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Clubhouse postgame reaction

Red Sox manager Terry Francona on Jacoby Ellsbury:

“I think that might be a little premature,” said Francona when asked if Ellsbury is becoming a power-hitter. “I’m glad he saved them up. He’s impacting every game he plays, which is not only exciting but it’s very beneficial in us winning. He’s a very exciting young player. That’s stating the obvious.”

Ellsbury on his 3-for-3 performance:

“It feels good to get off to a fast start. It builds the confidence from there.”

Ellsbury on falling a double short of cycle:

“It would have been nice. More importantly we got the win, but it would have been nice to get that fourth AB.”

Ellsbury’s home run last night came off Toronto starter Roy Halladay, one of the premiere pitchers in the majors, in the fourth inning to drive in two runs.

“He has filthy pitches,” said Ellsbury. “Tonight I was just seeing the ball really and fortunately put three good swings on them.”

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 11:10 PM | Permalink

Papelbon works three days in a row

Jonathan Papelbon on pitching three straight days:

Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon earned his 33rd save of the season last night, and for the first time this season he worked three consecutive games. Francona explained the reasoning behind not overusing Papelbon this season was to make sure the hard-throwing right-hander had gas left in the tank come the final month of the season and into the postseason.

“Tonight was huge for me,” said Papelbon. “I’ve said it all along that this is something my body needs to go through and my body needs to feel because during the stretch run there will be those opportunities where I’m going to be called on three days in a row.”

He has worked 12 2/3 scoreless innings with 10 saves and 21 strikeouts with just one hit in his last appearances.

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 11:05 PM | Permalink

Final: Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3

BOSTON -- Josh Beckett, backed by home runs from Jacoby Ellsbury and Kevin Youkilis, became the major leagues' first 17-game winner as he outdueled Roy Halliday and led the Red Sox to a 5-3 victory over the Blue Jays Tuesday night.

Beckett, whose previous high in victories was 16, worked eight innings, scattering five hits and striking out seven. The only blemish was a two-out, three-run homer by the red-hot Matt Stairs in the fifth inning, cutting the Sox' lead at the time to 4-3.

Jonathan Papelbon, pitching for the third consecutive day for the first time all season, retired Toronto in order in the ninth for his 33rd save.

Coco Crisp drove in Boston's first run when he beat out a fielder's choice grounder by a hair with two outs in the fourth inning. Ellsbury followed with a shot into the Red Sox bullpen on the very next pitch, making it 3-0.

A double by Julio Lugo and a single by Dustin Pedroia extended the lead to 4-0.

The Sox added an insurance run in the eighth on a home run into the center-field bleachers by Youkilis.

Get the box score and other details here.

Posted by Art Martone  at 9:42 PM | Permalink

Red Sox make changes in organization

The Boston Red Sox have made some organizational changes.

After the Pawtucket Red Sox concluded their season Monday at McCoy Stadium, pitching coach Mike Griffin was informed he was being reassigned in the organization, and hitting coach Mark Budaska was fired.

Red Sox vice president of player personnel Ben Cherington and the club's director of player development Mike Hazen informed Griffin and Budaska of the decisions following Pawtucket's last game of the season.

“Griff’s a loyal employee and a hard worker,” said Cherington. “He’s someone we admire.”

Cherington explained the job of a Triple-A pitching coach is a difficult one, a position with unique challenges.

“It’s a grind,” he said. “That grind was starting to get in the way of his ability to make an impact. . . It was starting to get in the way of all the good things he’s done in the past."

If Griffin decides to stay in the organization, which Red Sox management hopes he does, the club feels he’ll be getting a fresh start that will bring out his strengths again.

“Buda worked very hard,” said Cherington. “A lot of young hitters enjoyed success and made it to the major-league level [because of him] and that’s not lost on anybody. This was just a change we felt was necessary. Buda is a very qualified hitting coach.”

Cherington said the organization’s view and Budaska’s view on a couple of things “didn’t match up” and “the change was in the best interest for both.”

Griffin worked in Pawtucket for five seasons, becoming the longest-tenured pitching coach in team history. Budaska was the PawSox' hitting coach for four seasons.

“Both are good people,” said Cherington. “Not an easy decision to make and it’s news that you don’t like to deliver."

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

Tonight's lineups

TORONTO
Wells, 8
Stairs, 7
Rios, 9
Thomas, DH
Glaus, 5
Overbay, 3
Hill, 4
Zaun, 2
McDonald, 6
Halladay, SP

BOSTON
Lugo, 6
Pedroia, 4
Ortiz, DH
Lowell, 5
Drew, 9
Youkilis, 3
Varitek, 2
Crisp, 8
Ellsbury, 7
Beckett, SP

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 4:54 PM | Permalink

Baseball Today: Tuesday, September 4

GLASS IS HALF-FULL: Accentuate the positive. That's what Steven Krasner says the Red Sox were doing after last night's 13-10 win over the Blue Jays (projo.com), a game in which they squandered all but one run of a 10-1 lead in the sixth inning and in which Daisuke Matsuzaka was, again, disturbingly hittable . . . particularly in the sixth, when the Jays pushed across eight runs against Dice-K and Javier Lopez and had the tying run on third base before Manny Delcarmen recorded the final out. But, in spite of all that, there was positive to accentuate. Mike Lowell, for one; he reached the 100-RBI plateau and extended his hitting streak to 16 games, tying his career best. (projo.com) (Above, Lowell is congratulated by catcher Jason Varitek after the game. Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach.) Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, for another; they combined to go 5-for-10 with six runs scored from the 1-2 spots in the lineup and may have provided a glimpse of what Boston's future batting order will be like. (Boston Globe) And then, of course . . .

LABOR PAINS . . . there was the news out of New York. For starters, the Mariners beat the Yankees 7-1 (New York Daily News), increasing the Red Sox' lead in the A.L. East to seven games. But what also benefits the Sox is that the Yanks lost more than a game yesterday. We begin with the elbow woes of Roger Clemens (New York Post), which forced him out of yesterday's game in the fourth inning and will cause him to miss at least one start. And that means the gasping-for-air Mike Mussina moves back into the starting rotation (New York Daily News). They also lost Andy Phillips for the rest of the year because of a broken wrist suffered when he was hit by a pitch Sunday. (New York Daly News) Put it all together, says the New York Post's Joel Sherman, and ''the degree of difficulty in securing a playoff spot has risen dramatically for the Yankees''. One of the reasons, adds colleague Kevin Kernan, is that the Yanks have been an all-or-nothing-at-all team this season: ''When the Yankees are bad, they are really bad. Their pitchers give up tons of runs and their hitters disappear.''

JUST MY OPINION: Bob Klapisch thinks there was no way Joba Chamberlain was intentionally throwing at Kevin Youkilis. (Bergen Record)

ORGANIZATIONAL PHILOSOPHY: The Red Sox are also accentuating the positive at the minor-league level, as PawSox pitching coach Mike Griffin says that, contrary to accepted opinion, Craig Hansen made progress this year. (projo.com) It's true that Hansen's final statistics don't look nearly as bad as they were looking just a few weeks ago, though it wasn't enough get him a September callup -- something he was hoping for, as he admitted a few days ago. (projo.com)

RED FLAG: Some corners of Red Sox Nation -- I'd link to them, but there's that NSFW thing -- are up in arms over Eric Wilbur's declaration of surrender after last week's Yankee sweep of the Red Sox. (boston.com) But Wilbur's not alone in his thoughts. Red Sox fan Kevin Hench, writing on FoxSports.com, gives 10 reasons why the Yankees would beat the Red Sox in a postseason matchup . . . though, given events of the last 24 hours, he may want to rethink No. 8. (Rocket fueled)

MEMORIES . . . I know it's three days old now, but Clay Buchholz' no-hitter is worth another look, as is the defensive play that saved it. (Both stories projo.com) The blog Red Sox Monster has some video. ESPN.com's Rob Neyer, incidentally, was impressed . . . not so much by the no-hitter but by Buchholz himself.

A GOOD TRADE: The Sox acquired Buchholz as the compensation pick for losing Pedro Martinez, which prompted Martinez to comment, ''See, some things work out for the best.'' (Newark Star-Ledger)

WELCOME BACK: ESPN.com's Amy K. Nelson has a well-written piece on Martinez' successful return to the Mets yesterday.

THE LEADER: The Globe's Dan Shaughnessy wrote a fascinating piece on what Terry Francona's life is like as Red Sox manager; suffice to say, there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. One of the best quotes came from Theo Epstein, who praised Francona's even-keeled public persona by noting: ''[If] you don't have a couple of beacons of reason, others in the organization, players included, can lose perspective.''

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR: Curt Schilling returns to 38pitches.com and asks, ''Has there been a better time to be a Sox fan in the past 20 years?'' He also takes a few more shots at Shaughnessy.

HE'S ALSO BACK: We have a rare Kevin Youkilis blog sighting, as well, and he, too, is ready for September. (kevinyoukilis.mlblogs.com)

MISSING ACE: It looks like the Red Sox won't be facing Erik Bedard this weekend in Baltimore. (Baltimore Sun)

SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER: SI.com's John Donovan tells us why. So does ESPN.com's Jonah Keri.

'WORST TRAUMA I'VE SEEN': The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the career of Cardinal outfielder Juan Encarnacion is in jeopardy after he was struck in the eye by a foul ball while standing in the on-deck circle.

HOW DARE YOU? Carlos Zambrano was irate about being booed after he and the Cubs were routed by the Dodgers. (Chicago Tribune)

LONG TIME COMING: Scott Rolen thinks the seeds of the problem that led to his season-ending shoulder surgery were planted last September. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

QUICKLY: Even though everyone assumes this is Joe Torre's final year as Yankee manager, he thinks he might like to return (New York Daily News) . . . This could be free agent-to-be Andruw Jones' final month in Atlanta, but he says he's not thinking about it (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The injury to Nomar Garciaparra and the ineffectiveness of Shea Hillenbrand have combined to give Adam LaRoche a chance to play with the Dodgers (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . The Rockies' Aaron Cook will miss the rest of the year (Denver Post) . . . The Phillies have their eyes on Colorado's Garrett Atkins (Philadelphia Inquirer) . . . Kenny Rogers says he's ready to return to the Tigers rotation (Detroit News) . . . Akinori Otsuka is hoping to avoid surgery (Dallas Morning News) . . . It appears Torii Hunter wants the same contract J.D. Drew received. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

OLD FRIENDS: Baseball Musing's David Pinto reports Wily Mo Pena is giving the Nationals pretty much the same thing he gave the Red Sox: Low batting average, low on-base percentage, but home runs whenever he manages to hit the ball.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 6:49 AM | Permalink