Little Big League

11.6.08 12:03PM

Pedroia adds more metal to the mantel
Youkilis spurned by Haverhill native

Dustin Pedroia will have another trophy to go next to his 2007 Rookie of the Year award in the trophy case of his off-season Arizona home. The Sox second baseman took home the 2008 American League Rawlings’ Gold Glove Award winner.

The perennial award handed out to the two best fielders at every position in both leagues is sponsored by the long-time glove manufacture Rawlings. The American League Gold Glove Award recipients were supposed to be named at two o’clock today but Major League Baseball failed to inform Rawlings of the AL winners and the word leaked out to The Sporting News.

Pedroia and first baseman Kevin Youkilis, who won the award in 2007, were leading candidates to win the 2008 award. But due to Youkilis’s ability to move across the diamond, something he had to do more this year than last year, it hurt his chances of winning the award this year.

Do not feel bad Sox fans, Youkilis did not lose out to just anyone you can still congratulate Tampa Bay Rays first baseman and Massachusetts' own, Carlos Pena. And better news neither Derek Jeter nor Alex Rodriguez won the award shortstop or third base, respectively.

2008 American League Rawlings Gold Glove Award Recipients:
P – Mike Mussina, Yankees
C – Joe Mauer, Twins
1B – Carlos Pena, Rays
2B – Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
3B – Adrian Beltre, Mariners
SS – Michael Young, Rangers
OF – Torii Hunter, Angels
OF – Grady Sizemore, Indians
OF – Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners

Up-Town Boy

10.12.2008

RED SOX FALL TO THE RAYS 9-8 in 11; RAYS TIE SERIES 1-1

B.J. Upton ties ALCS at 1-1 with sacrifice fly to right
Jon Lester goes to the Hill in Game Three opposing Rays Matt Garza

(October 11, 2008) – Earlier in the game, B.J. Upton hit towering fly ball on a Josh Beckett fastball to tie the game at three. That was at 9:00 when the kids were still awake. Four hours later when all the little kids were sound a sleep, Upton was the hero once again when he lifted a sacrifice fly to shallow right field, driving in pinch-runner Fernando Perez from third.

“I was looking for a good pitch to hit,” Upton told TBS’s Craig Sager after the game. “The main thing was not to strike out.”

Catcher Dioner Navarro and pinch-hitter for Gabe Gross, Ben Zobrist, led off the inning with back-to-back walks off the only pitcher left in the Sox bullpen, Mike Timlin. The Rays sent in the speedy, Perez to pinch run for Navarro. After shortstop Jason Bartlett grounded out to third, the Sox intentionally walked Akinori Iwamura to hopefully get the inning ending double play.

As J.D. Drew came in to make the catch on Upton’s shallow pop fly, the Sox right fielder’s momentum would propel him to make a strong throw to the plate would put the Rays chances of winning in jeopardy. But Perez defied those chances and used his speed to equal the series before heading north to Fenway Park for three games.

The game started at 8:08 on the nose with Beckett opposing Scott Kazmir. S-C-O-T-T K-A-Z-M-I-R used to spell doom for the Red Sox in previous years but in 2008 they have figured out the Tampa Bay 24-year-old Southpaw.

The Sox jumped on the board in the first with clutch two out hitting. Kazmir cruised through the first two batters, fanning Jacoby Ellsbury on six pitches and getting Dustin Pedroia to fly out to B.J. Upton in center, but walked David Ortiz to begin his downward spiral. Kevin Youkilis followed Ortiz’s walk pulling two-strike fastball and sent it into left field for the base hit.

Jason Bay stepped to the dish with two-outs. He has been clutch for the Sox all post-season and has done a good job at making fans forget about the scatter-brained left fielder that previously patrolled the Fenway Park left field. Bay did it once again turning on a 3-2 fastball from Kazmir for a rocket line drive double down the third baseline, scoring Ortiz and Youkilis.

Before Beckett even stepped on the mound he had a 2-0 lead to work with. But Beckett would quickly give those two runs right back. Beckett’s first inning nearly mirror imaged the man who broke his Texas high school strike-out record. He just needed two pitches to retire Rays second baseman Iwamura on a foul pop up to Youkilis and caught Upton staring at a strike three that just barely caught the inner portion of home plate. But the Rays were not going to go down quietly.

In game one, the Rays offense suffered because of their failure to keep an inning alive. The Haverhill-native made sure to change things when he was at the plate. Rays first baseman Carlos Pena lined a double into left-center for Tampa Bay’s first hit of the game and putting the tying run at the dish in the hands of rookie phenom Evan Longoria. Beckett fell behind Longoria 3-1 and the former Cal State 49er made him pay as he turned on a Beckett fastball that came down somewhere on I-75, to tie the game at two a piece.

Kazmir and Beckett appeared to settle down in the second inning. As the left hander retired the Sox side in order in the top of the second, Beckett struck out the side with a base hit to Navarro mixed in between. But things are not always as they appear to be.

Game Two quickly turned into a zero-sum, game of chicken where neither team really wanted the led. Beckett gave the lead back to the Rays. Kazmir kept giving it back to the Sox.

In the top of the third, B.J. Upton took a 2-0 pitch from Beckett to tie up the game at three. After Pena popped foul to Mark Kotsay, Longoria lined a double to the base of the wall in left just feet from his second homerun of the game. The Rays third baseman would come around to score the Rays fourth run on a base hit to right-center off the bat of left fielder, Carl Crawford, for Tampa Bay’s first lead of the game. But Crawford got a little too cocky and was caught off guard by possible, game-changing pick-off, throw from Beckett to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, former Red Sox outfielder Cliff Floyd added an insurance run with a home run to the restaurant in the center field, giving the Rays a two run lead. But once again Kazmir could not hold the Tampa Bay lead.

Facing his arch-nemesis to lead off the top of the fifth inning, Kazmir gave up his second homerun of the game to the little man with the big swing. If you are Scott Kazmir, you have to be thinking how can I get this little guy out? Pedroia’s second homerun of the game, made him 16-for-28 (.571) with three homeruns and five RBIs against the Rays Southpaw. After getting Ortiz to fly out to right field, Youkilis tied up the game with the sixth homerun of the game and chased Kazmir from the game. He finished the game after allowing five runs on six hits while walking three and striking out three in 4.1 innings of work.

In relief of Kazmir, Grant Balfour did not fair much better against the potent Sox line up. Bay turned an inside fastball and pulled it down the third base line. When the ball landed, the Red Sox had the one-run lead and tied an ALCS record with seven homeruns in a championship series game. But the game was just in the fifth inning. There was plenty of baseball to be played and plenty of time to set a new record.

After 26-minute wait, Beckett took the mound once again with the lead but the cat-and-mouse game continued. Iwamura became Beckett’s fifth strike-out victim of the night and it looked as if the Sox fireballer was going to start to settle into a grove. But a walk to Upton gave the Rays speed on the base paths with the heart of the line up. An Upton steal of second appeared to have rattled Becket as Pena lined a base hit past the dive of Pedroia in the over-drawn shift and scored the speedy Upton from second. That is what speed can do to you. Speed kills.

The Rays were not done yet. Longoria, who was all ready 2-2 with a double and homerun, turned on a Beckett inside fastball and lined a double down the left field line scoring Pena from first. Longoria advanced to third base on Jed Lowrie’s throw to the plate. Terry Francona decided he had seen enough and went to the left handed Javier Lopez to face the left handed Crawford. Facing the left hander, Crawford drove in his second RBI of the game lining a base hit to right and scoring Longoria from third, giving the Rays the two-run advantage.

The Sox are relentless and started to chip away at the Rays lead. They got half of it back in the top of the sixth when Pedroia walked with one out to set the table for the power hitters behind him. After Ortiz was caught looking at strike three, Youkilis singled up the middle, advancing Pedroia to second and sending Bay to the plate. Bay came through once again with a base hit into center field. Just like the little engine that could, Pedroia’s little legs motored around third and slid into home with Boston’s seventh run of the game.

Two innings later, Pedroia led off the eighth with a mean, slap single into right field. Ortiz walked for the third time against the left handed Trever Miller. So with no-outs the Red Sox had two men on base and Sox fans could smell blood especially with Youkilis stepping up the plate. Although Youkilis ended up grounding into the 6-4-3 double play, he did advance Pedroia up to third base, thus putting the tying run just 90-feet from home and that was the key. In relief of Miller, Dan Wheeler uncorked a wild pitch that went to the back stop and thanks to a poor throw from Navarro, Pedroia scored with ease to tie the game.

After Dustin Pedroia tied up the score in the top of the eighth inning, the bullpen shut down the Rays offense from the six inning forward to give the Sox offense an opportunity to win the game. The combination of Javier Lopez, Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, Justin Masterson and Jonathan Papelbon retired 17 of 19, including five consecutive, Ray batters. You have to tip your cap to the middle relief of the Red Sox pitching staff because in the heat of all the excitement of the ALCS and the post-season those five guys between the starter and closer get over looked. But they are an important piece to the puzzle for a championship team.

Jon Lester will get the nod when the series heads north to Fenway for three games. Lester has dominated the Rays with a 3-0, an ERA under one (0.90) and 19 strike outs. He will be opposed by the 11-9 right hander Matt Garza. In 2008 Garza is 1-1 against the Red Sox with a 4.50 ERA and 10 strike outs in four starts.

RAYS 9, RED SOX 8

WIN: David Price

LOSS: Mike Timlin

--

The 3 Stars of the Game:

1. B.J. Upton, TAMPA BAY ----- 1-4 HR, 2 RBI, 2 Runs-scored, Game Winning RBI

2. Evan Longoria, TAMPA BAY ---- 3-5 2 2B, HR, 3RBI, 3 Runs-scored

3. Dustin Pedroia, BOSTON ---- 3-5 2 HR, 2RBI

The Big Hurt snaps Sox seven game winning streak with a 3-for-4 night in Oakland’s 8-3 win

SAWX BLOG – http://sawxblog.blogspot.com

sawxblog@gmail.com

RED SOX FALL TO ATHLETICS 8-3; MOVE TO 31-19
The Big Hurt snaps Sox seven game winning streak with a 3-for-4 night in Oakland’s 8-3 win

(May 23, 2008) – Like the Celtics in the post-season away from the TD Banknorth Garden, the Red Sox road woes continue with a late night 8-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics behind starter Rich Harden. In his third appearance against the Red Sox this season, the Oakland right hander continued his dominance over Boston leading to his third win of the season.

Harden began the game on fire, retiring the first 10 Red Sox batters before giving up second baseman Dustin Pedroia’s third homerun of the season to left on a 2-1 count. In six innings, the Athletics starter allowed two runs on four hits while striking out eight Sox before turning the game over to right handed reliever Joey Devine. Devine pitched two innings allowing one run on two hits while striking out two before handing the ball off to Oakland closer Huston Street in a non-save situation.

Oakland batters knocked the Sox knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield around early in the game. With one out in the bottom of the first, shortstop Bobby Crosby doubled down the left field line and scored on a base hit into center, just out of the reach of Pedroia, by left fielder Jack Cust. After beginning the season with the Toronto Blue Jays, Frank Thomas found himself back with Athletics, the team he played with last year. Once again, against the Red Sox, The Big Hurt did what he does best and lined a shot over Manny Ramirez’s head and into no-man’s land beyond the left field fence to give the A’s the 3-0 lead.

The Athletics knocked Wake around again two innings later when Jack Cust walked with one out in the third. After hitting a homerun in his last at-bat, Thomas lined a single a base hit into left field, sending Cust to second and bringing Ryan Sweeney to the plate with one out. Cust would advance to third on a passed ball that tipped off catcher Kevin Cash’s oversized catcher’s mitt and would score on line drive into right by Sweeney three pitches later. After Wakefield got right fielder Emil Brown to strike out for the second time in the game, Mark Ellis put the icing on the cake with a three-run homerun to cap off the four run inning and giving the A’s the 7-0 advantage.

The Sox tried chip away at Oakland’s lead with Pedroia’s homerun in the top of the fourth and a two-out RBI single in the top of the fifth by Jacoby Ellsbury. Two innings later Lugo led off the inning with a base hit to third, the Sox shortstop advanced to second on third baseman Jack Hannahan’s throwing error. Making the most of his opportunity in the majors, the rookie outfielder drove in Lugo with Boston’s third run of the game. With just one out in the fifth, Ellsbury on first and Pedroia at the dish, the inning looked very promising with the two big guys looming in the on-deck circle and in the hole. But the inning was wiped out when the rookie was snapped back to reality trying to steal his 20^th bag of the season.

Down by five runs the Red Sox needed base runners. Although Ellsbury has good speed, stealing second trailing 8-3 and the power hitters coming up was not the smartest idea in the world. With his speed he would have scored any way with a base hit into the spacious outfield of McAfee Coliseum and even if it was a base hit right at an outfielder, the Sox would have had first and third with Ortiz at the plate and one out. (Even though there was the chance Pedroia could have grounded into an inning ending double play, I have “identified the negative but [focusing] on the positive.”)

Wakefield would leave the game in the middle of the sixth inning after walking lead off hitter and first baseman Daric Barton and allowing a double to the number nine hitter Kurt Suzuki. Right hander David Aardsma came on in relief of Wakefield and got Hannahan to ground out to Pedroia at second and holding Barton and Suzuki. But they were not there for long, Crosby hit a shallow sacrifice fly to a charging Ellsbury. Even with Ellsbury’s momentum carry him to the plate, Barton was still tagging from third and would score standing up easily as Ellsbury throw came up well short of Cash, for the eighth Oakland run. The book was closed on Wakefield, eight runs on eight hits while he walked and struck out four.

At least look on the bright side, no one in the Sox bullpen will be traded for a bag of bats come July like 26-year-old minor league right hander, John Odom, was earlier today. In relief of Wakefield, Aardsma and Mike Timlin combined to retired the last nine Athletic hitters.

Josh Beckett steps on the Oakland mound tomorrow night in search of his sixth win of the season against Athletics right hander and former Red Sox prospect Justin Duchsherer. At 5-3 with a 4.67 ERA and 56 strike outs, Beckett is coming off an 11-7 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers last Sunday. Although he pitched seven innings, Beckett had one of his worst outings of the season against the Brewers. In seven innings he allowed six runs on six hits with four of the hits being homeruns. Against Oakland, Beckett is 2-2 in four career starts with an ERA over five and 18 strike outs.

Tomorrow’s game two of the series will be the first start for the Oakland right hander against the team that drafted him. Duchsherer will be making his seventh start against Beckett and looks for his fourth win of the 2008 season. The 31-year-old is 3-3 with a 2.67 ERA, 26 strike outs and is coming off a 5-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves where he pitched five hits allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out two Brave batters. Against Boston, Duchsherer has appeared in 13 games as a reliever and is 1-0 with one save in 20.1 innings with 23 strike outs, a 2.66 ERA and a .181 opponent’s batting average.

WIN: Rich Harden (3-0)

LOSS: Tim Wakefield (3-3)

--

Game Notes:

Those Weery Road Blues
The Red Sox are four games under .500 on the road at 10 wins and 14 losses and are 8-3 against the AL West. After getting off to a bad start Oakland is second in the West with a 13-11 record and is 6-6 against the East.

Kevin Youkilis is third in the American League in hitting with a .324 batting average behind Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer’s .333 and AL league leader Texas center fielder Josh Hamilton’s .335 average.

David Ortiz is third in the American League in homeruns and RBIs with 10 round-trippers of the season and 38 RBIs. Josh Hamilton leads the AL triple crown categories with a .335 average (as noted above), 12 homeruns (tied with Chicago’s Carlos Quentin) and 53 RBIs (most in MLB).

Manny Ramirez is still stuck at homerun #498. His last homerun came against the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome on May 12. Ramirez has hit a snag in his last 10 games hitting only .229 (8-for-35) with only two extra base hits.

Red Sox hitting coach, Dave Magadan, was ejected from the game in the middle of the top of the sixth inning.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

1. Rich Harden, OAKLAND ---- 6IP, 5H, 2ER, 3BB, 8K

2. Frank Thomas, OAKLAND --- 3-4 Homerun, 2 RBIs

3. Dustin Pedroia, BOSTON ---- 1-4 Homerun, RBI

JACOBY ELLSBURY

In the top of the seventh inning Ellsbury managed to get himself thrown out trying to steal his 20^th bag of the season with the Sox down 8-3. He tried to argue that he was safe but second base umpire, Jeff Nelson, was having no part of the argument. Ellsbury clearly over-slid the bag and was tagged out by shortstop fellow Morman Bobby Crosby.

Jason Varitek’s solo-homerun leads to a four run fifth and the Sox’s sixth consecutive win

SAWX BLOG – http://sawxblog.blogspot.com
sawxblog@gmail.com

RED SOX OUT LAST ROYALS 6-3; MOVE TO 30-19
Jason Varitek’s solo-homerun leads to a four run fifth and the Sox’s sixth consecutive win

(May 21, 2008) – The Red Sox are on a roll, winning six of their last 10 games as they take game three of the four game series against the Kansas City Royals 6-3. The win gave starter Bartolo Colon his first win of the season in his first outing of 2008, pitching five innings allowing two runs on six hits while walking two and striking out four.

The Sox got on the board first when right fielder and lead off hitter Jacoby Ellsbury took Royals starter Brett Tomko deep into the Kansas City bullpen for the early 1-0 lead. But the Royals would tie up the game in the top of the third inning against Colon. To begin the inning, center fielder Joey Gathright led off with base hit into left. Two outs later Colon walked the third baseman Alex Gordon move Gathright up to second. Brendan Donnelly’s “best friend” Jose Guillen drop a base hit in front of Coco Crisp to drive in Gathright from second to tie the game at one a piece before Mark Teahen popped out to Mike Lowell at third. And that is how the game would stay until the fifth inning.

After 2008 All-Star prospect, Gordon, drove in the Gathright for the second and go-ahead run of the game in the top of the inning, the Sox bats broke out in the bottom. With one out in the Sox half of the inning, catcher Jason Varitek launched his sixth homerun of the season into the Red Sox bullpen in right field, just out of the reach of right fielder David DeJesus. The Captain’s solo shot got the Sox bats going in the inning because Crisp followed Varitek’s homerun with a double to left.

Crisp’s double was not an easy double but the speedy center fielder was running hard out of the box and his head first slide clearly beat Guillen’s rocket overthrow that was gathered by Teahen at first. That is what hustle and speed will do for you in baseball. Crisp advanced to third on Tomko’s wild pitch before scoring on shortstop Julio Lugo’s base hit up the middle into center field. After giving up a base hit to Ellsbury, manager Trey Hillman had seen enough of Tomko and opted to go with former Sox left hander and outfielder Ron Mahay.

Mahay did not do much better giving up Dustin Pedroia’s second single of the game with a base hit to right, loading the bases for the most feared hitter in the Sox line up: David Ortiz. Typically in these situations Ortiz comes through and breaks the game open with a two run double but tonight there was no magic in the designated hitters bat. But he still drove in his 38^th RBI with a sacrifice fly to Gathright in center to plate Lugo with the Sox third run of the game. On a 2-2 count to Manny Ramirez, Royals catcher John Buck could not handle Mahay’s fourth pitch of the at-bat and the ball rolled to the backstop allowing Ellsbury to score the fourth and final run of the inning. Ramirez ended up striking out for the last out of the inning still two homeruns shy of the evasive 500^th career homerun.

Diasuke Matsuzaka toes the rubber tomorrow afternoon in hopes of becoming the first American League pitcher to reach eight wins. He will face Royals right hander Brian Bannister in the Fenway Park series finale against Kansas City. In nine games, Bannister is 4-5 with a 4.29 ERA, 34 strikeouts and a 1.16 WHIP. The Royals right hander is coming off a 7-3 loss against at Dolphin Stadium against the Florida Marlins where he pitched 6.1 innings allowing six runs on seven hits while striking out five and walking two.

The Red Sox are 9-0 in games when Matsuzaka starts this season and has been the ace of the pitching staff in just his second year in Major League Baseball. On the season, the Japanese import is 7-0 with a 2.15 ERA, 46 strike outs and a 1.23 WHIP. He is coming off a 6.2 inning win against the Milwaukee Brewers in the first game of the day-night double header. In the first interleague match up, Matsuzaka allowed just two unearned runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out six Brewers.

WIN: Bartolo Colon (1-0)

LOSS: Brett Tomko (2-5)

--

Game Notes:

Jacoby Ellsbury got the start in right field when J.D. Drew sat out to rest his knee after getting hit in last night’s win.

Dustin Pedroia added the Sox’s sixth run of the game in the bottom of the seventh with a base hit into center to plate Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury led off the inning with his third hit of the ballgame and then swiped his 19^th base of the season before scoring on Pedroia’s third hit of the game.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

1. Dustin Pedroia, BOSTON --- 3-5 3 Singles, RBI

2. Jason Varitek, BOSTON --- 2-3 Homerun, RBI

3. Joey Gathright, KANSAS CITY --- 2-2 2BB, 3 Runs-scored

Dustin Pedroia’s three RBIs push Sox back into first place in the AL East

SAWX BLOG – http://sawxblog.blogspot.com
sawxblog@gmail.com

RED SOX OFFENSE OVER TAKES RAYS 7-3; MOVE TO 18-13
Dustin Pedroia’s three RBIs push Sox back into first place in the AL East

(May 2, 2008) – A two and a half hour rain delay did not delay the bats of the Red Sox or rookie pitcher Clay Buchholz. Following a complete game in his last outing against the Rays, the young gun failed to complete the sixth inning but still earned his second win of the season. In 5.1 innings, Buchholz allowed just one run on five hits while striking out six Tampa Bay hitters.

The Sox offense on the other hand scored more runs in tonight’s game than they did in their last five games combined and it all started with the number nine hitter Julio Lugo. In the second inning with one-out, Lugo lined a doubled past the outstretched left fielder Carl Crawford and came around to score on Dustin Pedroia’s two-out double two batters later. After getting Manny Ramirez to strike out, following a David Ortiz walk, to end the inning, it appeared as if Rays starter Edwin Jackson was settling down.

Although the start of the bottom of the fourth seemed to be going Jackson’s way, the Rays right hander ran into the Red Sox rookies. With two outs, Brandon Moss started the five run inning with his second homerun of his major league career to straight-away center over the head of Gabe Gross, who was replacing starting center fielder, B.J. Upton, who was out with a shoulder injury. Three batters later fellow rookie, center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury singled to left driving in catcher Jason Varitek from second base. Ellsbury would swipe his ninth stolen base of the season off of Rays catcher Dioner Navarro. The sophomore, Pedroia, followed with base hit of his own into left to drive in Ellsbury and Lugo.

Jackson’s night was done after four innings allowing six runs on nine hits while walking three and striking out just three. He was replaced by Kurt Birkins who came on to finish out the fifth inning after Jackson allowed a double to Mike Lowell and walked Kevin Youkilis. Birkins struck out Moss and got Varitek to do what he does best, yes ground into an inning ending double play.

But the Red Sox captain would redeem himself three innings later. After a lead off singled by Moss in the eighth, Varitek drove in the rookie with a double of his own. Unfortunately, David Ortiz grounded into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded.

Although his line score says differently, Buchholz’s seventh outing of the season was not as smooth as his sixth but he was able to “minimize the damage.” Three times in the 5.1 innings he pitched, the 23-year-old allowed the lead off hitter to reach base (second, third and sixth). His best inning came in the third when he gave up a base hit to Akinori Iwamura and walked Crawford but struck out the next three Rays batters to end the inning.

Josh Beckett will take the mound in game two of the three game weekend series with Tampa Bay in what will be a re-match of last weekend’s final game, where the Rays won the game 3-0. If you recall, the Red Sox Ace pitched seven complete innings allowing two runs – one earned – on four hits while striking out a career single-game high, 13 Rays batters. Against Tampa Bay, Beckett started six games, earning a decision in all games he is 3-3 against the Rays with a 3.72 ERA with 51 strike outs in 38.2 innings.

He will be opposed by the right-handed James Shields who has filled the void of Tampa Bay Ace quite nicely with his 3-1 record, 2.54 ERA and 28 strike outs. Against Boston, in his last time out he threw his first complete game of his career allowing just two hits while striking out seven Sox batters. Against Boston in his career, Shields is 1-2 with a 3.26ERA and 31 strike outs in 30.1 innings.

WIN: Clay Buchholz (2-2)

LOSS: Edwin Jackson (2-3)

--

Game Notes:

B.J. Upton is out of tonight’s line up for the Rays due to a left shoulder strain. The injury occurred in Tampa Bay’s 4-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday and forced him to exit the game in the middle of the fifth inning. This injury is not new to Upton, he suffered a similar injury on August 17, 2006. Upton gave Rays fans (yes there are Rays fans) optimism saying “this is the best its felt right after, so we shouldn’t think much of it.” Knowing this manager Joe Maddon does not expect his starting center fielder to miss the remainder of the series against the Sox.

Brandon Moss makes his third consecutive start in right field for the injured J.D. Drew. Drew is still being bothered by tightness in his left quadriceps. But Jacoby Ellsbury’s groin injury is apparently feeling better or maybe he just saw Coco Crisp playing halfway decent and thought “oh my god I have to get back in the line or I’m going to lose the job.”

The start of the game was delayed two and a half hours because of rain.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

1. Dustin Pedroia, BOSTON --- 3-5 Double, 3 RBIs

2. Brandon Moss, BOSTON --- 2-4 Homerun, RBI, Two-runs scored

3. Carl Crawford, TAMPA BAY --- 2-4 Double, RBI