Tonight’s Red Sox vs White Sox game has been postponed due to the torrential rains that are plaguing the south side of Chicago. The game will be made up as part of day-night doubleheader tomorrow. The first game will start at 2:00 PM and the second will start at 8:11 PM. No word as to who will start but I assume that Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling will start since Beckett was scheduled for today and Schilling for tomorrow.

Special thanks to Super Sexy Texy from Center Field for providing me with live updates on what was happening at the Cel. And also thanks to Amalie Benjamin for providing updates as well.

Notes and Musings:

Dustin Pedroia was in the original lineup for the Sox but was a late scratch. Alex Cora replaced him. Pedroia left last night’s game after being hit with a pitch. X-rays were negative.

The Red Sox signed Royce Clayton to a minor league contract and assigned him to Pawtucket.

The Jon Lester demotion is temporary. He will make one start with Portland and then start again on September 2nd for the Sox.

Gordon Edes will host an event for the Jimmy Fund in Chicago on Saturday night. He will be hosting “An Evening of Red Sox Baseball” with Gordon Edes and friends. If you’re in the Chicago area, you should definitely check it out. For more details, click here.

As Anthony of the Oriole Post can attest to, Red Sox Nation travels and they travel well. In a recent three games in Baltimore, RSN helped the Orioles set a 3-game homestand attendance record. And now in a recent USA Today article states, “Red Sox Nation is the new king of the road.”

If you’ve been watching games this summer, you will notice this trend, the sea of red in the stands. Don and Jerry talk about it all the time on NESN. The reason why RSN travels well is because it is impossible to get a ticket to Fenway Park. The Fens is always sold out and been sold out for a long time.

This phenomenon really started when the Red Sox ended 86 years of hell for it’s faithful fans and won the World Series in 2004.

Terry Francona recalls walking into a hotel elevator in Baltimore this month, still smarting from a galling loss that night. The Boston Red Sox manager was joined by two Sox fans, also guests in the hotel where the team was staying.

“One of them told me I took (pitcher Daisuke) Matsuzaka out of the game too early,” Francona says. In no mood to debate baseball strategy with strangers, he said nothing.

“Then the other guy said, ‘So, what are you going to do tonight?’ ” Francona recalls. “I said, ‘Get away from you as quick as I can.’ “

And it’s like this everywhere the Red Sox go. And you know what Red Sox Nation, keep on supporting the boys.

Fall football pre-season camp has wrapped up at UCONN culminating with a scrimmage at Rentschler Field on Wednesday. The scrimmage was the starters versus everyone else. This was done to determine the two-deep depth chart for the first game of the season at Duke on September 1st. They ran about 100 plays and there were no injuries to report.

Randy Edsall will be throwing out the first pitch at Saturday night’s New Britain Rockcats game.

The Hartford Courant has a look at some of the stories of this year’s walk-ons for the football team .

Speaking of the depth chart for the season opener, Edsall has released the depth chart for the game. There are only 3 true freshman listed on it. To see the full chart, head over to Huskies.com.

Next Friday and Saturday, the UCONN athletic department along with the UCONN co-op will be selling promotional and other merchandise dirt cheap in a “Fan Appreciation Sale”.

Here is a look at some sample pricing:

SAMPLE PRICING

UofC Sweatshirts or Sweatpants by Russell-$10.00 (retail $30-$40)

Nike short sleeve and long sleeve polos-$15.00 & $20.00 (retail $50-$60)

Nike Wind Pants/Warm-Up Pants-$15.00 (retail $30-$50)

Nike & Aeropostale Winter Coats-$10.00 to $30.00 (retail $100)

Nike & Aeropostale Light Weight Jackets-$10.00 to $20.00 (retail $30-$50)

Nike/Aeropostale/adidas/Diadora shorts-$3.00 to $10.00 (retail $18-$30)

Nike Sweaters/Sweater Vests-$15.00 to $20.00 (retail ($40-$60)

Nike Hoodies-$20.00 (retail $50-$60)

T-Shirts-$3.00 to $5.00 (retail ($15-$20)

Travel Bags-$5.00 to $15.00 (retail $40-$50)

Assorted Sneakers-$15.00 (retail $100+)

Assorted Football/Soccer/Track/Lacrosse Shoes-$10.00 (retail $100+)

Assorted Nike Sandals-$10.00 (retail $30-$40)

Youth Size T-Shirts-$3.00 (retail $15)

To get the full details on this sale, once again head over to Huskies.com.

I had some other things planned to write but this news supersedes anything I was going to write about.

Much to my surprise and I am sure everyone else’s, the Red Sox have sent down Jon Lester to Double-A Portland and have recalled Javier Lopez from Pawtucket. Julian Tavarez will take Lester’s spot in the rotation on Sunday.

Red Sox PR spokeman John Blake said the reason for him going to Portland was that his day to pitch lined up better with Portland’s rotation. Very interesting considering Portland is fighting to be in the playoffs with New Hampshire, who coincidentally is Portland’s opponent for the next four games.

Lester has struggled in his recall to the Red Sox. He was 2-0 with a 5.67 ERA in 6 starts for the big club.

”We wanted to figure out a way for Javy Lopez to get back and be part of our bullpen,” said Terry Francona. ”It’s helpful to have another left-hander other than [Hideki] Okajima.”

When asked if Lester’s demotion was related to the poor performance in his last start in Tampa, Francona said: ”No, we didn’t say we’re disappointed with him. Like a lot of young pitchers, there’s been some inconsistency. But this is just one start.”

[Redsox.com] [ProJo SoxBlog]

With the 30-3 pounding the Baltimore Orioles took last night at the hands of the Texas Rangers I decided to take a look back at some of the worst losses that the Red Sox have suffered since 1960.

Here you go I hope you Oriole’s fans feel at least a bit better after reading this. Remember every team goes through them, some teams just more than others.

These are in chronological order.

May 30, 1961: The Yankees hit 7 homers in route to a 12-3 win over Boston. Yogi Berra (1), Mickey Mantle (2), Roger Maris (2) and Moose Skowron (2) did the long ball damage. Mick must have been sober that day.

August 13, 1966: Tigers pitcher Earl Wilson holds the Sox to 4-hits in a 13-1 win over Boston. It was Wilson’s bat though that the damage he had a grand slam in getting 3 hits, scoring 3 runs and driving in 5 to help his own cause.

June 14, 1969: Oakland whips the Red Sox, 20-1. Reggie Jackson drives in 10 runs with 4 hits, including a pair of 2-run HRs.

June 25, 1970: Down 7-0 at Fenway through five innings, the Orioles tied the game in the 9^th and won 13-8 in by scoring 6 times in the 14^th inning.

April 30, 1974: Angels 2B Denny Doyle gets five hits in a 16-6 Angels win. It was the only five hit game of his career. Nolan Ryan struck out 15 Red Sox it would be the first of 4 times he did that to Boston in a little over a year.

September 7-10, 1978: The infamous Boston Massacre. The Yankees arrive at Fenway four games behind the Red Sox and leave tied for first place in the AL East. New York won 15-3, 13-2, 7-0 and 7-4. It was the first four game sweep by New York at Fenway Park since 1943.

Continue reading →