Big Papi Accepts Arbitration, Remains In Boston Just Like We Knew He Would

I don't know why it took this long but in the end, the Boston Red Sox and David Ortiz came to an agreement (through arbitration) that means he'll stick around in 2012.

There is very little that the franchise has done right since September but this move was so obvious. This isn't Jason Varitek or Tim Wakefield, Ortiz is still a valuable member of the team and not just a worn out relic from Boston's glorious past.

Ortiz will get a raise from the $12.5 million he made last season but he falls short of the two-year deal he desired. Sorry Big Papi, that's not happening when you're 36-years-old and your career could fall off a cliff at any point.

Boston has offered him a two-year deal worth $18 million and he figures to get $14 to $15 million in arbitration.

He's coming off a very nice bounce back season in 2011. The best DH in baseball hit .309 with 29 home runs, 96 RBIs with a .398 on base percentage and .554 slugging percentage. Over his nine years in Boston, Ortiz has batted .283 with 320 homers and 1028 RBIs.

More than anything, he's been the (mostly) friendly face of a franchise that went from a perennial loser to one of the top organizations in MLB. He is a seven-time All-Star and he has played 15 seasons in MLB between Minnesota and Boston.

In other arbitration news, reliever Dan Wheeler declined the Red Sox's offer. However, he could still be back on cheaper money if he doesn't get a better deal somewhere else.

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Every Thing Goes Boston's Way As They Leave Kansas City With A Series Win

I'm going to venture a prediction that all these things never happen again in the same Major League baseball contest: Darnell McDonald collected three hits (including a homer), Jason Varitek hit a triple, Ryan Lavarnway had two hits and Carl Crawford hit a homer.

The reason that we watch a Red Sox-Royals game in late August is that crazy stuff like that can all transpire in the span of nine innings.

Boston (77-49) beat Kansas City (52-76) 6-1 this afternoon at Kaufmann Stadium, taking the series 3-1 thanks to Jon Lester's brilliance and all the aforementioned unlikely events.

Lester (13-6) posted his second straight excellent outing. He went six innings, allowing one earned run on three hits with four walks and three strikeouts. A pitch count of 113 with runners on first and second and no outs forced Terry Francona's hand but Daniel Bard (2 scoreless innings, 3 strikeouts) responded like the best set-up man in baseball (him) usually does.

A subplot worth filing away is the fact that Dan Wheeler is suddenly more effective than Matt Albers. That means that Wheeler should be used in more important situations than he has been all season. The former Rays reliever and Warwick, RI native pitched a scoreless ninth today with two strikeouts. Albers seems to have remembered who he was lately (a middling reliever that had only played on bad teams) so it's nice insurance to have a battle-tested veteran like Wheeler.

Royals starter Danny Duffy (3-8) actually had a very nice outing but like a true Royal, he didn't come out on top. In six innings, he allowed two earned runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

No Jacoby Ellsbury, David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis for the second straight game wasn't as big a deal. Varitek gave Boston a 1-0 lead with his RBI triple in the fifth, scoring Jed Lowrie. McDonald added a solo shot (his fifth of the season) in the sixth and Crawford (eighth of the season) showed signs of life with a solo shot of his own in the eighth.

Mike Moustakas hit an RBI single for Kansas City in the seventh-one of only three hits for the home team-but the Red Sox piled on three more in the eighth. Adrian Gonzalez had an RBI single, Lowrie hit a sacrifice fly and Lavarnway just missed his first career homer (it hit off the top of the wall) but settled for an RBI double.

From here, things start to get real for Boston (still a half game behind New York in the AL East) as they face the Texas Rangers four times in hot as hell Arlington. Erik Bedard goes up against C.J. Wilson tomorrow night in the series opener. The only times these teams met in 2011 was to start the season and that did not go so well from my slanted opinion (three-game sweep for the Rangers). A lock in the AL West, Texas will visit Fenway three times Labor Day weekend.

It could be a playoff preview if the Red Sox don't take care of the AL East division crown. Texas is way better than Detroit or Cleveland and even a slight notch over the Yankees since they have a solid rotation, great bullpen and good lineup. I'll take the AL Central shitbums please.

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Josh Reddick's First Career Walk-Off Hit Sparks Red Sox' First Season Series Win Over Yankees Since 2004

Something about Sunday Night Baseball seems to bring out the drama for the Boston Red Sox.

While it's hard to top their 16-inning win over the Rays three weeks ago on July 17 (1-0 in Tampa Bay), tonight's 10-inning victory over the New York Yankees carried some extra significance for a couple reasons.

For starters, the 3-2 win at Fenway Park by the Red Sox (70-43) not only clinched the weekend series (2-1) and season series over New York (69-44)-it stands at 10-2 right now-but it put Boston back on top of the AL East by a game.

I'm not going to use the cliched term of magic but there was something in the foggy air as the Red Sox rallied for a run against the greatest closer in MLB history (Mariano Rivera) in the ninth to tie it 2-2 on Dustin Pedroia's sacrifice fly (scoring Marco Scutaro).

Then Josh Reddick picked a fine time for his first MLB walk-off hit as his RBI single drove in pinch runner Darnell McDonald in the tenth against Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes (2-4). David Ortiz (2 hits) had started the sequence with a ground-rule double to right, McDonald pinch ran for him and then Hughes intentionally walked Carl Crawford (3 hits) to get to Reddick.

The loss would have been particularly tough to take since Josh Beckett pitched well but Boston kept leaving runners on base (12) against Freddy Garcia and four other Yankees relievers before finally getting to Rivera and Hughes.

Beckett got a no-decision but it's safe to say that he still has New York locked down this season. As useless as CC Sabathia is against the Red Sox in 2011, Beckett is the opposite against the Yankees. Tonight, he went six innings, allowing one earned run on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Similar to Bartolo Colon on Friday, New York manager Joe Girardi didn't hesitate to get his overachieving starter out at the first sign of trouble. That sketchy strategy worked the first time but not the second time. It's hard to see it being successful in the playoffs either as the Yankees presumably will be relying heavily on their bullpen since outside of Sabathia who can they count on to go 6+ innings?

Garcia went five innings, allowing one earned run on five hits with three walks and a strikeout.

Marco Scutaro (4 for 4) drove in Kevin Youkilis with an RBI single in the second, making it 1-0 Boston.

Beckett was dealing until Eduardo Nunez lost one just over the Monster in the fifth. Another very unlikely Yankee went deep as Brett Gardner (3 hits, 2 stolen bases) hit a solo homer off Matt Albers in the seventh.

That measly run figured to stand up as Rafael Soriano got a 1-2-3 seventh for New York and David Robertson likewise got a hold with a scoreless eighth.

Scutaro led off the ninth with a wall ball double that just miss being a homer to right against Rivera. Jacoby Ellsbury got him over to third despite a terrible bunt. Pedroia's sac fly tied it and the Red Sox were on their way.

After Albers and Franklin Morales (9 of his 12 pitches were balls; 2 walks but somehow no runs allowed) shaky relief, Dan Wheeler struck out the side in the seventh, Jonathan Papelbon pitched a scoreless ninth and Daniel Bard (2-5) got a 1-2-3 10th with two strikeouts for the eventual win.

There's only six more regular season games between these teams (3 in Boston Aug. 30-Sept. 1 and 3 in New York Sept. 23-25) but this latest marathon (4 hours, 15 minutes) proved that the Red Sox have the Yankees' number. As I alluded to in the headline, it's the first time since 2004 that Boston has won the season series against New York and who knows how long it's been since they clinched it so early on.

Boston heads out for three games in Minnesota followed by three in Seattle. They return for only two against Tampa Bay then hit the road again for four in Kansas City and four in Texas. Without a doubt, this is the toughest stretch of the season travel-wise for the Red Sox.

Tim Wakefield gets his third crack at 200 wins as he opposes Scott Baker of the Twins tomorrow night at Target Field. It's Boston's only visit to Minnesota this season, the Red Sox won three of four against the Twins on May 6-9 at Fenway.

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Even On No Sleep, The Red Sox Pummel The Orioles

Just as I've exhausted all ways of bashing John Lackey and J.D. Drew, I've come to a similar crossroads with the Baltimore Orioles.

The Boston Red Sox arrived in Baltimore at 6 a.m. yesterday but that didn't seem to matter for their offense as they won a slugfest 15-10 over the Orioles at Camden Yards.

Boston (58-36) has now won seven straight over Baltimore (38-55). The O's are completely hopeless against the Red Sox, no matter what big talk they provide to the media.

Even though David Ortiz (and Kevin Gregg) started their three-game suspensions, the Red Sox offense came one run away from a season-high along with 16 hits.

Jacoby Ellsbury paced them with three hits, three runs, a walk and a run. Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis had three RBIs, two hits and a run. Carl Crawford returned and added two hits, two runs and an RBI while Josh Reddick (4th) and Jarrod Saltalamacchia (7th) notched home runs.

Marco Scutaro had two runs and two hits while Darnell McDonald cleared the bases with a three-run double.

Neither Tim Wakefield (4.2 innings, 9 hits, 7 runs, 3 earned, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts) nor O's starter Brad Bergesen (5 innings, 8 hits, 6 runs, 4 earned, 3 strikeouts) stuck around long.

Baltimore put up 12 hits, including three RBIs and two hits by JJ Hardy (including his 14th homer) and two hits, two runs and an RBI (his 16th homer by Adam Jones). Matt Wieters (two runs) and Derrek Lee (two RBIs) had two hits while Nolan Reimold added two RBIs.

Dan Wheeler (2-1) got the win with 2.1 scoreless innings. The Warwick, RI native had a brutal start to the season but since returning from an injury he seems to have found the form he had with the Tampa Bay Rays all those years. He walked one and struck out three.

Tonight figures to be another shootout as Jeremy Guthrie (3-13) takes on Red Sox rookie Kyle Weiland (0-0) in his second MLB start.

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Nobody has had a 2010 December like Red Sox GM Theo Epstein

I can't remember a better off-season haul for the Boston Red Sox then the one they are currently dominating.

After inking Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, Theo Epstein has addressed their final big need: help for their terrible bullpen.

Once again, Theo and the minions came through, signing former White Sox closer Bobby Jenks and former Rays set-up man Dan Wheeler.

Jenks was signed to a two-year deal, worth $12 million on Thursday and yesterday, Wheeler (a Warwick, RI native) signed a one-year deal with a team option for 2012.

The best parts about these deals is that they're low risk (less than three years) and pretty minor money for some legitimate guys that are not coming off major injuries.

If you watched the Red Sox last season, you know that closer Jonathan Papelbon had a miserable year and you have to be worried about how he'll bounce back this season. Thankfully, Boston has not only Daniel Bard but now Jenks (27+ saves every season since 2006) to throw in the mix.

It's clear that the Red Sox are probably going to dump Papelbon after this season since some team will overpay him when he's obviously on the downslope of his career. The life of a top-notch closer is a short one unless you're not human (looking at you Mariano Rivera).

The thinking with Wheeler is that he'll be a sixth or seventh inning guy. Now all the Red Sox need is a decent veteran lefty and I'd say they're set (although a better catcher would also be nice) for what should be a fascinating 2011 season.

Mike Timlin shouldn't be on the ALCS roster, let alone in a close game

For a playoff game that lasted five hours and 27 minutes over 11 innings, it might be surprising to hear that one decision made all the difference in the final outcome. With only Paul Byrd and Mike Timlin left in the bullpen heading into the bottom of the 11th, Red Sox manager Terry Francona made the wrong decision: he put Timlin in over Byrd (who hasn't appeared yet in the playoffs).

At that point, I knew it was over (most likely in that inning). I'm not that cynical but after watching Timlin completely lose his stuff the last two seasons, I felt like it was impossible that he'd be able to hold off the ultra-resilient Rays. Lo and behold, he walked three (one intentionally) and B.J. Upton hit a shallow sacrifice fly to right that scored pinch runner Fernando Perez. Tampa Bay won game 2, 9-8, evening the series at one game apiece.

You can't really say the Red Sox deserved to win. A couple players were outstanding and it's not like Tampa was that much better, however the law of averages had to tell you that there was no way Boston would take the first two games at the Trop.

Neither Josh Beckett nor Scott Kazmir were anything like they're capable of showing. In 4.1 innings, Beckett gave up eight earned runs on nine hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Kazmir lasted 4.1 innings, giving up five earned runs on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts. The two supposed aces each allowed three home runs.

The loss for Boston did spoil amazing performances by Jason Bay, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis. Bay had three hits (including a double and homer), a walk and four RBIs. Youk had three hits (homer), two runs and an RBI. Finally, Pedroia cranked two homers off of Kazmir, a single, four runs, two RBIs and a walk.

Other than that, the Red Sox had some black holes in the lineup. Jacoby Ellsbury was 0-for-6, Mark Kotsay was 0-for-6, Jason Varitek was 0-for-3 before he was lifted for a pinch hitter. Jed Lowrie and David Ortiz didn't get a hit but they both walked three times and Coco Crisp added three hits.

Evan Longoria was the headliner for the Rays. He was 3-for 5 (2 doubles, homer) with three runs and three RBIs. Upton had a homer, two RBIs, two runs, walk and steal. Carlos Pena had two hits, two runs and an RBI while Carl Crawford had two hits and two RBIs.

Bay put Boston up 2-0 in the first with a two-run double which scored Ortiz and Youkilis. Longoria responded in the bottom of the first with a two-run blast off Beckett, scoring himself and Pena.

Pedroia hit his first homer in the third while Upton tied it back up with a moonshot of his own in the bottom of the third. Crawford gave the Rays the lead later in the inning with an RBI single.

The most unforgivable mistake by Beckett was in the fourth when Cliff Floyd hit a solo homer to center, making it 5-3 Rays.

Boston hit three homers in the fifth, retaking the lead at 6-5 and knocking Kazmir out of the game. Pedroia, Youkilis and Bay did the honors.

Hoping to get one more inning out of Beckett, Francona left him in there to start the bottom of the fifth. Pena touched him up for an RBI single, Longoria had an RBI double and Crawford took Beckett out with another RBI single.

Bay cut it to 8-7 in the sixth with an RBI single and Boston tied it in the eighth when Pedroia scored on Dan Wheeler's wild pitch.

Wheeler was the unsung hero of the game for the Rays as he went 3.1 scoreless innings (48 pitches), with four strikeouts. Think the Rays wanted this one?

The fact that David Price, the No. 1 pick in 2007, was the last reliever that Tampa used (he got the win), is funny when you think about who the Red Sox were forced to use. No idea why Francona went to Timlin vs. Byrd who could go multiple innings and has great control (he wouldn't have walked all those hitters).

Both teams used all their best arms out of the bullpen. Delcarmen, Okajima, Masterson and Papelbon for the Sox. Balfour, Howell, Bradford and Miller for Tampa Bay.

The series shifts to Fenway tomorrow afternoon for game 3, followed by games 4 and 5 which will also be in Boston. The Sox need to take at least two out of three. They can't go back to Tampa down 3-2 and forced to win two elimination games at the Trop. Jon Lester goes against Matt Garza in what should be much more a pitcher's duel than game 2.

That'll Do Tampa Bay, That'll Do

Nothing will quite get you in the holiday mood for drowning your sorrows at the nearest Fourth of July party like watching your favorite team be exposed by an up-and-coming contender.

Down 4-1 going into the seventh, the Rays rallied for six runs in the inning, before holding off Boston 7-6, last night at the Trop.

Tampa Bay (52-32, the best record in baseball) swept the three-game series against the Red Sox and last night was the real kick to the groin. Boston has now lost five games in a row.

Lil' Dustin Pedroia did everything he could do to keep his team in the game but it wasn't enough. The second-year second baseman was 4 for 5 with three runs and two RBIs. He actually fell a single shy of the cycle and he had two doubles. J.D. Drew was 2 for 4 with a triple, run, RBI and walk.

A pitcher's duel between Dice-K and Scott Kazmir never really materialized as both struggled with high pitch counts early in the game.

Dice-K went five innings, giving up one run on two hits with five walks and five strikeouts.

Kazmir also only lasted five, allowing four runs on seven hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

The biggest area where the Red Sox (50-37) were exposed over the past three games was in the middle relief department. With Hideki Okajima struggling, we currently don't have a bonafide 8th inning guy (which is extremely important) and therefore everything short of Jonathan Papelbon (who didn't even pitch in the series) is a mess.

Surprisingly, Okajima had a scoreless sixth last night (with two strikeouts). His ineffectiveness must be contagious though as it popped up in Manny Delcarmen (3 runs, 3 hits, no outs) and Craig Hansen (1-3; 3 runs, 1 hit, 2 walks, no outs), who completely butchered the seventh.

On the other side, Tampa's trio of Trevor Miller (scoreless sixth), Gary Glover (1-2; 1 run, 1 hit, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 5 outs) and Dan Wheeler (3rd save; 1 run, 1 hit, 1 strikeout, 4 outs) weren't spectacular but they did enough to win.

Rookie Evan Longoria was the Rays' hitting star, going 3 for 4 with three RBIs and a run. Carl Crawford had three hits and Jason Bartlett added two hits, two RBIs and a run.

Pedroia hit a solo homer in the first inning to put Boston up 1-0 but Longoria came back with an RBI single in the bottom of the first.

Manny Ramirez knocked in Pedroia with a ground out in the third, putting the Sox up 2-1.

Boston added two more runs in the fifth as Drew's triple plated Pedroia and Drew scored on a Kazmir wild pitch.

The Rays seventh was ridiculous as the Sox simply couldn't get an out. Akinori Iwamura reached on an infield single while Bartlett scored. Carlos Pena walked with the bases loaded. Longoria doubled, plating Crawford and B.J. Upton. Finally, Bartlett singled to center, scoring Pena and Longoria.

Bidding to reach the cycle in his fifth at bat, Pedroia instead drove in Julio Lugo with an RBI double.

Kevin Youkilis looked like the hero in the ninth when he drove a ball hard and deep to center but Upton tracked it down. Manny scored on the sacrifice fly but the Sox ran themselves into an out. For some reason, twice in a row Terry Francona had Mike Lowell running from first with strikeout machine Jason Varitek (who's currently in the worst slump of his career) at the plate. After fouling it off the first time, Varitek swung and missed before Lowell was out at second by some distance. I guess it really doesn't matter though, since Varitek was caught looking later in the at bat to end the game.

For once the Sox go to the Bronx and the hype isn't sickening. It probably has something to do with the Fourth being tomorrow. Nothing puts people over the edge like planning a holiday, particularly with family. I don't know if you've heard but it's the the most important day of our lives.

Jon Lester is facing Andy Pettitte tonight. Barring a sweep by either team, this series won't determine much. It will be nice to see the Yankees, it seems like forever since they last played and it's timely as A-Rod is at the center of another tabloid cyclone (his rumored affair with Madonna).

Happy Fourth of July, Go Sox!