Hey Rays, Get Out Of Our City!

I already posted my love letter to the Tampa Bay Rays last night so I'm not going to write any more unnecessary platitudes and slurping.

There's no need to dress anything up when Tampa Bay (85-67) closed out its season series with the Boston Red Sox (87-65) this afternoon at Fenway Park with a 8-5 win.

The victory propelled the Rays to a 12-6 advantage over the Red Sox this season and most importantly, it put Tampa Bay just two games behind Boston with 10 games left in the 2011 regular season. If necessary, Game 163 would be at the Trop next week.

If you can think of something nice to say about a team that lost six of its last seven against a divisional foe, including a four-game sweep this weekend at home, I'd like to hear it. To say the Red Sox are struggling is the understatement of the month. A split of the four games probably would have buried the Rays but now, Boston has to fight until the end of the regular season.

David Price didn't figure into the decision as he left after four innings (he was hit in the chest by a line drive). He allowed two earned runs on three hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

As expected, Tim Wakefield (7-7) was no match for Price or Tampa Bay. Career win No. 201 had to wait as he went five fruitless innings. He allowed six runs (two earned) on six hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Two throwing errors by third baseman Mike Aviles proved to be particularly costly.

Tampa Bay took any intrigue out of it early on an NFL Sunday and we'll thank them for that since the Patriots were playing at 4:15 p.m. Johnny Damon had an RBI double, Matt Joyce (3 hits, 3 RBIs) had an RBI single and Desmond Jennings (2 hits) had an RBI single all in the second inning.

Sean Rodriguez's sacrifice fly in the fourth made it 4-0 before Darnell McDonald got Boston on the board in the frame with a two-run double.

Things got sloppy in the fifth (a trend in Boston's death spiral) as Jennings scored on Jarrod Saltalamacchia's passed ball and Evan Longoria scored on Aviles' error.

Joyce's two-run single in the seventh put it out of reach at 8-2 in favor of Tampa Bay.

Aviles (2 hits) had a great series as he added a three-run bomb (his seventh of the season) in the seventh.

Joel Peralta got four outs (what a concept) to record his fifth save and his second in the last two contests.

So it's all come down to this: 10 more games to decide who gets the AL Wild Card. While the Rays are playing so much better at the moment, the Red Sox do have a distinct advantage schedule-wise.

Boston has four more games at home against the Orioles, three against the Yankees next weekend in the Bronx and then closes with three against Baltimore in Camden Yards. Tampa Bay has four in New York followed by three at home against Toronto and they end with three at the Trop vs. New York.

No rest for the weary as the Red Sox have a day-night doubleheader tomorrow with the O's. Kyle Weiland takes on Jeremy Guthrie at 1:05 p.m. and John Lackey faces Brian Matusz at 7:10 p.m. Two awful matchups in a season that is quickly dissolving into a complete debacle.

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Rays Hold Red Sox To Three Hits For Third Straight Game At Fenway Park

Well it's a good thing that the Tampa Bay Rays will likely miss the playoffs this season. I can say with a straight face that they pose a much bigger threat to the Boston Red Sox than the New York Yankees because of their stellar top of the rotation.



Buoyed by the third consecutive outstanding start by their pitchers, the Rays (66-56) blanked the Red Sox (74-48) 4-0 this afternoon at Fenway Park. It helped them take the series 2-1 and move to 6-5 against Boston so far this season (seven more meetings remain).



Boston was held to three hits in each of the three games against Tampa Bay yesterday (doubleheader) and today. That's the first time since 1974 that the Red Sox have been held to three hits three games in a row.



Following James Shields and Jeff Niemann's lead, David Price (11-10) completely shutdown Boston's lineup that is without David Ortiz (heel) for the next 10 days. Price went eight innings with three walks and six strikeouts.



It was a perfect day weather wise and a rare afternoon start but the fans that were lucky enough to get a ticket had to pay their debt by sitting through the usual torture of a John Lackey (11-9) start. By his terrible standards, he wasn't bad at all but Price vs. Lackey is a matchup Boston will never win.



In 6.2 innings, Lackey allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.



Ben Zobrist's (2 hits, 2 RBIs) ground out in the first scored Johnny Damon (2 hits) with Tampa Bay's first run. B.J. Upton hit a solo homer in the fourth, Evan Longoria followed suit with a solo bomb in the fifth and Zobrist rounded it out with an RBI double in the seventh.



The Royals did the Red Sox a favor by somehow beating the Yankees tonight in a game which Bruce Chen started. New York still leads Boston for first-place in the AL East by half a game.



After three days at home (three games in two days) including the off-day, the Red Sox go back on the road for one of their most difficult trips of the season: four in Kansas City followed by four in Texas.



Josh Beckett faces Luke Hochevar tomorrow night in a rematch of a game the Royals won 4-3 back on July 28 at Fenway, the finale of a four-game series split. After losing five of its last seven games and dropping out of first-place in the AL East while its offense has went missing, the Red Sox need to wake up. They want no part of the AL Wild Card and a trip to Texas in the ALDS.



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Red Sox put a bow on best nine-game road trip in 34 years

The Boston Red Sox return home from an extremely successful road trip, 8-1 over the nine games in New York, Toronto and Tampa Bay.

Last night, Boston (41-27) closed out the Rays (36-33) with a 4-2 win at Tropicana Field. The nine-game road trip was Boston's best in 34 years and they come into Fenway Park and a stretch of 15 interleague games having won 11 of their last 12 games.

The only negative things to come out of last night were the fact that Jed Lowrie is likely headed to the disabled list (not a huge deal) and Clay Buchholz's creaky back is acting up again (which could possibly shelve him).

Buchholz (6-3) was pitching well when he was forced to depart after five innings. He allowed one earned run on two hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Rays starter-and one of the my favorite pro athletes on Twitter-David Price (7-6) continued his up and down season (trust me, I have him in Fantasy Baseball). He labored through five innings, throwing 106 pitches and allowing three earned runs on five hits with five walks and five strikeouts.

David Ortiz got the Red Sox on the board in the first with a bases-loaded walk. Darnell McDonald extended the lead to 2-0 in the third with an RBI single and then Dustin Pedroia drove him in with an RBI double.

Sam Fuld (2 hits), one of the only good things to ever come out of New Hampshire, had an RBI double in the third as Tampa Bay cut it to 3-1.

Casey Kotchman (2 hits) made it interesting with a solo home run off Alfredo Aceves in the sixth to make it 3-2 Boston.

Daniel Bard secured the hold with the last out in the seventh and a 1-2-3 eighth. Adrian Gonzalez (2 hits, 2 walks) gave Boston an insurance run in the ninth with his 14th homer of the season off Rays closer Kyle Farnsworth.

Jonathan Papelbon gave up two hits to start the ninth but he recovered to get three straight outs (the last two on strikeouts) for his 13th save of the season.

The Milwaukee Brewers are coming to Boston for only the second time since they went to the National League in 1998 and I couldn't be more thrilled. The Brew Crew are one of baseball's best teams this year but they're never on national TV. Looking forward to seeing Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks and Co. up close.

Interleague play started out as a gimmick but I see it as a welcome diversion from the boring monotony of baseball's way too long regular season. After facing the Brewers, the San Diego Padres (Gonzalez's former team) come to Fenway. Then the Red Sox travel to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Houston. It also helps that Boston has the best record (97-50 since 2003) during interleague play in the last nine seasons.

This couldn't come at a better time since all the focus in New England is finally on the Red Sox after the Bruins won the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night. It's going to take some time to adjust to how boring baseball is compared to playoff hockey (and basketball) but we've got all summer to get reacquainted.

Former Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum (who is sneaky good) opposes John Lackey tonight.

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