ekansekans's blog: "df"

BOSTON -- Boston manager Bobby Valentine has been around long enough to understand how fiery second baseman Dustin Pedroia takes each at-bat. "Dustin is the most determined, talented player Ive ever seen," Valentine, in his first year with the Red Sox, said after Pedroias two-run homer broke a tie and helped Boston to a 7-3 win over the Detroit Tigers on Monday night. "He was upset after he left the runner on second (in his previous at-bat)," Valentine said. "I knew he was going to do something." Pedroia, the 2008 AL MVP, also finished with three RBIs to support Clay Buchholzs eight solid innings that carried Boston to its third straight win. With the game tied 2-all in the sixth, Pedroia homered into the first row of seats above the Green Monster after Crawford drew a leadoff walk. Buchholz (9-3) allowed two earned runs and five hits. He improved to 5-1 with a 2.43 ERA in his last eight starts. "Everything feels in synch right now," he said of his recent success. He not only feel like hes on a roll, but feels the team may be getting on a run, too. "Its pitching and hitting at the same time," he said. "Youve got to pitch and hit well to go on a streak like we need to go on." The Red Sox opened a 10-game homestand -- their longest of the season -- after taking the final two of three-game set at Yankee Stadium over the weekend. Will Middlebrooks had a two-run homer and Carl Crawford added an RBI triple for Boston. Austin Jackson began the game with a homer and Miguel Cabrera had an RBI single for the Tigers, who lost for the fourth time in five games. Max Scherzer (10-6) gave up five runs in 6 1-3 innings, striking out nine. "Obviously the pitch to Pedroia, I completely missed my spot," Scherzer said. "Thats whats frustrating -- when you dont execute pitches the way you want to and you get burned by it. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth." Tigers manager Jim Leyland felt Scherzer may have been too concerned with the speedy Crawford on first. "I think in that particular situation, to be honest with you -- I dont know this for a fact -- I think he was a little conscious of Crawford and maybe rushed it just a little bit and probably didnt get it exactly where he wanted to," he said. Detroit had taken a 1-0 lead when Jackson hit Buchholzs second pitch of the game into the first row of seats above the left-field wall. Quintin Berry followed with a double off the wall, but the right-hander retired the next three batters, grabbing Cabreras hard one-hop shot back to the mound for the first out before getting the next two easily. Boston took a 2-1 edge in the bottom half. Jacoby Ellsbury drew a leadoff walk and scored on Crawford triples off the left-field wall. Crawford scored on Pedroias groundout. The Tigers tied it at 2 in the third. Omar Infante tripled off the left-field wall and scored on Cabreras single. But with the bases loaded, Delmon Young bounced into an inning-ending double play. Buchholz then retired the next nine batters before Detroit scored an unearned run in the seventh. Brennan Boesch opened the inning by striking out, but reached when catcher Kelly Shoppach had the ball get away from him and hit Boesch as he was running to first on the missed third strike. One out later, Alex Avila had an RBI double into the right-centre field gap, closing the score to 4-3. In the seventh, Ellsburys RBI single -- the last batter Scherzer faced -- came after Shoppach had his second career triple, sending a drive to the centre-field wall that caromed away from Jackson and rolled toward left. Scherzer was sharp after Bostons two-run first, holding the Red Sox to a pair of singles until Pedroias homer. Middlebrooks homered off reliever Phil Coke in the eighth. NOTES: Boston OF Ryan Sweeney left the game for a defensive replacement in the ninth inning. Valentine said he did something with his and hand and couldnt throw, but Sweeney said he "punched a door" and will have x-rays Tuesday. ... Leyland managed his 3,278th game, moving him into 15th place on the career list. ... With the non-waiver trading deadline approaching Tuesday, Valentine opened his pregame news conference by joking: "Ive been assured Im not going to be traded." ... Valentine also said DH David Ortiz, eligible to come off the 15-day DL after being sidelined with a strained right Achilles, was unable do some agility running over the weekend, but was "running in the pool" on Monday. "Hes not far away (from returning), but I dont know if Wednesdays the magical day," Valentine said. ... Shoppachs other triple came at Kansas City on May 7. ... A roar and chats "USA! USA!" were heard when the centre-field board showed the Olympic medal count. ... The Red Sox took three of four from the Tigers at Fenway Park in late May. Wholesale Jerseys Paypal . Santana is going to have an MRI on his back Tuesday, putting in jeopardy his scheduled start against the Colorado Rockies two days later. Wholesale Jerseys . 29. The team will first have their medicals and physical testing at Bell Sports Complex in Brossard on Sept. 28 and move to Sherbrooke where they will practice at Complexe Sportif Jocelyn-Thibault from Sunday, Sept. http://pavansukhdev.org/wholesalejerseys.html . Trent Ouellette, Adam Rossignol and Marc McCoy scored as Regina (12-18-4) ended a seven-game losing streak. Morgan Klimchuk and Lane Scheidl had two assists each.Even though they have shut down their best pitcher for the rest of the season, the Washington Nationals cling to top spot in the TSN.ca MLB Power Rankings, a spot they have held since early August. It has been three weeks since the previous rankings update with a late summer vacation, followed by a frenzied week of NFL football coverage intervening, and while there were some changes, the team at the top has remained the same. However, even with the leagues best record, the Nationals are quite vulnerable in their position now that they dont have Strasburg. The Cincinnati Reds, Oakland As and Tampa Bay Rays are all closing the gap, with each team getting lineup boosts in recent weeks. For the Reds, they get first baseman Joey Votto back for the first time since mid-July. The Reds played at a high level without Votto, but his elite offensive production raises the bar for what they might achieve. Oakland has lost a couple of starting pitchers recently, with Bartolo Colon getting suspended for the use of performance-enhancing drugs and Brandon McCarthy hospitalized with a fractured skull after he was struck by a line drive, yet the As have been relentless; thanks, in part, to the contributions of returning ace Brett Anderson and rookie A.J. Griffin. Tampa Bays pitching has been their strength thrroughout the season and they are obviously stronger when staff ace David Price is available, but young righthander Chris Archer was an effective alternative when Price had to skip his last start.dddddddddddd Among the big climbers, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have won 15 of 18 and jumped from 14 to five; the San Diego Padres have won 14 of 19 and moved from 24 to 17; and the Milwaukee Brewers have won 15 of their last 20 to go from 22 to 18. Heading in the wrong direction, the Atlanta Braves have slipped from two to eight. While they have won five in a row, that only moves them to 15-13 in their last 28. The Los Angeles Dodgers thought they were loading up for the postseason, but have struggled and drop from four to 13; the Chicago White Sox have four wins in their last 13 games, yet still lead the AL Central, but they dropped from nine to 14. Losers of 11 of their last 12, the Boston Red Sox have slipped down to 25, a terrible ranking for a terrible season. The Toronto Blue Jays, getting a tad healthier with Brandon Morrow, J.P. Arencibia and Brett Lawrie returning to the lineup, moved from 25 to 23. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '