allowing 2 runs in 6 innings to get a no decision in 5-3 Red Sox win back on April 15th. In 24 appearances (19 starts), he is 9-8 with a 4.43 ERA.

The Red Sox will not have an easy time of things tonight as 22-game winner and probable Cy Young winner Cliff Lee takes the ball for the Cleveland Indians tonight. Lee’s last loss came back on July 6th against the Twins. In his career against the Red Sox, he is 2-3 with a 4.91 ERA in 7 starts and last faced the Red Sox back in July of 2007.

As you may have heard by now, the Red Sox will be retiring the No. 6 of Johnny Pesky on Friday night. A truly great honor for Mr. Red Sox.

J.D. Drew was seen taking batting practice this afternoon.

Michael Vega of the Boston Globe has a bunch of news and notes from Terry Francona’s press conference this afternoon.

Adam Kilgore of the Globe takes a look at the struggles of Jed Lowrie. To me, a struggling Lowrie at the plate is much better than Julio Lugo at all.

Gary Marbry of WEEI.com has a look at the Red Sox numbers with men in scoring position.

Alex Speier talks about Grady Sizemore and Jason Bay being reunited this week. They were former teammates in the Montreal Expos organization.

Lineups and batter/pitcher matchups after the jump.

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Report: Boston Red Sox To Retire Johnny Pesky’s No. 6

Red Sox retired numbers - Ian Bethune photo

Johnny Pesky and Dustin Pedroia

Johnny Pesky and Dustin Pedroia

According to a report in the Boston Herald, the Boston Red Sox plan to retire the uniform number of Johnny Pesky.

According to a team source, meetings were held last night and again this morning to address how and when a player’s number should be retired. The team plans to hold a press conference today or tomorrow to announce the change in policy, with all signs pointing to the dramatic news that Pesky’s uniform No. 6 will be retired before the end of the regular season.

The timing is perfect: Given that Pesky’s 89th birthday is Saturday, it’s likely the ceremony will take place before the Sox’ nationally televised game against the New York Yankees.

And according to Chad Finn over at the Boston Globe, the Red Sox could have an announcement as early as this afternoon.

Currently, the Red Sox have retired 5 numbers. They are #1 Bobby Doerr, #4 Joe Cronin, #8 Carl Yastrzemski, #9 Ted Williams, and #27 Carlton Fisk. Jackie Robinson’s #42 is also up there as it was retired by MLB in 1997.

The policy for retired numbers by the Red Sox has been in place for a long time. Normally you have to had played 10 years for the Red Sox, been enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame and finished your career as a member of the Red Sox. Obviously Fisk didn’t finish his career with the Red Sox but an exception was made.

So as Finn asks, will we see other numbers retired by the Red Sox. Out of Finn’s list, the only one I don’t want to see up there is Roger Clemens.

If this does happen, what a great honor for Mr. Red Sox.

UPDATE: Adam Kilgore of the Boston Globe has confirmed from team sources that the Red Sox will indeed retire Pesky’s No. 6 on Friday night before the game against the Yankees.

Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 9/23

Paw Prints Daily Roundup

You may remember back to last year when the UConn Huskies and Louisville Cardinals met at Rentschler Field when the infamous “unfair catch” happened.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMf5DZOy3Mg]

Well the Louisville Cardinals have put that behind them and will be looking for more consistency against the UConn Huskies on Friday night.

Joe Perez of the Norwich Bulletin and Desmond Connor of the Hartford Courant have their weekly Big East notebooks.

David Gillett has a video of Rip Hamilton highlights.

Boston Red Sox News & Notes – 9/23

Jacoby Ellsbury now has 13-game hitting streak for the Red Sox.

Jacoby Ellsbury now has 13-game hitting streak for the Red Sox.

The Boston Red Sox took to the field last night with a chance to clinch a playoff spot. After the game, they walked back into the clubhouse with a magic number of 1 still. And to make matters worse, the Tampa Bay Rays won last night, putting the Red Sox 2.5 games behind them and dropping their magic number to 4 to clinch the AL East.

We saw two very different sides of Josh Beckett last night. We saw the dominating Josh and we saw the wild Josh. It looked like he would have an easy time of things after the 1st inning but then wild Josh came out in the 2nd inning where he gave up a double, hit 2 two batters and walked in a run. One of the batters he hit was Ryan Garko and Beckett was none too pleased about Garko’s body armor.

“You hit two guys after you get two outs, then you walk in a run, and that ends up being the difference in the game,” said Beckett. “I don’t think I had control difficulties. One guy (Ryan Garko) had (expletive) body armor on the whole (expletive) left side of his body. Get 1-2 on him and he leans over the (expletive) plate and it hits him in his (expletive) elbow pad. Whether or not he has a doctor’s note for it, I don’t know. I don’t think they enforce those rules. Some guys are just going to do that when you get 1-2. I don’t think that pitch was that far off the plate. It is what it is. I had two more batters to get one out. I couldn’t get it done.”

Maybe Garko should just go up there wearing catcher’s gear. Who does he think he is? Jose Canseco?

Terry Francona wasn’t sure as how the Red Sox would celebrate had they won last night.

Victor Martinez and Fausto Carmona both appealed their suspensions stemming from their role in a brawl last week against the Detroit Tigers.

Justin Masterson is becoming the go-to guy in the Red Sox bullpen not named Jonathan Papelbon.

Jhonny Peralta won’t say no to playing for the Dominican Republic in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

J.D. Drew went for another epidural shot on his troublesome back.

Tim Wakefield and Paul Byrd are on the bubble for the 4th rotation spot in the playoffs.

Jed Lowrie’s struggles continued last night, striking out in 2 key situations.

For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.

And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying, you can check out The Plain Dealer and Akron Beacon Journal websites.

In The Red Zone – 9/23

ITRZ

Well where do we start this week after an absolute ass kicking at the hands of the, uh, Miami Dolphins. As I wrote in the game report the only good aspect from a Patriots standpoint was the special teams. The same unit that looked so awful in the preseason has been fantastic in the three games. While Matt Cassel was far from effective this loss can’t be pinned on him as he wasn’t on the field missing tackles of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams and he wasn’t leaving Miami receivers open downfield. The offensive line was pretty pathetic too. So maybe it’s best they have a week off so this can stew a while longer.

Here are the AFC East Standings as of today:

  • Buffalo 3-0
  • New England 2-1
  • NY Jets 1-2
  • Miami 1-2

The Bills are 3-0 for the first time since 1992 and the Patriots are not in first place for the first time since Week 6 of the 2003 season.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick made his weekly Patriots Monday appearance on WEEI Monday afternoon.

On Monday the team released RB Kyle Eckel. He was inactive for the game against Miami after signing with the team a week earlier. He was signed for what seemed like insurance with Laurence Maroney suffering a shoulder injury and LaMont Jordan having foot issues. Now the team has a slot open on the 53-man roster.

The Patriots need to bury this game much like they did in 2001.

The outcome of the game was surely shocking to a lot of people.

In the blow out rookie QB Kevin O’Connell made his NFL debut playing 8 plays at the end of the game when the result was all but in the books.

Matt Cassel’s play dropped off yesterday in the loss. But some guy named Brady also lost his second NFL pretty handily to the Miami Dolphins as well. After that things turned out okay I guess.

The New England defense was completely fooled and seemed as if they failed to make adjustments or didn’t make the correct one’s.

A look at who is up and who is down after the shellacking by Miami.

Ellis Hobbs set a team record for most return yardage in a game on Sunday. That’s a record that’s probably not a good one because it means you got scored on a lot.

According to the CHB we now live in an alternative universe.

Do you think Matt Cassel would look good in purple? Charlie Walters on the St. Paul Pioneer Press thinks Cassel could be the Vikings QB in 2009.

On this date in Patriots history the team broke ground on Foxboro Stadium in 1970. The stadium opened less than a year later on September 19, 1971 when the New England Patriots beat the Oakland Raiders, 20-6.