Projo Sox Blog

McDonald has a pair of pieces on the Red Sox' rookie shortstop today, the first in the context of a crucial 6-5, 11-inning win over the Blue Jays and the second a more detailed look at yesterday's heroics, in which he delivered the game-winning run with an 11th-inning homer (above right, being congratulated by Jason Varitek at home plate). With Julio Lugo down and out (projo.com) -- for quite a while, and perhaps even the rest of the year -- it's easy to see why Lowrie is on SI.com's John Donovan's list of late-season saviors.

He wasn't the only hero; the Globe's Nick Cafardo gives props to the bullpen, which nailed it down with five shutout innings. It all enabled the Sox to win two out of three at the Rogers Centre; the victory came on the heels of Friday night's 8-4 win and Saturday afternoon's surprising 11-0 defeat, surprising because the heretofore ace-like Jon Lester served up his worst stinkbomb of the year. And don't look now, but the Sox -- declared to be road kill as little as a month ago (yes, yes, guilty) -- have won 11 of their last 16 away from Fenway and are 4-0-1 in their last five road series. For as bad as things are looking in the trainers' room (more in a moment), they're beginning to look up on the field . . . or haven't you noticed that they're 14-7 since trading Manny Ramirez?

So you can understand, if not totally agree, with David Ortiz' surprising declaration Saturday that "at the end of the year, we'll take another ring for us." (Boston Herald)

Let's not go overboard there, Papi. There are still issues with this team, starting with . . .

ISSUE NUMBER ONE: As McDonald first reported last week, elbow problems are at the root of the numbness Josh Beckett is feeling in his fingers. Joe Haggerty, on his Hacks With Haggs blog, takes a detailed look at a condition called "ulnar nerve entrapment," which may be the specific condition Beckett is suffering from.

DISABLING: It's looking more and more like a DL stint is in J.D. Drew's future. McDonald has the details.

GOTTA STOP 'EM: And beyond the injuries, Baseball Musings' David Pinto wonders if the Sox are "allowing too many [runs] to keep pace with the Twins and the White Sox."

PASSING THE TEST: Earlier this year, Terry Francona told Jacoby Ellsbury he had to learn to play through pain. McDonald says Ellsbury did just that yesterday (right).

HALF-BAKED OR BEYOND? The blog Half-Baked Ravings, writing on FoxSports.com, thinks the Sox may have ruined Clay Buchholz. But despite his 2008 struggles, the blog Beyond The Box Score thinks "Buchholz' long-term prognosis remains excellent."

ARE THOSE WAR DRUMS I HEAR? The Sox' announcement that they're opening a branch of the Fenway Sports Group in San Diego has ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra wondering if small-market teams might eventually insist that this type of income -- which right now sits outside baseball's jurisdiction -- be included in the calculations for revenue sharing.

CONGRATULATIONS: Even though they lost Saturday night, the PawSox still clinched an International League playoff berth. (projo.com)

CHANCE OF A LIFETIME: How often, asks the Boston Herald's John Tomase, do the Red Sox have the opportunity to bury the Yankees in August? Well, he says, this week's three games at Yankee Stadium is opportunity knocking, even if the Sox won't admit it.

YANKS ARE WILD: With Mike Mussina verbalizing what many in Yankee Universe are unwilling to say publicly -- mainly, that the Yanks' only legitimate postseason chance is the wild card (New York Post) -- these next three games with the Red Sox may be the biggest of the season for New York. That being the case, they're happy to be going into them with a little momentum. Their 8-7 win yesterday completed a three-game sweep of the Orioles (New York Daily News) and leaves the Yankees five games behind the Sox in the wild-card chase. That they considered a win yesterday to be crucial is evidenced by the fact they called on Mariano Rivera for his second four-out save in three days. (New York Daily News)

WHEN GIRARDI GETS THE BILL BELICHICK SCHTICK DOWN PAT, HE'LL SAY MARTE IS DAY-TO-DAY: Peter Abraham reports that as Joe Girardi was telling the assembled media Damaso Marte was "fine . . . [physically] he's OK," Marte -- his "left elbow . . . wrapped in enough ice to chill three cases of beer" -- was telling them: "For the last week I've had inflammation in my elbow. That has been bothering me. They gave me some days off." (LoHud Yankees Blog)

DON'T GET EXCITED: Carl Pavano won his 2008 Yankee debut Saturday night, but Newsday's Jim Baumbach says the Yanks, or their fans, are just setting themselves up for disappointment if they expect much of anything out of 'ol American Idle.

FOUR TO COOPERSTOWN: Mike Mussina is four wins away from 20, and if he hits that magic number -- it'll be a first for him if he does -- most people think he'll have punched his ticket to the Hall of Fame. ESPN's Jonah Keri says Moose is a Hall of Famer, but not because he may become a 20-game winner this year.

SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO: FoxSports.com's Randy Hill thinks a postseason without the Red Sox and Yankees would be refreshing. I'm sure the folks in Fox Television's ratings department don't think so . . .

REWIND: Joe Maddon was in the Angels' dugout as a coach when A.J. Pierzynski took advantage of a controversial call by umpire Doug Eddings and wound up scoring the winning run in Game Two of the ALCS, a victory that sparked the White Sox to both the A.L. pennant and possibly the World Series championship. It remains to be seen if history repeats itself, but Pierzynski did it again yesterday -- taking advantage of a controversial call by Eddings (above left) to eventually score the winning run and beat Maddon's team. (Tampa Tribune) This time, though, Maddon's team is the Tampa Bay Rays and loss sliced their lead over the Red Sox in the A.L. East to 4 1/2 games. Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times relates the umpires' explanation of the call, and the Tampa Tribune's Marc Lancaster reports Maddon -- who went ballistic on Jerry Meals last week -- was more muted this time, other than to say he thought the umpires got it wrong. (So did the bloggers, if Outs Per Swing and South Side Sox are any indication.) In any case, it all obscured the fact that the Rays literally had the victory -- and a weekend sweep -- in their hands, but backup catcher Shawn Riggans dropped a throw at the plate that would have nailed Brian Anderson by about 10 feet for the final out in the ninth and given Tampa Bay a 4-3 win. (St. Petersburg Times)

Even so, the Rays won two of three against the White Sox and went 4-2 during Challenge Week; they also Meat Loaf'd (to use a Maddon phrase) the Angels prior to heading to Chicago. And they sit this morning in the same place -- 4 1/2 games to the good -- as they did a week ago.

EVER VIGILANT: The St. Petersburg Times' Marc Topkin lists five things for the Rays to watch between now the end of the season.

MAN THE LIFEBOATS: Bill Madden of the New York Daily News says "The Good Ship Met" is beginning to spring leaks at the most inopportune time. Yahoo! Sports' Gordon Edes says the Mets are fighting the memories of last year's collapse as well as the Phillies and Marlins in this year's race.

NOW THAT'S A TEAM PLAYER: The Mets won 31 of their first 46 games since Luis Castillo left the lineup, so he asked the team to keep him on the disabled list rather than mess with the chemistry they'd built without him.

HOW ABOUT A PITCH-COUNT REPLAY? Umpire Jerry Layne lost track of the balls and strikes and didn't let the Dodgers' Andre Ethier go to first base until Joe Blanton had thrown him five balls last night. (mlb.com)

NO PROBLEM: Bobby Thigpen was pretty abrupt about it the last time he was approached by a reporter about the imminent breaking of his all-time saves record, but now he tells the Chicago Tribune's Bob Verdi he's okay with Francisco Rodriguez passing him in the record books.

WHY ELSE? The Dodgers' Casey Blake thinks his new team will make a big play for his old Indians teammate, CC Sabathia, this offseason, and that Sabathia -- 7-0 with the Brewers -- should stay in the National League. Why? "Just because he rakes" in the N.L., according to Blake. (Los Angeles Times)

A.L. RACES: The Twins fell into second place (by a half-game) in the Central and now trail the Red Sox by a game in the wild card as they allowed three runs in the bottom of the eighth and lost to the Angels, 5-3. (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

N.L. RACES: The Mets' lead in the East is down to a half-game as they lost to the Astros in 10 innings (New York Daily News) while Philadelphia, which escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the 10th, beat the Dodgers in 11. (Philadelphia Inquirer) The Marlins, meanwhile, gained ground on New York for the first time since Aug. 12 by beating the Diamondbacks (Miami Herald), cutting their deficit to five . . . In the Central, the Cubs -- sparked by Rich Harden's fifth double-digit strikeout game with Chicago -- beat the Nationals (Chicago Tribune) and maintained their 4 1/2-game lead over the Brewers, who beat the Pirates in 12. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Milwaukee's wild-card lead over St. Louis is still 3 1/2 as the Cardinals beat the Braves (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . With both the Diamondbacks and Dodgers losing, Arizona's lead in the West remains at three games.

LOCAL BOYS: Rocco Baldelli sat down for five quick questions from Topkin. One thing, Rocco: The original Law and Order is Michael Moriarity and Chris Noth, not Sam Waterston and Jerry Orbach.

HERE AND THERE: The Reds' Johnny Cueto had to leave his start in the third inning yesterday because of elbow pain (Dayton Daily News) . . . The Cubs' Derrek Lee says the back problem that kept him out of Sunday's game is no big deal (Chicago Sun-Times) . . . The Mets may shut down the ailing John Maine (New York Post) . . . Daniel Cabrera's dismal showing against the Yankees, his diminished velocity, and his refusal to directly answer questions about his health has people wondering if he's hurting (Washington Post) . . . Andruw Jones played first base Saturday night during a rehab appearance in Las Vegas. (Los Angeles Times)

OLD FRIENDS: Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says Guillermo Mota has turned his season around . . . Brandon Lyon has a 14.21 ERA in August. (Baseball Musings)

AND FINALLY . . . Best wishes to the Bergen Record's Bob Klapisch, who writes movingly about a serious eye injury he suffered in an amateur baseball game last month.

-- ART MARTONE