Red Sox cut ties with Tito

In Boston, the Red Sox management fired their manager, Terry Francona. The club decided not to pick up Tito's extension for the 2012 season, and so Francona's legacy ends here. Tito had the second-longest tenure in the history of the club, second to only Joe Cronin in Boston. However, he was arguably the club's best manager, leading them to two World Championships. One of them was in 2004, the Red Sox's first in 86 years. The Red Sox fans, or at least me, will always remember Francona as the man who led Boston to the championship.

I will always remember that wonderful call, the crow of Joe Castiglione, "For the first time in eighty-six years, the Boston Red Sox are the World Champions! Can you believe it?!" And now, that is the only memory we can have, as Tito will be gone next year. Well, and the memories of that wonderful comeback against the Yankees, and then the exuberant sweep. That record still stands, of 8 straight postseason victories. Did I say 8? I meant 12, an unbelievable 12 consecutive postseason victories, moving into the '07 ALDS. This man was an amazing manager.

Then 2007, Francona coaxing the rookie Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury and tutoring them. It paid off, giving him another championship, as phenom Jon Papelbon struck out Seth Smith for the last out of Game 4 of that World Series. Another record: 8 consecutive World Series games won. But now 2011, when the Red Sox started weak, with a 2-10 start, flared up to take first place, and then fell all the way back down by going an astounding 7-20 in the month of September. This led to the loss of possibly the greatest manager Boston has ever seen.

And so, may we have a moment of silence for this man, this man who gave Boston something to cheer about when they had almost nothing for almost 90 years...

The divisional series' at a glance

After the Red Sox lost the AL Wild Card on the last day of the season thanks to Robert Andino's walk-off single for the Orioles and a walk-off home run for Evan Longoria of the Rays, the ALDS and NLDS began. The Rays took Game 1 behind surprising rookie choice Matt Moore, but Derek Holland came back to beat them 8-6 over ace James Shields in Game 2. Meanwhile, in New York, Justin Verlander lost to the Yankees 9-3 thanks to Robinson Cano's grand slam and 6 RBI in the hectic win. C.C. Sabathia, who couldn't seem to pitch well against the Sox, was the winner. See, if the Red Sox could get to the ALCS against the Yanks, they would clobber Sabathia, I bet.

In Philadelphia, fans were settling in to watch Kyle Lohse and Roy Halladay face off in the NLDS. Strangely, Halladay pitched very badly in the first inning, giving up 3 runs. However, he soon settled in and just pitched, watching Ryan Howard belt a three-run bomb in support and the rest of his offense pile up a total of 11 runs. The score was 11-3 going into the ninth, but the Cardinals fought back. They scored three runs before finally succumbing 11-6. Finally, in Milwaukee, Ryan Braun made a beautiful throw home to save a run early, and he added three hits while Prince Fielder smashed a two-run shot and Yovani Gallardo struck out nine men in a 4-1 win. I find it interesting that all of these clubs are known for good pitching, yet all but the Milwaukee-Arizona game turned out to be slugfests.

My preview of a crucial series

Hello readers, sorry for not being with you the past month or so. I have had other business to attend to. But I am back, and doing a preview of this crucial upcoming series, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. The Yanks have clinched the AL East, while Boston is just 2.5 games ahead in the wild card race above the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Angels. For Game 1 of the series, the Red Sox look to have this one locked up. They are pitching one of their two aces, Jon Lester, against shaky Freddy Garcia. Lester is leading the Red Sox in wins with 15, and he has a steady 3.15 ERA. He has thrown remarkably well in his last 7 starts, giving up just 11 earned runs in 43 innings pitched. "he has been a little shaky of late, though, giving up 4 runs apiece in each of his last two starts. I think that Lester will be able to shut down the Yankees, as he is 6-1 in his career versus NY and 2-0 this season at the Stadium. Meanwhile, Garcia has not been able to make it into the sixth inning for his last three starts, and has given up 7 home runs during that span.

Game 2 should be something of a slugfest, as shown by the starting pitchers. On the Red Sox side is Tim Wakefield, who has a 5.08 ERA and has looked extremely bad this year, which would be bad, except that the starter for the Yanks is possibly worse. A.J. Burnett is the proud owner of a 5.28 ERA, and the Red Sox have absolutely clobbered him whenever he has taken the hill .I think the Red Sox should win as long as their bullpen can hold down the game.

Finally, Game 3 looks like it should be the Yankees' game to win, with John Lackey going for the Sox. He has a 12-12 record, with a 6.49 ERA. The pitcher for New York is on the other end of the spectrum, with 16 wins and a 3.62 ERA. Ivan Nova has looked spectacular this year, but I have some doubts about him. For instance, I doubt he can keep up his workload throughout the playoffs, and he's going to have to give up a ton of runs one of these days. I just hope that Lackey can deliver one of his August starts, and show us that kind of a performance.

Wilson shuts down Boston

At the beginning of last night's game between the Texas Rangers and the Red Sox, I knew it was an unfair matchup. All I had to do was look at the pitching matchups. Erik Bedard, midseason acquisition and 0-1 with Boston facing 12-5 All-Star C.J. Wilson. I knew that Texas was going to win, and Wilson did not disappoint. He gave up just 4 hits over 6 and 2/3 innings while striking out 4. Meanwhile, Mike Napoli drilled a homer off Bedard for a 4-0 Rangers win. I wish that the Sox offense could have been better, but they are missing a few key players. I mean, how do you expect them to play flawlessly when they're missing Jacoby Ellsbury, who has been their MVP this season? After all, Lowrie? Lowrie hasn't done a darned thing, but you can bet Youkilis would have if he could play. And finally, who the heck is Ryan Lavarnway? Now, Lavarnway has actually been pretty good this year, but I think it is safe to say that David Ortiz is a bit better. Ah well. At least the Sox can turn to John Lackey tonight. Lackey is 6-1 since July 9th. Hopefully he can keep rolling tonight.

Trivia
The Sox are now 0-4 against the Rangers this season. All of their games have been in Arlington.

Lester and unlikely heroes give Sox win

Jon Lester delivered six innings of one-run baseball while Carl Crawford and Darnell McDonald each homered for a 6-1 win in Kansas City. The Sox had been stuttering offensively, with Adrian Gonzalez stopping his RBI production and David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis both on the DL. However, the two outfielders stepped in to give Lester his 13th win. Also, Jason Varitek knocked in the first run of the game with his first triple since 2007. I think that while Tek is not very fast, he got that triple due to his being an excellent baserunner. I mean, he noticed that the ball got stuck in the wall! And so he ran to third and stopped. I hope he can keep it up. Also, I am very glad that Crawford, the 20 million dollar man, is finally producing, and I am glad that one of D-Mac's homers came in such a clutch spot. Also, I am very happy that Dan Bard is keeping up his excellent work in the bullpen, throwing 2 scoreless innings for Boston. Because the Yankees also won, the Sox are now still a half a game back in the AL East. I hope they can keep it up tonight in Texas, with Erik Bedard going for his first Red Sox win.

Trivia
McDonald scored 2 runs and had three hits in the game.

Papi (Again!) gives Sox win

The Red Sox got 5 innings of two-run ball from new acquisition Erik Bedard and the Sox again came from behind to beat the Minnesota Twins 4-3. After Bedard allowed two runs in the first, he shut the door for the rest of his game, and Darnell McDonald tied the game in the fifth with a two-run blast. The Sox got another run in the sixth, but Matt Albers gave up a game-tying run. However, it was David Ortiz, for the second consecutive night, delivering the game-winning RBI. He dribbled an infield single to send Dustin Pedroia to the plate and give the Sox the lead. Jonathan Papelbon was solid in the ninth for his 26th save. I find it great that the Red Sox pitching staff is limiting the amount of runs the opposition gets, and I like that Ortiz is getting back into his groove after slumping in July. I also like that McDonald, although he has a weak batting average, is hitting fairly well in the clutch for the Sox. I hope they can keep going tonight, with Jon Lester on the mound in search of his 12th win.

Trivia
Twins pitching issued 9 walks last night.

Ortiz and Salty give Sox a victory

The Red Sox got a combined 9 hits and 6 RBI from David Ortiz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Marco Scutaro to power past the Minnesota Twins in Minnesota 8-6. Scutaro put the Red Sox on top 1-0 as Tim Wakefield searched for his 200th career win, but Wake fell behind 5-1 after five innings. However, Ortiz powered a two-run homer in the top of the 6th and Salty went back-to-back to tie the game at five, and Mike Aviles added an RBI in the eighth. However, Alfredo Aceves gave up two hits and a run in the bottom of the inning. But luckily, Papi and Salty were good enough. Papi nailed an RBI single and Saltalamacchia followed up with a ribbie for an 8-6 win. I love that these guys are starting to hit again, and Adrian Gonzalez, with his two hits, is now batting an even .350. Meanwhile, Scutaro has 7 hits in his last 8 official at-bats after 4-4 and 3-4 performances on consecutive days for Boston. I hope Wake will be able to get to number 200 and beat the Sox all-time record for wins, but he might not. I really think that the pitching could use some work, but if the hitters can hold them up, well, no problem.

Trivia
Aceves now has 8 wins, mostly out of the bullpen.

Reddick walks off with Sox

The Boston Red Sox headed into last night's series finale with the Yankees tied for first place in the AL East. The Sox threatened early and got a run in the second on a Marco Scutaro RBI single, but Josh Beckett surrendered a solo homer to Eduardo Nunez to tie the game. Next, Matt Albers came on and gave up a solo blast to Brett Gardner in the seventh inning, giving the Yanks the lead, and the game stayed 2-1 until the ninth inning, with Mariano Rivera on the hill. However, Marco Scutaro doubled off the Green Monster and scored on Dustin Pedroia's sacrifice fly for Rivera's fifth blown save, and Josh Reddick nailed an RBI single into left in the tenth to give the Sox a 3-2 win. Scutaro had four hits, and I think it is great that he, at the bottom of the order, was able to contribute so well to the Sox effort. I also think that it is a shame that Carl Crawford was intentionally walked before Reddick's hit, as Crawford already has 3 walk-off hits and could have had a fourth had he had a chance to hit. Ah well. I still like that they were able to come back off one of baseball's best closers and win. Maybe they'll have a chance to open up their lead.

Trivia
Phil Hughes, normally a starter, was hit with the loss for the Yankees in relief.