Pedroia Gets 6 Year Deal

AL MVP Dustin Pedroia has signed a six-year contract with the Red Sox through 2014 with a club option for the 2015 season, the Globe's Amalie Benjamin has confirmed.

I love it. Pedroia is worth way more than that and to lock him up for 6 years is amazing. A good middle infielder is tough to find and since we have the best second baseman in the league the Red Sox are in good shape for years to come.

BMack's Take:


Pedroia cashed in today with a 6 year $40.5 million contract, with an option for a 7th year (2015). To be honest I am surprised he didn't get a little more. Under this contract he is getting about $6.75 million a year. There is no word if the option is a team option or a player option, but my guess is that it is a team option. This is great news for the Sox, since he has been stud over the last two years, and really is one of the emotional leaders of this team. I don't think he will ever win an MVP again, but he is a great #2 hitter at the top of the lineup, and does all the little things to win a game. You will be able to count on him to hit around (or above) .300 every year, and his OBP will always be high. Good for you Little Dusty...

Red Sox Clintch At Least A Tie For AL Wild Card With 3-0 Win Over Jays

Well we know at least the Sox will be playing 1 extra game after the regular season. Basically the Sox are in, but if they were to lose the rest of their game, and the Twins won all of theirs, the Sox and Twins would play a one game playoff.

Boston won today win outstanding pitching, and one long ball by Big Papi. Dice-K got his 18th victory of the year by having one his best outings of the season. He went 7 scoreless innings allowing only 2 hits 2 walks while striking out 6. This is exactly what I wanted to see from Dice-K near the end of the season. There is just a huge difference on what Boston looks like when they get 7 innings from their starting pitchers. After Dice-K left, Okajima and Papelbon (who got his 40th save) finished up the game going a combined 2 innings allowing only 1 hit with no runs. Hopefully this is what the Sox will get out of Okajima in the playoffs.

The Sox didn't score a lot of runs today, but they didn't need to with the pitching they were getting. Little Dusty reported for duty by hitting a sacrifice fly in the first scoring Ellsbury. Later in the game Ortiz iced it with a 2 run HR in the 3rd. It is great to see Ortiz playing so well, because the Sox are really going to need him playing at his best going into the playoffs.

-BMack

Red Sox Bunt To Beat Orioles 5-4

This was one of the sillier games I had ever seen in my life. The Sox were down 4-2 in the 8th then Mark Kotsay (was has just been amazing in a Sox uniform) hit a game tying 2-run triple. Masterson (who got the win) shutdown the Orioles in the top of the 9th, then the silliness ensued. It started with an Alex Cora single, then Coco came up and bunted. This was no normal bunt as it looked to be going foul, but then (for some reason unknown) did a 180 and stayed fair. So, there was a man on 1st and 2nd with no outs, and Ellsbury at the plate. So what does Ellsbury do??? Well, of course bunt, and the Orioles try to get Cora out at third, but it is a wild throw and Cora walks home to win the game...ridiculous.

What a win for the Sox. Dice-K had a solid inning going 6 innings allowing 4 hits, 4 walks, 3 runs with 7 Ks. You would like to see the walk total go down, but we have been saying that all season. Dice-K didn't get the win and was actually on the hook for the loss until Kotsay's game tying triple. Dustin Pedrioa continues to make his case for AL MVP by going 3-4 with a solo HR. For a guy who is listed at 5-9 180lbs (but it more like 5-7) the kid can hit he is now hitting .333 on the season with 17 HRs, 76 RBI, and 17 SBs. You have to hope he can continue this as the Sox try to get healthy.

Red Sox Beat Orioles 7-4

Paul Byrd had another "Paul Byrd" outing, and the Sox beat Baltimore 7-4. In case you don't know a "Paul Byrd" outing is about 6-7 innings allowing 3-4 runs, and that's just what he did tonight going 7 innings allowing 4 runs on 7 hits with 4 Ks. The night did not start well for Byrd as he let up a solo HR to Adam Jones (just activated from the DL) in the 1st, but the Sox were able to battle back with 2 solo HRs (Varitek/Bailey). The Sox have to be happy that they are getting some offense from someone else other then Pedrioa (oh but he is still hitting). The lead wouldn't hold as Byrd let up another bomb and the Orioles tied it up 3-3 in the 3rd, and then eventually took the lead in the 6th off an Markakis RBI single. At that point it looked like the Orioles were going to take over the game, as very few fans have faith in this bullpen, but boy did they prove people wrong. The bullpen shutout Baltimore for the final 2 innings (Byrd let up his 3rd HR of the game in the 7th to my boy Kevin Millar), and the Sox lineup heated up scoring 4 runs in the bottom on the 6th. Pedrioa knocked 2 on the runs in with a 2 run single, and the Sox went of to win 7-4, which puts them 5 games behind Tampa Bay for the AL East lead, and 3 games in front of Minnesota for the Wild Card spot.

Paul Byrd got the win, and Papelbon collected his 35th save of the season.

-BMack

Red Sox Lose To White Sox 4-2

The Red Sox lost a close one today. Wakefield looked good considering it is only his 2nd start since coming off the DL, going 6 innings allowing 3 runs on 6 hits with 3 Ks. Even with the decent like Wakefield look shaky in the 1st innings giving up a 2-run homer to Jim Thome. He was able to settle down till the 6th inning when he started to fall apart letting up another run. It seems like the Sox want to be very careful with the Wake, since they only let him pitch 82 pitches today. The Sox had a chance in the 9th inning when they were down 4-1, Lowrie was able to knock in a run on a ground out, and that set the stage for Pedrioa with 2 men on and 2 outs. Pedrioa was not able to come through for the Sox though as he popped out to left field. The Sox had a lot of opportunities to win this game, but they just couldn't get the key hits (2 runs on 8 hits). The good sign for the Sox was that Ellsbury was 3-4 and Delcarmen pitched 2 scoreless innings to give the Sox a chance. Boston is now 5 games back (about to be 5 1/2) in the AL East, but are up 3 games on Minnesota in the Wild Card Race (pending the result of the Minnesota vs. Oakland game).

-BMack

Halladay Shuts Down Sox, Jays Win 4-1

Roy Halladay looked amazing last night throwing a complete game, and didn't let up a run till the 9th inning when Little Dusty hit a solo HR. Halladay has been having a hell of a season with a 14-9 record and an incredible 2.64 ERA. The Sox had been hitting the cover off the ball before last night, but Halladay was just too much for them to handle. Paul Byrd played for the first time for the Sox, and he played ok. It was exactly what I expect from Byrd, as he went 7 1/3 innings allowing 4 runs on 10 hits. The good thing about Byrd is that he doesn't walk people, so it is harder to have a big inning off him than it would be to do it against Buchholz. The Sox are now 3 1/2 games back in the AL East, and only 1 1/2 games up in the Wild Card race. The Sox will try to get back to their winning ways when they play the Blue Jays again at Fenway. Game starts at 1:35pm.

-BMack

Red Sox Lose to White Sox 5-3

Lester streak of no losses for the past 2 1/2 months is officially over, though he still pitched well. The problem was Mark Buehrle pitched a much better game. Buehrle went an impressive 7 innings allowing only 1 run on 4 hits with 8 Ks. The Sox were down 4-0 going into the 8th, but made a nice comeback on a 3-run homer by Little Dusty. The good-times wouldn't last as in the bottom of the inning Delcarman came in and let up an absolute bomb to Carlos Quentin (MVP?) to put the Sox down by two runs, and that s how it ended. The Sox are now 3.5 games back of the Rays for 1st place in the AL East and only a 1.5 up on the Twins for the Wild Card spot. I'll be honest I am getting nervous, because the Sox really need Ortiz to wake up and get it going. I know he is having a tough time without Manny, but if he wants to be remembered as one of the best Red Sox ever he is going to have to pick up with team, even when he doesn't have the protection of Manny Ramirez.

-BMack

Red Sox Sweep A's with 5-2 Victory

This just in...Jason Bay is really good, and the Sox are 3-0 with him on the team. Today the Sox pulled out a 5-2 victory over the A's to finish off the sweep. Bay went 2-4 with 2 runs. The hero of the game though was Jed Lowrie, who had two RBIs, and has just been on fire the last couple of games. I think a lot of the Sox improvement is that they finally took Ellsbury out of the lead off spot, and replaced him with Pedrioa. Little Dusty has been reporting for duty (as usual), and with him being an on-base machine, it gives players like Ortiz, Lowell, and Bay the chance to really have an impact on the game.

Dice-K continued his dominance, even though he still struggles with high pitch counts. He went 6 innings allowing 2 runs with 8 Ks. It is annoying that he doesn't go deeper into games, but I will take 6 strong innings and a victory any day. With this win Dice-K is now 12-2 with a 3.04 ERA. In the 9th Papelbon came in and got his 31st save of the year.

-BMack

2 Red Sox, 1 Orioles

Well it is good going into the All-Star break on top of the AL East. With a 7 game skid of the Rays the Red Sox are now on top. Dice-K (6 in 0 er 7 ks) pitched masterfully as the Sox took the lead on a J.D. Drew and Pedroia knocked in the 2 runs. Papelbon ran into a little trouble finishing the Orioles letting 3 hits, and 1 er in the 9th inning.