Projo Sox Blog

Sean McAdam lays out what they are and what the Sox have to do for the rest of the week to attain them. All of it involves long-term thinking over short-term gains, which is why last night had a last-week-in-March-in-Fort Myers feel to it . . . and why, undoubtedly, the remaining regular-season contests will have that same tinge.

Even so, they did manage a short-term gain last night: A 5-4 win over the Indians, recapped here by Kevin McNamara, that they pulled out with a run in the bottom of the eighth. The bad news was a shaky outing by Paul Byrd (top), who couldn't hold a 4-0 lead his teammates had built off Fausto Carmona in the first inning and thus may have jeopardized his chances for a spot in the postseason starting rotation. But in the end, it really didn't mean much of anything, because getting ready for next week is what this week is all about.

WHAT A RELIEF: And when next week comes, McNamara and Paul Kenyon report that Terry Francona will rely heavily on his bullpen, which he thinks is better than the one he had in the 2007 postseason.

WOBBLY, BUT HAPPY: Last night marked the long-awaited return of J.D. Drew and Kenyon says Drew thinks it went "pretty well." He was 1-for-2, and made an error, in his three-inning appearance.

STILL OUT: Remaining on the sidelines was Mike Lowell, and now Francona is starting to sound like Lowell may not get back before the end of the regular season. (projo.com)

LOOKING FORWARD TO IT: Mark Kotsay made the playoffs in 2006 with Oakland and he's happy to be returning. (projo.com)

THE KEY TO THE POSTSEASON: WEEI.com's Alex Speier reports it may be Kevin Youkilis . . . and provides some numbers that tell us why.

HOW ABOUT THESE NUMBERS? The Boston Herald's Steve Buckley rolls out some for Dustin Pedroia that will make your head spin.

BACK IN FORM: Lost in the postgame celebration Tuesday night was the fact that Jonathan Papelbon looked as dominating as he has in an awfully long time; he hit 97 on the radar gun as he escaped a bases-loaded jam with one pitch in the eighth, then went strikeout-strikeout-popup in the ninth. The Boston Globe's Tony Massarotti says the Red Sox noticed it, too and wonders if Papelbon isn't someone who turns it up when the spotlight gets brighter.

STOLEN-BASE KING: The Herald's John Tomase notes Papelbon added a new element -- the stolen base -- to his package on Tuesday night.

CLOSE TO HOME: The Herald's Inside Track reports many of the Sox did their celebrating at Game On! and the Bleacher Bar Tuesday night, both of which are attached to Fenway.

'THE BOO-BOO TALLY': That's what Seth Mnookin is calling his examination of Red Sox and Yankee injuries this year in light of New York claims that its season was sabotaged by players heading to the disabled list. His conclusion: You can make a legitimate case that the Sox had more crucial injuries than the Yanks -- and even if you reject that notion, at best its close -- and Boston still made the playoffs.

DEFENDING HIS NATION: The Red Sox fan who created such a stir in Tampa last week that his arrest actually stopped the game says he was merely "striking back for Red Sox Nation" for all the "hatred" from Rays fans. (St. Petersburg Times)

VIDEO ONE: Ian Bethune has a clip of Johnny Bench's interview with Heidi Watney Tuesday night on his Sox & Dawgs blog.

VIDEO TWO: And he also has a clip of a rather, ah, unique Jerry Remy call from last night.

THINK HE REMEMBERS HE PLAYED FOR BOTH OF THEM? Yahoo! Sports' Tim Brown reports Manny Ramirez -- along with ex-Indian Casey Blake -- was watching the Red Sox play Cleveland on TV prior to last night's Dodgers game.

AGE WILL BE SERVED: Tim Wakefield leads Chad Finn's "brief tribute to some ancient pitchers."

SO WILL YOUTH: Baseball Analysts takes a look at the young players on the potential American League playoff teams.

ONE AND DONE: The Rays' magic number for clinching the East is down to one after they rallied from a 6-0 deficit and beat the Orioles, 11-6. (St. Petersburg Times) But even as they stand on the cusp of history, people are looking ahead. John Romano of the Times says the Rays face some hard decisions as they formulate their playoff roster. And the Tampa Tribune's Martin Fennelly is urging Joe Maddon to make a clear-eyed, unemotional decision when it comes to choosing whether to keep the floundering Troy Percival in the closer's role in October.

HAVE YOU CALLED BRENT ABERNATHY? OR ESTEBAN YAN? Now that they're in the playoffs, the Rays have a dilemma: They don't have any former players whose accomplishments with the team make them worthy of throwing out the first ball before Game One. (Washington Post) Outs Per Swing submits its list of potential throwees. The one I like: Bill Smith, the Twins' GM, who traded Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett to Tampa Bay.

AND SPEAKING OF PLAYOFFS . . . it doesn't look as if Carl Crawford will be able to play in the ALDS. (Tampa Tribune)

IT'S SAD, SO SAD, IT'S A SAD, SAD SITUATION: Joe Torre (left, AP Photo) says he's taking no satisfaction in the Yankees' 2008 struggles, but admits he's happy he headed to the Dodgers because it proved to him that managing "can be fun again." (New York Daily News)

AND IT'S GETTING MORE AND MORE ABSURD: Don Mattingly, who followed Torre to Los Angeles, interviewed for the Yankee managerial job last year but said he realized it was a "no-win situation" because the Yanks didn't realize what they had in Torre. (New York Post)

NOW, SOON AND LATER: Now: The Yankees beat the Blue Jays last night. (New York Post) Soon: Brian Cashman's future with the organization will be decided. (Journal-American) Later: The Yankees plan to do a belly-flop into the free-agent pitching pool. (New York Post)

WE'RE NOT PLAYING: A.J. Burnett is expected to be one of the pitchers the Yankees pursue, and the Blue Jays say they won't get into a bidding war to retain him. (Toronto Globe and Mail)

END OF THE LINE? The Yankees won't start Andy Pettitte Saturday in Boston because of a bum shoulder and it's possible his days with the Yanks are over. (New York Daily News) He's blaming himself, incidentally, for the Yankees' failures, saying his poor pitching down the stretch cost the team a chance at a playoff run.

AND NOW I TELL YOU . . . Ian O'Connor, who predicted Alex Rodriguez would become a Yankee in 2003 before anyone had put the two together, thinks A-Rod will be out of New York before too much longer. (foxsports.com) "[The] fit just isn't right," writes O'Connor. "The dynamic is all out of whack."

'CURSED BY GEOGRAPHY': That's how J.P. Ricciardi feels, with his Blue Jays stuck in a division that features two heavyweights (the Red Sox and Yankees) and one of baseball's most talented up-and-coming teams (the Rays). (National Post)

A.L. RACES: The Twins won their second straight over the White Sox, this one by a 3-2 score, and now trail by only one-half game in the Central. On the Chicago side, the Tribune reports Mark Buerhle thinks the Twins and the noisy Metrodome elements might be gnawing deeper into the minds of the White Sox, which isn't a good thing since the series has one more game to run . . . The Angels' magic number for clinching the best record in the A.L. is down to three after their 6-5 win over the Mariners. (Riverside Press-Enterprise)

N.L. RACES: "There were reminders of the 1980s all over Shea Wednesday night, from Darryl Strawberry strolling around the Met clubhouse before the game to '80s tunes blaring from the ballpark's speakers on a night dedicated to that decade," writes the New York Daily News' Anthony McCarron. "Unfortunately for the Mets, however, the vibe on the field was all 2007 . . . " That's because they blew a 5-1 lead, frittered away a bases-loaded chance to go ahead in the bottom of the eighth, and wound up losing to the Cubs in 10, erasing their wild-card advantage; they're now tied with the Brewers. The Post's Joel Sherman marvels at the Mets' "ability to be playing small yet again at the most critical point of the schedule," and the Daily News' John Harper thinks "this [could be] where you'll remember the Mets blowing the playoffs" . . . They were a lot happier in Milwaukee, where CC Sabathia -- pitching for the second straight game on three days' rest -- shut down the Pirates (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) and pulled the Brewers even with New York . . . The Mets lost no ground in the East, however; the Phillies lost to the Braves (Philadelphia Inquirer) and remain 1 1/2 in front . . . The Dodgers clinched a tie for the Western Division title by blowing out the Padres (Los Angeles Times) while the Diamondbacks were losing to the Cardinals. (Arizona Republic)

GOING TO THE SOURCE: The Mets' '07 collapse conjured memories of the 1964 Pholding Phillies, so Joe Posnanski got the Phils' story from someone who'd know it best -- Bob Dutton, currently the Royals' beat writer for the Kansas City Star (and president of the BBWAA) but a heartsick 9-year-old Phillies fan in 1964. Best part of the piece: In 1965, Dutton played the entire Phillies schedule with his APBA game -- "undoubtedly [giving] his Phillies every break imaginable," thinks Joe -- and still finished 82-80. As someone who would routinely win 110-plus games with the late '60s Red Sox in Strat-O-Matic (and who has a nephew whose Patriots teams routinely finish undefeated every season in Madden), I find that unfathomable.

THE MASSIVE TIE SCENARIO . . . isn't so massive anymore, but Baseball Musings' David Pinto says the Mets, Phillies and Brewers could all wind up at 91-71, which would necessitate two days of playoffs to determine the East and wild-card winners. In the A.L., the White Sox may need to play their makeup game with the Tigers on Monday; if they're tied with the Twins after that, there'd have to be a one-game playoff for the Central title on Tuesday.

MY FRIENDS, HELPING EACH OTHER: ShysterBall's Craig Calcaterra writes it, and Rob Neyer takes the heat for it. It works for Craig.

PASSAGES: Mickey Vernon, a 20-year veteran and two-time batting champion who played for the Red Sox in 1956-57 (and hit .310/.403/.511 for them in '56, at the age of 38), has died at the age of 90. (espn.com)

HERE AND THERE: Diamondbacks third baseman Mark Reynolds tied the record for most strikeouts in a season with his 199th last night (mlb.com) . . . The Phillies' Brad Lidge says he's ready to confront his postseason demons (sportingnews.com) . . . The Nationals are on pace to set a record for lowest attendance in the first year of a new park (Biz of Baseball) . . . The Dodgers have placed Brad Penny on the 60-day disabled list and he'll miss the postseason (Los Angeles Times) . . . Todd Helton will undergo back surgery, but the Rockies say he'll be ready for spring training (Denver Post) . . . The Rockies say they don't plan to fire him, but they do say they have "a lot of issues to resolve and a lot of things to discuss" with manager Clint Hurdle. (Denver Post)

OLD FRIENDS: Ah, Julian. The unforgettable Mr. Tavarez, now pitching for the Braves, decided to chase the Phillies' Shane Victorino back to third base instead of just stepping off the rubber, which prompted a shouting match between the two (AP Photo, right) and both benches to empty . . .Todd Jones is calling it quits (sportingnews.com) . . . J.T. Snow, who last played in 2006 (with the Red Sox, incidentally), is retiring as a member of the Giants (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Ramon Vazquez earned a one-game suspension from MLB for arguing balls and strikes (rotoworld.com) . . . Brandon Moss, hoping to avoid surgery, is seeking a second opinion on his injured knee. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

AND FINALLY . . . I got to this line in this story -- "the bomb squad detonated the hot dogs" -- and laughed out loud. Leave it to the Phillie Phanatic to create real excitement before a game. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

-- ART MARTONE