redsoxrules

Dice K VS Kevin Slowey It has been an up-and-down rookie season for Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. But he can close it on quite a high by helping the Boston Red Sox win a division title. Matsuzaka and the Red Sox try to move closer to the AL East crown Friday when they continue a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park. To obtain arguably the most sought-after free agent overall last winter, it cost the Red Sox (94-65) more than $51 million just to win the negotiating rights with the right-hander before he signed a six-year, $52 million contract in December. He quickly overcame a 1-2 start with a six-game winning streak in a seven-start span, but the 27-year-old Matsuzaka (14-12, 4.48 ERA) has shown signs of fatigue down the stretch. He is 1-2 with a 9.11 ERA in his last five starts, and did not get a decision Saturday at Tampa Bay, where he was reached for five runs in 6 2-3 innings before Boston rallied for an 8-6 victory that clinched a playoff spot. "Of course, going into the game, I knew it was a situation where we could clinch a playoff berth," Matsuzaka told the Red Sox's official Web site through translator Masa Hoshino. "So there would have been nothing greater than getting the win and being the winning pitcher on the night that we clinched. Now that I'm at this point and looking at the situation, I'm pretty happy that we were able to make the playoffs and I'm excited to move forward." Matsuzaka, who has one win in his last eight starts since defeating Seattle on Aug. 4, is making his first appearance against the Twins. He is 7-4 with a 5.10 ERA in 13 starts at Fenway. Boston's magic number for clinching its first division title since 1995 remained at two following Thursday's 5-4 defeat. The loss, coupled with the win by the New York Yankees over Tampa Bay, sliced the Red Sox's lead in the AL East to two games. "I had so much going on in our game, I had to worry about our game," said Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, who homered in the eighth to cut the deficit to one run but struck out with the bases loaded for the second out in the ninth. "We put ourselves in position to win. Personally, I didn't get it done." Varitek is 6-for-17 (.353) with three homers and six walks in his last six games. David Ortiz is one double shy of setting a single-season major league record for doubles by a designated hitter, currently sharing the mark with Edgar Martinez with 50. The Twins (78-81) continue their push for a .500 record behind rookie Kevin Slowey (4-0, 4.57). The 23-year-old right-hander is coming off arguably the best of his 10 starts since his first call-up in June, limiting the Chicago White Sox to one run in seven innings while striking out a season-high nine in Minnesota's 7-1 victory Sunday. "He slowed the ball up enough today. He pitched hard inside," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire told the team's official Web site. "He did a lot of good things today. He threw lots of great breaking balls today, and I think those are the things you need to do to be successful." Slowey has never faced the Red Sox.

as much as I would like to have him for the post season its a good move IMO

I'm rooting for the mets, brewers, san diego and the rockies

everybody is picking high for the monday night game, watch it be a 14-10 game

i'm not , i was just saying ......

Vtek since the break is hitting 226 and is striking out every 2.95 AB , just awfull youk is at 232 since the break and he is striking out alot too at every 3.5 AB can drew play first base? cause at this point the lineup i would like to see in the post season is pedroia ellsbury ortiz manny drew lowell crisp vtek lugo Oh and ortiz is definately the MVP of this team , he leads the major in OPS at 1059 . i find it hilarious that writters and broadcasters are saying that ortiz is having an off year . f*** id take his current numbers for the next 5 years no problem

another HR for papi

drew on base again

beckett struggling in this one

phillies up 6-0 in the 4th and the mets trailing 3-0 in the 4th . so it looks like there will be a tie in ther NL EAST after tonight

atta boy JD 2-1 sox

cubs lost again to florida

ortiz!

its not permanent , when playoffs come he'll be back to the 4 spot and hopefully hitting like he is now

the last time the cubs beat florida was way back in april of 2006

Mets sending pedro to the mound tonight to try to stop the mets loosing streak , it will be interesting to see

I think crisp should win the GG

what he said

game over . magic number 2

cause you cant advance at first with less than 2 outs with a runner on first , if there was 2 outs he would have been able to advanced

the last series against the A's we scored 8 runs in 4 games , this time around 18 and counting in 2 games .