Final, Red Sox 16-4: John Lackey didn't pitch all that badly, but he'll get very little attention after this one. It was an impressive offensive display that included a season-high 16 runs on 18 hits and six walks.
Jason Varitek and David Ortiz hit three-run homers in the fifth, when the Sox really broke it open. After that it was just a matter of finishing things off.
Boston has won eight straight games for the second time in the last five years. Pending the result of Philadelphia's game today, the Sox could end the day with the best record in baseball.
As it is, they have a shot at their third straight three-game sweep on Sunday when Jon Lester opposes Kyle Drabek. It is another 1:07 p.m. game, and we'll have all the action.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 16-4: Boston just has to hope it never sees this Mike McCoy kid again. He's got some stuff.
McCoy, making the fifth all-time pitching appearance for a position player in Toronto history, throws a 1-2-3 inning. Carl Crawford and J.D. Drew were both able to make contact on two-strike pitches, avoiding ridicule that would last the year.
4:32 p.m.: Infielder Mike McCoy is pitching the ninth for the Jays. This could be fun.
End 8th, Red Sox 16-4: Tommy Hottovy threw a pitch behind Jose Bautista in the eighth. Clearly, payback for the Edwin Encarnacion homer that pulled the Jays within 13-4.
That's sarcasm. I cannot keep it down during games like this.
Hottovy did allow two to reach but that's it. Michael Bowden will pitch the ninth, at which point he will be protecting a 738-run lead.
See?
Mid 8th, Red Sox 16-4: As we sit here, the Red Sox have scored 15 more runs than any other team in baseball. And who's to say they won't add to their total in the ninth.
Tommy Hottovy will pitch the eighth.
4:13 p.m.: A Jacoby Ellsbury RBI groundout and a two-run double by Dustin Pedroia — his second of the game — gives the Red Sox a 16-4 lead. It is a season high for runs in a game. Something tells me it won't be for much longer.
The Jays are making a pitching change with two outs and two on in the eighth.
Received a comment or two on my David Ortiz MVP note earlier in the game. He was in the mix for the '07 award as well, finishing fourth that year. My bad.
Still, '06 was a more open field and the top three were split rather evenly among the scribes. When Justin Morneau won, it seemed to surprise many. In '07, Alex Rodriguez was a clear-cut winner. If Ortiz played a position in the field, that might not be the case.
End 7th, Red Sox 13-4: Anyone know any jokes?
Hard to make many about the Red Sox these days. With just six more outs, they will improve to 21-6 since their last trip to Toronto. Their eight-game winning streak will match the longest since 2006.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 13-4: Despite a leadoff hit for Drew Sutton, the Red Sox fail to score for the first time since the second inning. Theo Epstein must be looking to make a move after that display.
Dan Wheeler replaces John Lackey.
End 6th, Red Sox 13-4: John Lackey serves up a two-run homer to Edwin Encarnacion, and is done after six innings and 110 pitches.
The Red Sox will take it. Lackey figures to improve to 4-5. His ERA sits at 7.41.
The benches are beginning to empty. Drew Sutton leads off the seventh in place of Adrian Gonzalez, followed by Mike Cameron for David Ortiz.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 13-2: Jason Varitek has his first four-RBI game since April 26 of last year, also in Toronto, after an RBI single in the sixth.
The hit drove in Marco Scutaro, who has very quietly produced a hit in 13 of his last 28 at-bats. Add in his superior defense to Jed Lowrie and Lowrie's continued struggles and you may see the shortstop position shift once again.
Lowrie is the only player in the lineup today without a hit and the only one without a run scored.
End 5th, Red Sox 12-2: John Lackey has set a season high with seven strikeouts, getting two more in an inning where all he has to do is let his defense do the work.
Word out of New York is that Bartolo Colon was hurt covering first base on a play. He has been fantastic for the banged-up Yankees. Not a guy they can afford to lose right now.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 12-2: David Ortiz follows Jason Varitek's lead with a three-run homer of his own, the 16th of the year for Ortiz.
It is early, and a DH has to do a lot to warrant such consideration, but if Ortiz keeps up this silly pace he will be in the MVP discussion again. Last time he was a serious contender was 2006, when he was third behind Justin Morneau and Derek Jeter.
2:56 p.m.: Brandon Morrow did give up a handful of soft hits, but there were enough hit on the nose and there were far too many of them in the first place. Ten overall.
An RBI single by J.D. Drew and a three-run homer by Jason Varitek have chased Morrow just one out into the fifth. Just more proof that throwing in the high-90s does not always mean much if you cannot locate.
End 4th, Red Sox 5-2: Adam Lind is now 11-for-20 with six doubles against John Lackey, and his latest two-bagger was the ignition for a Blue Jays rally.
With Lind on second, Lackey walked Jose Molina. Rajai Davis then lined a double that scored both runners.
If you've never seen Jose Molina scoring from first on a double, you're missing a scene. Just an iconic image, him racing around third and rolling into home plate, rather than sliding. Actually, Molina did a nice job of getting his hand on the plate, as Jason Varitek had it blocked well.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 5-0: Dustin Pedroia ought to get his knee scoped more often. Since returning from his trip to Mass General, he has reached base in six of seven plate appearances (4-for-5, two walks).
Pedroia's double to right field in the fourth scored Jason Varitek all the way from first base. Pedroia's average is over .260 for the first time since the first few days of May.
Brandon Morrow struck out Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz to keep Pedroia stuck on second. Morrow must be rather frustrating to watch if you are a Blue Jays fan. Great stuff, but very inconsistent right now.
End 3rd, Red Sox 4-0: John Lackey has five strikeouts through three innings, already one shy of his season high. His ERA is down to 7.12.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 4-0: The Red Sox hit one ball hard in the third, but get four runs out of the inning.
With one out, Jacoby Ellsbury hit a chopper that squeaked into right field. Dustin Pedroia followed with a worm-burner up the middle. Adrian Gonzalez's RBI double was hit rather hard into the corner in right.
After that, it was a litany of garbage, but effective garbage. David Ortiz was intentionally walked, which caused a run to come in when Brandon Morrow hit Jed Lowrie with a pitch.
Carl Crawford's sacrifice fly to left made it 3-0 and Marco Scutaro hit a bloop into center to score Ortiz from second, but only after center fielder Rajai Davis hesitated to throw home. Might've been able to cut down Ortiz at home if he was thinking right there.
End 2nd, 0-0: John Lackey has played with fire a bit, and if you remember the Firehouse hit in the early 1990s, "if you're playing with fire you're bound to get burned."
Lackey has no burns yet, but he has allowed the leadoff man to reach in both innings and the Blue Jays just took him to the warning track twice in the second.
Carl Crawford made a very nice catch on one of those drives. You might recall Crawford missing on a similar play last time Lackey was here, and Lackey throwing a hissy fit on the mound, as he tends to do from time to time.
Ah, Firehouse. Many nights at the point spent necking to "Love of a Lifetime."
Mid 2nd, 0-0: I love day games when Marco Scutaro is playing. He always has that squint in the glare, during which his mouth looks like a smile. Just cracks me up seeing him walk around in tense situations with a massive smirk.
Scutaro wasn't laughing after he smacked a shot off of Brandon Morrow's leg but was barely beaten on the throw to first. Nice recovery on the play by Morrow, who threw a practice pitch to make sure he was OK.
That was the second out of a 1-2-3 inning. The first was a strikeout of Carl Crawford on a rising 96 mph fastball. When he's on, Morrow is electric. You might recall his flirtation with a no-hitter last year against Tampa Bay, a game he finished with 17 strikeouts.
End 1st, 0-0: Like Brandon Morrow, John Lackey needs 24 pitches to survive the first.
He issued a leadoff walk to Yunel Escobar. At that point, six of the last eight Toronto hitters Lackey had faced had reached base.
Corey Patterson and Adam Lind both worked 3-2 counts before striking out on some pretty good fastballs. In between, Jose Bautista flew to right.
Lackey had to work a bit, but there was some nice movement on a few heaters, most of which sat around 93 mph.
Mid 1st, 0-0: The Red Sox didn't miss much against Brandon Morrow in the first. Jacoby Ellsbury's third strike was the only swing and miss.
Dustin Pedroia fouled off five pitches before working a one-out walk and Adrian Gonzalez smoked a line drive to right for the second out.
David Ortiz then ripped one down the line that appeared to me, and to the Blue Jays, to be foul by a solid six inches, but it went for a single, putting runners on the corners.
Jed Lowrie popped to short, so the opportunity was wasted, but Morrow did have to throw 24 pitches. He began the year on the DL with arm issues, has yet to throw more than 107 pitches in a game and has finished seven innings in just one start, so any extra work he has to do early will eventually be to the benefit of the Red Sox.
1:08 p.m.: Brandon Morrow strikes out Jacoby Ellsbury and we are off and running.
12:35 p.m.: According to our own Heidi Watney, it's just a routine day off for Kevin Youkilis. The hit on the hand last night was just another in a long line of bumps and bruises for a guy that has not had much time off of late.
Against a hard-throwing right-hander in a day game after a night game, makes good sense.
If and when the Red Sox win today, it would match the longest streak in baseball this year and would be the club's longest winning streak since April 15-27, 2009. The last time Boston won as many as nine in a row came in June 2006, when it took 12 in a row.
12:03 p.m.: In some small minor league news, Franklin Morales was unable to throw his first rehab outing because of rain. He will throw today for Pawtucket and could rejoin the team in Tampa Bay.
Not much has been made of Morales since he arrived, but he will be getting big outs for this team at some point, especially if Bobby Jenks cannot stay healthy.
11:39 a.m.: We discussed John Lackey's afternoon issues in the prior post. He also has a few issues with some of the guys in the Toronto lineup.
Here is that lineup, after which we will post a few numbers:
Yunel Escobar, SS
Corey, Patterson, LF
Jose Bautista, RF
Adam Lind, 1B
Edwin Encarnacion, DH
Jose Molina, C
Rajai Davis, CF
Jayson Nix, 3B
Mike McCoy, 2B
Yunel Escobar, Adam Lind and Rajai Davis are a combined 23-for-48 (.479) against Lackey. They are nicely spaced out in the order, so he doesn't get much of a break. The rest of the lineup is just 7-for-52 (.135) versus the righty.
So, basically, every third guy will hit the ball wicked far. The rest will totally strike out.
10:41 a.m.: For a little more on the lineups and some numbers behind the matchups, click here.
One interesting note, at least in my small head. The Red Sox, with a win today and a loss by Philadelphia, will have the best record in baseball. That was the same scenario yesterday, just hadn't noticed until this moment.
One reason for Boston's turnaround has been a remarkable run during day games. That was an issue all last year, for whatever reason, and again early in 2011. The Sox were 20-23 in day games in 2010, better than just four teams in the AL, and three were Baltimore, Cleveland and Seattle, the dregs of the junior circuit last year.
Boston lost its first three games in the afternoon this year, and four of the first five. That made them 21-27 during the day since the start of last year. Since then, they club has won 13 out of 15 day games. In winning seven of their last eight afternoon tilts, the Red Sox have outscored opponents 64-29.
It's somewhat worth noting with the team in the midst of playing 14 of 36 games during the day, including today and Sunday. Starting next Saturday, it will play seven of 15 games during the day. To put that in perspective, the Sox had just three day games in a span of 28 on the schedule earlier in the year, when the weather was colder and you would want to avoid playing at night. Go figure.
It's also worth noting because of the man on the mound today. John Lackey was one of the primary culprits in the day woes last year. Including his first two months of 2011, Lackey has a 6.05 ERA in day games while with the Red Sox. It's probably just one of those strange trends, but he will be making more day starts in this upcoming stretch, in all likelihood. It would be a nice development for the Red Sox if he can follow the team's lead and start performing better when the sun is high.
9:24 a.m.: If you need a pick-me-up from the hockey game late last night, we have some early baseball for you. The streaking Sox can serve as your hangover cure, perhaps.
However, Boston will be without Kevin Youkilis to start this one. He appeared to be hit on the left hand by a pitch Friday night, although the home plate umpire ruled that it caught the knob of the bat. If that did hit him and the hand swelled up, that could be one issue for the day off.
More likely it was just time for Youkilis. It is the day game after a night game and he had started 14 straight. Plus, he is just 1-for-9 with four strikeouts against Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow.
Here is the lineup sans Youkilis:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
Jed Lowrie, 3B
Carl Crawford, LF
Marco Scutaro, SS
J.D. Drew, RF
Jason Varitek, C
6 a.m.: The last time John Lackey pitched in Toronto, not only was he hit hard but he revealed just how much some off-field turmoil had been affecting him in an uncomfortable postgame meeting with reporters.
Lackey, coming off a successful return from the disabled list, will take on the Blue Jays in the Rogers Centre once again in a Saturday matinee. First pitch is scheduled for 1:07 p.m.
After giving up nine runs in 6 2/3 innings in that May 11 start at Rogers Centre, Lackey lamented some non-baseball issues that may have been dogging him a bit. He also was apparently dealing with an elbow strain, for he went on the DL just days later.
Lackey owns a lifetime 5.07 ERA vs. Toronto.
Brandon Morrow, the scheduled starter for the Blue Jays, has had similar struggles when facing the Sox. He has given up 17 runs in 20 2/3 innings in his career vs. Boston, good for a 6.97 ERA.
