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Red Sox and Phillies rained out

. . . which can be of no surprise to anyone.

The game will be made up at 1:05 p.m. Monday.

Posted by Art  at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

Sunday's press notes

Sunday's pregame press notes, courtesy of the Red Sox' P.R. department:

DATE OPP. BOS TIME RED SOX STARTER OPPOSING STARTER TELEVISION
Sun., June 25 PHI 2:05 p.m. RHP Tim Wakefield (5-8, 3.82) RHP Cory Lidle (4-6, 5.00) NESN
Tue., June 27 NYM 7:05 p.m. LHP Jon Lester (2-0, 2.76) LHP Alay Soler (2-1, 3.32) NESN
Wed., June 28 NYM 7:05 p.m. RHP Josh Beckett (9-3, 4.84) RHP Pedro Martinez (7-3, 3.01) NESN
Thu., June 29 NYM 7:05 p.m. RHP Curt Schilling (9-2, 3.61) LHP Tom Glavine (11-2, 3.33) NESN
---All games broadcast on 103.7 WEEI-fM and the Red Sox radio network and the Red Sox Spanish-language radio network---

WALK-0FF WONDER: For the 2nd time this season, both in the last 7 home games, David Ortiz won a game with a walk-off home run Saturday. It was his 6th regular season walk-off homer since joining the Red Sox in 2003, tying Albert Pujols for the most in the majors in that span, and 7th career (regular season), tying for 4th best among active players:
Regular Season Walk-Off HR
No. Player
10 Barry Bonds
9 Jim Thome
8 Vladimir Guerrero
7 David Ortiz
7 Chipper Jones
7 Mike Piazza

MLB Record for Game-Ending HRS is 12, shared by Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Frank Robinson, and Babe Ruth.

ABOUT THE SOX: The Red Sox and Phillies conclude their series this afternoon…Sox have won 8 straight games since losing in Minnesota on June 15, the team’s longest winning streak since 8 victories in a row, July 26-August 4, 2005…Boston’s last win streak of more than 8 games was 10 straight victories, August 24-September 3, 2004…It is the 2nd longest current winning streak among major league teams (White Sox-9 straight)…Sox are 11-5 since June 8 and 14-8 beginning May 31 . . . At 44-28, Boston is a season best 16 games over .500 and has its best record after 72 games since 2002 (45-27/lost game 73)…Was 42-30 with half game lead after 72 contests year ago . . . With the Yankees’ rainout on Saturday, the Sox extended their A.L. East lead over New York to 2.5 games, matching the season high, 4th time, last on May 22…Last larger division lead for the Sox was 3.5 games on Sept. 12, 2005…Club has been in the top spot the last 8 days and has been in sole possession of or in a statistical tie for first place in the division for 71 of 82 days in 2006 . . . At Fenway Park, the Sox have won 5 straight games, matching the season best (May 25-June 9)…Last longer home streak was 14 consecutive victories, July 19-August 26, 2005…At Fenway, Sox have captured 11 of 13 and 16 of the last 21 games, the longer streak beginning May 4…Club’s .697 (23-10) home winning percentage is tied for 2nd in A.L. with Minnesota behind Chicago at .744 (29-10).

WINNING IN A WALK: Saturday marked the 3rd time this season that Boston has won at home in the bottom of the 9th or later, all decided on home runs: April 17 vs. Seattle (Mark Loretta in 9th) and June 11 (Game 1) vs. Texas (David Ortiz in 9th)…Yesterday was Sox’s 1st extra inning home game of 2006 and improved team’s season mark in extra frames to 1-2…Boston has won last 5 extra inning decisions at Fenway since a loss on June 24, 2004 to Minnesota…Saturday was Boston’s 23rd comefrom- behind victory of 2006 and gave the squad an 8-4 record in 2-run games.

INTERLEAGUE PLAY: The Red Sox are 10-1 versus the National League this season, winning 8 straight since a loss in Philadelphia on May 21…This is Boston’s longest win streak ever in interleague play…Club is tied with the White Sox for most wins and highest winning percentage (.909) in the majors in interleague play in 2006…Boston has won 14 of its last 15 and 19 of last 21 in interleague play starting June 12, 2005…Sox have .759 (22-7) interleague winning percentage since start of 2005, matching White Sox for best in majors . . . This is just the 4th time in 10 seasons of interleague play that the Sox have won 10 games vs. the N.L.: 12-6 in 2005; 11-7 in 2003; and 10-8 in 2001 . . . Sox are 87-81 lifetime vs. N.L. in regular season, 50-36 at Fenway Park…Sox are 12-2 at home against N.L. teams since start of 2005, winning 6 straight and 11 of the last 12…With 2-0 mark in this set with the Phillies, team has won its last 10 home series in interleague play since dropping 2 of 3 to St. Louis, June 10-12, 2003…Since that time, Boston is 23-6 at Fenway Park vs. the N.L..

BATTING NOTES: The Sox had 9 hits Saturday to end streak of 6 games with 12 or more hits…Club is hitting .337 (111-for-329) over the last 9 games and has a .301 (354-for-1177) average over the last 33 contests improve season mark from .274 to .286, 3rd best in the league…Sox are batting .339 (222-654) with 129 runs in last 19 games at Fenway Park and lead the majors with a home batting average of .311 (340-1094) . . . Sox are batting .312 (324-1037) in interleague games since the start of 2005, the best average among major league clubs in that span.

WITH THE GLOVE: The Red Sox have gone 12 games without an error, a club record for consecutive errorless games…Team’s last error was committed by Kevin Youkilis on June 11 (Game 1) vs. Texas…Longest errorless streak in majors this season is 14, shared by the Angels (April 22-May 6) and Astros (June 5-20)…Club has 3 miscues in the last 20 games and 12 errors over last 47 contests beginning May 1…Boston leads the majors with a .991 fielding percentage with 23 total errors being 10 fewer than any other major league club (Oakland)…Are the fewest errors for any major league team through June 24 since research is first available beginning in 1960.

HE’S ALL EVEN: With Saturday’s win, Terry Francona has a career regular season record as a major league manager of 522-522…It marks the 1st time he has been at the .500 mark since he was 1-1 on April 2, 1997, two games into his managerial career with the Phillies…Only time over .500 was 1-0 after Curt Schilling blanked the Dodgers on April 1, 1997…Francona was 78 games under .500 when he took over the Red Sox in 2004.

2006: Sox are 4-1 vs. the Phillies this season, their most wins ever in a season against that club…Sox have won 8 of last 9 meetings with the Phils beginning June 27, 2004.

AT FENWAY: Sox have won 3 in a row and 5 of last 6 here…Club has now won last 3 Fenway series vs. the Phillies since dropping 2 of 3 in 1999.

ALL-TIME: Boston leads the all-time series, 17-13, 10-6 at Fenway and 7-7 in Philly…Are the Sox’ most overall wins and wins at home lifetime vs. a National League opponent.

PUTTING UP GOOSE EGGS: Jonathan Papelbon worked 2.1 scoreless innings on Saturday to extend his streak without allowing a run to 21.1 innings over 19 games since issuing ONLY RUN in 2006 on May 3 vs. Toronto…That lowered his season ERA to 0.24 (1 R/38 IP), lowest in the majors among any pitcher who has worked more than 8 innings . . . According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Papelbon is just the 2nd pitcher in the last 40 years to allow no more than one run in his 1st 38 innings in a season…The Dodgers’ Fernando Valenzuela, also a rookie, issued just one run in his 1st 52 innings in 1981 . . . Leads the A.L. with 23 saves, tying for 12th most ever by a rookie…Next on list is Dick Radatz (1962), who holds team rookie mark with 24 saves.

PAPI PRODUCES: David Ortiz’ gamewinning
homer on Saturday was the 9th time that Big Papi has won a regular season game for Boston in walk-off fashion (other 3 were singles) beginning 2003…That ranks as the most walk-off hits of any major leaguer in that period…Also had 3 walk-off hits in 2004 post-season . . . Yesterday was Ortiz’ 10th gamewinning RBI of 2006, tying the Twins’ Justin Morneau for 2nd in the A.L., one behind Alex Rodriguez of New York . . . Saturday’s homer was the 199th of Ortiz’ career, 141 in 4 years with Sox . . . Since the start of 2004, Ortiz leads the majors with 353 RBI and ranks 2nd with 110 homers, 3 behind Albert Pujols.

MEET THE METS: Sox and Mets open 3-game series on Tuesday…Teams last met July 12-14 2001, when Mets won 2 of 3 at Shea…Last Fenway series was July 13-15, 2000 as Sox took 2 of 3…Mets lead, 8-7 all-time.

Posted by Art  at 1:13 PM | Permalink

What a difference 50 miles makes

If you've been in Rhode Island this morning, the idea that anyone could play baseball within 50 miles of here is ludicrous. The rain has been coming down so steadily, and so hard, that there would seem to be no chance that the Red Sox and Phillies could play today.

However, conditions are different in Boston. It's barely rained at Fenway, and fans have gathered for this afternoon's game.

But there's another "however". The rain that's been here is allegedly headed up there. And if that's the case, the Sox and Phillies could be in trouble.

Stay tuned. Keep track of the rainfall via local radar, courtesy of weatherunderground. com. And here are today's starting lineups:

BOSTON:
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Alex Cora, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Manny Ramirez, LF
Trot Nixon, RF
Mike Lowell, 3B
Coco Crisp, CF
Doug Mirabelli, C
Alex Gonzalez,SS
---
Tim Wakefield, P

PHILADELPHIA:
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Chase Utley, 2B
Bobby Abreu, RF
Ryan Howard, 1B
Aaron Rowand, CF
David Dellucci, DH
Shane Victorino, LF
David Bell, 3B
Chris Coste, C
---
Cory Lidle, P

Posted by Art  at 12:50 PM | Permalink