Final, Red Sox 6-3: The Red Sox had to take care of business on this homestand. For the most part, they have and now have a chance for their first four-game winning streak in more than two months.
John Lackey goes eight innings for the third time in his last seven starts, Marco Scutaro drives in four and Jonathan Papelbon picks up his 31st save. And, remarkably, the rain was not a factor.
We'll get some reaction downstairs and get back to you in a bit.
End 8th, Red Sox 6-3: Jonathan Papelbon is indeed jogging in to close this one out. He has thrown just three times (each a scoreless inning) since his blown save in Toronto back on August 12.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 6-3: John Lackey strands a runner at third to end the eighth. Manny Delcarmen and Jonathan Papelbon were both up and warming but Papelbon sat down while Delcarmen continued to throw.
End 7th, Red Sox 6-3: With two-run singles in the fifth and seventh innings Marco Scutaro has tied a career high with four RBIs. It is the eighth time he has reached that mark.
A sacrifice fly by Victor Martinez adds a third run in the inning. Doug Fister deserved a better fate. He gave up five runs — two earned — in 6 1/3 innings and saw the only two earned runs score when reliever Sean White let them both cross.
Remember what I said earlier about John Lackey after the Red Sox score runs. Big inning for him right here.
8:57 p.m.: Jed Lowrie and Daniel Nava single to start the bottom of the seventh. Both move up on a nice sacrifice bunt by Ryan Kalish and that ends the night for Doug Fister.
Sean White, a right-hander, is on to face Marco Scutaro with two runners in scoring position and one out.
Darnell McDonald is running for Nava at second.
Mid 7th, 3-3: John Lackey's 100th pitch of the night gets Ichiro Suzuki to ground to second and end the top of the seventh inning. Doug Fister begins the bottom half in a steady mist.
End 6th, 3-3: As the rain begins to come down a bit heavier the Red Sox go in order in the sixth. John Lackey begins the seventh with a pitch count of 87.
Mid 6th, 3-3: There have been several knocks on John Lackey this year as several of his numbers have suffered. The one scenario which seems to be the biggest issue is how he seemingly follows up his own team's rallies by giving up runs right away.
I don't have any solid numbers on that right now, but just from watching every one of his starts this year it seems like he often spoils momentum.
Three singles and Lackey's own error lead to a pair of runs for Seattle. Former Red Sox first baseman Casey Kotchman gets the RBIs. It could've been worse but the Sox caught Franklin Gutierrez off third on a grounder to Adrian Beltre for the second out.
End 5th, Red Sox 3-1: Poor defense hurt John Lackey in the third and it destroys Doug Fister in the fifth. A dropped fly down the line in left by Ryan Langerhans opens the door for three unearned runs to come in.
Marco Scutaro drove in two with a base hit to right and J.D. Drew had an RBI single before Fister escaped.
Give credit to Daniel Nava, who rebounded from an 0-2 count to draw a big walk in the middle of that inning. He eventually came around to score.
Mid 5th, Mariners 1-0: We mentioned earlier that John Lackey needed just four innings to tie a season high with seven strikeouts. He gets two more in the fifth and is just three shy of tying his career high of 12, accomplished in 2008.
End 4th, Mariners, 1-0: If there is any more rain in the forecast it figures to get here too late to mess things up. The starters are working quick and getting outs. Doug Fister retires J.D. Drew, Victor Martinez and David Ortiz on nine pitches in the fourth.
Mid 4th, Mariners 1-0: John Lackey has often had good results vs. Seattle. He dominated the M's in Safeco Field last month and is slicing through the Seattle lineup in this one.
Lackey has already matched a season high with seven strikeouts. If not for the Jed Lowrie error he would be even on the board.
End 3rd, Mariners 1-0: Doug Fister has basically been a five-inning pitcher of late, and at that not the most effective one. But he showed the ability to dominate at times early in the season and is looking rather smooth in the slop Monday night.
Early in 2010, Fister twice threw eight scoreless innings in a start, flirted with a no-hitter in another and went at least seven innings in eight of his first 10 starts.
Mid 3rd, Mariners 1-0: A Jed Lowrie error leads to an unearned run in the third. Give credit to the Mariners baserunners for helping to cause the error and for taking advantage of it.
With runners at first and second and two outs, Lowrie was prepared to field a chopper behind the mound. Ichiro Suzuki, breaking from first, bore down on Lowrie and may have distracted him just enough without interfering to cause the bobble. No excuse for Lowrie, but it was a nice maneuver by Ichiro.
Ryan Langerhans, the runner on second, never hesitated rounding third and scored without a throw. Heads up play by him.
Tough luck for John Lackey, whom Terry Francona was asked about before the game, specifically his less-than-stellar stats:
"He's sorta been that guy that leaves a pitch up or gives up a couple runs late…sometimes those things have a way of running in spurts.
"When he's made mistakes he's paid for it. When he's made mistakes guys have wacked 'em. I think it's safe to say that when he pitches we feel pretty good about our chances.
(when asked if he is pressing in a bigger market): "I haven't seen a panic. He's a great teammate. I think we love the fact that he's here. When Theo told me what was happening I was thrilled, still am. I like the fact that he's on our team, a lot. I know his ERA is not what he's come to expect, but we'll take it."
End 2nd, 0-0: Adrian Beltre gets the Red Sox' first hit of the night but goes nowhere. It's a tough night for hitters, who hate batting in this kind of slop. Jam shots hurt like heck.
The Yankees are up 1-0 in Toronto and Tampa Bay plays later on in Anaheim. While the Sox still have to contend with the rain and the Mariners for three days there is a building excitement for this series with the Rays coming up Friday-Sunday.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Casey Kotchman turned on the jets, or whatever he would call them, and headed for second. Thousands scratched their heads, wondering what the heck he was thinking.
Kotchman tried to stretch a single into a double with one out in the second and was a dead duck. It helps John Lackey get through the second facing the minimum — he has three strikeouts.
End 1st, 0-0: Fly to right. Fly to center. Fly to left. The Sox try all three outfield positions and have nothing to show for it in the first.
Mid 1st, 0-0: It's not that big of a deal to strike out Russell Branyan on four pitches. But it is to do that to Ichiro Suzuki. John Lackey got both of them swinging in a perfect first. Nice start for the big righty.
7:07 p.m.: Anyone who walked the streets of Boston on Monday afternoon likely never thought baseball could be played this day. Amazingly, it will go on without a delay. For now, at least.
The lineup cards have been exchanged and the Red Sox are about to take the field.
6:52 p.m.: The tarp has been taken off and by the looks of it they may not be just dumping the water and then putting it back on, which is always such a tease. They may be looking to start this thing in a light rain and just hope it never gets any worse.
Usually by now a delay has been announced, just to make it official. Since we haven't heard anything and they are officially rolling up the tarp, we may have a first pitch not long after the scheduled start time.
6:30 p.m.: The tarp remains on the field but the rain is rather light right now. This system is swirling all over the Northeast so it's hard to tell if and when we will get hit hard again. There is almost no doubt that we will be delayed.
5:19 p.m.: The gates are open and fans are spilling in. The latest weather update seems to suggest that we do not know how severe it will get. Just going to have to wait and see.
Terry Francona gave us a few updates. He was not able to comment on the Johnny Damon news but we do have some word from Jason Varitek on the potential for Damon to return to Boston. More on that in a bit.
As for the current Red Sox players:
– Hideki Okajima (hamstring) will throw his second rehab outing Monday night for Pawtucket in Buffalo and then return to the club Tuesday morning for a re-evaluation. The Sox are going with one lefty reliever right now. Although he was struggling quite a bit before going on the DL, Okajima would provide some more options there.
– Kevin Cash (hamstring) is eligible to be activated from the DL on Tuesday and Francona said he is good to go. Expect Dusty Brown to head back down, but we'll have the official word at that time.
– Jarrod Saltalamacchia is back with the team and recovering from a stay in the hospital to treat a leg infection. Both he and Eric Patterson (neck strain) will play four games or so with Pawtucket starting Thursday in Rochester, or thereabouts.
– There has been no date set for Mike Cameron's surgery. He is in great spirits, as usual. He even stuck his head in to our little reporters scrum around Varitek's locker, looking for that winning quote.
– A scan taken of Dustin Pedroia's foot is going to be sent to a few specialists, including the one in North Carolina that just analyzed Varitek's scan. Francona said it will be done to "reinforce what I hope, that he's OK." We may hear more on Pedroia in a few days.
Back in a bit with a few more items.
3:20 p.m.: Who knows if we'll ever see these lineups on the field Monday night, but we have your projected starters, beginning with the Red Sox.
Marco Scutaro, SS
J.D. Drew, RF
Victor Martinez, C
David Ortiz, DH
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Mike Lowell, 1B
Jed Lowrie, 2B
Daniel Nava, LF
Ryan Kalish, CF
Ichiro Suzuki, RF
Chone Figgins, 2B
Russell Branyan, DH
Franklin Gutierrez, CF
Casey Kotchman, 1B
Adam Moore, C
Ryan Langerhans, LF
Matt Tuiasosopo, 3B
Chris Woodward, SS
2:58 p.m.: Greetings from Fenway Park, where the wind is howling and for reasons unknown to me they are hosing off the seats down below. We have nothing new on delays or postponements but keep it here for all the weather-related news.
Red Sox officials have released a statement saying they still hope to get the game started on time and gates are still scheduled to open at the regular time of 5:10 p.m.
As always, that is subject to change.
8:50 a.m.: When the Red Sox visited the last-place Seattle Mariners in July, it resulted in an extremely frustrating series.
Boston hopes for a better result at Fenway Park when the two clubs open a three-game series on Monday night.
After winning the first two games in Safeco Field on July 22-23, the Red Sox saw Jon Lester drop a 5-1 decision to the Mariners in a game that featured some of his best stuff all year. He took a perfect game into the sixth before an error helped Seattle get on the board. Lester's bullpen then failed him in the eighth as he suffered a hard-luck loss.
The next afternoon Boston saw Hideki Okajima melt down in the eighth inning and lose a one-run lead in embarrassing fashion.
The Sox carry some momentum into the rematch. They took the final two games of a weekend series against Toronto and are now 4-2 on a nine-game homestand.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. but the rain is supposed to make an appearance.
