Game time: 2:05 pm

Scheduled starters: Jesse Litsch (1-3, 4.74) v. Josh Beckett (12-2, 3.44)

The game will be on NESN.

Boston weather:

11 am observation at KBOS: Wind out of the south at 17 mph, visibility 10 miles, few clouds at 8,000 feet, temperature 83F, DP 66F


Forecast:

A cold front is approaching the area from the northwest, and, with a humid airmass ahead of it and cold air aloft, we could see some "exciting" weather this afternoon. The timing is uncertain, although from the satellite images it looks like the front is moving faster than the models predicted last night. Some storms could be severe, with strong winds and hail. It looks like the most likely time for thunderstorms will be after 3 pm, which could affect the game. The 11 am reports from a few stations, including Westover (KCEF) and Lebanon (KLEB) had light rain, but that appeared to be from isolated showers.

The winds will be gusty out of the south to southwest this afternoon, which is blowing across from right to left/out toward left.

Weather trivia: Today is the twelfth anniversary of the Adirondack Derecho, which caused a lot of damage in blowdown in the forest. We won't see anything like that today, but watch for bow echoes this afternoon!


The Great Adirondack Derecho

Drew, Pedroia, Varitek out per Globe.

Pedroia's played three days in a row, Tito. Three.

07/15 12:32:27 ET

Whoever said here that Francona likes to joke with the lineup on Sundays was absolutely correct. What's up with that?

About last night: Lugo is in some groove, he stole 2 bases and is hitting like .500 in the series. And he actually is like .275 in Fenway. I didn't know that, after that terrible first half. And Coco is doing great too, getting on base and all.

Hinske getting the start shows what Tito thinks of WMP. Litsch is more effective (if you can really use effective) against LHB .300/.390/.380 than RHB .326/.360/.587

Regardless, the bottom 3rd of the order is still a sucking black hole even if Lugo is starting to put it together.

What's the point on having Pena in the bench if they're never ever gonna use him for anything. After all, does he have potential or not? It's quite clear he won't be our starting outfielder, so just trade him already!

And before anyone complains about Pedroia and Tek

Globe Extra Bases

Everyone is rolling now

well Beckett looked good for an entire inning and is now promptly falling apart, so much for the second half

Glad to see the Sox are playing .500 ball against .500 clubs.

How in hell can Mirabelli and Hinske bat back to back...

Lugo and Coco single to start off the inning. Niiiice.

And the smartest player in baseball kills the rally.

Well that was a waste of a bunt attempt.

And Ortiz hits into a DP. Way to help out your pitcher. God these guys are bums.

We just learned it takes 3 pitches to kill a rally.

Clutch.

Absolutely clutch.

What I want to know is WHY THE HELL ARE CORA, MIRABELLI, and HINSKE all playing in the same game??!?!?!?

Wow great play by Cora. There's a reason why these morons are backups, WHY DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT TERRY?!?

"Ya know, that AC always does something to help ya win a ballgame."

Cora's teh awesome.

And Beckett says, f**k the defense, I'll have to do this myself.

well, cora mildly redeemed himself with that nice play to save a run, then again it wasn't exactly amazing, I'm just surprised he didn't blow it somehow, tell me Pedroia starts tomorrow.

Because Pedroia is sick, Tek is banged up, Drew is injured and WMP sucks worse than Hinske.

That's a wacky sweat stain on the home plate umpire just above his waist... at least I hope that's sweat...

Yeah, god-- Beckett was just unraveling earlier. Wheels off. He sucks.

I'm ready for this team to sack up and win a game they, god forbid, fall a couple of runs behind in. I'm losing patience with the playing .500 routine. Good teams do it for a 2-3 weeks instead of losing streaks, but we are at 6-7 weeks. I hope to God this team isn't using that 10 game lead as a mental crutch. What they're doing is the basketball equivalent of having a 15 point lead with 10 minutes left in the game and starting to watch the clock.

You're kidding, right?

Alright, runs.

Props to the RemDog, "Hey, wait, you don't look old enough to have a grandson..."

The Smartest Player in Baseball doubles. No choking Ortiz. Chop chop.

Not to nitpick, but how did Ortiz only get to 2nd on that?

That's "mildly" clutch.

Drive him in Manny. Show me you're not cooked.



Some combination of torn meniscus and lazy. Not sure which affected it more.

Manny had a total hanger right there and completely missed it. That sucked.

Wow.

It was correct to send Ortiz. It was worth the risk.

Sending David Ortiz, with such a short hit like that....Jesus

****ing idiot for waving him in!! his knees are not perfect!

I have no problem sending Lugo around 3rd base, but not Ortiz!! NO WAY!

I am sorry, it was not the right play, hes hurt and slow and the ball was not that deep.

But Belli was up next.

Belli was on deck.

I probably would have done it too-- needed to be a perfect throw as well.

Or they could have just PH for Maribelle and let V-Tek finish the game.

If you give a guy the day off because he's banged up, it's generally a good idea not to reverse course unless absolutely necessary.

The combo of Lugo/Crisp'll come through here. I'm feeling it. Miss Cleo style.

That throw was so perfect that Phillips had time for a sandwich while he was waiting for Papi.

Very good outing by Beckett... hopefully the offense can pick him up!

Yankees winning again and our offense looks terrible, sigh

That would be the time to pinch run Ellsbury. Would be...

Well here we are...

Yeah, Dougie is going to be sooooo clutch here. woo!

According to what I just saw, lefties are hitting .123 against Accardo, as opposed to .284 against righties. Why was Hisnke batting?

This game sucks

I don't think Terry "does" reverse splits.

If he felt like winning this one he would have pinch hit WMP for Lugo.

What a sorry display of offense today. Yuck. Lets go Rays

Wow...letting Drew and Tek sit there in the 9th is pretty indefensible.

This team is 19-20 since June 1st and is a 500 team being masked by a 36-15 start. In 9 days (with an AS break in the middle) the Yanks have cut the lead from 12 to 9. Anyone who thinks this is over is crazy.

Remember the "we have 18 of 21 at home" speeches (me included)? So far we are 7-7 in that 21 game stretch, right in line with the 500 run. August is going to shred this team if we don't take advantage of these home games.