Red Sox Round Up

Sorry I haven't been able to post for awhile, I have been busy.

Lets take a run around whats happening in the Nation this fine Saturday afternoon.

Lester Return Continues
Jon Lester takes the hill tonight against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in his second start back from his heroic battle with cancer.

This will be his first appearance against the Devil Rays. The six strikeouts in his last start against Cleveland was the second highest in his brief career, he has had atleast two strikeouts in each major league appearance.

Manny Being (the) Manny We Expected
Manny Ramirez has been on a tear since the all star break. He is hitting .421 (24-57) with 6 HR and 19 RBI since the break.

Ramirez is on pace for a .306 27 102 line for the season but as his second half tear continues those projections will continue to rise.

Prospect Status
Some Sox fans will be very upset come next week when Boston lets the deadline pass without making any major moves, but why? Boston still owns the best record in baseball and a magic number of 52.

As I have stated to some people recently, I would rather fall short in the playoffs this season and still have Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz to lead the team into the future, then to trade them for what will probably be a little over a season rental of Mark Teixeira, who is most likely going to Baltimore once he's a free agent.

Not to mention that getting Teixeira doesn't guarantee a World Championship.

Meanwhile do we really want to see another Sox draftee turn into an all star (Sanchez, Bagwell, Schilling) or Rookie of the year (Bagwell, Ramirez) elsewhere?

The Road Ahead
Of the remaining 59 games for Boston a whopping 37 come against teams below .500 including 14 against Tampa Bay and 13 against Baltimore, another seven come against teams currently right at .500.

If we assume Boston plays the remainder of the schedule at a .550 clip (hardly impossible) then New York would have to play .667 ball over the remainder of the season to catch Boston.

Donnie Sadler Suspended
Former Sox player Donnie Sadler was suspended by Major League Baseball for 50 games today for testing positive for a drug of abuse under baseball's minor league program.