Game Time: 7:05 pm

Scheduled Starters: Esteban Loaiza (3-5, 6.43) v. Jon Lester (4-0, 3.06)

Boston weather: 1:20 pm observation at BOS: Wind out of the northeast at 8 mph, visibility 10 miles, overcast layer at 1,500 feet, temperature 69F, DP 63F


Forecast: The front is right along the eastern shore right now, although the cloud shield extends through central NH and VT. There's a line of light showers off to the northwest of Boston; it should move through the area by around 5 pm. After that, it will start to dry out, and we should be able to see the moon by the end of the game. It'll be in the upper 60's to low 70's during the game, with the wind out of the northeast at less than 10 mph at the beginning of the game. The wind will be out of the north after frontal passage.

The wind will blow in from left at the beginning of the game, and will be blowing from left to right by the end of the game.

Anni

FINALLY ANOTHER GAME!!

GO SOX!

This has been the longest 3 days ever.

WOO HOO!!!! The last 3 days have been brutal....

Welcome Back mojo




Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. We're so glad you could attend come inside come inside

Didn't management want to give Lester more time off? Does this mean that Wakefield/Schilling's injuries will force them to skip a turn?

The Sox announced on Sunday that Lester would pitch today, and that Wake would pitch on Saturday or Sunday.

I hope the weather reports are correct. I don't want to get soaked in the bleachers tonight.

Just a little remnant of a shower passing through right now. After this, it should be dry for the rest of the evening.

I'm so glad baseball is back. Now I don't have to actually "talk" to my girlfriend in the evenings. She doesn't disturb me during games.

ditto

And the skies above Boston are beginning to clear! It's 5 pm! Read the opening thread... Just like I said it would!!!!

Now we can PLAY BALL! And you WILL see the full moon before the game is over. Count on it!

Does that mean Manny will grow some extra bad facial hair, or maybe Jon Lester will grow some, period. :-)

The Red Sox have to jump on Loaiza tonight. He's been pretty awful, with just one really good outing.

[codebox]Oakland Boston
------- ------

Pos Player HR RBI AVG. Pos Player HR RBI AVG.
--- ------ -- --- ---- --- ------ -- --- ----
C Kendall, Jason 1 22 .264 1B Youkilis, Kevin 10 43 .297
1B Swisher, Nick 20 52 .258 2B Loretta, Mark 3 37 .305
LF Kielty, Bobby 3 16 .298 DH Ortiz, David 31 87 .278
DH Thomas, Frank 19 46 .238 LF Ramirez, Manny 24 65 .306
RF Payton, Jay 5 32 .282 RF Nixon, Trot 6 43 .311
SS Crosby, Bobby 8 35 .238 C Varitek, Jason 9 40 .232
CF Kotsay, Mark 6 30 .246 3B Lowell, Mike 11 46 .307
2B Ellis, Mark 3 13 .219 CF Crisp, Coco 4 14 .268
3B Perez, Antonio 1 6 .091 SS Gonzalez, Alex 5 27 .284
P Loaiza, Esteban (3-5, 6.43) P Lester, Jon (4-0, 3.06) [/codebox]

Weird...why is NESN blacked out on DirecTV? The Remy show before the pregame was blacked out also. What's going on here? We can't watch pregame shows anymore?

No Eric Chavez starting tonight. Benched for LHH vs LHP I guess. Chavy's been having a rough year, something like Varitek but not quite as bad. Still surprising to me since Chavez is not that bad against lefties.

I assume it isn't only the RedSox pregames(and postgames?) being blacked out. what's the point of subscribing to the sports channels if Sox fans outside of New England are going to blacked out of all baseball related programming?
We already pay $150 for the actual games. Up to now they've only blacked out the replays.

*MOJO* - BOS vs OAK - Haircuts Day 1



Crew cuts. Straight, angled, no fuss and no muss to them. The crew cut says "I'm all business, and I don't care who knows it". For the man who is too busy studying game film to bother with mousse, the crew cut is the only way to go.

The sleek look of guys like Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek will be what propels the Red Sox to a strong start to the second half.



Now there is a haircut you could set your watch to.

That was funny, Manny running out alone.

Grampa Simpson quote, nice.

I didn't even realize that the A's were last in the AL in scoring runs.

Since I've got NESN and ESPN2, the NESN picture quality tonight is HORRIBLE. It's like dimmed out and lighter greenish than ESPN. Night and day when you check it out.

Lot of pitches that inning but no damage.

Lester really seems to kick it up a notch when he is in a jam. It's a great sign. He needs to be more economical with his pitches though.

the kid's got nerves, and he proved it once again. Should sit and talk to Clement.

And control is going to come... it's just a passing phase. He was supposed to pitch in AAA this year.
Well done Jon...

Phew time. Payton's been one of the best clutch guys for the A's this season.

We're old, we hate every thing but Matlock.

That sports video defiency commercial is so old. It's all over tv and the radio (not to mention ESPN Mobile).

I've got the game on NESN and ESPN2 (watching ESPN2) - HOWEVER, I ALSO have the sports package of all FSN, etc. channels. That might be why I have both.

Why the hell is "The Remy's" blacked out though? That was blacked out last night? WTF?

Glad to hear Gammo's prognosis is looking really really good.

Lots of pitches by Lester. Show him the offensive stats on these guys. THEY CAN'T HIT, except a couple or three of them.

Take that, Esteban.

I love watching Lowell go yard.

Pitching around Gonzalez there. C'mon Youks, second half is here.

Even after a Varitek groundout that you could set your watch by?

Haha, of course.

Isn't today JULY 13TH? Tsk tsk Anni! All Star break got ya rusty!?

If Tito doesn't stop batting Varitek 5th or 6th I'm going to lose it.

PS: I hate Trupiano.

Yeah, Loretta struck out, but why is Youkilis taking a 3 - 1 fastball right down the middle? Even the A's announcers questioned that. Youks has more power than Loretta. He needs to be swinging at 3 - 1 cripples.

Edit, Swisher is one of the guys you have to worry about on the A's. Hits the 3 - 1 pitch out.


Edit again. Gonzalez gets rid of the ball as fast as anyone I can remember. I wonder if the statheads have a stat for that over on the "shall we keep him" thread. What a joke.

If the Sox don't score against Loaiza I'm going to lose it.

Great hit by nixon

Looks like you picked the wrong week to stop sniffin' glue.

Good for Trot. He deserved it after Sunday.

Also, go Tek.

Is there any uglier uniform than the Oakland away uni? It's the same shade as the sox one, but there is something about it that is just hideous in the all gray.

actually well done Tito on the hit-and-run. That really helped Varitek get a hit on a dribbler, and now we should be able to get at least one more off Loaiza in this inning...

God Damn Crosby

Nice hit by Crisp there.

I thought that was going to be caught. Nice double by Crisp.

Kielty must be taking after Manny in playing shallow. Neither of those balls to left were hit that high. We'll take them.

I dont think Kielty could have caught either of them off the wall though, they looked too high up.

Jesus, why even swing against Lester?

I thought Trot's was right at the base of the wall?

Lester is being awfully careful, or he just can't hit his spots.

I don't know about the Crisp hit when it hit the wall it seemed rather low.

Nice play by Lowell to get the DP, Lester gets through another inning after giving up a walk.

Mike Lowell is so cool out there. How many (few) errors does he have this year?
Answer my own question: 4. Jaizus, there are 3rd basemen with 12, 12, 13 and 14 errors already this year!

Looks like 5 innings for Lester-