With the way things went in Tampa Bay, this was just what the doctor ordered. A ton of early runs and another dominant effort by Jon Lester make it a cakewalk.
The clubs get right back at it Saturday afternoon at 1:07 p.m. John Lackey opposes Brandon Morrow and we will be following all the action for you right here.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 14-3: The old 1-3-6-3 double play helps Toronto get through the top of the ninth and begin preparation for an 11-run outburst.
That won't happen, trust me. But Jon Lester will pick up his 11th win and enters the All-Star break on the best run of his career.
End 8th, Red Sox 14-3: Two innings of work are in the book for Robert Manuel on his 27th birthday. The outing matches the longest of his short major league career. Hopefully he'll have enough left in him for cake and ice cream.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 14-3: The only major drama, if you can call it that, of the top of the eighth inning was Mike Cameron making a bid to reach base for the eighth straight time. He did not, grounding to shortstop for the first out of the inning.
Tampa Bay is losing pretty big at home right now so it looks as if the Sox will move back within two games of them in the division and wild card race.
End 7th, Red Sox 14-3: Better get Papelbon up. The Jays have crept closer on a solo homer by Jose Molina off Robert Manuel. The teams have combined for six home runs.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 14-2: Adrian Beltre has drawn two walks in a game for just the third time this year, which shows just how giving the Jays have been in this one. That is the seventh free pass issued by Toronto pitching.
Robert Manuel has taken over for Jon Lester, who was excellent once again.
End 6th, Red Sox 14-2: The Blue Jays have the Sox right where they want them after John McDonald clocks a solo shot with one out in the sixth and John Buck hits an RBI double with two down.
Daniel Nava, who has played a pretty good left field for Boston, misplayed Buck's drive to the wall in left-center field. He probably should've had it for the last out.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 14-0: Ten different Boston players have scored at least one run already and six have at least one RBI.
9:09 p.m.: Casey Janssen was really giving the Blue Jays a great effort to spare their bullpen, but he can't get out of the sixth after retiring the first two batters. A walk to Daniel Nava, a single by Mike Cameron and a double by Bill Hall makes it 14-0.
Cameron is 6-for-6 with two home runs and a walk in his last two games.
Janssen was actually ejected from the game arguing a call on Hall's double. The umpires ruled fan interference and initially ruled that Cameron should score from third but Janssen correctly argued against it. Even though Cameron was sent back to third, Janssen was sent to the showers.
End 5th, Red Sox 13-0: Jon Lester allowed one hit in seven innings the last time he pitched here. The Jays have just one through the first five of this one and with the way Lester looks I would almost be surprised to see any more.
The lefty has struck out the side in two of the last three innings.
He has been so utterly dominant of late that you wonder why he isn't getting any more notoriety than he already does. A lot of that may have something to do with his quiet, business-like demeanor, but we may not have seen a run of dominance like this by a Red Sox starter since some of those great Pedro Martinez years.
Seriously. Lester entered this one 10-1 with a 1.84 ERA over his last 14 outings. Those numbers are only getting better.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 13-0: Casey Janssen has come in and calmed things down a bit for the Blue Jays. He got the last two outs in the three-run fourth and sets down the Sox in order in the fifth. Maybe we can put away the record books for now.
End 4th, Red Sox 13-0: We have seen plenty of fireworks but we will not see a no-hitter. Jon Lester allows his first hit when John Buck grounds a single to center with two outs in the fourth.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 13-0: You know it's bad when the home team ellicits its third sarcastic cheer and you're only in the fourth inning. These fans are seeing some pretty poor pitching by the Jays.
The Sox' three home runs in the fourth left them one shy of matching the club record for one inning, accomplished several times before.
They are on pace to shatter the team mark for home runs in a road game (7, once in 1999 and again in 2003) and could flirt with the franchise's all-time mark of eight, set against these same Blue Jays at home on July 4, 1977.
The massive lead has allowed Terry Francona to rest some guys. J.D. Drew and Marco Scutaro are both out of the game. Daniel Nava goes to left with Darnell McDonald moving over to take Drew's spot. Bill Hall moves from second to short to take over for Scutaro and Eric Patterson comes off the bench to fill in at second base.
8:27 p.m.: Brian Tallet got one out and threw 22 pitches in the fourth inning. Three of those pitches were hit for home runs, the latest a blast by Mike Cameron, which has forced Cito Gaston to make another pitching change and has the rest of us to reach for the record books.
8:22 p.m.: Maybe Brian Tallet is just trying to make Ricky Romero feel a bit better. Kevin Youkilis and Adrian Beltre have taken Tallet deep back-to-back and the Sox are up 12-0 with no outs in the fourth.
End 3rd, Red Sox 10-0: Jon Lester had to wait almost 40 minutes between innings. So what does he do to make up for lost time? Strikes out the side on 11 pitches. They ought to institute the 10-run rule for nights like this.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 10-0: Four walks, four singles, two sacrifice flies and an RBI groundout by J.D. Drew that Toronto first baseman Lyle Overbay flubbed by making a poor throw home. It all adds up to a seven-run frame for the Sox, who really needed something like this.
Boston has 10 runs on seven hits.
Hard to imagine this one ever getting interesting again, what with a 10-run lead and Jon Lester on the mound. Then again, Lester had a 5-0 lead in Cleveland a few starts ago and left trailing 6-5.
The line for Ricky Romero over his last two starts:
5 IP, 12 H, 17 R, 17 ER, 5 BB, 5 K
7:58 p.m.: Ricky Romero was not able to make it out of the third inning in his last start at Yankee Stadium, getting only the first two outs in a frame that saw New York score 11 runs before it was all over. He only got one out in the third inning of this one before the hook came with Boston on top 6-0 and the bases loaded.
Not sure if any of you saw this at home, but if you have DVR or Tivo go back to the sacrifice fly by Kevin Youkilis in the inning and watch catcher John Buck's reaction. Buck is having a tremendous year but he looked silly trying to find the ball, looking off to the right for a ball that was rocketed to left.
Brian Tallet is the first out of the pen for the Jays.
End 2nd, Red Sox 3-0: Jon Lester has walked two and gone to a three-ball count on two other hitters through the first two innings. The higher totals in that realm have been the only "issue" for Lester this year.
The All-Star lefty has now walked 44 in 116 innings, giving him a ratio of 3.4 per nine innings. That is easily Lester's worst mark since 2007, before he became a regular member of the rotation.
Something to chew on.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 3-0: Ricky Romero had two outs in the second and only a runner on second before things went sour for the young lefty. Mike Cameron ripped an RBI single to start the scoring and Bill Hall followed with a two-run shot to right, his seventh of the season.
Adrian Beltre had been in a 3-for-22 slump before he doubled with one out. He scored on the hit by Cameron, who has begun to heat up despite his sporadic playing time.
Cameron has hits in his last four at bats and a total of 10 RBIs in his last 10 starts, including this one.
Considering Jon Lester has allowed two runs or less in 12 of his last 14 starts the Sox have to like their chances in this one.
End 1st, 0-0: Sporting some black and yellow cleats that sort of clash with the Sox' away uniforms, Jon Lester works around a two-out walk in the first. Interestingly enough, Lester got the first three outs through the air, one more than his total in that category from his last start in Toronto, which totaled seven innings.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Ricky Romero needs only 10 pitches to retire the Sox in order to start things off. Romero entered with a 1.45 ERA at home, so Boston may have its work cut out for itself.
Prior to Friday's game, Kevin Youkilis had some interesting things to say about Jacoby Ellsbury's absence from the team. Check out the video right here.
6:55 p.m.: After slugging five home runs in Thursday's win over Minnesota, the Blue Jays are on pace to surpass their franchise record for home runs. Defeating them, obviously, involves keeping it in the park, something Jon Lester knows a thing or two about.
Lester has allowed just one home run in his last 10 starts, a span of 70 1/3 innings. His HR/9 innings rate of 0.4 is the lowest of his career.
In destroying the Jays at Rogers Centre back on April 28, the lefty allowed just two fly balls all game.
6:02 p.m.: After a morning that had Cliff Lee all but wearing pinstripes, he has been shipped to Texas, which makes the AL West leaders a pretty scary looking bunch right now, just in time for a visit to Fenway Park for four games after the break.
We speculated earlier what sort of effect Lee going to the Yankees would have on the Red Sox. No need to worry about that right now, however don't count out New York as major players if the Rangers do not sign Lee to an extension and let him become a free agent after the season.
That's a bit down the road. For now we can look forward to a potential Lee-Lester matchup in Fenway next week, depending on how the clubs put together their rotations after the All-Star break.
5:45 p.m.: With Jacoby Ellsbury due back with the team at some point Friday night, we cannot go forward without taking a look at the various ailments around the Red Sox clubhouse.
Ellsbury will work out with the team and give club medical officials a chance to re-evaluate him before he heads to Fort Myers to continue what could still be a long rehab.
As predicted in this blog earlier in the week, Victor Martinez will not come off the disabled list when he is eligible right after the All-Star break, Terry Francona just told reporters in Toronto. He will be re-examined during the break at Fenway Park and a plan will be laid out from there.
Manny Delcarmen threw another side session Friday and should be ready to go after the break.
Mike Lowell remains on the DL, despite being eligible to return. According to reports, he is not with the team anyway so don't expect to see him in the lineup anytime soon.
Also, Francona gave reporters the rotation for after the break. It goes as follows: Tim Wakefield, Clay Buchholz, John Lackey, Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Finally, here is your Blue Jays lineup against Lester:
Fred Lewis, LF
Alex Gonzalez, SS
Jose Bautista, RF
Vernon Wells, CF
John Buck, C
Aaron Hill, 2B
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
Jose Molina, DH
4:20 p.m.: While trade rumors around baseball swirl like a Kansas twister, the Sox have settled in to do some business in Toronto, beginning a huge three-game set before the All-Star break.
Several of the Boston starters for Friday's opener will like what they see when they step into the box in a few hours. The five who have faced Toronto starter Ricky Romero are a combined 18-for-36 (.500) against him.
Here is the Red Sox' lineup for Friday's tilt:
Marco Scutaro, SS
Darnell McDonald, LF
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Adrian Beltre, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Mike Cameron, CF
Bill Hall, 2B
Kevin Cash, C
Back in a bit with all your pregame updates.
7:39 a.m.: The last time the Red Sox lost five straight games, a slide that took place back in April, they were already being written off by some. A fifth straight loss Friday in Toronto may elicit some of the same reactions.
The Sox have dropped four in a row overall and eight of their last 11 on the road. They were suffering through a similar slump when they last came to the Rogers Centre, though, and three days later, they had swept Toronto.
Jon Lester gets the call for Boston in search of his 11th win. Ricky Romero will go for the Jays, who have won two straight following a 1-8 stretch that had dropped them below .500 for the first time since May 1.
First pitch is 7:07 p.m.
