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Trot playing right field tonight

Red Sox outfielder Trot Nixon was originally slated to DH during his rehab with the PawSox tonight. Instead, he has been penciled in to play right field for at least seven innings.

He is not meeting with the media at all today, but he did say he felt good.

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 5:06 PM | Permalink

Ortiz released from hospital

Slugger David Ortiz was released from Massachusetts General this morning, according to Red Sox spokesman John Blake.

Oriz returned to Boston from the team's West Coast trip for evaluation after he felt heart palpitations just before Monday night's game in Oakland. It was the second time in August that Ortiz was treated for the problem.

Blake had no additional information.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Jack Perry  at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments 2

Lester being treated for enlarged lymph nodes

BOSTON -- Boston Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital for testing after enlarged lymph nodes were discovered during a medical exam, the team announced Thursday.

Lester was placed on the disabled list with a strained back Monday and was being tested to determine the cause of his back pain when the enlarged lymph nodes were identified, according to the statement from Dr. Thomas Gill, the team's medical director. The Boston Herald first reported the enlarged lymph nodes on its Web site Wednesday night, while also saying Lester was being checked for cancer. One possible cause of enlarged lymph nodes is cancer, thought the most common cause is an infection.

-- Associated Press

Lester is 7-2 with a 4.76 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 81 and 1/3 innings. Gill said he was resting comfortably.

Lester's problems were the latest on a team that's been riddled with injuries.

Slugger David Ortiz returned to Boston from the team's West Coast trip for evaluation after he felt heart palpitations just before Monday night's game in Oakland. It was the second time in August that Ortiz was treated for the problem.

Ortiz was released from Massachusetts General on Thursday morning, according to Red Sox spokesman John Blake. He had no additional information.

Left fielder Manny Ramirez has missed several games with a knee injury, and center fielder Coco Crisp injured his shoulder making a diving catch Tuesday.

Catcher Jason Varitek, shortstop Alex Gonzalez and outfielders Trot Nixon and Wily Mo Pena are also out with injuries.

Varitek, Gonzalez and Nixon were scheduled to make rehab appearances Thursday night for Boston's Triple-A affiliate in Pawtucket, R.I.

Posted by Art  at 11:30 AM | Permalink

For Sox fans, West Coast dream trip turns into nightmare

A first-person report by Michael McDermott, projo.com producer:

Our Red Sox dream trip is over. My wife and I traveled across the country, shuttled between two West Coast cities, and saw our favorite team lose five straight games. During those five games the Sox scored nine runs. Their opponents tallied 28.

We've seen bad pitching, bad fielding, but most of all bad hitting. We've been taunted by Seattle Mariners fans, Oakland Athletics fans, and, of course, every day we've been harrassed by a couple of trashy, drunken guys in Derek Jeter uniforms. Real tough guys.

At Safeco Field, we sat in front of two thoughtful young men who treated us to a noisy conversation about what they saw as the coming global warming-induced apocalypse; at least they left after three innings. At Oakland's McAfee Coliseum, we sat behind a teenage boy who gleefully screamed, "Red Sox suck," over and over and over and over again. He stayed till the last pitch.

And by the way, give us credit. We stayed for the last pitch at every one of these debacles. We're not Yankee fans, after all -- not the types to sit out the tough years only to resurface and irritate the rest of the baseball world when things are going good. No, we'll watch our team stumble with quiet dignity, and come away talking about how at least Manny Delcarmen pitched a solid seventh inning.

We're not disappointed we came out here, but things were certainly different then we expected months ago, when we purchased tickets for these five games. We weren't expecting to win all five, but how can you not look forward to traveling to see David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Jason Varitek? How could we have expected that we'd in fact be watching Kason Gabbard, Eric Hinske and Javy Lopez? And oh my God, how did Javy Lopez get this bad? Every time he comes to bat it's like you can flip a coin, is he going to strike out or pop the ball into the third baseman's mitt. Well, at least he calls a great game behind the plate. Right.

Just Saturday afternoon, we were walking around Pike Place Market in Seattle, and Boston's baseball faithful were out in full force, and in full swagger. That night, we had Manny and Ortiz in the lineup. We had David Wells pitch a great game. And we had the lead for most of the game. But then Mike Timlin came in, and before we knew it we were behind. And once we fell behind Seattle on Saturday, we were behind to stay, for days.

In case you're interested in following in our footsteps some day, here's some helpful information. Seattle is a beautiful place with a terrific ballpark. Win or lose you will be happy to be there. Oakland is a nasty, horrible place with a sticky, smelly concrete hunk of a stadium, whose employees berate you for no reason. These people can't fill their own seats for a perennial playoff contender, and yet they treat visiting fans like they're truly appalled that you've come to spend money in their city. For awhile I was rooting for the Sox to do something just to spite these people. To no avail.

I'm going to bed now, because my computer time is about up. I predict that I'll have a nightmare that goes like this: It's second-and-third, one out, Dustin Pedroia is up, and Carlos Pena is on deck ....

Posted by Jack Perry  at 7:37 AM | Permalink