Spudboy

And Headly has a WAR of 1.0 so far!!! Maybe the Yankees did not have to give up much because Headly has a herniated disc?

Ruby was fortunate to get out of the 1st with minimal damage. Time for some runs!

Oye. An ugly start by Ruby.

Holt looks like he is lost. I hope this is just a bump in the road for him. He seems to have the hitting skills to continue to be productive. I'm just used to seeing him get on base at least once and usually twice each game.

I doubt that the Sox will see a dramatic drop-off in attendance this summer. And there are still too many long time Sox fans and even more bandwagon pink hats to suspect that attendance will suffer greatly next year. The Sox are like an addictive drug to sports fans in this region. Even though we may know the drug is not good for us, we continue to swallow it. I've said this before, the key to the Sox marketing is to appear to put the best foot forward and to be competitive on a daily basis. I don't believe that this was done this year. Most "fans" are not thinking that the Sox FO has failed them. They are too busy taking selfies in the box seats. Ted, you are correct in saying that the Boston fans do expect better than this. 3 WS championships are nice to be sure. However, this market is accustomed to having a team in contention in mid July.

Sorry to hear that Ted. You've had a couple of bad years family wise. I know the feeling. Hang in there!!!

Like it or not, this is the Sox lineup!

NO. Boston Toronto 1. B. Holt, 2B J. Reyes, SS 2. S. Victorino, RF M. Cabrera, LF 3. D. Ortiz, DH J. Bautista, RF 4. M. Napoli, 1B D. Navarro, C 5. D. Nava, LF D. Johnson, DH 6. S. Drew, SS M. Kawasaki, 3B 7. X. Bogaerts, 3B J. Francisco, 1B 8. J. Bradley Jr., CF R. Goins, 2B 9. C. Vazquez, C A. Gose, CF Sorry for the messed up format of the lineups! I was wondering when Pedroia would sit and Holt ( a 2nd baseman, believe it or not! ) would replace him.

I was caught off guard by the early start time. Good Ruby shows up and the Sox get back to hitting today. Let the good times roll! GO SOX! And oh, hi Ted.

Another underwhelming performance by our boys!! There is plenty of blame to go around. However I want to mention one thing that keeps bothering me. Every time there is a grounder to third I cringe because Bogaert's throws are an adventure. Tonight he rushed a throw and it was in the dirt where Nap could not handle it. Reyes was about two to three strides from first. He was safe when he should have been out. Bogaert's D is roughly the same as WMB. I hope that he can improve on this soon. It's fundamental baseball!!

This may shed some light: http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/39054/whats-the-problem-with-pedroia

Not that I had an original thought, but I said this several weeks ago. The Sox win a few games and all of a sudden everyone believes they are in the hunt for a playoff birth. Maybe? I have not given up hope completely because I am a Sox fan, after all. They pretty much have to dominate everyone for the rest of the season to win the division. I doubt that it happens.

Looks like good Peavey showed up again tonight. I hope the Sox bats can score some runs for the guy!!!!

Bradley has played center field so in that sense he has been a replacement for Ellsbury. In actuality, Brock Holt is now the replacement for Ellsbury. Holt's ability to get on base and to score from the lead off has been a huge unexpected gift for the Sox.

Go sox!!!!

Lol

I was pretty cool to see all of the Sox rookies getting hits tonight. Even Drew made a big contribution.

Will there be a game thread tonight???????????????????? Where is Station??????

It's a non-issue. Lewis is just being a jerk. The bunt was a good move. 2-0 is not much of a lead. Keep the pedal to the metal and score more runs. Dumb.

Nice start by Lester.

Not sure what happened to Station. GO SOX! Get the broom out!!!!

It figures another old fart would get it! Good job tonight by Ruby. He was a little out of control at times and needs to cut down on walks but I'm really pleased that he pitched this well. What the hell was Gomes thinking by running into Holt on that pop-up? Oye!!! Say what you want about Bradley. He sure is fun to watch. Love that arm!!!!

GO SOX! I wonder how many people understood the Tuesday reference?

Farrell has said that Vasquez would usually sit the first game of a series when possible so he can watch and hopefully learn how the Sox pitch to opposing hitters. So expect to see Vasquez tomorrow?

I guess VA is busy so here goes. Boston Red Sox Player AB R H RBI TB BB K AVG OBP SLG B. Holt, RF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .327 .371 .463 D. Pedroia, 2B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .280 .348 .381 D. Ortiz, DH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .255 .357 .487 M. Napoli, 1B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .266 .389 .431 D. Nava, LF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .238 .330 .310 X. Bogaerts, 3B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .235 .311 .348 S. Drew, SS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .151 .218 .269 D. Ross, C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .176 .239 .361 J. Bradley Jr., CF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .227 .305 .311 Kansas City Royals Player AB R H RBI TB BB K AVG OBP SLG L. Cain, CF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .307 .342 .425 O. Infante, 2B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .276 .317 .381 E. Hosmer, 1B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .268 .315 .382 S. Perez, C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .283 .329 .437 A. Gordon, LF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .268 .348 .425 B. Butler, DH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .273 .325 .355 M. Moustakas, 3B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .192 .257 .371 A. Escobar, SS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .283 .320 .386 N. Aoki, RF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .260 .328 .322