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 [...]

Ah, just when we arrived to bury them after their worst week in memory, the Red Sox roar back and beat the Tigers twice. And not only have they cooled a hot team, they let loose with some emotion.
Kevin Youkilis charges the mound, sufficiently startling the daylights out of Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello that the [...]

 Maybe they’ll begin to right themselves tonight when they open a four-game series at Fenway against the Tigers. Maybe the sight of The Wall and the sounds of the faithful will have them all hitting like it was May. Maybe a flock of pigs will do a flyover during the seventh-inning stretch.
What NESN dubbed “Rivalry [...]

This just in: Bronson Arroyo mysteriously disappeared from the probable starting pitchers listed for Tuesday’s games. Could he and his guitar soon be headed back to Boston? The Bronx? Philadelphia?
By Friday afternoon at 4, thankfully, the tidal wave of speculation will end. The deals will be done or put off until winter  . . well, [...]

Six runs scored, three losses, millions of groans … the Red Sox have frittered away the three-game lead they held at the All-Star break and now share first place in the American League East with The Empire. Is there anyone left arguing against the fact that this club is offensively challenged, regardless of any statistics that [...]

NESN has posted a story on its website reporting that Red Sox color man Jerry Remy, who has been out for the past several broadcasts, is on an indefinite leave of absence as he recovers from surgery for lung cancer that he had last last year.
It is the first time that news of Remy’s surgery [...]

We’ll know this has become a full-fledged scandal when Boss Steinbrenner II (aka, Hank) clamors for an investigation by Major League Baseball, then sets up invisible doggie fences designed to force all visiting base coaches to stay inside their boxes.
As for now, we’ll pass it off as Yankees manager Joe Girardi getting a bit frustrated [...]

When does it stop being too early in the season for concern to blossom into worry? When should the Red Sox and David Ortiz start wondering if the 18th fairway simply appeared out of nowhere?
It does happen; ask Jim Rice, whose eyes completely betrayed him in Year 14 of his Hall of Fame career.
Only more [...]

Not surprisingly, Mark Teixeira had all the right things to say in his first Boston press briefing as a member of The Empire. It also, of course, was his first Boston press conference since leaving the Red Sox at the altar last winter in favor of significantly more money from New York.
When it came to [...]