Playoffs, Rain, Wild Card...(but mostly rain)

     This weekend brought RAIN to Boston. There were 2 rain delays in the game last night and then to day the game was canceled due to rain. Tomorrow is the scheduled last day of the season and it is against the Yankees. After this eries we will have a couple of days before we face the Angels in the ALDS. The Sox have had good history against the Angels in the ALDS. In fact, just last year they swept them! 
    Jacoby Ellsbury is getting back to last years form. He is on a long hitting streak (I lost track of how many games!) and has brought his average from .259  to .280. All we can hope for is that he can continue his dominance at the plate during the postseason
     Oh and congrats to Jason Bay and his new Bay-bee. 

No Ways, All Rays

      The Red Sox are running out of time if they are going to take first place. If they cant pull that off they always have Wild Card. But the more important thing would be to catch the Rays and show them who's boss. Tonight is our last matchup of the regular season and we can get a series win with a win tonight.
      The Red Sox 2009 schedule was announced today and our season (and home) opener will be against, of course, the Rays. To see the full 2009 schedule got to redsox.com and check it out. 
      Hopefully our offense can produce tonight. If we can get at least 5 runs out of our offense we can win. The rays are not a very good offensive team compared to most but The staff doesn't give up as many runs either. But who knows, the Red Sox may be able to have another 15 run gmae against the Rays.  

Byrd vs. Birds

     Paul Byrd got, mind the expression, bird pooped, by the Blue Jays. Byrd surrendered 5 runs and 10 hits over 5 innings throwing only 59 pitches. Paul has faced the Jays to much. Here is a clip from an article on redsox.com today: 
       Of Byrd's past seven trips to the mound, four have come against the Jays. He's had mixed results, going 2-2 in those starts -- one with the Indians and three after being acquired by the Red Sox on Aug. 12. Surprise, surprise: Byrd will see the Jays once again in his upcoming start next weekend.
       As you can tell the Jays hitters are starting to get used to him. And it's not the best time. We are in the middle of a pennant race (unlike the Yankees, tee hee!) The Red Sox have to look to take out the Blue Jays tonight . Gametime is at  7:05 PM on NESN.

First Place

Of course the Red Sox have nearly caught the Rays. They only have to win tonight and then they will be in first place in the AL east for the first time since July 17th. Last night Jon Lester held the Rays in check going 7 2/3 innings without surrendering a run. That sent them to a 3-0 win. I think the player to watch in Major League Baseball is Coco Crisp. He was batting .249 one minute and after a first inning fly out in the game tonight (the game is still running live as I'm typing) He is batting .290.
     Speaking of players doing well we have a little 5' 9" guy batting around .330 with 194 hits! Dustin Pedroia is the hottest hitter in the AL and possibly in the MLB. The Rays have been having such a hard time recently, getting swept by the third place Jays, barely avoid a sweep with only 1 win against fourth place Yankees and now they are up against the Red Sox. I think you can see where this series is going.

Rangers No Match For The BoSox

Last night the Boston Red Sox beat the Rangers 8-1 and are within 2 1/2 games of catching the Rays and moving into first place in the AL East. Last night leading the Boston line-up were Mikey Lowell and Coco Crisp. both of them went 3-5 with multiple RBI's. Mikey's first at bat back from the DL last night resulted in the first run of the game, a solo shot. Coco drove in two on an bat where the ball was caught and in turn dropped twice by the Rangers defense. Jacoby Ellsbury and Coco also hit back to back RBI triples.
           On the other hand the Rangers were shut down by Josh Beckett, who was also making his first start of the DL. Beckett retired the first 9 batters he faced. Beckett went 5 extremely strong innings, while striking out 7! For a guy who just game of the DL thats what I call coming back with a bang. Look for another offensive explosion tonight at 8:05 as the Sox take on the Rangers for the 2nd game of the series.
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Wild Thing, You Make My Heart Sing

"Wild Thing by the Troggs". The big line: "Wild Thing, You Make My Heart Sing". For the Red Sox its more like, "Wild Card, You Make Me Work Hard". The Red Sox as of right now have a 5 game lead over the Minnesota Twins in Wild Card. The Defending World Champs may be kept in line by the Rays but the Red Sox can fight back with a little somethin' called Wild Card. The Red Sox are making another run at being the best in the world. 
      The Red Sox are coming up on a Rangers vs. Sox series. The last time we met we set a combined run total to tie the AL all time record. Expect it to be that x2. Pedroia is hitting like his life depends on it and Ortiz has been back to his good self. Even unusual hero's such as Alex Cora ( who scored the winning run in the bottom of the 9th against the Orioles on a walk off sac bunt/ error) Josh Hamilton of the Rangers is batting around .300 and leads the Majors in RBI's. If there was ever a time where you were in the mood for a great game a oppurtunity is about to present itself.
        Please continue (or start) to read this Blog and hopefully I can keep you up to date on the Red Sox while your not looking at October Gonzo's blog. Thanks...