Red Sox let lead slip away against Angels

Jacoby Ellsbury and Jason Bay went deep off Ervin Santana, but a wild pitch by Josh Beckett allowed the visitors to tie the game, and reliever Billy Wagner surrendered the game-winner in the ninth.

Nobody had to tell the Red Sox about their Angelic visitors and their devilish smallball ways. Give them an inch and they'll take the game. A leadoff walk in the ninth. A bunt by a pinch hitter. A blooper to right center to score a pinch runner. Los Angeles 4, Boston 3.

Victor Martinez fields a grounder and beats Gary Matthews to the bag with a sliding tag of first base in the top of the fifth.

Phillies dad a hit with parents all over

 

Little girl's foul toss makes dad a celebrity.

Steve Monforto has been coming to Phillies games since he was 3 years old, and after all that time, he finally caught his first foul ball on Tuesday night.
Then his 3-year-old daughter Emily threw it back.
It was more than just one of those many little moments in the course of a long baseball game when Jayson Werth fouled back a pitch during the bottom of the fifth inning in the Phillies' 5-0 win against Washington at Citizens Bank Park. This moment was truly Beyond Baseball.
It was the real glory of the game right there in front of you, a father hugging his little girl to assure her that she did nothing wrong, a public rite of passage to which so many parents can relate. And that is why the highlight is one of the hottest videos on MLB.com right now, and why the whole family will be on NBC's Today Show, where they will be presented with a surprise gift on Thursday morning.
"We have been inundated with calls from national and local media -- everyone wants the story because it's so heartwarming," said Bonnie Clark, the Phillies' vice president of communications, after talking today to Monforto. "The family is a great family. I talked briefly to the dad. He's been coming to Phillies games since he was 3, and now as a season-ticket holder, and he said he's never caught a foul ball. He just happened to get these seats at the last minute, took up a friend on his offer, so he sat in a different location.
"The rest is history. I told him to embrace his 15 minutes."
Watch the video, and you can see Monforto reach over the rail in the first row of 300 level seats to make nice two-handed grab. Other fans in his section were cheering. After trading fist bumps with nearby fans, Monforto high-fived Emily, who was clad in pink T-shirt and Phillies cap, and handed the ball to her. It was the natural thing for any Dad to do, right?

Gonzalez helps Boston take win streak to seven

Down to their last strike, the Red Sox rallied in the ninth -- their third comeback of the game -- off Halos closer Brian Fuentes, walking off as winners on Alex Gonzalez's RBI single following two walks and a hit. The Sox, who won their seventh in a row to draw 6 1/2 ahead of the Rangers in the AL Wild Card, scored five in the sixth.

One strike from defeat, the Red Sox turned the tables on the Angels, pulling out a wild 9-8 victory capped on a walk-off bloop single to left by Alex Gonzalez in the bottom of the ninth.
The Red Sox trailed, 8-7, entering the inning, and they had two outs and nobody on when the most unlikeliest rallies of the season ensued against Angels closer Brian Fuentes.

David Ortiz drew a walk. J.D. Drew reached on an infield single. Jed Lowrie, a forgotten man, came off the bench and drilled a single down the third-base line, loading the bases. Pinch-hitter Nick Green walked on a borderline 3-2 pitch to tie the game.

Gonzalez ended it, flaring one just out of the reach of Juan Rivera, setting off euphoria in the middle of the diamond. The Red Sox swarmed Gonzalez between first and second.
Coupled with the Rangers' 4-0 loss to the A's, the Red Sox now hold a 6 1/2-game lead in the American League Wild Card race.

On a night closer Jonathan Papelbon (tightness in his back) was unavailable for the Red Sox, the Angels took the lead against rookie reliever Daniel Bard in the top of the ninth. Bard had retired the first two batters of the inning, but Chone Figgins and Erick Aybar kept hope alive with back-to-back singles. In a big spot, Bobby Abreu came through, belting an RBI single to left that snapped a 7-7 tie.

The Red Sox, down 7-5, came back with two in the bottom of the eighth to tie it. With runners at the corners and one out, Casey Kotchman worked a nine-pitch against Darren Oliver that ended in an RBI fielder's-choice grounder.

Gonzalez then drew a walk -- his first in 96 at-bats since rejoining the Red Sox. That set the stage for Jacoby Ellsbury, who ripped an RBI single to right to tie the game.

Matsuzaka disables Angels in brilliant return

In his first game in nearly three months, Daisuke Matsuzaka threw six-plus innings of scoreless ball as the Sox dropped the Angels, 4-1, on Tuesday to up their Wild Card edge to 5 1/2.

For most of Tuesday night, the difference was all about the pitches. They were faster, they were crisper and much less hittable than when Daisuke Matsuzaka was last seen in a Major League game. But when the Red Sox's right-hander exited following a sparkling effort -- en route to a 4-1 victory over the Angels -- the difference was all in the vocal chords of the Fenway faithful.
With a runner on first and nobody out in the seventh, Red Sox manager Terry Francona came out to get Matsuzaka, and the fans were up on their feet, roaring with approval. Dice-K gave a hearty tip of his cap and walked back into the dugout, getting the same type of warmth from his teammates that he got from the crowd. It wasn't like that when Matsuzaka last pitched for the Red Sox the night of June 19, when he was booed off the mound after giving up eight hits and six runs in four-plus innings.
In his return, Matsuzaka fired six-plus innings of shutout baseball, allowing three hits. He walked three and struck out five, throwing 93 pitches.

Dice-K Returns to the Mound

Matsuzaka makes his first Major League appearance since June 19, nearly three months after landing on the disabled list for the second time this season with right shoulder woes. After leading Japan to its second consecutive World Baseball Classic title this spring, the 28-year-old has had a forgettable 2009 campaign thus far, evidenced by a 1-5 record and 8.23 ERA in eight starts. Dice-K was tagged for six runs on seven hits over five innings in one career regular-season outing against the Angels.   

By Ian Browne / MLB.com

Jon Lester surpassed the fine effort of teammate Clay Buchholz from Game 1, tossing eight shutout frames to seal a sweep of the Rays in the double dip. In the process, Boston padded its American League Wild Card lead over the Rangers and eliminated the Rays from the AL East.

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Not Boston Related but This is the way the National Anthem should be presented.

No pop stars, no vocal show offs, just the Star Spangled Banner, the cadets, and the US Army Herald Trumpet Corps.