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Pitching matchups

Boston's Tim Wakefield (3-5, 4.17 ERA) will be facing New York's Jaret Wright (1-3, 4.94 ERA) tonight at Fenway Park.

Posted by   at 6:51 PM | Permalink

Glovework is all you could ask for

You had to know that the Red Sox would have a pretty good defense this year, but the numbers so far are nothing short of amazing. The team enters tonight's tilt with the Yankees with just 14 errors, the fewest in the majors, in 40 games. Richie Weeks, a second baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers, has 14 errors all by himself. Five other major leaguers have at least 10. According to today's game notes, the Red Sox have exactly 3 errors in the last 17 games. Those three were made by pitcher Lenny DiNardo (who had two of them) and backup first baseman J.T. Snow. The last time a regular starter committed an error was April 30 (Jason Varitek).

The Yanks' Alex Rodriguez hit a home run last night, but he has actually taken some flak for it. Just check out the back page of the New York Daily News. But even if Rodriguez's home run came a little late to make a difference, it did end the Yankees' five-game homer-less streak, the club's longest since 1997. But those small-ball Bombers do lead the American League in sacrifice bunts, with 15.

The Yankees get Gary Sheffield back at designated hitter tonight, but Jason Giambi is not in the lineup as it stands now, according to The Boston Globe. Instead, Andy Phillips will play first and bat ninth. The Globe reports that the Sox will have Alex Cora, fresh off a three-hit effort, back at shortstop tonight and Willie Harris back in center field for the injured Wily Mo Pena.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 5:26 PM | Permalink

Mike Greenwell set to make his NASCAR debut

Mike Greenwell, who patrolled left field at Fenway Park for 12 seasons, will make his first appearance as a NASCAR driver on Saturday, at a Truck Series event at the Mansfield Motorsports Speedway in Ohio.

"I retired very early," Greenwell told the Associated Press. "I hit .297 my final year and I had 20 offers to go back and play the next year. But I wanted to go racing. I literally quit baseball so I could go racing."

The AP reports that Greenwell has been racing at the stock-car level in his home state of Florida, and has collected 37 wins.

The Gator, who is 42 years old, played for the Red Sox from 1985 to 1996. He never appeared with another club. He finished with a career batting average of .303 to go with 130 home runs.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 2:38 PM | Permalink