I hope Jon Lester thanked David Ortiz and his bullpen last night for saving him. Lester struggled with his command on all his pitches and departed during the 4th inning with his pitch count at 93. He left trailing 4-3 after the Rays put up 4 in the first. Big Papi got them back in the game with a 3-run blast. After Lester left the game, Julian Tavarez came in and kept things close. Had Tavarez not pitched like he did, the end result could have been different. In the 9th, Big Papi hit a towering fly ball down the right field line that was misjudged by Delmon Young and the ball fell into the second row of seats in right to ignite a frenzy at the Fens as the Sox won in dramatic fashion 5-4. The Sox are off today and before the Yanks get to town, let’s take a look at the headlines and happenings from last night from the Boston and Tampa area media.

Odds and ends and an off day. [38 Pitches]

Ortiz comes to rescue again for Red Sox [Boston Globe]

Heartbreaking Defeat [Tampa Tribune]

Big Papi fills big shoes [Boston Herald]

Fenway remains a place of heartache [St. Petersburg Times]

Rescue Dept. [Hartford Courant]

Big Papi brings it home for Sox [Pro Jo]

Tough Road Trip Continues [Tampa Tribune]

Francona still awaiting contract extension [Boston Globe]

Cross-country flight doesn’t faze Maddon [St. Petersburg Times]

Wait ’til next year [Boston Herald]

Manny Takes BP, Friday Return Possible [Hartford Courant]

Bullpen had many hands in this one [Pro Jo]

Ortiz produces the drama [Boston Globe]

For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant, Providence Journal, St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune websites.

Former Dodgers GM Dan Ryan is set to interview with the Astros for their vacant GM position.

Casey Blake’s future with the Indians is undetermined.

Brewers scouting director Jack Zduriencik could be the Pirates next GM.

Paul Phillips is set for the big leagues with the Royals.

Tony LaRussa tweaked his Cardinals pitching rotation for the stretch run.

The Tigers rotation is all set for their stretch run.

Lou Pinella wants to see results out of his Cubs players.

Boof Bonser’s stay in the bullpen for the Twins was a short one as he will take Carlos Silva’s spot in the rotation.

Pirates pitcher Tony Armas is improving with each outing on the mound.

The White Sox removed John Danks from their rotation for the rest of the season.

Kirk Saarloos will make a spot start for the Reds.

His team may have packed it’s collective bags already but there is still a lot of life left in Orioles manager Dave Trembley. Shortly after being ejected, Trembley showed umpire Paul Emmel where he thought the play happened by scratching his spikes in the dirt and then turned around and ejected Emmel before heading back to the dugout.

On a night that got off on the wrong foot for the Red Sox, David “Big Papi” Ortiz saved the day with a 2-run walk-off home run against Devil Rays closer Al Reyes to give them a 5-4 win. Big Papi’s 10th walk-off home run of his career allowed the Sox to maintain their 5 game lead in the AL East over the New York Yankees. He also drove in all 5 runs on the night with 2 home runs.

Jon Lester started for the Olde Towne team and he got shellacked in the 1st inning. Akinori Iwamura led off with a walk and went to second on a Carl Crawford ground out to Kevin Youkilis at first. The uber-hot Carlos Peña brought home the first run of the night with a single. Peña would come around to score on a B.J Upton home run on a pitch left up in the zone by Lester. Delmon Young provided the second out of the inning as he grounded out. Brendan Harris followed that up with a double to right. Jonny Gomes delivered Harris to the plate with a single for a 4-0 Devil Rays lead. Lester seemed a little flustered as he issued a walk to Dioner Navarro. However he got out of the inning with a strikeout of Josh Wilson on his 32nd pitch of the inning.

The Sox had a great chance to get back in the game in the 2nd. After a Youk fly out, J.D. Drew singled. D’Rays starter Edwin Jackson got Jason Varitek to fly out for the second out of the inning. Brandon Moss, in for the Jacoby Ellsbury tonight, hit a double moving Drew to third. Jackson then walked Coco Crisp but got out of the inning as Eric Hinske grounded out to second.

Lester didn’t really have his best stuff tonight and struggled with his command. He left his breaking ball up in the zone and he didn’t have his best changeup. He gave up two singles in the 2nd and a walk and a single in the 3rd.

The local nine got back into the game in their half of the 3rd. Julio Lugo led off with a single and stole second while Dustin Pedroia was at the plate. Jackson ended up walking Pedroia setting the stage for Big Papi. He didn’t disappoint as he hit a 3-run homer to cut the Devil Rays lead to one run. Jackson got Youk to strike out then allowed a double to Drew. He did get out of the inning as he struck out Varitek and Moss.

After getting two outs in the 4th, Lester gave up a single to Young and was taken out of the game after 93 pitches in 3 2/3 innings. Julian “Yo Yo” Tavarez came in and got Harris to ground into a fielder’s choice for the final out. In those 3 2/3 innings, Lester gave up 8 hits, 4 runs, 4 walks and he struck out 5.

The Red Sox got some runners on base in the 5th inning but were unable to do anything with them. The same thing in the 6th inning as Coco reached and stole second.

Yo Yo was a godsend for the Red Sox tonight. His awesome outing tonight kept the Sox in the game. He went 3 innings, just allowing one walk. He gave way to Manny Delcarmen with 2 outs in the 7th. Delcarmen got pinch-hitter Greg Norton to hit a comebacker to him for the third out.

Gary Glover took over for Jackson in the 7th and got a little wild after he got the first two outs of the inning. He walked Drew and Youk but Varitek ended the inning with a ground out.

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New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick issued an apology to the league and his team without really saying what he was apologizing for. After taking a page from Jason Giambi’s playbook here’s what the coach had to say:

“Earlier this week, I spoke with Commissioner Goodell about a videotaping procedure during last Sunday’s game and my interpretation of the rules. At this point, we have not been notified of the league’s ruling. Although it remains a league matter, I want to apologize to everyone who has been affected, most of all ownership, staff and players. Following the league’s decision, I will have further comment on the matter”. – Patriots head coach Bill Belichick

Belichick was asked several times to elaborate on the statement refusing in his common matter of fact monotone. After he was finished discussing the Chargers game he was asked what “his interpretation of the rules” were and he left the room without further comment.

As has been written earlier, this isn’t the Patriots first rodeo with these accusations. And this is far from the first time the NFL has a coach who stole the oppositions signal calls. In the late 1980’s Cleveland Browns head coach Marty Schottenheimer routinely sent a scout to watch the signals the opposing teams used to send in plays. He would then watch game film and match the scouting reports to play calls.

Kansas City head coach Herm Edwards said it is still the norm today to do what Schottenheimer did looking for tips on game films and from highlight shows on TV.

ESPN’s John Clayton has a good article online today about the scandal and what actions could possibly happen and how others in the league will react to it and feel about it and how this affects the Patriots.

UPDATE Wednesday September 12, 10:20 p.m.

Accoring to the New York Daily News an insider close to the situation claims that Jets head coach Eric Mangini is the one the who tipped the league to the taping.

From the Daily News:

“[The Jets] knew they did it,” the Daily News wrote, citing a person with knowledge of the situation, who sent the newspaper an e-mail. “They caught the guy a year ago, but couldn’t do anything about it. When Eric came, he said that’s what they used to do. Bill is going to be [ticked] at Eric. He kissed and told.”

Sunday was the fourth game that Belichick and Mangini have coached against each other since Mangini took over the Jets in 2006.

‘The Hits Keep Coming’ internet radio show on Blog Talk Radio and MVN Radio just had another episode tonight. Thanks to Anthony and Jason for helping make everything go smoothly, as well as the conversation and taking out part of his evening to talk about the sport we love. Kenrick will be back with the three of us next week.

A special thanks to Brandon from Outsider Radio for calling in tonight as well.

Website: http://blogtalkradio.com/oriolepost

Listen to the show archive on the sidebar to the right. The show is up and live for your listening pleasure.

Recap

• American League best record gets to choose their schedule for the upcoming playoffs
• Rick Ankiel, Troy Glaus, and Jay Gibbons alleged receipt of HGH and steroids
• What should MLB do about the drug problem?
• Roger Clemens pitching with ligament damage in his elbow/Is he all done after this year?
• Red Sox/Yankees series this weekend. Pitching matchups and the like. Will their be retaliation for throwing at Youk’s head?
• The division and wild card races.

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Enjoy and thanks for tuning in!

Could the Fenway Sports Group add a race track to it’s arensal? According to published reports, the Fenway Sports Group has had preliminary discussions with the owner of New Hampshire International Speedway, Bob Bahre, about selling the track. Nothing has really come out of the talks other than that FSG is interested in buying NHIS.

Before the NASCAR season got underway, FSG bought 1/2 of Roush Racing, now known as Roush/Fenway Racing. Members of FSG would like to make the team New England’s home team of NASCAR.

The Roush/Fenway NASCAR drivers are Carl Edwards, David Ragan, Matt Kenseth, Jaime McMurray, and Greg Biffle.

Things would be a lot different for FSG in operating the race track located in Loudon, NH. NHIS only hosts two events a year, while over 81 events are held at Fenway Park. But with FSG being pretty good at what they do, it wouldn’t surprise me to see them buy the track and turn a profit quickly.

Bloggers Anthony of the Oriole Post and Jason of My Baseball Bias and I produce an hour long baseball show every week called, “The Hits Keep Coming” on Blog Talk Radio and on MVN Radio.Every week at 7PM Eastern Time (6PM Central/ 5PM Mountain/ 4PM Western/Pacific) we chat, analyze and comment about the world of Major League Baseball.

Joining us tonight will be Kenrick Thomas from Sports Fan.

If you’d like to call in, the phone number is 718-664-6564 or you can send us an instant message if you use AOL IM at hitskeepcoming20. Join us at: http://blogtalkradio.com/oriolepost or http://mvn.com/radio/ at 7PM Eastern Time tonight!

Topics we’ll discuss tonight:

• Jay Gibbons, Rick Ankiel, Troy Glaus and their alleged receipt of performance enhancing drugs
• What should MLB do about the drug problem?
• Roger Clemens pitching with ligament damage in his elbow/Is he all done after this year?
• American League best record gets to pick their schedule for the division series
• Red Sox/Yankees series this weekend. Pitching matchups and the like. Will their be retaliation for throwing at Youk’s head?
• The division and wild card races.

You can listen to last week’s show by going over to the sidebar on the right and looking for the Blog Talk Radio section.

If you are the Boston Red Sox, you want to finish the regular season with the best record in the American League. Why you ask? The team with the best record gets to choose their playoff schedule for the Division Series. Their choices would be a 7 day or 8 day schedule.

The 8 day schedule provides the best advantage. It would allow you to throw your top 2 starters twice and on regular rest. Although that can be disadvantage if the team you are playing has good pitching.

Here is a look at both schedules:

If the records hold as they are now, the Red Sox would host the Indians and the Yankees would head to Anaheim. So if you’re the Red Sox, which one do you choose?

Once the team clinches the best record, they will have one hour to choose which schedule they want.