Baseball Historians

After getting stunned, 7-6, last night and swept for the second consecutive series on Tampa Bay’s home turf, the Sox issued an unspoken warning to the rest of the American League that it would be foolish to overlook or underestimate the Rays, who erased a three-run deficit with a six-run rally in the seventh inning. […]

With the offense suddenly feeling the absence of David Ortiz, close games consistently ending in the opposition’s favor and the Tampa Bay Rays playing better than they ever have before, the Red Sox understand that their margin for error at the moment is virtually zero.  That point was driven home once again last night at […]

Good news…The old Daisuke Matsuzaka is back and J.D Drew has resumed his torrid hitting in June and first place is safe for now.  After getting absolutely pummeled in his return start from the disabled list last Saturday, Matsuzaka returned to his pre-injury form and pitched five shutout innings, while combining with four relievers on […]

Considering all they have endured this year, reaching the halfway point of the season last night leading their division and only a shade behind last year’s pace has to be considered a significant accomplishment for the Red Sox.  The factors working against them have been numerous and would have been insurmountable in many past seasons. […]

For a while last night, it appeared as if the Red Sox had become stuck in a time and space warp, their usual interleague success and home-field advantage sucked into a pernicious black hole that has hung around Fenway Park during this homestand.  The laws of physics, however, finally prevailed as the Sox rallied for […]

Josh Beckett knew going into last night’s game that he needed to pitch both deep and well.  He accomplished both, pitching eight innings. It still was not enough.  Arizona’s Dan Haren did not last as long as Beckett, but he did pitch better, surrendering no runs and only two hits in seven innings as the […]

Jonathan Paplebon blew his third save of the season by surrendering a game-tying home run to Edwin Encarnacion with two outs in the ninth inning but Kevin Youkilis and Coco Crisp alleviated some of the closer’s anguish with back-to-back homers in the 10th, sending the Sox to a 6-4 win. Cincinnati native Youkilis, who didn’t play […]

As the Red Sox boarded their charter plane for Cincinnati after their 9-2 victory last night, they could not be blamed if more than a few of them paused to look over their shoulder wistfully. Life at home Fenway Park, has never been much better for the Red Sox than it is right now. After […]

With the bathroom scale long since eliminated as a possibility, the likelihood of Bartolo Colon ever seeing 150 appeared remote when arm injuries nearly brought his career to an end last season in Anaheim. The rotund former American League Cy Young Award winner, who saw his once blazing fastball slow considerably during ensuing seasons, seemed […]

The Red Sox’ bullpen quietly has resumed operating near peak efficiency.  In the team’s last 11 games, Red Sox relievers have allowed a run in just four of those games, good for a 1.60 ERA. During the last 32 games, Red Sox relievers have lowered their combined ERA from 5.42 to 3.86. In those 32 […]

Pegged originally as a short story, the Justin Masterson tale is beginning to merit consideration as a full-length page-turner.  And we may not even have gotten to the best part yet.  White-hot J. Drew’s sixth-inning solo home run made a winner out of Masterson (3-0), whose swooping, side-armed delivery features a pause before the ball’s […]

The Red Sox’ bats took a collective vow of silence, either a response to the absence of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz or, more likely, to a convincing start from Seattle phenom Felix Hernandez.  The lack of sizzle that enveloped the 8-0 loss felt like a letdown, though perhaps a predictable one after Thursday night’s […]

With their starting time pushed up an hour so fans could watch the beginning of the Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals, the Red Sox did a fantastic job last night of keeping the spotlight on themselves for as long as possible in a regular-season backyard barnburner.
A flurry of bad blood - a heated argument between Manny Ramirez […]

Bartolo Colon improved to 3-0 with six-plus innings of seven-hit, four-run ball in a 9-4 victory. He struck out five, walked two, allowed one home run, and pumped his fastball as high as 96 mph. Manny Ramirez’ two-run homer (501) in the fourth blew things open. Mike Lowell followed with a solo shot, J.D. Drew […]

Prior to last night’s game, Manny Ramirez said the best birthday present he had received was a watch sent to him by his mother. The Baltimore Orioles gift-wrapped another present: a Red Sox win in 13 innings in which Ramirez scored the go-ahead run.  On the day he turned 36 years old, Ramirez showed he still has […]

Seattle starter Erik Bedard’s negated a masterful job by opposing starter Tim Wakefield, who allowed just five hits en route to his first complete game of the season. One of the five, however, was Yuniesky Betancourt’s solo home run in the third inning, which accounted for all of the game’s offense.  Wakefield (3-4) held the Mariners […]

One night after managing to shake the proverbial monkey off their back by ending a seven-game road losing streak, the Red Sox saw Manny Ramirez fling away the 500-pound gorilla that had latched onto him for more than two weeks and encountered an umpire with a memory as long as an elephant’s and the apparent […]

Featuring a repertoire of mostly fastballs, Bartolo Colon blew away the Mariners in what amounted to an exceptional second start to his suddenly promising season.  In the Red Sox’ 5-3 victory, Colon struck out four batters, walked just one and scattered five hits in his seven innings.  The Mariners scored just once against Colon. In […]

Since he signed in late February for short money, the feeling all along with Bartolo Colon has been: What do the Red Sox have to lose?  Last night, in his first major league start for the Sox, the pitcher and the ballclub learned they have something to gain.
Colon pitched well - not great, but encouragingly […]

He thought it would be kind of cool to top Jon Lester by throwing a perfect game or maybe the second no-hitter in as many nights.  In the end, though, Justin Masterson was more than content to walk away with his first major league victory in his second try last night at Fenway Park.  The […]

Ever since receiving word that he had defeated lymphoma a year-and-a-half ago, Jon Lester has been trying to do everything within his power to shed the unsought labeling of being the pitcher who survived cancer.  The left-hander made an enormous stride toward doing so last October, when he started and won the clinching game of […]

Despite uncharacteristically ineffective pitching by Josh Beckett, the Red Sox still trounced the highly touted Brewers, 11-7, to complete a three-game series sweep and extend a string of dominance over the Senior Circuit that is nearing ridiculous proportions. The win improved the Sox to 35-8 vs. NL opponents - including last October’s World Series sweep […]

Bad day all around for the health and happiness of the Red Sox.  In 5 2/3 inning of work, Josh Beckett allowed 11 hits, five runs (all earned) and two walks. He threw 97 pitches. As the ace, Beckett is responsible for saving the staff when the Sox have consecutive clunkers like they did over the […]

The Twins took three out of four at the Metrodome by virtue of a 7-3 win over the Red Sox last night. The Sox scored three in the first inning against Livan Hernandez and never scored again against Hernandez, who went the first six innings to improve to 6-1, and the Twins’ bullpen.  The Red Sox now […]

For the Red Sox, the explanation of what transpired in the biggest play of their 9-8 loss to the Twins last night would seem utterly improbable a few minutes earlier. They fell into a six-run hole after three innings and were still facing a three-run hill against one of baseball’s best closers in the ninth.  […]

Jonathan Papelbon surrendered a two-run single to Mike Lamb in the bottom of the ninth as the Twins downed the Red Sox 7-6.  Papelbon has now blown back-to-back games, also losing Wednesday’s game to the Tigers.  Starter Jon Lester only lasted 5-1/3 innings, while throwing 94 pitches and allowing five runs (three earned).  David Aardsma and […]

Josh Beckett allowed just six singles, claimed his fourth win of the season, left town with his lowest ERA of the season (3.70), and, to top things off, recorded his 1,000th career strikeout.  Beckett benefited from another round of offensive firepower from the Red Sox lineup, which has scored five or more runs in seven straight […]

Jonathan Papelbon executed virtually every one of the 18 pitches he threw in the ninth inning against the Tigers, yet still had to walk off the mound carrying his first blown save of the season.  There was a check-swing, infield hit from Matt Joyce, Sox shortstop Julio Lugo’s 10th error of the season on Edgar Renteria’s […]

Daisuke Matsuzaka threw only 60 of his 109 pitches for strikes, but he somehow found a way to give up just one run on two hits in five innings.  The end result was palatable for the Red Sox, who came away with a 6-3 victory against a Detroit club still trying to find its way.  While […]

The Red Sox offense appears to be waking up; slamming 15 hits, 12 runs, and a season’s-best seven doubles, with each of the nine starters producing at least one hit.  The three main contributors to forcing Shields into surrendering runs in each of the first four innings were the top three hitters in the lineup: Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin […]