After dropping the final game of the 3-game series at Arlington, TX last weekend, the Sox went back to Fenway and played host to the visiting Angels, winning 2 out of 3 games before facing the always-troublesome Toronto Blue Jays.
Let's just say that Friday night's 16-2 ass kicking at the hands (and bats) of the Blue Jays was not how a team trying to chase down two division opponents for a playoff berth wasn't an ideal start.
Saturday's game would go a little better for Boston, but it would need to be decided in extras. Tonight's game pitted Daisuke Matsuzaka against Ricky Romero and Victor Martinez got the scoring started in the bottom of the 3rd when he had a 2-RBI single that plated Darnell McDonald and Marco Scutaro.
In the top of the 4th, John McDonald had an RBI double that plated Aaron Hill. Lyle Overbay triding scoring from 2nd, but was tagged out at the plate after a collision with Victor Martinez to make it 2-1 Boston.
Martinez would bring in a third run in the bottom of the 5th after Scutaro and JD Drew got on base with back to back singles w/one away. After Big Papi struck out, Adrian Beltre would bring home JD Drew on an RBI single before Mike Lowell struck out.
Boston's 4-1 lead was short lived, though, as Jose Bautista led off with a single and Vernon Wells doubled immediately afterwards, with C John Buck hitting a sac-fly deep enough to plate Bautista from 3rd. After getting Aaron Hill to pop out, Overbay belted a homer to deep right to make it a 4-4 game.
The score would remain deadlocked until extras, with Bard and Papelbon coming out of the pen after Dice-K's 8 innings of work. With Casey Jansen on the mound for Toronto in the bottom of the 11th, Jed Lowrie hit a 2-2 offering into the stands in deep right-center field for the solo shot and walkoff 5-4 win.
The rubber game is set to take place tomorrow, with Toronto's Shaun Marcum (11-6; 3.69 ERA) going up against Clay Buchholz (14-5; 2.36 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 PM Easter, 10:35 AM Pacific.
OTHER SOX (DL) NEWS: Well...that didn't take long. If you had a feeling Pedroia might've been brought back up off the DL too quickly, you're probably right. The Boston 2B started in all of two games this week before going back on the DL. No timetable has been set for his estimated return.
There was a Jason Varitek sighting as well, as the team Captain was taking early BP with the team on Saturday night. Terry Francona said that the team, doctors and Varitek had a conference call earlier and came to the conclusion that while his broken foot from July 1 is healing nicely, 'Tek still isn't ready to come back yet.
Trade deadline acquisition Jarrod Saltalamacchia remains hospitalized with some sort of infection. Saltalamacchia was placed on the DL with some sort of infection in his lower right leg on Thursday and hospitalized. Francona reported that the infection is alot more localized and that doctors are still awaiting the results of some blood tests done earlier.
Hideki Okajima, who was on the 15-day DL earlier this month with a strained hamstring, gave up a hit in a scoreless inning of relief against the Buffalo Bisons at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo, NY on Saturday afternoon.
Also down in Pawtucket, 1B Carlos Delgado went on the 7-day disabled list this week due to soreness in his left hip (his surgically repaired right hip hasn't been a problem so far, according to the team).
Catcher Kevin Cash was also sent down to Pawtucket for a rehab assignment after a hamstring problem. Instead of travelling with the team to Allentown, PA or Buffalo and Rochester, NY, it was decided to send Cash to single A Lowell of the New York-Penn league to continue rehabbing.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB: New York Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez was placed on the 15-day DL with a left calf strain Saturday.
A Federal grand jury indicted Roger Clemens on perjury charges for allegedly giving false testimony to Congress about his use of steroids and HGH. A 6 count grand jury indictment claims that Clemens instructed a Congressional inquiry with 15 statements that were part of his testimony while under oath.
NFL Pre-Season: Pats beat Atlanta 28-10 on Thursday night. Wake me when the games count in the standings. I'm not paying attention to the contract melodrama surrounding Tom Brady at the moment either since I'm starting to think most of it is sound anf fury signifying nothing for the yammering heads on ESPN to prattle on about for some 20 minutes every weekday.
ESPN: Speaking of which, ESPN 'personality' and AOL columnist Jay Mariotti was arrested in Los Angeles after officers responded to a 'domestic incident'. Mariotti was booked on an undiclosed felony charge and released on $50,000 bond early Saturday morning.
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