Well, the Red Sox season has come to this. Tied with Tampa Bay for the final playoff spot in the American League on the last day of the regular season. Both teams held serve on Tuesday as Boston escaped with an 8-7 win over Baltimore. Wednesday speaks for itself. "If you don’t want to show up (Wednesday) and play, you’ve got no pulse," Terry Francona said.
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Results tagged “jacobyellsbury”
A lot happened on Sunday, sports fans. We found something good to lead-off with. Jacoby Ellsbury. The Sox speedy centerfielder saved the team after, we think, they were close to hitting rock bottom in Sunday's doubleheader. Ellsbury finished the games with a 5-11 performance with three home runs and five RBI. Ellsbury joined the 30-30 club, a first in franchise history. They lost game one, 6-2, and needed a three-run home run in the 14th inning from Ellsbury to win game two, 7-4.
The Red Sox still lead Tampa Bay by two games in the A.L. Wild Card after splitting a doubleheader with Baltimore yesterday. The Orioles took the opener, 5-4, and the Sox pounded Baltimore, 18-9, in game two thanks to 20 hits.
The idea of a must win game in the last couple of weeks of an MLB season isn't a foreign one. After losing two out of three games to Tampa Bay, including a 4-3 defeat on Saturday, the Red Sox are in that position today. Yes, Boston still leads Tampa by three in the Wild Card race, but with a pathetic 4-12 record in September, the team needs to start figuring out how to win games consistently if they want to be in the playoffs.
Two streaks ended last night at Fenway Park. Tim Wakefield (7-6) finally ended his frustrating quest for his 200th career win and the Red Sox won for the first time in a week, routing Toronto 18-6. Wake's knuckler was good enough to end his seven-game winless streak thanks to a powerful offensive attack. He allowed five runs on six hits in six innings, hardly his best effort, but 18 runs on 18 hits helped out a lot.
Tampa Bay took two straight games from the Red Sox so far to put the team into a four-game losing streak. The suddenly struggling Sox have won once in their last seven games, allowing the Rays to close to within 4.5 games in the wild card race.
Josh Beckett has had a good week for himself. His annual Beckett Bowl took place on Monday he got another win for the Red Sox over the Yankees last night with a seven-inning effort in which he allowed five runs, four earned, on six hits. Aside from a four-run rally in the sixth, Beckett (12-5) bowled over New York en route to a 9-5 victory. He's now 4-0 versus the Yankees in 2011 with an ERA of 1.85.
The Red Sox had three hits for the third straight game versus Tampa Bay and lost 4-0 on Wednesday after splitting two games on Tuesday. Tampa won two of three games in Boston thanks to superior starting pitching that required one inning from the bullpen in three games. David Price (11-10) pitched eight scoreless innings. The Sox have lost back-to-back series after 11 straight series without a loss. Jacoby Ellsbury tripled to lead off the sixth inning and was tagged out in a rundown. Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis each added base hits. John Lackey (11-9) took a loss after pitching 6.2 innings and allowed four runs on six hits. He struckout seven and lowered his ERA to 6.06. Alfredo Aceves and Dan Wheeler held th Rays scoreless for 2.1 innings.
Boston won the opener by the score of 3-1 despite mustering only three hits. Jacoby Ellsbury belted a three-run home run in the third inning to provide all the support starter Jon Lester needed. Lester (12-6) allowed just - you guessed it - three hits in seven innings. He had eight strikeouts. The Sox lost to the Rays, 6-2, in the second game. The Sox got just three hits, one each from Ellsbury, Jason Varitek, and Jed Lowrie. Ellsbury and Varitek each hit solo home runs.
After a day off Monday, the Red Sox return home for a doubleheader today versus the Tampa Bay Rays. Jon Lester (11-6) faces James Shields at 1:05 p.m. and Erik Bedard starts at 7:10 p.m.
The Red Sox split two with the Mariners so far. Tim Wakefield goes for win 200 for the fourth time today in Seattle.
Bostonist is not afraid of the stock market plunge or the debt-induced credit downgrade one bit because Senator Scott Brown is in Massachusetts and he brought his bike with him. Oh, and Jacoby Ellsbury is a beast in August. Remember to follow Bostonist on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
CC Sabathia may lead the MLB in wins with 16, but he's 0-4 in 2011 against the Red Sox after Saturday's 10-5 loss in Boston. Sabathia (16-6) came up short as the Sox pulled into a first place tie with the Yankees at 69-42. Boston led 2-0 after three innings and erupted for five runs in the fourth inning for a 7-2 lead. Jacoby Ellsbury was a constant nuisance for Sabathia and the Yankees as he was 2-4 with six RBI. Ellsbury drove Carl Crawford in with a third-inning sacrifice fly. He broke the game open with a three-run home run, his 19th, in the fourth inning. Ellsbury's two-run single finished New York off in the eighth inning.
Jacoby Ellsbury got the game-winning hit for the Red Sox for the second night in a row against Cleveland last night. Ellsbury delivered again, this time he clubbed a walk-off home run with two outs in the ninth to account for a 4-3 victory. He singled in the winning run on Tuesday. Ellsbury was 1-5 in both games.
Jacoby Ellsbury usually gets more than one hit in a game for the Red Sox. He had only one hit on Tuesday, a single, and made it count by driving in the winning run in the ninth inning in a 3-2 win over Cleveland. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, in as a pinch-runner for Jason Varitek, scored the run.
Kansas City rallied for four runs in the fourth inning to beat the Red Sox 4-3 on Thursday and split the series. Josh Beckett pitched seven innings and allowed the four runs on five hits. The Royals had one hit outside of the fourth and Beckett (9-4)had a total of eight strikeouts. Matt Albers and Franklin Morales eah pitchedone scoreless inning. Boston led 2-0 after Jacoby Ellsbury singled in two runs in the third. Dustin Pedroia homered in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 25 games. Adrian Gonzalez and Drew Sutton each had two hits. (Can we begin a campaign for Ellsbury and Pedroia as Co-MVPs yet?)
Boston's bats dominated the Kansas City Royals for the second straight game for a 12-5 decision on Wednesday. The Sox (64-38) scored 25 runs on 32 hits in back-to-back wins over KC. David Otiz provided the signature blast in a five-run fourth inning with a grand slam.
The Red Sox (61-37) are poised to sweep Seattle today after back-to-back wins against the Mariners in which Boston's starters shut Seattle's offense down. Josh Beckett and John Lackey pitched a total of 14 innings and allowed just a pair of runs combined. The Sox are 15-3 in July.
Jacoby Ellsbury has got to love playing the Orioles. His two home runs against them on Thursday powered the Red Sox to a 4-0 victory as he continues to feast on Baltimore's pitchers. vs. He was 5-12 with three RBI in this three-game series and has a 29-game hitting streak in which he's batting .445 with six homers and 20 RBI.
A day after winning an epic pitcher's duel in Tampa Bay, the Red Sox slugged their way to a 15-10 victory over Baltimore on Monday in the team's highest combined score in any game this year.
The Red Sox gave Baltimore a rude welcome with a barrage of six home runs and 13 hits on Thursday and took over first place in the A.L. East with a 10-4 victory. Dustin Pedroia belted a three-run homer in the third, Adrian Gonzalez homered in the fifth inning, and Jacoby Ellsbury drove in two with a home run in the sixth inning. In the seventh inning, David Ortiz, Josh Reddick, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit consecutive home runs.
Adrian Gonzalez returns to the lineup tonight for the Red Sox against the Orioles. Gonzalez got a well-deserved game off against Toronto on Wednesday, a game won by the Sox by a 6-4 score. They should beat the Blue Jays without him.
John Lackey's 4th of July start was a dud as he allowed seven runs on nine hits in just 2.1 innings as Toronto won by a 9-7 score. This was Lackey's shortest start in his Red Sox career. Alfredo Aceves allowed two more runs in his 2.2 innings of relief. Boston rallied to make a game of with four runs in the fifth and three runs in the eighth. Jacoby Ellsbury finished the game with four hits, including a triple, and two RBI. Jarrod Saltalamacchia also had a triple and two RBI.
Josh Beckett (7-3) proved why he's headed to Phoenix next week for the 2011 All-Star Game with an overpowering, eight-inning effort on Sunday in Houston, won by Boston, 2-1. Beckett, named to the A.L. All-Star team before yesterday's game, pitched eight innings and allowed one run on five hits. He had a season-best 11 strikeouts and no walks. Jonathan Paplebon had his 17th save.
Boston returns to the field tonight in Tampa Bay after the most poorly timed day off ever. The Red Sox, winners of nine straight games, are now an offensive juggernaut and have turned a historically bad start into a rather memorable run for a team loaded with expectations. Gordon Edes wrote that this team could be the best Red Sox team ever in the regular season with a 37-16 record since starting 2-10. He could be right.Jacoby Ellsbury was named Player of the Week after batting .467 with 10 runs scored and at least two teammates could have won that honor. David Ortiz had 13 RBI and four RBI last week. Adrian Gonzalez has an RBI in each of his last nine games. Carl Crawford and Ortiz were named Player of the Week the two previous weeks. Tim Wakefield (3-1) starts tonight.
With an injection of grit from Rajon Rondo into an absolutely withering defensive effort, the Celtics stopped the Miami Heat juggernaut in its tracks with a memorable 97-81 victory last night to win their first game in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Baltimore's two-game winning streak turned out to be no match for Jon Lester's career-long winning streak against the Orioles last night. Lester improved to 14-0 in 17 career starts against the Orioles with eight strong innings in a 6-2 win. Lester (3-1) yielded two runs on four hits, walked three and struck out five.
While everybody - well, Bostonist thought it - was thinking Paul Pierce would be getting the ball in order to take the potential winning shot last night, it was a vintage Ray Allen three-pointer with 12 seconds left that was the dagger through the Knicks' hearts that gave Boston an 87-85 victory in the opening playoff game on Sunday night. The Knicks were in control leading 51-39 at the half. Boston's playoff experience won out with a 28-21 fourth quarter advantage, including a 5-0 spurt to seal the win.
Theo found more of John Henry's money to spend and gave raises to Jonathan Papelbon and Jacoby Ellsbury. Papelbon gets $12 million for 2011. Only Mariano Rivera gets paid more as a relief pitcher at $15 million. Ellsbury jumps from $496,000 to $2.4 million after playing in only 18 games in 2010. If you're scoring at home, the Red Sox payroll will be about $163 million for 2011.
After two bad losses Bostonist thought the Red Sox couldn't recover from, Saturday provided some reason to hope for good things.