the red sox finally put all-star right fielder jd drew on the disabled list last night with the herniated disk in his back ... while jd is no stranger to the disabled list ... it is his first time there since coming to boston... the move is retroactive to august 18th ... and jd will be eligible to play again next tuesday (9/2) ... the sox may have waited a while to see if drew's back would calm down ... but they wasted not a minute acquiring a decent replacement ... for a kid playing the outfield up in lowell, the boston red sox have today acquired atlanta's starting center fielder mark kotsay ... kotsay's thought on the trade, "to be with the red sox will be cool" ... kotsay will also give the red sox some additional back up at first base while sean casey works thru his stiff neck issues ... if kotsay caught a planned 2:00 pm flight out of atlanta this afternoon ... he should be in uniform at yankee stadium tonite ... update: at 6:20 pm, mark kotsay is in a red sox uniform (11) on the field at yankee stadium another red sox transaction from yesterday ... he is 42 years old ... he is in his 16th major league season ... he is the senior member of the boston red sox (14 years) ... he has won 162 games in a red sox uniform .. he has a most unique annually renewable $4 million contract with the red sox ... he is the ultimate example of a great player who doesn't get near the credit or respect he has earned ... he is tim wakefield ... and last night wake was activated from the disabled list after 20 days resting an old man's back ... no minor league rehab starts ... from disabled list to pitcher's mound at yankee stadium ... where he pitches a solid 5 innings ... giving up a pair of patented johnny damon solo shots ... tim wakefield is simply "invaluable"
yet another transaction ... this one a bit of a surprise ... bartolo colon's run at red sox buffet tables appears over ... in a move to open space on the 40 man roster for all the roster moves made in the last 48 hours ... colon was moved from the 15 day to 60 day disabled list ... finished
nobody pulls for hyde park's own manny delcarmen more than me ... but once again last night he gives up a hit, walks two and gets 1 out ... the potential is there ... the consistency of performance is not
justin master(ful)son ... he's 23 years old ... he always wears the biggest smile ... he is brimming with confidence in his abilities ... he has a positive answer for any question thrown at him ... he is a breath of fresh air ... the red sox love his upside potential ... he is one of 
the players minnesota wanted last winter for johann santana ... he was called up from portland (aa) back on 4/24 for an emergency start ... his major league debut ... he was called back on 5/20 for another emergency start ... the third call up, this time from pawtucket (aaa) was the charm ... on 6/3, masterson replaced the disabled clay buchholz in the starting rotation ... as a 9 game starter, he was 4-3 with an impressive 3.67 era ... most importantly, masterson kept the red sox in every single start he made ... and he pitched 6+ innings in 8 of 9 starts ... just before the all-star break masterson headed down the merloni highway for some practice as a middle reliever ... the red sox had a glut of starting pitchers and the bullpen was quickly being exposed ... trading deadline was approaching ... masterson made the return trip up the merloni highway on 7/23 ... and after last night's performance on the biggest stage ... the yankee stadium pitching mound ... and at a most critical 7th inning moment ... when justin masterson induced the great arod to bounce into an inning ending double play with the bases loaded ... at a moment when arod represented the potential tying run in a 7-3 game ... is there any doubt masterson is now the 7th inning guy in the bullpen ... the guy who we will see before okie and paps ... since his last call up from pawtucket ... masterson has made 13 appearance as a reliever <> 18.1 innings <> 15 hits <> 4 walks <> 18 strikeouts <> 1.96 era ... case made
i guess you could say hideki okajima is the main reason justin masterson is resident in the red sox bullpen today ... back in late may and into june ... okie did not pitch well ... manny delcarmen and craig hansen were pitching inconsistently ... so the red sox bullpen needed masterson's help ... however ... since the all-star break, okie's appearances have been much improved <> 13 appearances <> 13.2 innings <> 7 hits <> 4 runs <> 1 walk <> 5 strikeouts <> 2.63 era ... okie is back
speaking of craig hansen ... former red sox #1 draft pick ... traded to pittsburgh as part of the blockbuster manny ramirez from boston to los angeles <> jason bay from pittsburgh to boston trade ... apparently hansen has gone from not acceptable in boston to god awful in pittsburgh ... 9 appearances <> 9 runs <> 12 walks <> 3 strikeouts ... walked in the tying and lead runs in a 14-9 loss to the cubs last night ... and then proceeded to beat the #&#@ out of a defenseless gatorade cooler ... today, the pirates shipped hansen to indianapolis (aaa)
a lot of the conversation this week has been about the scheduling of this series ... the yankees are scheduled to finish the season with 6 games on the road ... the final 3 games at fenway park ... many are asking why this week's series wasn't scheduled here in boston ... so the final 3 games of the yankees season could be the final 3 games at historic yankee stadium ... against their greatest rival ... mlb's explanation is the new york mets will be closing down the dump known as shea stadium the last 3 games of the season ... against the florida marlins ... ZZzzzz ... and they didn't want to schedule the mets and yankees at home at the same time ... what a crock ... the chicago cubs and chicago white sox both played at home a couple weekends back ... the yankees will say goodbye to yankee staduim in a 3 game series against the baltimore orioles 9/19-21 ... more ZZZzzzzzz ... an historic opportunity missed
dauber and sweet lou made interesting comments on today's big show (weei) ... brian daubach ... a/k/a the belleville basher ... played 5 years with the red sox ... he also spent 2003 with the white sox and 2005 with the new york mets ... brian commented the atmosphere at yankee stadium for a yankees vs mets series was not nearly as intense as for yankees vs red sox games ... lou merloni ... who grew up in framingham with yankees vs red sox in his blood ... was a red sox reserve infielder for 6 years ... and also played for the los angeles angels and cleveland indians ... concurred with dauber and said playing at yankee stadium as an angels and indians player was "just wierd" after playing there with the red sox
the mood in new york today appears to be "hostile" ... in last night's 7-3 new york loss to boston ... alex rodriguez struck out twice ... the second time ending the game ... grounded into 2 
double plays ... once with the bases loaded ... commited an error in the field ... and for that day's work ... he was booed loudly and repeatedly ... at home in yankee stadium ... confessed roids boys jason giambi and andy pettite <> 4.2 innings <> 10 hits 
<> 6 runs <> 3 walks ... are also getting blasted for their less than stellar efforts last night ... the headline across the back page of today's new york post ... "double-play-rod" ... headlines on the back pages of the new york daily news and newsday were equally ugly
in an interview on today's big show (weei) ... red sox back up catcher and tim wakefield's personal catcher kevin cash commented ... he's set behind the plate ... arod steps into the batter's box ... the new york crowd is booing loudly ... cash looks up at the center field scoreboard and sees arod's season stats displayed <> .308 batting average <> 28 home runs <> 78 rbi's ... and thinks ... i just dont get it ... i'd give my left %$@#$ for numbers like that ... lolol ... kevin doesn't get it because he's a player ... he's not a fan ... he see's the numbers and dreams of being 1/4 as good as arod ... fans see the numbers and know this is an off-year for arod ... they know he's made a career of not performing well when the pressure's on ... they know arod is 1 for 10 with the bases loaded this season ... and they knew last night was an important game for the yankees to win if they had hope of overtaking the red sox for the wild card into postseason play ... last night they knew hope was fading with each arod at bat
third baseman casey blake went from the indians to the dodgers a month before manny's arrival in dodgertown ... in a video on dodgers.mlb.com (that i can't figure out how to link to) ... casey comments that manny "has brought incredible looseness to the team ... he's like a little kid, walkin around, having fun" ... sounds like manny ... but the bottom line is the dodgers are 11-13 since manny's arrival ... while the red sox are 15-7 since manny's departure
while i'm thinking about the red sox 15-7 record so far in august ... those 15 wins have come without manny ... without starting pitcher tim wakefield from 8/7 - 8/17 ... without starting shortstop julio lugo since 7/13 ... without starting third baseman mike lowell since 8/14 ... without the co-ace of the pitching staff josh beckett since 8/18 ... without all-star right fielder jd drew since 8/18 ... and on and off without back-up first baseman sean casey thru the month ... championship teams, more often than not, are teams deep in talent ... deep enough to overcome the inevitability of injuries ... in spite of the recent rash of potentially devestating injuries and departures ... the red sox are more than surviving ... they appear to be thriving ... thanks to their depth of talent ... thanks to jason bay, jed lowrie, justin masterson and paul byrd in particular ... thanks to their versitility ... thanks to kevin youkilis (1b/3b), jed lowrie (2b/3b/ss) and jacoby ellsbury (lf/cf/rf) in particular ... and thanks to career years for youk and pd
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