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Baseball Today: Tuesday, July 24

AP photo / Mark Duncan

A FLAIR FOR THE DRAMATIC: The Red Sox made things a bit easier on Jon Lester last night, giving the 23-year-old lefty a 4-0 lead before he even went to the mound to pitch the bottom of the first. But the play of the game came in the fourth inning, after Lester surrendered a single and walked two batters to load the bases, and fumbled Josh Barfield's grounder, which could have been an inning-ending double play. When Lester blew a fastball past Grady Sizemore -- the same Sizemore who took Lester deep in the third inning -- Lester ensured that the story of his return has a happy ending. Joe McDonald breaks down the "Comeback Kid's" performance, and the reaction from players in both clubhouses (including former Red Sox farmhand Kelly Shoppach), in today's projo.

IN PRAISE OF...: Curt Schilling writes about Lester's return on the 38 Pitches blog. An excerpt: "Watching Jon all day was an experience I won’t ever forget. Going through what he has gone through, beating it, and coming all the way back to the big leagues and then throwing 6 strong innings, wow."

...UNPRAISED MEN: Seth Mnookin also wants to toast Coco Crisp and Julio Lugo, who have been adding a lot of life to the Red Sox offense lately (Feeding the Monster). Mnookin also offers these predictions for the rest of the season: "Boston's division lead will be as low as 4 games and that they’ll ultimately end up winning the East by somewhere between 6 and 8. Oh, and I’d also guess that New York won’t be in the playoffs, A-Rod won’t be in the Bronx come next spring, and Joe Torre will wish he’d retired a year earlier."

BUT THEY LOOK GOOD NOW: Roger Clemens and the Yankees cooled off the (moderately) hot Kansas City Royals to win their fourth game in a row. In the process, Alex Rodriguez became the fastest player since Manny Ramirez in 1999 to reach 100 RBI in a season (projo stats).

AND NEXT ON THE AGENDA: Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia tries tonight to become the majors' first 14-game winner (projo stats). If he doesn't get it done, then Josh Beckett will attempt to accomplish the same feat on Wednesday. Both games should be great pitching matchups: it's Sabatha against Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Beckett against the surprising Fausto Carmona.

FOOL ME TWICE: When David Ortiz hurt his shoulder trying to beat Jermaine Dye's throw and turn a single into a double, it wasn't the first time that challenging Dye had a painful end (Boston Globe). In 2001, Ortiz (then with the Minnesota Twins) broke his wrist trying unsuccessfully to score from second on a throw by Dye (then with the Kansas City Royals). WBZ-TV in Boston has a video from Sunday of Ortiz talking about his injury and showing how much movement he has in his arm.

LITTLE BIG MAN: Speaking of Ortiz, Steve Corkran reports in the Contra Costa Times that the big slugger once had dreams of being a little man in a big man's sport. Until his early teens, Ortiz says, he had dreams of becoming a basketball player. "I was skinny back then," Ortiz says. "I could run fast and I was a pretty good basketball player." Then he put on a display of hitting prowess that impressed a professional scout at a baseball clinic in the Dominican, and the rest is history.

STILL A CLASSIC: Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune writes that what John Henry's group has done to both preserve and improve Fenway Park could serve as an appropriate model for the Cubs' new owner as he ponders the future of Wrigley Field.

STOP THE DITHERING: Also in the Tribune, Rick Morrissey says it is time for the White Sox to do something, anything, to improve the team's future as their disastrous season continues to go down the drain.

TEIXEIRA UPDATE: FoxSports' Ken Rosenthal reports that the Red Sox and the Yankees are both on the periphery of the teams interested in Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira. Rosenthal says the Rangers are asking for a lot, and that the Atlanta Braves and the L.A. Angels are the teams most aggressively pursuing Teixeira.

OLD FRIENDS: Hanley Ramirez, who dislocated his left shoulder on Sunday, could return to the Marlins lineup soon, according to the club's Web site. .... Alan Embree remains the closer in Oakland, for now, even though the Athletics activated Huston Street from the disabled list yesterday (MLB). The team plans to bring Street back cautiously.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 9:00 AM to Projo Sox Crawl | Permalink