Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings are after the jump.
For those of you who get NESN, you can catch the Portland Sea Dogs take on the Binghamton Mets tonight at 6 PM from Hadlock Field in Portland, ME. Pitching prospect Felix Doubront gets the start for the Sea Dogs tonight.
With their new look lineup, the Boston Red Sox offense got out of it’s funk as they hit 4 home runs en route to an 8-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays to avoid being swept in front of 30,496 at Rogers Centre in Toronto.
With the win, the Red Sox improve to 29-22 and move to within a ½ game of the New York Yankees who lost this afternoon to the Cleveland Indians. The Blue Jays drop to 29-24 and are 1 game behind the Red Sox in the AL East.
Jon Lester toed the rubber for the Red Sox and it was probably his best outing to date. He allowed a run on three infield singles and three walks while striking out a career-high 12 in 6 innings of work.
Justin Masterson went 2 innings, allowing a run on 2 hits and a walk while recording a strikeout. Ramon Ramirez walked one in his inning of work.
Rookie Ricky Romero started this one for the Jays and was hit hard and struggled with his command. He gave up 5 runs on 6 hits and 5 walks while recording 5 strikeouts. The final reliever of the afternoon for the Jays, Brian Wolfe, was touched up for 3 runs on 3 hits in 2 innings.
Kevin Youkilis had a big afternoon as he had 2 home runs with 2 RBIs. Jason Bay also had 2 hits and a home run while Mike Lowell also had 2 hits and a RBI. Dustin Pedroia mashed a 3-run homer and J.D. Drew added an RBI to the cause.
The only member of the Red Sox starting nine without a hit was Jason Varitek.
Romero got off to a nice start in the 1st as he got the first two outs. He then left a pitch out over the plate that Youk drove the other way for a solo home run giving the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.
The Blue Jays got the run back in the bottom half of the inning.
The Boston Red Sox look to close out the month of May with a win and avoid being swept by the Toronto Blue Jays. The Red Sox swept the Blue Jays at Fenway Park last week.
The game this afternoon will start at 1:07 PM EDT and will be televised in the Red Sox television market on NESN. If you live in the Blue Jays television market, you can catch the game on Sportsnet. And if the television isn’t your cup of tea, you can catch the game on one of the many affiliates of the Red Sox Radio Network.
Jon Lester looks to put his last start behind him as he gets the ball this afternoon for Terry Francona. On the season, Lester is 3-5 with a 6.07 ERA in 10 starts. Lester picked up a win in his only 2009 appearance against the Jays allowin 1 run over 6 1/3 innings. In his career, Lester is 2-2 with a 3.52 ERA in 6 starts. He hasn’t had much success though at Rogers Centre as he is 0-2 with a 7.31 ERA in 3 games.
Cito Gaston will send rookie Rickey Romero out to the mound this afternoon to help try and pick up a sweep of the Red Sox. Romero will be making just his 5th big league start and he is 2-1 with a 3.08 ERA.
Red Sox lineup, with a twist [Extra Bases]
Tito looks to jumpstart offense [Clubhouse Insider]
Pedroia looking for offensive upswing [RedSox.com]
Penny Moves Forward While Rumors Swirl [Rob Bradford – WEEI.com]
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| 1. Dustin Pedroia | 2B | 1. Marco Scutaro | SS |
| 2. J.D, Drew | RF | 2. Aaron Hill | 2B |
| 3. Kevin Youkilis | 1B | 3. Alex Rios | RF |
| 4. Jason Bay | LF | 4. Vernon Wells | CF |
| 5. Mike Lowell | 3B | 5. Adam Lind | DH |
| 6. David Ortiz | DH | 6. Scott Rolen | 3B |
| 7. Jason Varitek | C | 7. Kevin Millar | 1B |
| 8. Jacoby Ellsbury | CF | 8. Rod Barajas | C |
| 9. Nick Green | SS | 9. Jose Bautista | 2B |
| Jon Lester | SP | Ricky Romero | SP |
And here is how the hitters have fared against today’s starting pitchers. No one on the Red Sox has faced Romero.
As it was last year, being on the road hasn’t been kind to the Boston Red Sox. After splitting a 4-game set with the Minnesota Twins, the Red Sox have lost the first two games of a 3-game set to the Toronto Blue Jays. This is the same Blue Jays team the Red Sox swept last week.
The Red Sox headed into this weekend series with the Jays in first place by a ½ game over the New York Yankees. But with two wins by the Yanks and the two losses by the Sox, they find themselves sitting 1½ games behind the Yanks and are also tied with the Jays for second place in the AL East.
Ramon Ramirez, who had been pretty much lights out all season, finally showed he was human as he gave up two runs yesterday. Brad Penny gave the Red Sox another quality start but you can’t really blame this one on the pitching. You can blame it on the hitting as the Red Sox bats have gone silent yet again on the road.
A win today would be nice to see as the Red Sox head to Detroit after the game with an off day tomorrow.
Boston’s bats stay silent [Providence Journal]
Sox know the score in loss [Boston Globe]
Red Sox hit bumps on road [Boston Herald]
Baldelli’s season of peaks and valleys takes another dip when he injures his knee diving for a foul ball [Providence Journal]
Inning became a lost cause for Ramirez [Boston Globe]
Empty feeling [Boston Herald]
Another buzzard-luck day for Ortiz [Providence Journal]
Hard-luck Baldelli hits another wall [Boston Globe]
Bad breaks dog Rocco Baldelli [Boston Herald]
Bard beginning to make his mark with the Sox [Providence Journal]
In a crouch and ready to rise [Portland Press Herald]
Ramon Ramirez shows a human side [Boston Herald]
Pedroia says fastball off the knee is ‘no big deal’ [Providence Journal]
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Providence Journal websites.
And if the enemy papers are more your flavor, you can head over to the Toronto Star and Toronto Sun websites.
UConn Football links
When does the Tenn Schedule start? Is ND… [Desmond Conner | UCONN Football]
Randy Edsall For a Little Bit In May? Sure, We’ll Take Him. [Desmond Conner | UCONN Football]
What About UConn Vs. ND In Yankee Stadium In 2013 [Desmond Conner | UCONN Football]
What About Penn State? [Desmond Conner | UCONN Football]
Has The Notre Dame Multi-Year Agreement Been Signed? [Desmond Conner | UCONN Football]
What’s In It (The Series With ND) For UConn? [Desmond Conner | UCONN Football]
What Four and Five Star Recruits Want? [Desmond Conner | UCONN Football]
Ranking the Big East backup quarterbacks [Big East Blog – ESPN.com]
Big East position groups that are simply loaded [Big East Blog – ESPN.com]
New Big East coordinators who will make biggest ’09 impact [Big East Blog – ESPN.com]
Make-or-break stretches in the Big East [Big East Blog – ESPN.com]
Orlovsky pledges to be ready if needed [Connecticut Post]
Deleston Trying To Impress Bears On Special Teams [Hartford Courant]
UConn Women’s Basketball links
UConn mailbag: Leave the funny stuff to funny people [John Altavilla | UConn Women’s Basketball]
Auriemma To Begin Role As Team USA Coach [Hartford Courant]
UConn Men’s Basketball links
Okwandu to play a major role in 2009-10? [Mike Anthony | UConn Men’s Basketball]
Walker, Haralson and other UConn news out of pick-up games at Gampel [Mike Anthony | UConn Men’s Basketball]
Blair benefits from Thabeet’s absence [UConn Huskies Basketball]
Jake Voskuhl: Testimony [UConn Huskies Basketball]
Ben Gordon plays hockey [UConn Huskies Basketball]
Remember the name: Noel Johnson [UConn Huskies Basketball]
A Time To Chill [Washington Post]
UConn’s Walker May Skip U.S. Tryout; Haralson Considers Transfer [Hartford Courant]
UConn Huskies On Twitter [Hartford Courant]
Other UConn related links
Baseball: Three Huskies to Play in NEIBA All-Star Game [UConnHuskies.com]
Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings are after the jump.
Just a quick note. If you’re interested in listening to the rehab start of John Smoltz at 4 PM this afternoon, click here for the Greenville broadcast of the game.
In a crouch and ready to rise [Portland Press Herald]
A minor(s) check-up [Full Count]
Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings are after the jump.
Adam Kilgore’s Minor League Notebook [Boston Globe]
Due to having to rush to the hospital this morning with some severe pain similar to the kidney stone a few months back, I’m going to take a little time to rest. I’ll try to do what I can but with the painkillers that knock me out, it may be hard to accomplish much. Thank you for your understanding!!
Friday, May 29th @ 7:07 PM
Tim Wakefield (R) (6-2, 3.99) vs Casey Janssen (R) (0-1, 4.50)
TV: NESN, MLB.tv
Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio
Saturday, May 30th @ 1:07 PM
Brad Penny (R) (5-1, 5.96) vs Brian Tallet (L) (2-3, 4.31)
TV:NESN, MLB.tv
Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio
Sunday, May 31st @ 1:07 PM
Jon Lester (L) (3-5, 6.07) vs Ricky Romero (L) (2-1, 3.08)
TV: NESN, MLB.tv
Radio: Red Sox Radio Network, MLB Game Day Audio
Jason Varitek hit two solo home runs and Josh Beckett gave the Boston Red Sox seven strong innings as they went on to beat the Minnesota Twins 3-1 in front of 23,958 at the Metrodome to salvage a split of the 4-game series.
The win moves the Red Sox (28-20) back into first place by a half game over the idle New York Yankees while the Twins fall back below .500 at 24-25.
Other than a small blip in the 2nd inning, Beckett was outstanding today. He went 7 innings, giving up 1 run on three hits and 4 walks while striking out 8.
Hideki Okajima allowed a hit and had a strikeout in his inning of work while Jonathan Papelbon worked the 9th allowing a hit and also had a strikeout to pickup his 13th save.
Anthony Swarzak started just his second big league game today and threw the ball well. He went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks while recording 3 strikeouts. Three Twins relievers combined to give up 1 hit over the final 3 innings.
Varitek led the way with the 2 home runs and 2 RBIs. Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, Jeff Bailey and George Kottaras had other hits for the Red Sox.
Both Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia lost their 22-game and 10-game hitting streaks respectively. Pedroia did knock in a run on a sac fly.
After striking out the first four batters he faced, Beckett left a fastball out over the plate to Joe Crede who did what he gets paid to do. He crushed it for a solo home run. Beckett then got a little wild as he walked Brendan Harris and Delmon Young but got Mike Redmond to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Swarzak held the Red Sox at bay until the 5th inning when Varitek led off with a solo home run to tie it up at 1.
28-22
29-23