Game 49 • Red Sox at Blue Jays • 7 PM

Tim Wakefield (6-2, 3.99) vs. Casey Janssen (0-1, 4.50)

The Red Sox visit the Rogers Centre for the first time in 2009 as the weird scheduling rolls on. It feels like by this point in other seasons we've played up there two or three times. No matter. The Bluebirds will roll out the welcome mat while trying to make the gray team feel as unwelcome as possible. After all, they were fine and dandy on their perch atop the AL East standings before the first pitch in the Back Bay. Let's just say it was all downhill from there. Boston swept the Jays in three at Fenway, and Toronto has not tasted victory since.
L L L L L L L L L.

Have a look at the AL East after Thursday:

BOS: 28-20, --
MFY: 27-20, 0.5 GB
TOR: 27-23, 1.5 GB
FKR: 23-26, 5.0 GB
BAL: 21-26, 6.0 GB

***

Quotes from Thursday's game in Minnesota:

Tito:

I thought [Tichenor] was making it hard on Beckett. I know Beckett yelled in. Tek's protecting Beckett, and I'm protecting Tek. He got Tek, and that's what I didn't want to have happen. I'm not fast enough to get out there in time. I'd rather him throw me out than Tek. Tek's going to have a hell of a lot more to do with the outcome than I am. Sometimes you have to state your opinion.

Beckett won't say what he told home plate umpire Todd Tichenor:

Just some baseball terms. You can't write it. [Television] can't hear it. There's no reason for me to elaborate.

Umpire Crew Chief Jerry Layne:

Varitek was trying to keep his pitcher in the game. Varitek took one for the team, basically. Terry Francona did his job, too. The bottom line is the managers have a job to do and the umpires have a job to do, and it was a different situation to be in as an umpire and I thought that Todd Tichenor did an extremely good job. He handled it the way I like to see a person handle it.

Francona on Varitek's second dong of the game, 427 feet (at friggen least):

That was nice to see. That was a beautiful swing.

Gumball, on the play at the plate:

All right, I'm going. [Jason Kubel] made a great throw. [Redmond] gave me the whole plate, so it wasn't going to be one of those situations where I need to have a collision or anything like that. I could just sense the ball bearing down on me a little bit, so I decided to just stay on the outside and try to get my hand in there. That turned out to be the best thing."

***
What happened to the Rays? Injuries. Percival has shoulder tendinitis, Kazmir has a right quad strain, Iwamura is out for the season with a knee injury, Shouse has an elbow strain, and Bartlett has a strained left ankle. All of these players are currently on the DL.