5:08 p.m.: We almost got to see some 1-2-3 action from Jonathan Papelbon, but Alexei Ramirez went and spoiled the fun.
Middle 9th, 6-1 Red Sox: Victor plays long ball, skying a 2-0 fastball from Octavio Dotel over the fence in right with two runners on, giving the Red Sox plenty of breathing room heading into the ninth.
4:59 p.m.: Take a deep breath, Boston. Victor Martinez brought his bat to Chicago.
End 8th, 3-1 Red Sox: Wow. Daniel Bard was ready to pitch, I guess, striking out Konerko in three pitches. The second and third pitches touched 99 mph on the radar gun, as the Red Sox look to add some safety runs in the ninth. Due up: Drew, Gonzalez, Ellsbury.
4:46 p.m.: Billy Wagner's shutout streak is over. The veteran gave up a leadoff homer, but settled in to induce a pair of groundouts. Daniel Bard is on his way in from the bullpen.
4:43 p.m.: Ramon Castro just hit the seams off the ball. That's all well and good for the fine folks of Chicago, but are the fireworks necessary? It's 3-1 folks, let's save the gunpowder for a victory, eh?
Middle 8th, 3-0 Red Sox: Some insurance runs would have been nice, but Boston goes down in order.
Interesting ending, as Mike Lowell softly grounded to first and barely left the batter's box.
If someone else — say, oh, I don't know, Manny Ramirez — did the same thing, heads around New England would be exploding as radio talk shows would be flooded with telephone calls.
Now, of course, that's not to say folks should be mad at Mike Lowell, but maybe just some of the Manny hatred was overstated?
On second though, I'm sorry for bringing up Manny in the eighth inning of a tight game in September.
End 7th, 3-0 Red Sox: Gary Darling robs Lester of his eighth strikeout, but the lefty gets it anyway two pitches later.
That was the type of exclamation point you want to see out of Lester as the postseason approaches.
Final line: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 8 K, 122 pitches (75 for strikes)
4:23 p.m.: We'll see how Lester finishes this one. The last time he pitched without allowing an earned run was July 10 against Kansas City.He also held Baltimore scoreless in late June and mid-April.
Middle 7th, 3-0 Red Sox: Ellsbury's movement on the basepaths can't net the Red Sox a run, as Martinez goes down hacking and Youk flies out to center.
4:13 p.m.: And again, Ellsbury shows off the wheels. He's gotten more attention from Danks and now Randy Williams than any runner really warrants, yet still he swiped that bag with ease.
4:10 p.m.: That's two straight at-bats in which Jacoby Ellsbury showed what speed can do at the top of a lineup. When you have Superman's speed, you don't need to hit the ball like The Hulk.
4:07 p.m.: As I'm just joining you in the middle of the game, here are my general thoughts:
— Lester is doing what he does best, giving the Sox a chance to
win. Hopefully he can finish strong. Often, we've seen him end his
outings by giving up a pair of hits and being lifted.
— Pedroia's catch was incredible, as was the subsequent turn and
throw to second. That changed the game from the very beginning.
— Mike Lowell never ceased to be impressive. In limited playing time this year, he's still sent 17 balls over the fence. He's a guy who just knows how to put the good part of the bat on the ball no matter what.
— I want to be friends with Brian Daubach.
End 6th, 3-0 Red Sox: Lester looks sharp again, pitching around a leadoff single from Podsednik (who happens to be 3-for-3).
Middle 6th, 3-0 Red Sox: The Red Sox go in order.
3:59 p.m.: Jess Isner has left the building, and the manager is going with the righty, Mike Hurley, to take over the rest of the blog.
Bottom 5th, 3-0 Boston: Lester gets three quick outs again, including his fifth K.
Top 5th, 3-0 Boston: Ellsbury shoots one back up the middle, and it skips over the mound. Ramirez charges and makes it a close play at first, but Ellsbury's safe. Pedroia bunts right down the first base line, and Konerko grabs it, barehands it to Danks, and Danks wins the race to the bag, his foot barely beating Pedroia's head-first slide. Martinez flies out, then Youk takes a pitch off the knee and takes first. Bay drops a liner in front of Quentin in left, which brings home Ellsbury. That's his 98th RBI of the year (almost on par with Mr. Teixeira…). Ortiz flies out to center to end the inning.
Bottom 4th, 2-0 Boston: Konerko flies out to short center, then Dye rockets a double off the wall in left. Bay tries to barehand the ball and bobbles it, and the throw skips away from Pedroia. Although it was likely a double anyway, Bay gets an error. Dye takes third on a bunt by Quentin — it fell right in front of home — and Ramirez strikes out on a high fastball to end the threat.
Top 4th, 2-0 Boston: Mike Lowell yet again makes a case for himself by breaking the scoreless tie with a two-run shot to left, scoring Jason Bay, who singled on.
Bottom 3rd, 0-0: Lester starts off by striking out Alex Rios — his first of the day — then gets his second, courtesy of Ramon Castro. Scott Podsednik gets his second hit of the day, breaking up a string of seven straight batters retired by Lester.
Lester strikes out Nix on a high, 96-mph fastball.
Top 3rd, 0-0: Ellsbury skies an out to center, then Pedroia flies out to center. Martinez reaches after his grounder up the middle kicks off Danks' glove and he beats out the throw to first.Youk strikes out to strand him.
Bottom 2nd, 0-0: Three up, three down for Lester — Carlos Quentin flies out to left and Alexei Ramirez grounds out. Lowell handles a tough hop on a grounder to third to retire Getz.
Top 2nd, 0-0: David Ortiz hits right into the shift for the first out, then Mike Lowell grounds out to short.
Drew lifts a two-out double to the gap in left-center. The eight-hole continues to do Billy Mueller-esque wonders for him. But Alex Gonzalez strikes out to strand him.
Bottom 1st, 0-0: Scott Podsednik leads off with an infield single to short, then Lester walks Jayson Nix.
Dustin Pedroia makes an MVP play on a pop-up heading for short right. The ball looks like it's going to fall, and he, Youk and J.D. Drew all charge for it. Pedroia makes an unbelievable catch, then fires back to second to double up Scotty Pod. Instead of bases loaded, none out, it's two outs, one on. Ozzie's going to have a conniption about that one.
Drew makes the final out on a flyout along the right field line.
Top 1st, 0-0: John Danks doesn't get a call on what was a 2-2 strike and he responds by giving up a base hit to Jacoby Ellsbury to start things off. Dustin Pedroia sends a towering flyout to left, then walks Victor Martinez amid perpetual distractions by Ellsbury on first.
Kevin Youkilis hits one hard to right but Jermaine Dye takes care of it, and Ellsbury moves over to third. Jason Bay grounds out to third to end the threat.
This strike zone is a little ridiculous; Martinez blatantly got ball four and it was called a strike, and Danks got strike three and it was called a ball. Brian Daubach (now there's a guest commentator) says he doesn't like to be criticized, so we'll see how long it takes for someone to get tossed today.
11:59 a.m.: Lineups are in, and it looks pretty much the same as yesterday, with the exception of Alex Gonzalez taking the place of Nick Green. Jason Varitek is the odd man out for the second day in a row as V-Mart resumes catching duties with Lester on the mound. Makes sense, too: He has two homers in eight at-bats against John Danks, Chicago's starter.
8:59 a.m.: It's time to start panicking, people. OK, not really, but it could be by the time this afternoon is over. As always seems to be the case with the Red Sox, one second, they look like they can't lose — see Tampa Bay — and the next second, they can't buy a hit/run/win.
Fortunately, Boston has its best bet on the mound this afternoon as it tries to salvage a win in this series against the essentially-out-of-contention White Sox. It's all up to Jon Lester.
In the meantime, if you get bored panicking, you can always resort to plotting Celtic Pride-esque tactics against Michael Young, Ian Kinsler and other select members of the Rangers.
