RED SOX- Awesome 4th of July Fenway pregame ceremonies notwithstanding, it goes without saying that the last couple of days have been pretty unkind to the Olde Towne team. Although they were able to take two out of three from the Blue Jays, there were concerns as far as injuries and performance of some of the starters went.
The series opener on the 4th of July featured a surprise on-field reunion between US Navy petty officer Bridget Lydon and her family from Quincy, MA before the game got underway with visitors from up north rather rudely roughing up starter John Lackey.
Lackey gave up 7 runs on nine hits and a walk before getting the hook and replaced with Dan Wheeler with one away in the 3rd. Although Boston would come right back and make a game of it, their late rally went by the wayside in the bottom of the 9th and the Jays went on to win by a 9-7 final.
Tuesday's game was a slightly different story with nowhere near the offensive output. Jon Lester was dealing, allowing no hits in four innings of work, but he left the game in the 4th inning with back problems.
Nonetheless, the Sox bullpen kept it a 3-0 game until the bottom of the 9th when Jays slugger Jose Bautista belted a 2-run homer off a struggling Papelbon to make it a 1-run game. The game ended when Jays DH Edwin Encarnacion was thrown out at home by Sox LF Darnell McDonald on a disputed call.
Thursday's rubber game would feature Tim Wakefield starting out in search of career win #198. Although the Jays would get out to the early lead, Boston would break the game open against Ricky Romero in the bottom of the 4th with RBI doubles from PawSox call-up Yamaico Navarro and Jacoby Ellsbury as well as an RBI single from Darnell McDonald to make it a 6-3 Boston lead.
Papelbon would scuffle some in the top of the 9th, but he was eventually able to get the 3rd out and preserve the Red Sox win by a final of 6-4 to win the rubber game in the 3-game series against Toronto.
The win comes without the bat or glove of 1B Adrian Gonzalez, who Francona decided to give the day off.
The homestand continues with the Baltimore Orioles coming to town to kick off a 4-game series. Jake Arrieta (9-5; 4.74 ERA) gets the start for the O's while Andy Miller (2-0; 3.06 ERA) takes to the mound for the Sox. Game gets underway at 7:10 ET.
OTHER SOX NEWS: The Red Sox have sent OF Mike Cameron to the Florida Marlins for cash and a player to be named later on Monday. The 38 year old outfielder had 3 home runs, 9 RBI's and a .149 batting average with Boston this year.
POLL RESULTS: A few weeks ago, I put up a poll wondering who's behavior you thought was more self-destructive, Former Congressman Anthy Weiner's or the rioting Vancouver Canucks fans. Much to my surprise, the near unanimous verdict was that the married congressman tweeting pictures of his junk was more self-destructive than extensively looting and setting fires in the downtown area of a major metropolitan area.
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