Sox Pull the E-Brake -- Stop Skid vs Phillies

Terry Francona earned his 700th victory with the Boston Red Sox this afternoon in Citizen's Bank Park, as the Sox beat down the Phillies, 5-2.

Boston finished the month of June with a 16-9 record, after starting out 12-2 but now stumbling into July. Mike Cameron was designated for assignment before the game, with Yamaico Navarro getting the call to the Show. The infielder was called up to give the Sox some breathing room while Kevin Youkilis heals up from a foul ball off the foot the other night.

Jon Lester was lights out, going 7 innings with 2 hits, 2 walks, no runs allowed and 5 K's. His battery mate Jason Varitek led the offense with 2 solo home runs, batting 5th today in an always-confusing interleague lineup.

Sox are traveling to Houston to take on the Astros, last place in the NL Central with a 28-53 record. Given the way they've played against the Pirates and Padres, the Sox could be in for another struggle, but hopefully they can start out July like they did June and stay hot this summer.

Breaking News: Buster Posey Most Likely Done For 2011 Season

Last night in a 12-inning thriller at AT&T Park in San Francisco, the Marlins trumped the Giants, 7-6. But there was no shaving cream pie laid out for the Fish after the game.

In the top of the 12th, Scott Cousins of the Marlins was rounding third base heading into home as the go-ahead run. The throw beat him, but his collision with Giants catcher Buster Posey jostled the ball loose--and also a bone in Posey's left leg.

Almost down to his knees, once the collision came in, Posey was held from flipping backwards because his foot was caught of the ground as all of his weight fell back, snapping a bone around his shin/ankle area. He suffered a broken bone, and will most likely miss the remainder of the season.

The Twins are sans starting catcher Joe Mauer, and their record this season sits at a dismal 16-32. What will happen to the Giants without their former Rookie of the Year, World Series winning catcher for the remainder of 2011?

The other part to this story is Posey's agent, Jeff Berry has the ball rolling on opening up communication with MLB On-Field Operations leader Joe Torre on home-plate collisions.

From a fan standpoint, if you get rid of home plate collisions, that takes away so much from the game. Baseball is the least physical game of the major sports, and stripping it entirely of any contact would be disastrous. I can understand the argument, because according to the Sports Science clip they showed on the 5:00 Sportscenter, a runner charing home plate can impact with roughly 3,000 pounds of force.

Either way, for the Giants to stay afloat, it is going to take a lot. Losing an offensive leader, nevermind a catcher, is going to be tough. The Giants are up 2.5 games in their division, and if they want to hold onto that lead, they will have to play smarter baseball, and look for those players who are ready to step up and lead the charge.

How Strong Are You?! TOO STRONG!

Fresh off their 14-2 smackdown (with Bobby Flay) of the Cleveland Indians, the Boston Red Sox got up early and never looked back against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.

In Wednesday's game at Cleveland, the Sox thumped 4 home runs with the bats of Dustin Pedroia, Carl Crawford, David Ortiz, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Crawford finished the day a triple away from the cycle and ended up 4-4, whereas every other player on the team had at least 2 hits besides Jed Lowrie who finished 0-5, and received a day off on Thursday.

(LIVE)Their second afternoon game in a row, and their first of a three game series in Detroit, the Red Sox jumped out with 5 runs in the 2nd inning, with a lot of credit due to Jacoby Ellsbury's 3-run jack.

The Sox should just play day games more often, apparently, as they have now scored 14 runs thus far, with the game in the top of the eighth.

Vartiek flies out to retire the side. I think I'm going to close the book on this one. I know our bullpen is bad, so I won't say that the Tigers just have one run. Crawford, over the past two games is 8-9, with 4 singles, a double, 2 triples and a home run. He is hitting .330 in the month of April, an unbelievable turnaround for him, and just what Sox fans have been looking for. No need for a fourth walk-off hit when your team wins by double-digits.

And as I say that, into a rain delay we go. Well no matter what happens, the team with the most wins in professional sports in the month of May has won their third game in a row over the Detroit Tigers.

Tomorrow, Tim Wakefield will take on a surging Rick Porcello at 7:05pm.

Til Death Do Us Part

With Opening Day under two weeks away, teams are tweaking their lineups, and getting themselves ready for The Show. From the looks of it, the Minnesota Twins are gearing up for Opening Day 2010 as well as Opening Day 2018. The Twins locked up perennial All-Star and MVP powerhouse catcher Joe Mauer for eight years and $184 million. Care to do the math? $23 million a year, plus a full no-trade clause throughout.

This year, Joe Mauer is the face of "MLB '10: The Show." Last year, Dustin Pedroia received the honor. Everyone's heard of the Madden curse, the stretch of a few years where whatever player was featured on the cover of John Madden's football videogame either got injured or had a career-worst year. Obviously that can be argued, but for the most part, it rings completely true. On the contrary, it looks like The Show has the opposite effect.

2010 -- 8-year, $184 million for Joe Mauer.

2009 -- 6-year, $40.5 million for Dustin Pedroia.

2008 -- $10 million in arbitration case, World Series ring for Ryan Howard

2007 -- 4th straight All-Star appearance, Gold Glove for Carlos Beltran

2006 -- 4-year, $50 million contract, not to mention 54 home runs (Red Sox record), 137 RBI and 5 walk-off hits for David Ortiz