Cut It Out, Mr. Salty!; Red Sox Slam Empire, 8-4

(Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

It was setting up to be one of those games you might expect on Friday The 13th. Boston surged out to a first-inning 4-0 lead, and, of course, John Lackey could not pitch with that much largesse. Before you could say "performance-enhancing drugs", The Pinstriped Posers had tied it, 4-4. After endless squanders by The Carmine Hose, Jarrod Saltalamacchia dealt the kill shot to The Bronx Embalmers—the fourth Red Sox grand slam of the month and an 8-4 advantage. Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara made the newly-minted lead stand up (Uehara with his obligatory 1-2-3 ninth), and—voilà—the Magic Number to nail down the division stood at 7.

Xander Bogaerts Is A Baseball America All-Star

(Photo: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports)

Red Sox infielder Xander Bogaerts has made the prestigious Baseball America Minor League All-Star Team as the starting shortstop. Bogaerts was the only representative from the Boston organization to make the team—although 2B Mookie Betts and SP Henry Owens made the second team. The publication lists Bogaerts as the sixth best overall prospect in all of baseball. The Minnesota Twins organization scored five starters on the team—including OF Byron Buxton, who is considered the number one overall prospect in baseball. Congratulations, Xander!

Lackey, Lester, Buchholz To Face The Evil Ones

The Red Sox will take on The Pinstriped Posers on Friday night with John Lackey on the mound opposing Hiroki Kuroda. On Saturday afternoon at 1:05 PM, they will send out Jon Lester to face fellow lefty CC Sabathia. And on Sunday Night Baseball (8:05 PM), Clay Buchholz will make his second start since returning from injury and will face Ivan 'The Terrible' Nova. A three-game sweep of The Bronx Embalmers will go a long way toward hastening Yankee Elimination Day 2013.

Red Sox Offer Fans 'Dollar Beard Night' On 9/18

You know this FuzzBoyz beard thing is really starting to take off when the "suits" at Yawkey Way begin to notice. Apparently, the Red Sox Marketing Dept. decided they might as well benefit from the Idiots Two culture of their hirsute team, so they've instituted Dollar Beard Night at Fenway this coming Wednesday, September 18th. Bring your beard—real or fake—to GATE E starting at 5:40 PM on Wednesday and you get in for a buck.  You can even create your own personalized beard HERE. Hey, the beard promo is one way to fill empty seats for a first-place team!

Is Trixadexaphobia Haunting The Nation Today?

By any rational accounting, the Red Sox are in superb shape to win the AL East and host the opening two games of the Divisional Series starting on Friday, October 4th. That's by any rational accounting. But this is Red Sox Nation. With membership you check your 'rational hat' at Gate B's Buckner/Dent Memorial Hat Check Stand. It's Friday the 13th, the Yankees are in town for a three-game set, and the Red Sox are coming off a tough 4-3 loss that would have really put the nail in the Rays' coffin. But it didn't. And there are 14 games left. And September 2011 is way too fresh a memory. But, come on, it's a cakewalk from here. We might even get 100 wins. Of course, if The Evil Ones sweep us.....

'Fuzz Boyz' Narrowly Leads As Sox Nickname

Early voting in our latest FenwayNation Poll shows a close race in the effort to assign a nickname to this 2013 Red Sox squad. As the chart shows, a slim plurality (34%) opt for "The Fuzz Boyz" as the most appropriate moniker, followed closely by "Idiots Two" (31%). "Smith Brothers" trails at 21%. A sizable proportion of readers volunteered "other" choices like: "ZZ Sox", "BeardBoys", "LumberJack Pack", "Beards of Summer", "Bearded Wonders", "Amish Mafia", "The House of David(Ortiz)", "The Big Delight" and "Fear the Beard". You can still vote in the poll (and offer up your own nickname suggestions) HERE.

Peavy's Right Wrist Hit By Line Drive, Is "OK"

(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Like the loss wasn't bad enough, the Red Sox got a scare last night as Jake Peavy took a line drive off his right (throwing) wrist off the bat of Desmond Jennings. Peavy stayed in the game to finish off the inning, but did not come out for the seventh. X-Rays were negative and Peavy (typically) pooh-poohed the situation, "It’ll be OK. I’m not worried about it." Boston returns home for a three-game set with The Evil Ones—who hopefully will be playing golf come October 1st. Yankee Elimination Day (which should be a National Holiday each year) cannot come too soon.

How Sweep It Isn't: Sox Drop One To Rays, 4-3

(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Hey, they can't win all 162 games. Boston had a realistic chance to sweep the slumping Rays after tying the game at 3-3. But, the bullpen couldn't quite hold down Tampa and the Red Sox were denied victory number 90. Jake Peavy pitched well enough to win—and survived a wicked shot to the wrist—but the offense was unable to generate quite enough in the 4-3 loss. Stephen Drew, David Ortiz (HR# 27) and Jarrod Saltalamacchia (HR #12) had the RBIs. Boston's Magic Number stayed at eight.

Bogaerts And Bradley In Tonight's Sox Lineup

A glimpse of the future arrives tonight in Tampa as two of the 'Killer B's'—Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley, Jr. will start for the Red Sox. This is the fourth time in seven Jake Peavy starts that the X-Man has been on the field. He will play at third base tonight. Dustin Pedroia will again lead off. The Rays will send right-hander Jeremy Hellickson to the hill in what has become a huge game for Tampa as they cling to a precarious one-game lead over The Evil Ones in the second Wild Card race.

Sox Fan Arrested For Assaulting Rays Mascot

We have never been big fans of baseball mascots. We were revolted by the 1997 birth of 'Wally The Green Monster'. However, we would never condone what Trevor James Martin did Tuesday night at Tropicana Field. Martin, a 27-year old Needham, Massachusetts resident, was arrested for assaulting Raymond—the Tampa Rays mascot. Allegedly, Martin "reached across the stadium's railing and twice grabbed Raymond by the neck". The arrest documentation stated that the Sox fan was "staggering, slurring his words and smelled of alcohol". Gee, there's a surprise! He was charged with "disorderly intoxication". Is there such a thing as orderly intoxication? Anyway, our favorite part of the story was that "Raymond pushed back and broke free". You think Wally has that much gumption? By the way, Raymond did not press charges and Martin was released from Pinellas County Jail yesterday on $100 bail. We can't make this stuff up, folks.

Mike Carp Scoffs At NYY Sign-Stealing Charges

It must be tough to have a $228,106,125 payroll and be fighting for your life in the "second" Wild Card race. Maybe that's why The Evil Ones are behaving in such Bush League fashion by charging other teams with sign-stealing. In their last two series they have accused both the Red Sox and Orioles of pilfering signage—and specifically fingered Mike Carp of The Carmine Hose. Carp laughingly responded thusly, "I'm not even an every-day player. I wasn't stealing signs. I couldn't take that from them." Apparently, the entire dugout—led by pitching coach Larry Rothschild—was in on the "carping of Carp". Former Oriole Billy Ripken has also ridiculed The Pinstriped Posers saying, "So it is a little ridiculous. It’s almost Little League-like that the first- and third-base coaches are actually in play...but it is very, very difficult and it’s highly unlikely, in my opinion, that the Orioles were doing it." How pathetic.

POLL: Pick A 2013 Red Sox Team Nickname

Pick A Red Sox Team Nickname
Which ONE of the following is the best nickname?	The Smith Brothers Idiots Two The FuzzBoyz OTHER (Specify)
	Current Results

Red Sox To Honor Mariano Rivera Sunday Night

Sox To Honor Rivera Sunday Night

According to the Providence Journal's Brian MacPherson, the Red Sox have announced that they will formally honor Yankee great Mariano Rivera before Sunday night's game at Fenway Park. Red Sox fans have always respected Rivera, and his goodwill toward the fans at the 2005 ring ceremony will never be forgotten. Without a doubt, Rivera is the greatest closer ever—compiling  651 saves (and counting) with basically one pitch. Thousands of batters have known his cutter was coming, very few have squared it up. All of us at FenwayNation salute Rivera and his amazing accomplishments over the last 19 seasons. He was the worthiest of adversaries.

Bobby Valentine Disses NYY's 9/11 Commitment

Valentine's "Card" To The Yankees

Thank goodness we no longer have to deal with Bobby Valentine's lunacy on a daily basis. On the twelfth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Valentine took it upon himself to disparage the efforts of the New York Yankee organization and players in the aftermath of the tragedy. As every reader of this website knows, we have no love for the Yankees. But to brazenly make these kinds of irresponsible charges—on the anniversary of the events—is beyond the pale. Here are Valentine's exact words on WFAN radio yesterday: "Let it be said that during the time from 9/11 to 9/21, the Yankees were (not around). You couldn’t find a Yankee on the streets of New York City. You couldn’t find a Yankee down at Ground Zero, talking to the guys who were working 24/7." What a shameless fool.

Sox 'Seize The Ray'; Mike Carp Slams 7-3 Win

(Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

Pinch-hitting Mike Carp took the first pitch he saw in the 10th inning over the center field wall for a game-winning grand slam in Boston's 7-3 win over the Rays. The blow sent the two or three dozen Tampa fans in attendance to the exits to fight a three-hour traffic jam on the bridge. The Red Sox reduced their Magic Number to clinch the division to eight and took a commanding 9.5 game lead over the Devil Dogs. Ryan Dempster pitched another credible game—going five innings and giving up just one earned run while striking out seven. Brandon Workman gave up the game-tying runs—including a solo HR to Red Sox seven-weeker James Loney. The Boston offense—in addition to Carp—was led by Dustin Pedroia (2-4 with 2 runs scored), Daniel Nava (2-3, RBI) and Mike Napoli (1-3, 2 RBIs). The absolutely incredible Koji Uehara pitched another 1-2-3 9th—setting a Red Sox franchise record with 34 consecutive batters retired.

Ellsbury Did Not Add To Foot Injury By Playing

Team Still Has Rosy Scenario For Ellsbury's Return

According to a Boston Herald report by Scott Lauber, Jacoby Ellsbury did no further damage to his fractured right foot by playing seven games after the initial injury. After incurring the injury on August 28th, the center fielder continue playing—even scoring a 10th inning winning run at The Concrete Bunker On 161st Street. Ellsbury will continue wearing a walking boot until Friday, when he will be re-examined in Boston. The team still insists on the rosy scenario of his returning before the end of the regular season. We'll see.

Red Sox To Honor Yaz With Statue At Gate B

The Man They Call 'Yaz'

He was handed one of the toughest jobs in the history of baseball: take over left field in Fenway Park from Ted Williams. Undaunted, Carl Michael Yastrzemski created his own legendary career—landing in the Hall of Fame. The Red Sox organization will honor that outstanding career with a new bronze statue outside Gate B at Fenway Park. The "Yaz" statue will stand between the current Williams statue and the one dedicated to "The Teammates" (Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, and The Splendid Splinter). Yaz spent his entire 23-year career with the Red Sox—hitting .285, with 452 HRs and 1,844 RBIs in 3,308 games.

The Red Sox Are Setting The Pace In MLB

Don't look now, but your 2013 Carmine Hose have not only resurrected themselves from the worst season in a generation, they are now setting the pace in Major League Baseball. With 16 games left to play, they have a commanding 8.5 game lead on their nearest division rivals—and their Magic Number to clinch the AL East is 10. They have the most wins in baseball (88), the second best winning percentage (.603 to Atlanta's .604) and they also dominate in some of the weirder statistical categories. For example, when a left-handed starter has been thrown at the Red Sox, they have a stunning 31-19 record—the only team with 30 wins against lefties. They are #1 in MLB in stolen base percentage (85.5%). They also dominate in some of the more traditional categories like: runs scored (#1 in MLB with 759); on-base percentage (#1 in MLB at .349); slugging (#1 in MLB at .444); and OPS (#1 in MLB at .793). So, by almost any key measure, this Red Sox team is the cream of the MLB crop.

Wild Card Fever Grips Tampa; Red Sox Win, 2-0

(Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

Clay Buchholz is back. After three months of absence from The Show, the big right-hander "showed" the world that he has lost nothing of his early season effectiveness, helping the Red Sox beat the Rays, 2-0. Buchholz dazzled Tampa for five innings, giving up no runs on three hits and striking out six. He used all pitches in his arsenal, including his nasty change-up. The offense was fronted by RBIs from Jonny Gomes and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Koji Uehara nailed down his 19th save in typical 1-2-3 fashion—now having retired the last 31 batters he's faced. Boston increased their lead in the AL East to 8.5 games over the Rays.