Projo Sox Blog

AP photo / Ron Schwane

DUELING ACES: In a game that turned on a single play, the Red Sox picked up their fifth consecutive victory last night, beating the Cleveland Indians, 1-0, despite a dominant performance by Indians starter C.C. Sabathia. Boston starter Daisuke Matsuzaka wasn't as much in control of Sabathia, but he had enough to keep the Indians off the scoreboard through seven innings, stranding eight baserunners along the way. Then it was the usual excellent relief work by Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon. The goat of the evening was Cleveland's Ben Francisco, who misjudged Mike Lowell's lazy fly ball, allowing what should have been the third out of the fourth inning to drop for an RBI single. Francisco failed to atone for his mistake in the ninth inning, when he struck out to end the game.

BACK FROM THE DEAD: That might seem like a good description for Manny Delcarmen's season. Delcarmen, who struggled mightily as the Red Sox fell out of contention last season, started poorly in Pawtucket. Then came a tongue-lashing from PawSox manager Ron Johnson, which Joe McDonald describes in detail today, and it has all turned around. The other pitcher on the receiving end of that talking-to from Johnson, fellow reliever Craig Hansen, continues to search for consistency, although he has been better in the past month -- a period in which Hansen has struck out 20 batters in 15 innings pitched.

TWICE THE HERO: Speaking of the PawSox, Brandon Moss was the hero for the second night in a row. Monday night at McCoy, Moss hit an RBI single in the 10th inning to score Joe McEwing with the game-winner against Louisville. Then last night, in Toledo, he hit an RBI triple in the ninth, breaking a tie as Pawtucket won, 3-2. Moss is hitting .343 over his last 10 games.

THANK YOU JON: Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated says the Jon Lester story is just what sports fans need in this week of lurid news about Michael Vick, Barry Bonds and Tim Donaghy.

GAUGING THE MARKET: Sean McAdam says it's likely that Wily Mo Pena will be wearing someone else's uniform by this time next week. He also thinks that now may be the time to trade Kason Gabbard, while the young lefty's stock is high. Nick Cafardo of The Globe says that if you took a poll of the players, they would prefer that the Red Sox do nothing before the trade deadline. Rob Bradford's account of the postgame scene last night in the Red Sox clubhouse would suggest the same thing (Boston Herald).

TRADING IN SECRETS: Bradford also quotes Jonathan Papelbon today as saying that displaying the radar-gun readings at games gives hitters an unfair advantage.

NOW, THE REAL NEWS: The Globe has a profile today of LMontro (born Angel Lucas Pena), the unofficial Red Sox team barber. You may remember him from Tina Cervasio's hotel-room interview on NESN with Manny Ramirez earlier this year. "Each of these guys is like a character, and each one has their thing -- Papi's beard, [Dustin] Pedroia's sideburns, [Mike] Lowell's little mustache," LMontro tells The Globe. "The Yankees are all shaved and boring."

SPEAKING OF WHICH: This has been a good time for the Red Sox to get hot, because the Yankees continue to pound away at the plate and roll up wins. Last night, they jumped out to a 7-0 lead off Kansas City starter Scott Elarton (who now sports a 10.46 E.R.A.) and kept it in cruise control for a 9-4 win over Kansas City. Johnny Damon said after the game that if the Yanks keep hitting this way, they're playoff-bound (N.Y. Post). New York is certainly in a win-win situation right now, because even if they have failed to gain any ground the last two nights on the Red Sox, they have managed to trim Cleveland's wild-card lead to four and a half games.

STANDING PAT? After a meeting of the brass in Tampa, the Yanks appear in no hurry to rock the boat before the trade deadline. But one new face you might see is Joba Chamberlain's. The 21-year-old pitcher has just been promoted to Scranton/Wilkes Barre, and indications are he might be Bronx-bound before the end of the year (both N.Y. Daily News).

FROM A-ROD, WITH LOVE: Alex Rodriguez credits his mother for his work ethic and accomplishments (N.Y. Post).

THE RIGHT THING? Bud Selig isn't winning too many plaudits with his decision to attempt to be there when Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's home-run record, but Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports believes Selig made the right decision. Rosenthal adds that Selig's public statement announcing his decision struck the correct balance: "By appearing to adopt the stance favored by Bonds supporters — he never tested positive, never was proven to have used performance-enhancing drugs — Selig achieved his true intended purpose, which was to point out that we might be looking at, well, a fraud."

THE DRUMBEAT GOES ON: A chemist who worked for Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative tells HBO that Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield both used drugs given to them by BALCO (N.Y. Times). The chemist, Patrick Arnold, is credited with creating "the clear," a previously undetectable steroid that BALCO supplied to athletes.

SPREADING THE PAIN: It's been tough for the Angels to watch Ervin Santana's struggles this season (the promising pitcher was recently demoted to AAA), and now, according to one account, Santana's failure to right himself may have cost the Angels the chance of acquiring Mark Teixeira (L.A. Times).

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: The night after he announced plans to retire, Craig Biggio hit a grand-slam home run to lead the Astros past the Dodgers (projo stats).

A SAFETY MOVE: Colorado Rockies first-base coach Glenallen Hill has decided to wear a batting helmet on the job, a reaction to the death of minor-league coach Mike Coolbaugh after Coolbaugh was hit by a foul ball (projo stats).

END OF THE UNIT? Randy Johnson last night acknowledged the possibility that his career may be over. (projo stats)

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