Though the clinching’s circumstances merit such a disclaimer, don’t tell anyone from the Red Sox that they backed into the American League wild-card berth. Yes, they’ve lost five straight games, and yes, players left Fenway Park after Tuesday night’s 8-7 loss to Toronto and then returned to celebrate the Angels’ 5-2 win over Texas in [...]

Generally speaking, the Red Sox’ bullpen is rolling along as one of the team’s strengths, certainly a large part of any discussion concerning Boston’s chances for a long playoff run. That doesn’t mean all is necessarily well with every member of the relief corps as decisions are about to be made on postseason roles.
Daniel Bard [...]

Josh Beckett looked better than awful Wednesday night in the Red Sox’ 8-5 loss to Tampa Bay, so should we presume that The Ace is on the road to recovering his superior skills? After tumbling into a 5-1 hole, Beckett did manage to look more like his old self for the duration of his outing, [...]

Daisuke Matsuzaka apparently unloaded his frustrations over what so far has been a lost season to a Japanese reporter, blaming the Red Sox for failing to respect the conditioning program he used while throwing in Japan.
Matsuzaka has been on the disabled list for most of the season and was largely ineffective in his eight starts, going [...]

Now tangled in their worst offensive meltdown of the season, the Red Sox have a one-game deficit to show for their eight wins in eight tries against the Yankees. No wonder the mood in the visitors clubhouse in Arlington, Texas was so somber after Tuesday night’s 4-2 loss to the Rangers.
“I ain’t got (anything) to [...]

David Ortiz told reporters this morning in Detroit that he plans on getting an eye exam when the Red Sox return to Boston after this afternoon’s game, though he insists that his eyes are not the culprit that has turned his first third of the season into the worst prolonged slump of his career.
“My eyes [...]

The forecast says the rain will go away soon enough for the Red Sox and Twins to play tonight, but at the moment the tarp is down. What was a steady, hard rain a few minutes ago has abated.
The first casualty to the weather was Julio Lugo’s planned start tonight at Pawtucket as the PawSox [...]

After his triumphant performance in the World Baseball Classic, Daisuke Matsuzaka returned to his paying job and showed signs of fatigue, which reached their zenith Tuesday night in Oakland. Now, after two wretched regular season performances, Matsuzaka is on rthe 15-day disabled list with what is being called “a mild right shoulder strain.”
That groan you [...]

As if chronic back problems weren’t enough, JD Drew took a Donnie Veal fastball to the hand recently. Now Red Sox Nation is going crazy. Well, it’s not the first time. It seems Drew is always injured, always avoiding the field when he’s hurt and never producing when on said field.
When Drew signed his five-year, [...]