Projo Sox Blog

-- Even though they spent last week putting up slow-pitch softball numbers against the Rangers, Steven Krasner warned us Saturday morning that offense could be a problem for the Red Sox moving forward. Weekend result: Five runs in two games against real pitchers, not a single one of which was scored when the team wasn't trailing by at least four.

-- The Sox were counting on Josh Beckett's resurrection, which seemed so real not so long ago, to continue yesterday afternoon. Weekend result: Eight runs allowed and the hook from Terry Francona (above) after 2 1/3 innings. Krasner raises the possibility of an injury in his Inside The Game feature, but adds that, in any case, "[Beckett's] pitches all too often have no snap." As for Beckett himself, he was pretty somber when it was all over. (Boston Globe)

-- Fresh off a three-game sweep that raised their home record to 43-16, the Sox were hoping that a weekend with the Blue Jays would help a) put some distance between themselves and their pursuers in the wild-card race and b) close the gap in the A.L. East chase. Weekend result: They're now 4 1/2 behind the Rays in the division and are tied in the loss column with the White Sox and Twins in the wild-card hunt.

Reality check, indeed.

It's all the result of back-to-back losses to Toronto. Joe McDonald has the details of Saturday night's 4-1 defeat, in which Roy Halladay outdueled Paul Byrd in Byrd's Boston debut -- though Krasner was encouraged by Byrd's performance -- and Paul Kenyon relates yesterday's 15-4 shelling, in which Beckett, and just about every other Boston pitcher who had the misfortune of being called upon, was hit and hit hard.

You know the old saying: You're never as good as you look when you're winning or as bad as you look when you're losing. Something to have kept in mind last Friday, when the skies couldn't have been clearer, and something to keep in mind today.

HE WROTE THIS BEFORE THE WEEKEND: Curt Schilling visited Fenway Park Friday and pronounced that the team looked "fantastic . . . the change inside that clubhouse [now that Manny Ramirez is gone] is palpable and tangible . . . [and] if this team stays healthy I'd have trouble seeing someone stop them come October." He also said he's leaning more and more towards retirement. (38pitches.com)

UP AND DOWN: J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis are in the top 12, and Jason Varitek's in the bottom five, in Baseball Analysts' examination of the best and worst hitters in each league.

UP: Joe Haggerty, on his Hacks With Haggs blog, takes a closer look at Youkilis.

AND DOWN: Chad Finn, meanwhile, says he's now convinced: Varitek "is finished as a productive major league hitter. Finished. It's over." The Herald's Steve Buckley says the Sox should look into the possibility of adding a third catcher down the stretch since they'll need to hit for Varitek in crucial spots in important September situations.

You might want to withhold final judgment, boys, since I'm sure Scott Boras will be sending out glossy brochures this winter that make 'Tek look like a cross between Johnny Bench, Roy Campanella. Mickey Cochrane and Yogi Berra. (And, it will assure you, he's an absolute steal for any team at a mere $12 million a year for four years!)

BACK TO NORMAL: Now that Tim Wakefield's on the disabled list, Kevin Cash will become a more traditional backup catcher. (projo.com) Rather than work once every five days, he'll spell Varitek in day games after night games, give him a rest against a pitcher who's particularly tough against him, etc.

SECOND CHOICE: The blog The Fantasy Baseball Generals doesn't think either one of them belongs, but if they had to choose one they'd take Jim Edmonds over Jim Rice for the Hall of Fame.

CHOICE SELECTION: The Sox this weekend honored one of their former managers who's already made it to the Hall: Dick Williams (shown at right shaking hands with Terry Francona). Buckley talks to the legendary skipper, who freely admits that, because of his hard-nosed style, he wouldn't last a day as a manager now.

THE PAIN, THE PAIN: Jonathan Papelbon is battling migraines again (Boston Globe) and Jacoby Ellsbury is trying to play through a bruised tailbone. (Boston Herald)

A LITTLE RELIEF: Clay Buchholz got in some work during yesterday's blowout and the Sox think it will help heading into his next start. (projo.com)

THE LEGEND GROWS: Haggerty has a collection of fascinating, and hilarious, stories about Dustin Pedroia as told by his teammates.

LOCAL BOY MAKES GOOD: It went right to the deadline, but Portsmouth's Ryan Westmoreland signed with the Red Sox Friday night, agreeing to a five-year, $2 million deal. McDonald talks to Westmoreland about the fulfilliment of a lifelong dream: Getting to play for the hometown team.

HEY, BIG SPENDER: Baseball America's Jim Callis says the Red Sox may be the first team to spend over $10 million on a single year's draft.

TRIP OF DELIGHT: It was supposed to be their first big pennant-race test: A 10-game road trip while sitting atop the A.L. East standings. Well, they passed; the Rays beat the Rangers last night, 7-4 (Tampa Tribune), to complete the journey with a 7-3 record . . . and they actually gained ground on the Red Sox, increasing their lead from three games to 4 1/2. But now, writes the St. Petersburg Times' Marc Topkin, they begin a stretch in which they play 22 of their final 39 games against postseason contenders, starting tonight with a series against the Angels at The Trop. Since that series is followed by a trip to Chicago, the blog DRays Bay is calling it "perhaps the most difficult week the Rays will see thus far."

STORM CLOUDS BREWING: And if that's not enough, the Angels-Rays series may be impacted by Tropical Storm Fay. (St. Petersburg Times)

MAN OF RESPECT: I remember the Diamondbacks doing it to Barry Bonds on my birthday 10 years ago; in fact, I happened to be up that night and saw it happen. And last night Josh Hamilton joined the tiny pantheon of hitters who've been intentionally walked with the bases loaded when the Rays chose that strategy in the bottom of the ninth inning. (Dallas Morning News) They were ahead 7-3 and Hamilton represented the tying run, so they put him on, making the score 7-4, and took their chances with Marlon Byrd. And it worked, as Warwick's Dan Wheeler struck out Byrd to end the game.

(Baseball Musings' David Pinto says Jim Rice also was once walked intentionally with the bases loaded, but I don't remember that at all. Does anyone?)

MR. LEFT HAND, MEET MR. RIGHT HAND: Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris, is once more singing those collusion/blackball blues after the Rays -- whacked by injuries to Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria -- didn't even respond to his inquiries to see if they'd be interested. But FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says Bonds' criminal attorneys are discouraging the union from filing collusion charges because they "are reluctant to draw further attention to their client while he awaits trial for allegedly lying to a grand jury when he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs."

YOU FIGHT A BULLY WITH A BULLY: CBSSportsline.com's Gregg Doyel says the Rays should sign Bonds "because they are competing with the Red Sox and Yankees, two teams bloated on financial HGH, two monsters who treat baseball like a stupid seventh-grader treats a kindergarten playground -- by twisting arms and bloodying noses and thinking he's done something special."

ROYAL MIRAGE: You'd think people would be happy after a 15-6 win (New York Daily News), but the Daily News' Vic Ziegel calls the Yankees' beatdown of Kansas City "like hitting the lottery for $5. How many rounds can you buy?" But there's help on the way, in the persons of Hideki Matsui and either Phil Hughes or Carl Pavano. (New York Post) Since Hughes got lit up yesterday in his rehab start (LoHud Yankees Blog), Pavano may be getting the call and Peter Abraham, for one, can't wait to see 'ol American Idle back in the Bronx: "Nothing has gone according to plan this season, so perhaps Pavano will go 6-0 down the stretch and pitch them into the playoffs."

IT'S ON US: Alex Rodriguez, however, thinks the Yanks' playoff chances rest on the shoulders of himself and the other Yankee stars. (New York Daily News)

GETTING CLOSER: Mike Mussina now has 16 wins and is closing in on the first 20-victory season of his career. (New York Daily News)

COULD IT BE . . . that the Yankees and Derek Jeter will part ways when his contract expires at the end of the 2010 season? The New York Post's Joel Sherman says it's a possibility.

HOLD ON: Now we're told Billy Wagner is still hurting -- elbow, this time -- and won't be activated today, after all. (Newsday) So the Mets went out and got Luis Ayala from the Nationals to bolster their bullpen. (espn.com)

WHOA, CANADA: The Canadian Olympic baseball team wasn't thrilled when the Blue Jays called up one of Canada's top pitchers, Scott Richmond, prior to the Olympics, preventing him from competing in Beijing. They're even less thrilled that the Jays sent him to the minors last week, reasoning that if they were going to do that they should have let him go to China. (Toronto Sun)

BYE, BYE BURNETT? It's looking more and more like this will be A.J. Burnett's last season in Toronto. (Toronto Sun)

THE GRINCH: Jeff Kent -- grouchy in the best of times -- is getting downright irritable over people crediting the acquisition of Manny Ramirez for his offensive upswing. Now he's taking aim at the venerable Vin Scully for making such a suggestion. (Los Angeles Times)

THE $100 MILLION PROMISE: Speaking of Ramirez, Peter Gammons -- during his weekly Boston ESPN Radio gig, as transcribed by Haggerty -- says Scott Boras "planted the idea of [a] $100 million [contract if Ramirez became a free agent at the end of the year] . . . [and after that] it was really impossible for Manny to go back." Adds Peter: "Frankly I have a problem with that. It's like with John Lackey, who has a $9.5 million team option for next year. John Lackey would go out and be one of the top half-dozen pitchers out on the open market and he could go out and get $15 million a year for at least five years. He could sit down and say he's hurt or he's not going to pitch and say he won't pitch until the team says, 'Okay, we'll give it to you and let you be a free agent.' That would be the same thing that Manny did."

The kicker: Gammons openly wonders if Ramirez won't dump Boras before he becomes a free agent and sign with his old representative, Gene Mato, who recently was hired by the Beverly Hills Sports Council after promising them he'd deliver Ramirez by the end of the year. That being the case, of course, it would be Mato -- and not Boras -- collecting the agents' fee.

CHECKBOOKS AT THE READY: Several Marlins are in line for big raises this offseason, so the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson thinks a fire sale could be coming if the team wants to maintain its payroll in the $22 million neighborhood.

NOT THIS TIME: Jim Leyland has a history of bailing out of situations that turn sour -- he did so in Pittsburgh, Florida and Colorado -- but he says he's in for the duration with the Tigers. (Detroit News)

HERE AND THERE: The Cardinals, as it turned out, didn't put it in a waiver claim for Jarrod Washburn last week (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . Edinson Volquez continues to make the Hamilton trade look somewhat reasonable as he won his 15th game yesterday (mlb.com) . . . Tom Glavine is headed for surgery and says he'll retire if he needs a ligament transplant (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Ian Kinsler injured his groin last night and may be sidelined for a bit (Dallas Morning News) . . . The Dodgers think Brad Penny could return as a reliever this year. (Los Angeles Daily News)

OLD FRIENDS: The Padres sent Cla Meredith to the minor leagues (San Diego Union-Tribune) . . . Brandon Moss hurt his left ankle yesterday, though it doesn't appear to be serious enough to land him on the disabled list (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Jorge de la Rosa is back in the Rockies' starting rotation (Rocky Mountain News) . . . The Tigers placed closer Todd Jones, who has soreness in his right shoulder, on the disabled list (Detroit News) . . . Ron Mahay returned to action Friday, but now his foot hurts again (Kansas City Star) . . . Keith Foulke hasn't pitched for a week in Sacramento because of shoulder soreness, but an MRI showed no structural damage. (San Francisco Chronicle)

AND FINALLY . . . Pinto wasn't surprised at the news of Jason Varitek's impending divorce.

-- ART MARTONE