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Photo: Manny, Youkilis make nice

Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson
A week after they fought in the Red Sox dugout, Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis celebrated a Youkilis home run on Thursday night.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 10:32 PM to Projo Mannybeingmanny | Permalink

Pregame notes: Varitek has strep throat

Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek will not play tonight because he has strep throat, according to manager Terry Francona.

"He's not feeling too good," Francona said. "He shouldn't have played (Wednesday) night, and that's why we like our team so much. He had no business playing and he hit a three-run homer and caught a good game. He needs to not play tonight."

Francona said the captain is taking medication and should feel better on Friday.

"Tek's always available," the manager said. "That goes without saying."

"From what I understand, from having a lot of children, it's really contagious," Francona said.

Varitek is here today. If needed, Francona said Varitek could play.

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 4:09 PM | Permalink

Projo SoxTalk with McAdam: Colon keeps on winning

Click here to watch the video of Sean's comments, recorded this morning. The topics: Bartolo Colon's 150th career win and the ball that struck him in the arm last night, the Red Sox' pitching depth and how it will help them rest starters for the rest of the season, Sean Casey appealing his suspension and Jay Gibbons appealing for a job.

Here are some excerpts from Sean's comments:

The ball that hit Colon: "I think it just stung him a little bit, got him right kind of on the back of the wrist as he tried to either field the ball or get out of the way; I'm not sure which. He took a couple of warmup tosses but seemed to be OK, and obviously finished out the rest of the start, so there don't seem to be any concerns."

On the Red Sox' philosophy of giving pitchers extra rest: "They can look down the road a little bit and perhaps not be so concerned with game number 70 on the schedule, but rather look at what benefits the team in the long run and make some decisions that way. It certainly I think helped Josh Beckett last year that he ended up missing a couple of starts with the avulsion on the finger. I think those were, you know, 15 to 17 innings that he didn't have in October that benefitted him, and they'd like to do it with all their starters at some point."

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 3:41 PM to Projo SoxTalk with Sean McAdam | Permalink

Papelbon: It's not over between Red Sox and Rays

During his weekly appearance on Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon praised the Tampa Bay Rays . . . but also warned that he and his teammates haven't forgotten the bad blood between the teams.

Papelbon on the fight:
"In my opinion it is a bunch of bull what they did. All I got to say is what comes around goes around. Payback is a bitch. In my opinion, and the way I feel right now, this thing isn’t all settled and done. We still got to play them a few more times and I know when we go into Tropicana things will be a little different than when went in there last time."

Papelbon on the Rays staying in the race:
"Those guys have a lot of talent over there. As you can see, it’s a war when we go play those guys. It’s the big leagues and you got guys that can pitch over there and you got some guy that can hit so we’ve got to do everything we can to stay atop of those guys and keep fending them off because they can play."

Posted by Art Martone  at 3:27 PM | Permalink

Tonight's lineups

Baltimore
Roberts 2b
Mora 3b
Markakis rf
Millar 1b
Huff dh
Hernandez c
Jones cf
Payton lf
Cintron ss
Guthrie p

Boston
Ellsbury lf
Pedroia 2b
Drew rf
Ramirez dh
Lowell 3b
Youkilis 1b
Crisp cf
Lugo ss
Cash c
Lester p

Jason Varitek is not in the lineup tonight because he is not feeling well, Sean McAdam reports.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 3:13 PM | Permalink

Fenway Park food stands failed inspections

Fenway Park food stands on opening day failed city health inspections on more than a dozen health and safety measurements, according to a report in today's Boston Globe. The violations were significant enough to cause potential food poisoning, and followed the discovery of similar violations and a demand for corrective action a week before opening day.

The City of Boston threatened to shut down the park's food stands at a municipal court hearing, and 19 home games went by until a subsequent inspection found the food stands to be in compliance.

Red Sox team officials told The Globe that the food services contractor for Fenway, Aramark, did not inform them of the violations and that they were unaware of them until contacted by a reporter.

The findings by health inspectors included sausages thawing in stagnant water, employees handling raw burgers without changing their gloves, and rodent droppings underneath service counters, The Globe reported.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

Baseball Today: Thursday, June 12

Journal photo / Mary Murphy

ALL SMILES: And why not? Bartolo Colon (above) improved his record to 4-1 with a 6-3 win over the Orioles last night that Joe McDonald said started with Colon's Al Bundy impersonation and ended with his resembling "his former Cy Young self." Not only that, but the Red Sox picked up ground on all their A.L. East brethren, as everybody but the Sox lost yesterday. Want more? David Ortiz became an American citizen . . . even though McDonald said he wouldn't own up to it.

But there's a bigger element in play here, and it goes beyond winning individual games. Sean McAdam has a very interesting piece about the Red Sox working to keep their starting pitchers rested and refreshed so they're better able to withstand the demands of October. He wrote it on the same day Paul Kenyon was reporting (and demonstrating) from Pawtucket how the organization has, in the words of director of amateur scouting Jason McLeod, "implemented a system, and everybody's bought into it at every level." The underlying theme -- of both stories -- is that the Red Sox' focus goes beyond winning individual games, and toward building a structure that gives the major-league team the greatest chance for sustained, and sustainable, success. And, as it happens, we simultaneously have Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News writing about the other end of this spectrum: Yankee manager Joe Girardi overusing his aging core players in an attempt to avoid falling too far behind in the postseason races, which, he thinks, creates "a worrisome situation which may grow worse by August or September, if you are inclined to think negatively."

There's a danger in thinking you've reinvented the wheel; it leads to the sort of hubris that was the backdrop to the old saying "Pride goeth before a fall." I point all this out not to laud the Red Sox for creating a revolutionary new approach to the grand old game -- other teams are pretty smart and do similar things -- but just to illustrate that sometimes we get a glimpse of a very sound organizational philosophy that usually flies pretty far below the radar. When it does surface, it's usually when the major-league team is in crisis and there's a lot of pressure to do something different.

Nice to take a calmer look at it on a day when the sun is shining.

TWO-TRICK PONY: Colon helped the Sox win last night's individual game, and Steven Krasner goes Inside The Game to show us how. David Pinto of Baseball Musings wonders what the Red Sox saw in him this spring that other teams didn't, and recommends a raise for the scout who advocating Colon's signing.

THE BAD NEWS: There's always some, and last night's revolved around the continuing struggles of Mike Timlin, as reported postgame by Krasner on this blog. He also reported that the torrid J.D. Drew shattered his bat during his fifth-inning plate appearance, and wonders if -- like Robert Redford in The Natural -- his luck will turn now that the bat is in pieces.

GETTING READY I: McAdam reports Daisuke Matsuzaka will make a rehab start for the PawSox next Monday.

GETTING READY II: Interleague play resumes tomorrow, so McDonald has details of how Sox pitchers are preparing.

WILL HE BE READY? Manny Ramirez' hamstrings are still bothering him, and there's no guarantee he'll be able to play left field when the Sox arrive in Cincinnati tomorrow night. (Boston Herald)

APPEALING: Sean Casey is officially appealing his four-game suspension for his part in last week's fight with the Rays.

MORE PLAYERS IN THE MIX? On the same day Sarasota held an open town forum to debate whether or not to build a new spring-training facility for the Red Sox, McAdam reports "at least one other Florida city has demonstrated serious interest in the Sox." No one from Arizona has come calling yet.

TURNING IT DOWN A NOTCH: In the wake of last week's shoving match with Ramirez, widely believed to be a result of Manny -- among others -- getting fed up with his emotional explosions when things don't go his way, Kevin Youkilis says he's "trying to be a little more mature about his outbursts, while not surrendering his passion for the game." (Boston Herald) Youk admits some teammates have gotten on his case about his screaming and flinging of equipment, but says others have told him not to change a thing.

THEY ALWAYS FAILED THE TASTE TEST . . . but now, reports The Boston Globe, Fenway Park's concession stands also failed preseason city health inspections. They're back up to code, as they fixed the problems and passed a May 16 inspection.

BASKETBALL? WHAT IS THIS BASKETBALL OF WHICH YOU SPEAK? Curt Schilling has another blog entry in which he doesn't mention Kobe Bryant or the Lakers. (His Monday entry turned Bryant into a Yankee fan.) In this one he talks of his Tuesday bullpen session, which he says "wasn't a great day" but one he's willing to write off to the vagaries of rehab.

NOT ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL, BUT NEVER BORING: It was quite a nine-game road trip for the Tampa Bay Rays. First there was the fight in Boston. Then there was the fight among themselves in Texas. And yesterday they turned their ire on the umpires -- Derryl Cousins, specifically -- in their 4-2 loss to the Angels in Anaheim. (St. Petersburg Times) And you wonder if more suspensions are in the offing, since, according to Times writer Marc Topkin, Rays starter Scott Kazmir "[complained] not only about missed strike calls during several key at-bats but [questioned Cousins'] reputation and integrity, accusing him of making certain calls to make up for others." Joe Maddon wasn't happy, either, and his unhappiness resulted in the eighth ejection of his career (Tampa Tribune); four of them have come against the team he once worked for as a coach, the Angels.

So the Rays finish 3-6 on their cross-country road trip. Not much of a record, but they made memories that will last a lifetime. (St. Petersburg Times)

TAKE A BREAK: Carl Crawford now begins serving his four-game suspension for his role in L'Affaire Coco, but he doesn't mind because the Rays are returning to Tropicana Field and staying off the artificial turf will ease the strain on his sore legs. (Tampa Tribune)

THE JOY OF BEING A BALLPLAYER: It's a glamorous life, eh, Troy Percival?

OH, YEAH? The Rays could take a lesson in rapid response to those nasty Torontonians from Jonathan Papelbon:

CONSISTENTLY INCONSISTENT: That's Peter Abraham's take on the Yankees, who fell back to .500 with an 8-4 loss to the A's that spoiled Darrell Rasner's sort-of homecoming. (New York Daily News) He grew up in Carson City, Nev., which is 3 1/2 hours from Oakland.

'YOU CAN NEVER COUNT THE YANKEES OUT': So says Tino Martinez, but he adds that "they can't dig themselves too much more of a hole then they're in right now . . . There's too many teams playing good." (New York Post)

MAY WE PRESENT . . . "Your 2008 Toronto Blue Jays: Crushing your spirit, shredding the crushed remains, then lighting the whole shredded heap into blazing inferno. Rinse. Repeat."

Think our buddy Tao is frustrated?

THE CHIPPER JONES WATCH: Pinto has one started on Baseball Musings. But both SI.com's Tom Verducci and The Wall Street Journal's Carl Bialik tell us a .400 season is unlikely.

CRISIS AVERTED: Milton Bradley attempted to confront Royals broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre over comments Lefebvre made about him on the television broadcast of the game. He was intercepted before he got there, then screamed at his teammates and finally broke down in tears in the clubhouse. (Dallas Morning News)

JOB SEEKER: Former Oriole outfielder Jay Gibbons, who was named in the Mitchell Report, has written letters to all 30 teams saying he's sorry for his mistakes and is asking to redeem himself. "[All] I need is a chance and I will prove that I can be an extremely productive player and a great addition to your organization." (espn.com)

HERE AND THERE: Alfonso Soriano will be out four to six weeks after suffering a broken hand when he was hit by a pitch last night (Chicago Tribune) . . . Albert Pujols' calf strain will sideline him for at least three weeks (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Marlins have designated Jaque Jones for assignment (Yahoo!) . . . As if the Mariners didn't have enough problems, J.J. Putz has a sore elbow (Seattle Times) . . . Manny Acta and Elijah Dukes got into it in the Nationals dugout Tuesday night, but Acta says the incident is over. (Washington Post)

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 7:07 AM | Permalink | Comments 1