Sox On Life Support

After losing a 3 game series, 2-1 to Tampa, the sox are now 6 and a half games out of first place, going into the final month of the season. You never know when a team is going to catch fire, or when a team is going to go completely cold, but its looking like it's going to get chilly early in September.

The bats have been doing there job most of the time, but its the pitching that's getting to us. Buchholz is as solid as a brick wall, but Lester has been shaky lately, as has Beckett. Wakefield, covering for Matsuzaka who's out with a back problem, is 4-10, and Lackey will give plenty of innings, but make it tough on the offense to keep pace.

Its going to be a rough final month, with the Sox facing the Yankees 6 times, and the Rays 3 more times. Is it doable? Hell yes. I do think it's going to be nearly impossible to pull off, but like I said, you never know what a team is capable of, for better or worse, over a couple series in a row. A lot of baseball's top-notch analysts were down on the Rays early, and I don't know if they'll be able to hold it together. Ride or die, Sox Nation.

Lester vs Price

Huge match-up tonight at The Trop. The tied-for-first-place Tampa Bay Rays will host the Sox for 3 game that could be huge for Boston. We trail by 5 and a half games in the AL East, and are in desperate need of a hot streak. Hell, if we don't start that streak here, we'll be in serious trouble.

Tonight's pitching match-up has the league's top 2 lefties in Jon Lester (13-8) and David Price (15-5) doing battle head-to-head. This could potentially be one of the most important games of the year.

In other news, Dustin Pedroia is walking around with a boot on that injured foot of his, and will know if he needs surgery in a week.

7:10 on NESN, Sox vs Rays.

Go Sox.

Manny-Go-Round

Manny Ramirez, just activated from the DL with a calf strain, might be headed back East. The Dodgers could potentially decide to put the 38-year-old left fielder on waivers, with Tampa Bay being a frontrunner to place a waiver claim on him. It would be quite the risk for the Rays, as they would have to pay some of his remaining $4 million, and give up some prospects for the slugger.

Given Manny's track record, its a tough call. Ramirez would have to waive his no-trade clause for a deal to go through as well. All of this should play out in the next few days, so stay tuned.

Dice-K Back To His Old Self

Eric Patterson hits 2 home runs, they chased Matt Garza, and Terry Francona kept Daisuke Matsuzaka in for four batters too many.

Another four walks, 30 pitches in the first inning, and more jams than a Phish concert. The Red Sox had a 5-1 lead going into the 5th inning...then it all fell down. Again, Dice-K just let the lead slip away.

It's just gotten to be too much. I personally was pumped when Dice-K had that stretch of about 3 starts when he looked like he was worth some of the ridiculous cash we paid him, but now, its just so easy to go back to getting that "who's pitching to-...oh, crap."

The Sox are 2 games back, and a half game back of the Rays going into battle tonight. Felix Doubront will look to notch another victory against Jeff Niemann.

Go Sox.

Only Between the Two Florida Baseball Clubs Would This Be A Story

Last night, the Florida Marlins organization had the brilliant idea of handing out some 15,000 miniature vuvuzelas to fans entering Sun Life Stadium. It was done to coincide with the World Cup in South Africa, in which the national instrument is the vuvuzela, and they have been out in full force at every game.

For the entire game, the umpiring crew, and several players, wore ear plugs to try to block out the drone-like sounds. Joe Maddon wasn't too impressed with the noise.

"They're annoying," Maddon said. "I mean, there's cool things and there's very non-cool things. That's a non-cool thing. It just doesn't make any sense."

Settle down, Joe! No need for anyone to get hurt over this.

Dewayne Staats, a Tampa Bay Rays announcer, was upset that two Rays fans were not allowed to bring their cowbells into the park that night. "That's just not right. These vuvuzelas, they're for soccer. Cowbells have a deep and rich baseball history." I'm not so sure I agree with that, but I do know that Mr. Staats, seems to have a fever, and there's only one prescription for that...

And look, to that lady in the picture: it's a ballgame, not the playground. Get your dejected expression and small child out of there, you're better than that.

THIS GUY

Big ups to Dallas Braden, for throwing the most recent perfect game in the universe. Just the 19th time in baseball history a perfect game has been tossed.

Braden tossed 109 pitches, striking out just 6 batters in the 9 inning performance. As if it isn't an accomplishment as is, he did so against the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays. Last Mother's Day, Braden didn't quite have the same luck. He was hit by a line drive off the bat of Vernon Wells and exited the game early.

Sadly, Braden's performance was only seen in person by 12,228, but his grandmother was in attendance to see the feat.