VA Sox Fan

Here are the pitching matchups for the Yankees-Sox series: Tuesday: CC Sabathia vs. John Lackey, 7:10 p.m. Wednesday: Phil Hughes vs. Josh Beckett, 7:10 p.m. Thursday: A.J. Burnett vs. Jon Lester, 7:10 p.m.

Adrian Gonzalez AL Player of the Week Posted by Michael Vega, Globe Staff August 29, 2011 04:06 PM By Michael Vega, Globe Staff The Red Sox just announced that first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was named American League Player of the Week. In seven games ending the period Aug. 28, Gonzalez batted .393 (11-for-28) with a double, 5 home runs, 9 RBI and 8 runs scored. His third-inning double to left off A's starter Guillermo Moscoso in the first game of Saturday's double-header sweep of Oakland marked Gonzalez's 183d hit of the season, which surpassed his previous career high of 182 hits in 2007 with the San Diego Padres. Gonzalez currently leads the Majors with .345 batting average, 298 total bases, 184 hits, and is second overall in RBI (103) and is tied for third in extra-base hits (65), fourth in doubles (39), and ranks fifth in on-base percentage (.406). This was Gonzalez's fifth weekly honor of his career and first since May 24, 2010, with the Padres and first as an American Leaguer.

Giving up on Wakefield would be a mistake Posted by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff August 29, 2011 02:35 PM By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff Based on e-mails, comments on the blog and listening to sports talk radio, there is a sentiment out there that the Red Sox should take Tim Wakefield out of the rotation. Some would go as far as to release him. With the rosters expanding on Thursday, releasing him makes little sense. Beyond that, it would be unnecessarily callous. The man has been with the team for 17 years, show some respect. Taking him out of the rotation may not make a whole lot of sense, either. Starting tomorrow, the Red Sox have 28 games left to play over 29 days then one day off before the start of the postseason. It would make little sense to drive Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, John Lackey and Erik Bedard hard over the next month. Lackey, Lester and Bedard have already been on the disabled list this season and Beckett was there much of last year. Having those four pitchers healthy and lined up for the postseason is critical. Wakefield doesn't have to — nor should he — pitch every five days. But the Red Sox have seven games left with Baltimore and six with Toronto. If Wakefield picks up two or three of those games, there's extra rest for Beckett, Lester, Lackey or Bedard. Wakefield has eight quality starts, two this month. As poor as his start was against Oakland on Friday, it wasn't necessarily representative of his season. If he is used correctly, the Red Sox can win the game that night while at the same time giving one of their top-tier starters a little break. This isn't about Wakefield winning his 200th game. This is about the Red Sox being in the best position to win the World Series. Nobody is going to throw a parade for winning the division, winning 100 games or having the best record in baseball. Those achievements are essentially meaningless. If Wakefield can help Lester, Beckett, Lackey and Bedard be just a little more prepared comes the games that really matter, what is that worth? Finally, he's 45-years-old and getting paid $2 million. For that, he delivered 130.2 innings and the Red Sox are 11-8 in the games he started. It would be unreasonable to expect more. Fangraphs calculates Wakefield as giving the Red Sox $3 million in value. In the end, he has been a bargain. When the season is over, his future can be decided. For now, Wakefield can still contribute to this season and should get that chance.

Cool. Restart time is now 9:25pm what a long day

A's (60-72) 1. Jemile Weeks, 2B 2. Coco Crisp, CF 3. Hideki Matsui, DH 4. Josh Willingham, LF 5. Brandon Allen, 1B 6. Scott Sizemore, 3B 7. David de Jesus, RF 8. Cliff Pennington, SS 9. Anthony Recker, C SP: RHP Graham Godfrey (1-1, 4.24 ERA)

Red Sox (81-50) 1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF 2. Marco Scutaro, SS 3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B 4. Dustin Pedroia, 2B 5. David Ortiz, DH 6. Jed Lowrie, 3B 7. Carl Crawford, LF 8, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C 9. Josh Reddick, RF SP: LHP Erik Bedard (4-9, 3.57 ERA)

A's make some noise but nice win for the Sox!

5:35pm restart time

Me too!!!

Yep! Scutaro's bat is nice today

Hi Rosey! Nice to see you and the others. It's been a while. 7-2...nice game so far!

I heard their fries were awesome. Way to go Papi!

My boyfriend Tek! 3-1

It's on ABC here.

Nice Pedey

Cool. Oops thought you were at the Cask & Flagon.

ATHLETICS (60-71) Weeks 2B Pennington SS Crisp CF Willingham DH Allen 1B Jackson LF Suzuki C Sweeney RF Sizemore 3B, Pitching: RHP Guillermo Moscoso (6-7, 3.28)