Stories related to: Boston Red Sox

Boston will send left-hander Jon Lester to the mound against Cleveland tonight, marking the 23-year-old's first outing since being diagnosed with cancer last year. "I don't think it really  has sunken in," said Lester, who put up a 3.89 ERA in his 14 games with Pawtucket this year. Manager Terry Francona said the move will send struggling starter Julian Tavarez to the bullpen. More »

Boston's Julan Tavarez threw less than six innings in a sloppy outing last night, as the Sox fell to Kansas City 6-5. With New York finding its stride, the Sox are beginning to feel some heat in the AL East, and may replace the faltering Tavarez with prospect Jon Lester in the starting rotation. Last night's game is the 14th one-run decision Boston has dropped this year. More »

Alex Rodriguez inked 4 RBIs and hammered an MLB-leading 30th home run in a 12-0 shellacking of Ervin Santana and the Angels yesterday. The blast lifts A-rod to 22nd on the all-time list, besting Lou Gehrig and giving him the most home runs by a pinstriper at the All-Star break since Maris in '61. More »

Rod Beck, a closer with the Giants, Cubs, Red Sox, and Padres who nailed down 286 saves, died yesterday in his home in Phoenix at 38. Police do not suspect foul play. Beck led a colorful life, drinking and carousing with fans after games; his final season was cut short by rehabilitation for substance abuse. More »

The Yankees have found their way back to the familiar side of .500 for the first time since April, with their eighth win in a row. The Yanks climbed to 32-31 at the expense of the Arizona Diamondbacks, aided by Alex Rodriguez's league-leading 25th home run and a strong eight innings from Mike Mussina. More »

Shannon Stewart hit a single with two outs in the 9th to blight Curt Schilling's bid for the first no-hitter of his career in Oakland. The Boston righty/blogger shook off his catcher's call for a slider and threw a fastball outside to the A's outfielder, who had been fooled outside all game. More »

The AL-leading Red Sox stuck it to the Indians, 4-2, as Josh Beckett continues the best season-opening run by a Boston pitcher since Roger Clemens started 14-0 in 1986. Beckett had spent 15 days on the disabled list with an irritated middle finger, but mystified Cleveland to the tune of three hits and two runs in seven innings. More »

Ace and blogger Curt Schilling let fly at Barry Bonds on Boston sports radio, asserting that the slugger's pursuit of the home-run record is irrevocably marred. Schilling contended that Bond admitted to using steroids and cheating on both his taxes and his wife, and this makes him "the biggest ass—who ever lived." More »

Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Red Sox's $103.1 million hurler, gave up seven runs in five frames in another poor outing that only incidentally ended up in a Boston win. Matsuzaka walked Seattle's first three batters in a five-run first inning, but Manny Ramirez's second homer put Boston ahead for good in the eighth, 8-7.  More »

Jonathan Papelbon, Boston's marquee closer, blew his first save of the season against the Athletics, and saw his hitherto sparkling ERA swell. Rookie outfielder Travis Buck hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth, and Dan Johnson hit the go-ahead RBI double in the tenth off reliever Brendan Donnelly to halt the rolling Sox 5-4. More »

Many past and current Red Sox rushed to the defense of Curt Schilling yesterday after Baltimore announcer Gary Thorne claimed the blood that famously turned the injured pitching ace's sock red in the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees was a hoax. Thorne said backup catcher Doug Mirabelli had told him it was a PR stunt. More »

The New Yorker 's Ben McGrath finagled an astounding nine minutes with Manny Ramirez, the notoriously fractious and endlessly fascinating Red Sox slugger. In the interview the reclusive Ramirez embodies all the myths about him: He's deeply personal, funny, petulant, and cryptic—besides being, arguably, "the greatest hitter of his generation." More »

The much-ballyhooed matchup of Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki and Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka—MLB's best Japanese hitter versus its first-year Japanese pitching sensation—turned out to be far less impressive than the performance of Seattle's young ace, Felix Hernandez.  King Felix, who had just turned 21 on Sunday, had a no-hitter until J.D. Drew's 8th-inning single, Boston's only hit. More »

After four snowed-out days in Cleveland, the Mariners' nightmare roadtrip continued at Fenway. The Sox chased former Cardinals World Series hero Jeff Weaver with seven runs in two innings en route to a 14-3 win; Boston leadoff man Julio Lugo got on base four times in the first four frames. Meanwhile, Beckett held Seattle to an existentially bleak one run in seven innings, thrice striking out Ichiro Suzuki. More »

While attempting to check his swing, Rangers slugger Sammy Sosa accidentally hit an RBI single that would be the go-ahead run in a 2-0 victory over the Red Sox.  It was the first RBI of the season for Sosa, who is attempting a comeback with his 1989 rookie-season team. More »

The Red Sox's $103-million man Daisuke Matsuzaka lived up to the hype last night, holding the Kansas City Royals to just one run on six hits in his Major League debut. In front of 200 Japanese media members, Matsuzaka dazzled the Royals hitters with a power fastball and his famed array of off-speed pitches, leading the Sox to a 4-1 victory. More »