"It doesn't matter. We lost," Martinez snapped.
How true. The Red Sox' margin for error was already razor thin entering Friday night. It is now, well, whatever is thinner than a razor.
In an effort to get back in the win column the Sox turn to Josh Beckett on Saturday opposite lefty Ricky Romero. First pitch is 7:10 p.m. and I'll be around to carry you through the action once again.
Final, Blue Jays 11-9: There was some drama in the ninth but otherwise it is a rough Friday night at Fenway Park.
John Lackey lacked command from the start on a night his team really needed him. The offense showed up but Victor Martinez provided almost all of it before popping to short for the final out of the game while representing the tying run.
The Red Sox are 6 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay in the race for a playoff spot and seven behind New York with only 15 games to play.
10:33 p.m.: This time it is a no-brainer for Cito Gaston. He will bring in Kevin Gregg to turn around Victor Martinez after the Sox cut the lead in half. Martinez represents the tying run.
Yamaico Navarro and Daniel Nava had the RBIs. There's a little life here.
Martinez is 0-for-6 against Gregg.
Mid 9th, Blue Jays 11-7: It's been a rough night all around but Tim Wakefield gives us something to cheer about in the top of the ninth. He pulls the old fake-to-third-throw-to-first play and it actually works, picking off Fred Lewis.
The Yankees held on to win and the Rays lost. So New York is back on top, one-half game up on Tampa Bay, which will be 6 1/2 up on Boston unless something wild happens here in the bottom of the ninth.
The Rays' magic number to clinch the wild card will be 10.
End 8th, Blue Jays 11-7: Mike Lowell hits into a second double play to end an inning and the Red Sox will need at least a four-run rally in the ninth.
Daniel Nava is in left field. Josh Reddick moves to right. Tim Wakefield remains on the mound.
10:05 p.m.: Yes, it was a six-run game but couldn't Cito Gaston have brought in a right-hander to face Victor Martinez rather than leave lefty Jesse Carlson out there to get smoked.
Carlson serves up a two-run shot to Martinez, his second of the night. The Sox are within four and Martinez has five RBIs. It is his third multi-homer game of the season.
Shawn Camp has come on in relief, likely one batter too late.
Alex Rodriguez just hit a go-ahead three-run homer with two outs and two strikes in the top of the ninth in Baltimore. That would be A-Bomb #2 of the night.
Mid 8th, Blue Jays 11-5: Tim Wakefield has very quietly thrown 7 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings of relief and has allowed just one run in his last 12 1/3 frames out of the pen.
End 7th, Blue Jays 11-5: I think the Red Sox went down in order but it was hard to tell. Happened so fast we couldn't quite decipher the action.
The bench is being emptied for Boston. Josh Reddick is in left. Yamaico Navarro is the new shortstop. Jed Lowrie moves to second base.
Mid 7th, Blue Jays 11-5: Ryan Kalish gets an awful read on a fly to center with two outs and runners on the corners. Speed makes up for it as Kalish keeps is a six-run game with a running catch.
Jason Frasor has taken over for Brett Cecil.
9:38 p.m.: Matt Fox's debut with the Red Sox does not go so well. He gives up two singles and a walk with two outs and Tim Wakefield is on to clean up the mess. Toronto has an 11-5 lead.
Wakefield is now the second-oldest player to appear in a game for the Red Sox, surpassing Carl Yastrzemski by five days. Deacon McGuire, who appeared in a game at 44 years, 280 days old (234 days older than Wakefield) in 1908.
The Citgo sign gets list soon, just so y'all know.
End 6th, Blue Jays 10-5: This could be one of those nights at Fenway Park. The kind where fans leave at 12:03 a.m. trying to piece together how each of the 29 runs were scored.
Victor Martinez, Adrian Beltre and Mike Lowell each had an RBI in the fifth as the Red Sox pull a tad closer.
Lowell entered having gone hitless in 17 at-bats. He is 2-for-3.
Matt Fox is on in relief for the Sox. This is his debut with the team.
Mid 6th, Blue Jays 10-2: Milton's own Rich Hill comes on to get two quick outs and get the Sox to the sixth in fantastic shape.
The last time Brett Cecil appeared in Fenway Park the Blue Jays scored 16 runs. He ought to take some of the fellas out for a steak dinner after this one.
9:07 p.m.: Jose Bautista has set the Blue Jays' single-season record for home runs by hammering his 48th of the season. It was a fat fastball that Bautista launched to left. One batter later Rich Hill is called on to replace Michael Bowden.
Earlier in the inning Bowden allowed a runner to score from third on a wild pitch. It is 10-2 Toronto.
End 5th, Blue Jays 7-2: The Red Sox bounce into a double play to end an inning for the second straight time. Michael Bowden is out to start the sixth but the Boston bullpen is buzzing.
Mid 5th, Blue Jays 7-2: Michael Bowden's second pitch is hit into right field by John Buck for an RBI single. A double play finally ends the inning but the damage was most certainly done.
Four of the runs in the inning were earned. John Lackey's ERA now stands at 4.63 and he is in line to lose for the fourth straight time.
8:41 p.m.: John Lackey hears plenty of boos after he leaves just one out into the fifth inning, his shortest start since April 19. A little bit of everything led to his demise in the fifth and the Sox trail 6-2.
A single, a walk and a hit batter (Lackey's third of the game) loads the bases with no outs. Lyle Overbay then continues to hammer the Red Sox with a two-run double to snap the tie.
Overbay improved to 8-for-23 (.348) with 11 RBIs at Fenway Park in 2010 with the hit, which preceded a sacrifice fly by John McDonald.
Adam Lind followed with a shot that got past Mike Lowell at first and then past Darnell McDonald in right. Lind gets an RBI double and goes to third on what is ruled an error on McDonald. It's ugly here right now.
Michael Bowden is on in relief.
End 4th, 2-2: Brett Cecil had time to fix some pancakes and take a shower before beginning a 1-4-3 double play to end the fourth. David Ortiz was the runner at first and Mike Lowell was chugging up the line.
The Yanks have fallen behind in Baltimore and the Rays continue to trail in Tampa Bay.
Mid 4th, 2-2: John Lackey strands a pair of runners in the fourth but treats us to another wayward offering. On a 3-2 pitch to Edwin Encarnacion he uncorks a pitch to the backstop.
This will be one of those starts where Lackey, in the words of Terry Francona, competes.
End 3rd, 2-2: The Red Sox go quietly in the third as Brett Cecil has settled down since the Victor Martinez homer.
Mid 3rd, 2-2: You know it's cold out when all the windows to the press box are down. This is the first time that has happened since April, if I recall correctly.
In any event, John Lackey has his first 1-2-3 inning. With the windows down we didn't hear it, but we saw it just fine.
End 2nd, 2-2: An A-Bomb for A-Rod has given the Yankees an early lead while the Rays trail at home to Tampa Bay.
Means nothing if the Sox come up on the short end of this one. For that to no happen John Lackey has to look a bit better.
Mid 2nd, 2-2: It's pretty clear that John Lackey does not have command right now. In addition to giving up a pair of doubles, one by Adam Lind that tied the score, Lackey hit two batters in the second.
The second HBP came on an 0-1 fastball that got Fred Lewis square between the numbers. Not even close to its intended target, even though Victor Martinez had set up inside.
End 1st, Red Sox 2-0: He simply hammers lefties. Victor Martinez is now hitting .406 (54-for-133) with 10 homers off southpaws after poking a two-run shot to left. Darnell McDonald had reached with a one-out single.
Martinez has 13 RBIs in his last 11 games.
Mid 1st, 0-0: The Blue Jays had two hits on the first three pitches thrown by John Lackey in the top of the first inning. A pop to second and a 6-4-3 double play allows him to escape.
Jose Bautista, who had the pop out, is tied with George Bell for the franchise record for homers in a season with 47. Bell accomplished the feat in 1987.
6:59 p.m.: First pitch for this one will be 7:20 p.m. due to the pregame Hall of Fame ceremony, which are just about ready to get underway.
My apologies for citing the usual 7:10 first pitch earlier. The festivities should make up for the slightly later night. Tune in if you have not already.
5:58 p.m.: There will be some special moments before the game when the Red Sox induct five more members into their Hall of Fame.
John Valentin, Jimmy Piersall, Don Zimmer, Tommy Harper and longtime scouting director Eddie Kasko will be honored before the game.
In addition, Tom Brunansky's division-clinching catch in 1990 is recognized as a Red Sox 'Memorable Moment.'
Ryan Kalish has a long time to go before joining such franchise elites. Terry Francona was asked about Kalish's ability to hit lefties and whether he is a platoon guy in any way, shape or form.
On the contrary, Francona said, despite the fact that Kalish has been the odd man out against lefties from time to time.
The skipper pointed to Kalish's numbers against southpaws in the minors. He hit .294 in such situations, compared to .273 against lefties. His OPS is .832 and .790, respectively. So there will be no sitting Kalish against lefties, not this year and likely not next, when some have wondered if he will share time somewhere. The times when it has happened this year is simply a matter of not giving Kalish too much to handle at one time.
Francona did say Kalish will hit lower in the order against lefties from time to time.
Josh Reddick was also discussed pregame. Francona said he remains "a work in progress" and continues to make slight gains on curbing his aggression.
"He's trying to work the count," Francona said. "This guy is still developing."
Since returning to the big club Reddick is hitting .333 (7-for-21). He still has drawn just one walk in 47 plate appearances this year.
We are about an hour to first pitch and 35 minutes from the Hall of Fame ceremony, which should be pretty special. I suggest you tune in if you can.
4:20 p.m.: It's a pretty quiet pregame here at Fenway but we see some blue sky on the horizon so that has us feeling a bit better. The question remains — do the Red Sox see any blue sky on their horizon?
OK, that was corny, but you get the gist. There is actually a lot of chatter here about what the vibe will be if Boston wins five of six on this homestand and the Yanks, who have Tampa for four games starting Monday, continue to struggle a bit.
Among the limited items from downstairs is the update on J.D. Drew. He was just seen in the batting cage and is available for this one but likely won't see any action until Saturday.
It makes sense. Brett Cecil is tough on lefties while Saturday's starter for the Jays, Ricky Romero, is not. In fact, Drew has had some good moments against Romero. So we will see him then.
Mike Cameron and Dustin Pedroia were both in the Red Sox clubhouse. Cameron certainly looked a little leaner after spending a week with his family recovering from his abdominal surgery. Terry Francona was asked about it and said the Cameron looked nice in his jeans, but didn't inspect him any further than that.
Pedroia took off his cast (red and white in color, of course) to show some reporters some of the marks left behind. He got his stitches out while the Sox were on the road.
Francona was also asked if seeing some of those star players back in the clubhouse makes him think about what might've been.
"I never think like that. It's not productive," he said.
We will have a few more notes on Ryan Kalish, Josh Reddick and Marco Scutaro in a bit. For now you can digest the Blue Jays' lineup:
Fred Lewis, LF
Yunel Escobar, SS
Jose Bautista, RF
Vernon Wells, CF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Aaron Hill, 2B
Adam Lind, DH
John Buck, C
Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
3:11 p.m.: Greetings from Fenway Park, where the drizzle continues but clearer are skies are due. We will check in on the clubhouse and Terry Francona in a matter of moments. Here is your starting lineup for the series opener:
Marco Scutaro, 2B
Darnell McDonald, RF
Victor Martinez, C
Adrian Beltre, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Lowell, 1B
Jed Lowrie, SS
Bill Hall, LF
Ryan Kalish, CF
8 a.m.: John Lackey's pursuit of a 13th win has been a difficult one. He will try for a fourth time to get back in the win column in the series opener against Toronto on Friday night at Fenway Park.
Since losing a game late in Tampa Bay on Aug. 29, Lackey has gone seven innings in his two September starts — both losses — while allowing just four earned runs, striking out 13 and walking two.
Yet still he is stuck on 12 wins. Picking up No. 13 is vital to the Red Sox' slim chances in the playoff race. They enter the series six games behind New York with 16 games to play.
Boston has won four straight and is coming off its first series sweep in nearly two months. Toronto has lost seven of eight.
First pitch is 7:10 p.m.
