The Sox delivered last night. Now they have the chance to stomp on the throat of a dying Blue Jay... put it out of its misery.

The last time these two pitchers faced each other, Lester threw 8 shutout innings and Halladay didn't crack until there were two outs in the 9th. The right side of my brain wants another epic pitching duel. The left side wants the Sox to score 6 runs off Halladay in the first two innings.

I'll opt for mental comfort and go for the Sox putting it away in early innings.
Weatherwise, it's been raining pretty hard all morning, and to me the radar looks iffy for an on-time start.

Yea I could see the game getting delayed, but probably not for too long.

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radblast...99&smooth=0

We'll be fine.

Ellsbury RF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Youkilis 1B
Lowell 3B
Bay LF
Varitek C
Cora SS
Crisp CF

WEEI.com

Ughhhhh Cora.

So what is the most accurate and timely source for info on start time? I'm sitting in my office about a 25 minute walk from the park, was planning to head out just before 1, but it's raining hard right now and I'd guess they'll push the start time back at least a little bit. In the past I've found the Red Sox website to be very slow in providing updated info, though maybe I'm not looking in the right place?

Any suggestions?

"Yeah, Jed had a good game last night, so we thought we'd cool him off a bit and get The Genius in there."

I just don't get Tito this season. Jason Bay batting 6th? Alex Cora every other game?

I mean Bay has almost 100 points of OPS on Lowell. Why the hell is Tito so afraid of letting him bat higher in the order?

We wouldn't want anyone to make Bay / Manny comparisons silly pants.

Even with Cora,
Sox will shout tora
Tora, tora

Win!

Is Drew ever coming back?

Holy shit, Cora again?

He must have Haley/Corsi style pictures of Tito.

Nothing else could explain have his worthless carcass on the field.

Alex Cora is 3/15 career against Halladay. I don't understand his inclusion in this line up.

"AC's been seeing the ball really well lately and we always appreciate his defense out there blah blah blah"

I was hoping to make the first Haley Corsi reference.

Damn you.

I was thinking about "Jim Corsi made better throws than that in the shower" when Tek tries to throw out a baserunner

One of those was a HR in 2006. That had to be the "HR" that hit off Rios' glove and bounced into the RF stands at Fenway, right?

You simply can't have too many Geniuses out in the field.....

Eck just laid into Manny. That was awesome.

Lowrie played both ends of the doubleheader yesterday. It's really not that surprising that he's getting the day off today.

Please do tell.

"Talking about Manny makes me crazy. Good for you Manny but it was SHAMEFUL" what you did here.

I'm glad Eck is saying that. I remain a huge Manny fan and remain grateful for all the good he did as a Red Sox, but seeing him put up silly numbers for the Dodgers is a little hard to take given what he was and wasn't doing for the Sox in July. I'd pay a lot of American dollars to see him answer a few pointed questions in private from some of his Boston teammates.

Separately, seeing Cora play this much and Casey stay glued to the bench is also hard to take. Has there been anything reported about Sean being hurt? Seeing Kotsay playing first in the ninth last night in a two-run gam with Casey, who is somewhat challenged defensively but is at least experienced at the position, still on the bench was odd. Maybe I've missed it, but the only thing I've read about Tito's usuage of Casey was something about Chris Carter being a good fastball hitter and the equivalent of a gamer or some such blather in today's Globe.

Halliday is tough, but Lester is tougher - he needs a little help from his offense, though - so bring it guys: hit, run, win and freaking kick ass dominate these Jays.

GO SOX - WIN TODAY!

Real Junior Investment Bankers would be back in the office the next day.

Game starting on time?

I am boarding a plane in one hour, and would like to catch a few innings even if on gameday.

No delay expected.

A-Rod puts Yankees up 4-0 with a grandslam in the 1st.

Rays getting pounded early. Today could be an awesome day if the Sox can get a win.

CLUTCH!

Fucking regression to the mean!

Did anybody on the pregame show say anything about Drew and when he might return?

I'm starting to think A-Rod should get some consideration as the Red Sox MVP

Jesse Barfield on Pedroia: "... he's my pick for MVP". He's a lot smarter than I gave him credit for.

Come on Lester. Sack up....

There goes the perfect game.

I fucking hate the Jays.

I think that someone on WEEI today quoted him as "possibly returning today or tomorrow, despite his confirming a herniated disc.", FWIW.

Today is not the day, Lester.

If you're gonna hit him, hit him in the face.

Good start for Lester

Wells takes half a swing, gets hit...and gets awarded the base. No attempt to move out of the way.

Not exactly the start we're looking for here, Jon.

Whoops. Lester grooves a 3-2 fastball to Bautista. Plenty of velocity 93-98 on the fastball, and several changeups -- he hasn't thrown those so often for a long time.

Three run bomb for Perez. 4-3 Yankees.

Mister?

Pavano is a douche bag.

The creep having a good series.

Jacoby Ellsbury's on a roll, even if his most important hits struggle to get 30 feet from home plate.

Um, no.

Chug alert! Toronto announcers: "they play the game the right way."