The celebration will be at home. Exactly when, how and what they will be celebrating AL wild card or AL East winner remains to be determined. But the Red Sox locked up at least a tie for the wild card yesterday by blanking the Blue Jays in their final road game of the season, 3-0.The Sox could have clinched the wild card outright last night, but the Yankees remained mathematically alive for the wild card with a 7-3 win over the Orioles. So the Sox remain on the cusp of their fifth trip to the playoffs in six years.
Daisuke Matsuzaka had one of his best starts of the season, holding the Jays to only two hits in his seven innings while improving to 18-2 and lowering his ERA to 2.80. Pitching crisply and executing his large arsenal of pitches the right way in the strike zone, Matsuzaka put the Blue Jays down with ease.
Toronto rookie Scott Richmond was unable to keep the Red Sox from building all the lead they needed by the end of the third inning. Jacoby Ellsbury began the game with a triple and was quickly knocked in on Dustin Pedroia’s sacrifice fly. Two innings later, after Ellsbury doubled, Ortiz stayed back and was able to flick a 3-2 changeup from Richmond over the left field wall for the 3-0 lead. Richmond was done after five innings, and a trio of Toronto relievers held the Red Sox to just two hits the rest of the way.
Hideki Okajima came in to pitch a 1-2-3 eighth inning, then Jonathan Papelbon closed the door in the ninth for his 40th save, a recipe for success the Sox rode in their championship drive last season. With the win, the Red Sox picked up a game in the AL East on the Rays, 4-1 losers to the Twins, so the battle to discover who will be the division champion is very much up in the air. The Rays, who clinched their postseason berth Saturday, will finish their season with seven games on the road; three in Baltimore, four in Detroit, while the Red Sox return home for four games with the Indians beginning tonight, followed by three with the Yankees.
Nation Notes: Julio Lugo reinjured his strained quadriceps while fielding a ground ball Saturday, and yesterday seemed more pessimistic about his chances to return by season’s end than at any point since he began working out. There was no update on Mike Lowell’s condition. He has not been doing anything over the weekend, just trying to give the new medication a chance to work, and “let it cool down,” The Red Sox were hoping for a “marked improvement” over the next couple of days. Terry Francona did not anticipate that J.D Drew would need to see a back specialist when the team returned to Boston, but he will be re-evaluated. The Sox ended up with a 39-42 road record, just the second time since 1998 they had a losing road record. They also had one in 2006. Yesterday’s shutout was the 16th for Sox pitching this year.
