Game time: 7:05 pm

Scheduled starters: Jeremy Sowers (3-3, 3.98) v. Jon Lester (5-1, 3.49)

Boston weather: 1 pm observation at BOS: Wind out of the northwest at 18 mph, with gusts to 23 mph, visibility 10 miles, few clouds at 25,000 feet, temperature 97F, DP 73F

Forecast: HOT and HUMID

There's not much else to say. There won't be any relief from this heat until sometime tomorrow afternoon. It will be in the mid-90's at game time, and it won't cool off all that much during the game. The low overnight will be around 80F. The winds will be out of the west to northwest at 15-20 mph. That's blowing out toward center/right center. The winds are currently gusty, so that could result in some interesting outfield maneuvers.


There's some convective potential for later this afternoon, but overall the upper air is just too warm to support significant convection. Still, there's a lot of potential energy in this hot, moist, airmass, and if there is any lift, we could get some thunderstorms in the early evening. The NWS has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the counties west of Boston, but Suffolk County is not currently included in the watch area. At 1 pm there were some moderate to severe storms popping up in the Hudson Valley and in central VT.


And now, for those of you who need to think cool, here's the latest observation from the summit of Mt. Washington:

Wind out of the west at 51 mph, gusting to 62 mph, visibility zero in fog, sky obscured, temperature 61F, DP 61F.

Chill out!

Welcome to Central Texas, New Englanders!

Gonna be there tonight because I don't turn down tickets, but it is gonna be hell. How are standing room only seats in right field by the way? Can you just take those tables on the railing if you are there first?

"The heat is on"...I miss Channel 38 games.

Or California last week. Oh, humidity. Don't have much of that.

Amen to that!

I also miss Celts games on channel 56 (and the NBA on CBS in general in the eighties).

Lester better have his control on tonight, or he could literally melt into the mound by the 5th inning.

Wouldn't be because of Bird, Parish McHale, Walton, DJ, Ainge and three championships, would it? I tried to watch one Celtics game last year and lasted about one minute.

If anyone cares, the Yankees are percentage points ahead of the Red Sox with 50+ games to go and BDD is throwing in the towel.





what a cowbell!
Imagine him at Gettysburg. "Here come Robert E. Lee. Run away, everyone, run away!"

No, you can't take the tables. There's some railing to lean on if you get there early, which isn't bad. It's a pretty cool place to watch a game.

With the wind out of the west at around 18 mph right now, you might get a nice breeze up there. It'll be cooler than in the RF GS.

*MOJO* - BOS vs CLE - Ice Cream Truck Day 1



There is no happier sound than "the Entertainer" chiming in the distance as an Ice Cream Truck approaches. And with Doug Mirabelli filling in for the injured Jason Varitek, it is only fitting that the first order off the truck is for him. After all, Doug is a stud who likes to eat bombs.



Let's see Dougie and the rest of the Sox go deep and get back to their winning ways. No stopping until we regain first place... unless an Ice Cream Truck rolls through. Then you can call "game off" for a bit. It is far too hot to ignore tasty frozen treats.

5 pm weather update:

At 5 pm, BOS-Logan was reporting 98F, with the dew point at 70F, so the airmass is just a little bit drier than it was earlier today. Together, that results in a heat index of 105F.


The winds are out of the west at 15 mph, gusting to 24 mph. That's blowing out to center.

There's a little wrinkle in the forecast for tonight. There's a line of strong, fast-moving thunderstorms just west of the Connecticut River/Springfield right now. It formed over central NY a couple hours ago. These storms are strong, and there's been some wind damage. The storms aren't widespread, and any storm will probably not last more than 30-40 minutes. The NWS has not issued a watch for Suffolk County as of 5 pm, but there are watches in Middlesex County and warnings for Worcester County and western MA.

Arrgghhh! A lefty we've never seen before coming off back-to-back complete game shutouts??????

BDD is Brave Sir Robin.

The Ballad of Boston Mud Dog
Bravely bold The Mud Dog rode forth from Commonwealth.
He was not afraid to die, O brave Boston Mud Dog!
He was not at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways,
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Mud Dog!
He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp,
Or to have his eyes gouged out, and his elbows broken;
To have his kneecaps split, and his body burned away;
And his limbs all hacked and mangled, brave Boston Mud Dog!

His head smashed in and his heart cut out
And his liver removed and his bowels unplugged
And his nostrils raped and his bottom burned off
And his pen--

[codebox]Cleveland Boston
--------- ------

Pos Player HR RBI AVG. Pos Player HR RBI AVG.
--- ------ -- --- ---- --- ------ -- --- ----
CF Sizemore, Grady 16 49 .305 1B Youkilis, Kevin 11 47 .292
LF Michaels, Jason 8 40 .275 2B Loretta, Mark 4 40 .301
DH Hafner, Travis 29 86 .294 DH Ortiz, David 37 105 .292
1B Martinez, Victor 11 62 .307 LF Ramirez, Manny 29 84 .317
RF Blake, Casey 15 49 .305 3B Lowell, Mike 13 54 .290
SS Peralta, Jhonny 10 46 .256 RF Pena, Wily Mo 5 24 .331
2B Luna, Hector 0 0 .125 CF Crisp, Coco 4 20 .272
C Shoppach, Kelly 2 9 .241 C Mirabelli, Doug 3 14 .181
3B Marte, Andy 0 0 .000 SS Gonzalez, Alex 9 38 .284
P Sowers, Jeremy (3-3, 3.98) P Lester, Jon (5-1, 3.49) [/codebox]

The temperature went from 92F to 75F in ONE hour in Worcester after the line went through!

Right now it looks like that line of storms will stay south of Boston, so the game won't be delayed.

I'm liking the fact that Joe Inglett isn't playing tonight - that guy has done very well since his call up

Lowell's post all star break line: .209/.247/.388/.635 in 67 AB's. Obviously its still early but I'm surprised Theo didn't try to move him while his stock is high. Lowell has a .100 drop in his OPS in his career from the first half to the second half so I wouldn't expect as strong of a second half as we saw in the first half.

I must say, this is a very intriguing pitching matchup.

Oh, and I am very glad to be in Seattle instead of Boston right now.

Lowell looks really frustrated out there at the moment, I really hope he can prove that second half trend wrong. Not only for the Sox, but also for himself.

Whoa, Manny! That could have been a LOT worse!


And he picked him off!

Good, now settle down.

Yikes John, get your defense off the field, you are melting out there

Not a good start, to say the least.

The umpire is not giving him the inside, and when he gets too much of the plate, they're ripping him. Even the outs were loud.

Wow, this has been a frustrating inning.

Cant believe this ****

they are crushing his fastball, time for another pitch jon

OK, now let's see if this other rookie lefty will give up some runs. Because, of course, he hasn't for 18 innings.

Loretta works a walk. C'mon Papi, first inning homers help also.

It's going to be another long day.

I still love you Papi

Lester is getting hammered - that was almost another monster home run

Kelly freakin' Shoppach doubles. He didn't even get a loud foul last year for us. Lester can't handle hot and humid?

Coco threw somebody out? Turning point!

see coco, hitting the cut-off man is a very good thing. a great thing even

I can't wait for 8:00 when the other games come on WGN and ESPN and I can stop watching this. It's making my blood pressure go up. I've justified in my mind why Theo was right not to make any deals, maybe just because I can't do anything about it now, but watching this is making me pretty angry.

I don't get WGN but the ESPN game is Philly at St. Louis. I'd rather watch women's softball or volleyball.

Edit, Utley's 33 game streak. Maybe I'll watch his ABs.

finally, complimentary water stations at fenway

After that pregnant woman died in the concourse this weekend, yeah, I'd think they might do that.

Friggin bounce. That never helps us.

Oh wait.

I hate to be negative but I really hate the 2 out ground-rule double with a man on 1st. The percentages are sooooooo low that he'll score.

Belli with some offense right there

Those with TV, what's this Sowers have? Is he fast or finesse?

Mostly finesse, with a nasty breaking ball.

I'd say his greatest strength is his control - but he is off tonight when compared to his previous two starts.

It looks like they are going to get a t-storm there soon

actually, we don't HAVE to hit Sowers. Making work as much as possible could work, since they have an absolutely horrific bullpen. So taking him out could actually do the job... take pitches!

Yup. He's over 40 pitches now, right?

The storm is going to stay south of Boston. They might get some light rain, but that should be it right now.

I wouldn't mind seeing some more shots of Tina Cervasio in front of a mister (EDIT: the machine)...

Wild pitch or passed ball? One thing about Varitek, no matter how he was slumping, he's the best at blocking ball in the dirt, or otherwise way off the mark pitches.

Cleveland's bullpen has been pretty effective over their past three starts, that 3.70 ERA 1.44 WHIP looks pretty decent when compared to our 5.73 ERA 1.50 WHIP.

We also have to consider that Lester is now sitting on 60 pitches through 3, now let's guess who Francona is going to go to? It's going to be a long night of playing catchup and hoping to keep it close to face Carmona.

Lester's up there in pitch count too. Our bullpen going to have to step up big again. Wonder if Theo called Seattle, and suggested trading Foulke for Mark Lowe and Jeff Clement, just for old times sake.