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No Papelbon tonight

In his pregame meeting with the media, manager Terry Francona announced that closer Jonathan Papelbon will not be available for tonight's game. Papelbon pitched three nights in a row in Atlanta, including a four-out save Sunday night, and Francona said he'll be getting a rest tonight.

Francona stressed there's nothing physically wrong with Papelbon. But, just as the Yankees did with Mariano Rivera Sunday, they're not going to succumb to the pressure of overusing him . . . and risking injury.

The Yankees' decision cost them a game Sunday, when Ryan Zimmerman hit a two-run, walkoff homer in the bottom of the ninth off starter Chien-Ming Wang.

Posted by Art  at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

Farewell to J.T. Snow

The Red Sox cut their ties to first baseman J.T. Snow today, designating the veteran first baseman for assignment in order to make room on the roster for tonight's starting pitcher, Kyle Snyder.

The Sox now have 10 days to trade or waive Snow.

Snow, 38, was signed as a free agent in the offseason and it was anticipated he would, in a best-case scenario, share the first-base job with Kevin Youkilis. At the very least, it was felt he would serve as a late-inning defensive replacement for Youkilis, who had spent most of his career at third base.

But Youkilis grabbed hold of the job by hitting well, and proved to be better defensively than anyone thought. Snow saw very little playing time, and didn't perform well when he did get on the field. His defensive skills, once of Gold Glove-caliber, had deteriorated, and he was only 9-for-44 (.205) at the plate.

He and his agent asked for a trade last month, but the Red Sox couldn't find a taker. It's unlikely they'll find one now; the probable scenario is that the Sox will release Snow when the 10 days are up and he'll hook on with someone else. In that case, the Red Sox will be responsible for all but the minimum-salary portion of his $2 million salary.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art  at 4:21 PM | Permalink

Monday's starting lineups

Monday night's starting lineups have been posted:

BOSTON:
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Mark Loretta, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Manny Ramirez, LF
Jason Varitek, C
Mike Lowell, 3B
Coco Crisp, CF
Gabe Kapler, RF
Alex Cora, SS
---
Kyle Snyder, P

WASHINGTON;
Alfonso Soriano, LF
Jose Vidro, 2B
Jose Guillen, RF
Daryle Ward, DH
Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
Robert Fick, 1B
Royce Clayton, SS
Brian Schneider, C
Marlon Byrd, CF
----
Tony Armas Jr., P

Posted by Art  at 4:05 PM | Permalink

Monday press notes

Here are the highlights of Monday's press notes, courtesy of the Red Sox' P.R. department:

DATE OPP. BOS TIME RED SOX STARTER OPPOSING STARTER TELEVISION
Mon., June 19 WAS 705 p.m. RHP Kyle Snyder (0-0, 22.50) RHP Tony Armas (6-3, 4.18) NESN
Tue., June 20 WAS 7:05 p.m. RHP Tim Wakefield (4-8, 3.97) RHP Livan Hernandez (5-7, 5.18) NESN
Wed., June 21 WAS 7:05 p.m. LHP Jon Lester (1-0, 3.48) RHP Shawn Hill (1-1, 2.42) NESN
---All games broadcast on 103.7 WEEI-FM and the Red Sox radio network and the Red Sox Spanish-language radio network---

TWENTY HOMERS AGAIN: David Ortiz hit his 20th home run of
the season on Sunday. He has reached the 20-homer plateau in each of his 4 years with the Red Sox, the 7th player to hit 20+ in at least his 1st 4 seasons in a Boston uniform (never appearing in a game with the Red Sox prior to that (courtesy: David Vincent):
No. Player Years
10 Ted Williams 1939-42; 46-51
6 Jackie Jensen 1954-59
6 Tony Conigliaro 1964-67; 69-70
5 Jimmie Foxx 1936-41
5 Manny Ramirez 2001-05
4 Brian Daubach 1999-2002
4 David Ortiz 2003-06

HOME FOR A WHILE: The Red Sox begin a 9-game homestand this evening that includes 3 contests each with Washington, Philadelphia, and New York of the National League East…Boston was 3-3 on this roadtrip, opening with 3 losses in Minnesota before winning 3 in a row at Atlanta over the weekend…This is the team’s longest winning streak since 4 straight victories, May 25-28…Sox are 9-8 beginning May 31 . . . At 39-28, Boston has moved 11 games over .500 for the 1st time since June 11 (36-25)…Is best record after 67 games since 2004 (39-28/lost game 68)…Club was 37-30 and 2nd, 3 GB, after 67 contests a year ago . . . The Sox moved back into sole possession of 1st place on Sunday for the 1st time since June 12…Team has been in sole possession of or in a statistical tie for first place in the division for 65 of 76 days in 2006 . . . Sunday marked the 4th time this season that the Sox have won when trailing after 7 innings…It was Boston’s 21st come-from-behind victory in 2006.

AT FENWAY PARK, the Sox have won 6 of 8 and 11 of the last 16 games, the longer streak beginning May 4…Boston returns home for 9 games after playing 15 of the last 19 and 24 of its last 36 games on the road, the longer span beginning May 9…Tonight is just the 2nd time in the last 7 weeks that the Sox have played a weekday (excluding Friday) home game…Team was also home the week of May 22-25.

INTERLEAGUE PLAY: The Red Sox are 5-1 versus the National League this season, all on the road (2-1 at Philadelphia, May 19-21 and 3-0 at Atlanta)…Matches Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota, and Tampa Bay for 2nd best mark for A.L. team in 2006 interleague play behind Seattle at 6-0…Boston has won 9 of its last 10 and 14 of last 16 in interleague play starting June 12, 2005…Sox are 82-81 lifetime vs. N.L. in regular season, 45-36 at Fenway Park…Sox were 7-2 at home against N.L. teams in 2005, winning 6 of the last 7…Team has won its last 8 home series in interleague play since dropping 2 of 3 to St. Louis, June 10-12, 2003…Since that time, Boston is 18-6 at Fenway Park against the National League.

BATTING NOTES: The 10 runs scored by the Red Sox on Sunday were the team’s most since an 11-1 win at Baltimore on May 15…Was the 5th time this season Sox have scored at least 10 runs…Club matched its season best for hits in an inning with 5 in the 8th inning last night with 6 runs in that frame one shy of 2006 high…Sox are 43-for-145 (.297) in last 4 games and have a .288 (286-for-993) average over the last 28 contests…Team is 6th in the A.L. in hitting at .280…Boston’s 3 homers on Sunday were team’s most since 4 on June 4 at Detroit…Sox are batting .328 (154-470) with 88 runs in last 14 games at Fenway Park.

WITH THE GLOVE: The Red Sox have gone 7 games without an error, 2nd longest streak of season (8 GMS, May 9-19)…Have 3 miscues in the last 15 games and 12 errors over last 42 contests beginning May 1…Boston leads the majors with a .991 fielding percentage with 23 total errors being 7 fewer than any other major league club (San Diego)…Are the fewest errors for any major league team in a non-strike season through June 17 since research is first available beginning in 1960…Sox have not led A.L. in team fielding for a season since 1950.

CLIMBING FAST: Jonathan Papelbon saved all 3 wins in Atlanta, the 3rd time this season he has earned save in 3 consecutive games (April 8-9-11; May 25-26-27)…Leads the A.L. with 23 saves, tying Doug Corbett (Minnesota-1980) and Huston Street (Oakland-2005) for 12th most ever by a rookie…Next on list is Dick Radatz (1962), who holds team rookie mark with 24 saves…ML record is 37 by Seattle’s Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000…Has converted 23 of 24 save tries (95.8%), the 2nd best percentage in the majors among pitchers with at least 15 saves to Baltimore’s Chris Ray (18-18) . . . Papelbon has pitched 19 scoreless innings in last 18 games since allowing only run this season on May 3 vs. Toronto…His 0.25 earned run average is the lowest in the majors among all pitchers who have worked at least 7 innings.

MANNY RAMIREZ snapped an 0-for-18 drought with his 452nd home run in the 4th inning on Sunday…That ties him with Jim Thome and Carl Yastrzemski for 29th on the alltime list, one behind Gary Sheffield…It was Ramirez’ 38th home run lifetime in interleague play, matching Barry Bonds for 4th most all-time…Manny’s 111 interleague RBI are the 3rd highest total ever . . . The 0-for-18 drought by Ramirez matched the 2nd longest hitless span of his major league career and was his longest since a career high 0-for-21 in 1998.

WILMINGTON WINS: The Wilmington Blue Rocks won the Carolina League’s Northern Division 1st Half Title Sunday with a 4-3 victory over Winston-Salem.

NATS NOTES: Sox are 8-7 lifetime versus the Expos/Nationals franchise…Teams have not played since Sox won 2 of 3 in Montreal, July 15-17, 2001 and have not met at Fenway Park since Sox swept a 3-game set, July 16- 18, 2000…Boston is 8-7 lifetime vs. Expos/Nationals franchise, winning all 6 games at home.

WASHINGTON TRADITION: The Sox will face a team based in the Nation’s Capitol for the 3rd time in its history…Sox and original Washington Senators played from 1901-60 with Boston holding a 664-610-11 advantage from 1903-60…Sox were 110-87 versus the expansion Senators from 1961-71 before team moved to Texas…The last game at Fenway Park versus a team from Washington was played on September 26, 1971, when Jim Lonborg beat Dick Bosman, 8-1.

STELLAR AT SHORT: Alex Gonzalez leads A.L. shortstops with a .995 (1 E/209 TC) fielding percentage and has gone 49 games since his lone miscue on April 9 at Baltimore, both a single season and overall team mark for a shortstop…Previous overall record was 48 games by Rico Petrocelli, September. 25, 1968-May 30, 1969.

DYNAMIC DUO: David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez homered in the same game Sunday for the 6th time in 2006 and the 36th time overall…Sox are 32-4 in those games…Only active duos with more homers are Atlanta’s Andruw and Chipper Jones (51) and St. Louis’ Jim Edmonds and Albert Pujols (43).

KYLE SNYDER becomes the 9th different pitcher to start a game for the Red Sox in 2006, compared to 10 in all of 2005…He will be the 21st pitcher to take the mound for Boston as Sox used 26 hurlers in 2005 . . . At 6-feet-8, Snyder is believed to join a group of pitchers as the tallest Red Sox players to ever appear in a regular season game…The others: Gene Conley (1961-63), Steve Ellsworth 1988), and Mike Smithson (1988-89)…Any other contributions are welcome.

HE’S BEEN EVERYWHERE: Kevin Youkilis has batted in 7 different slots with a .318 average this season…The only other ML qualifier currently batting .300 who has hit in as many spots in the order is Cleveland’s Casey Blake, who has started in 7 slots, hitting .304.

FIRST PITCH TONIGHT: Two-time A.L. batting champ (1946-53) with the Washington Senators Mickey Vernon will throw out the ceremonial 1st pitch on Monday night…Vernon also played with the Red Sox in 1956-57.

Posted by Art  at 3:29 PM | Permalink