By ArtMartone
CSNNE.com
Welcome to First Pitch, aquick spin around the world of Major League Baseball . . . or at leastthe corner of it that most concerns the Red Sox. For a complete wrapupof Wednesday's action, check out Craig Calcaterra's AndThatHappened(hardballtalk.nbcsports.com).
IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT ANYTHING GOOD TO SAY . . . then we can't really say a whole lot about the Red Sox' ghastly 11-10 loss to the Jays
Except that it means a continuation of Tim Wakefield's Sisyphian quest for his 200th win, thanks mostly to a Daniel Bard meltdown. (All stories and videos csnne.com)
Hmm. Yeah, that's about it.
SOME PEOPLE SAY WHY. I SAY WHY NOT? The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham thinks the place for Clay Buchholz, whenever he returns to action, is the starting rotation. But Curt Schilling doesn't think we'll be seeing much, if anything, of Buchholz come October. (weei.com)
ANOTHER MISSING PERSON: Nor, surprisingly, may we see much of Marco Scutaro at shortstop next month. (csnne.com) Or at least not as much as we'd expect.
Boston Red Sox
I TAKE IT BACK. THERE IS SOME GOOD NEWS: Ex-big league catcher and manager Buck Martinez has seen a world of improvement in Jarrod Saltalamacchia since the beginning of the season. (Providence Journal)
AND A LITTLE MORE: The Sox didn't lose any ground to the Yankees in the A.L. East race, thanks the Orioles' 5-4, 10-inning win. (New York Post)
KEEP ON TRUCKING: More and more, it appears David Ortiz has some productive years left. The question is, will they be in Boston? (Boston Herald)
DON'T LOOK NOW . . . but it appears the Yankees have a better starting rotation than the Red Sox. (foxsports.com) It's one of the reasons the Sox are dropping in cbssports.com's Power Rankings.
BUT I DON'T FEEL THAT BAD: Jeff Francoeur threw out A's rookie Michael Tucker at first base from right field. "You kind of feel bad to do it to a guy playing his fourth game in the big leagues," said Francoeur. "But, hey, that was really fun." (Kansas City Star)
OLD FRIENDS: Victor Martinez has a chance to become the ninth player in the last 50 years to drive in 100 runs with 12 or fewer homers (hardballtalk.nbcsports.com) . . . Kevin Millwood, who spent most of the summer at Pawtucket, has been a feel-good story for the Rockies since joining Colorado, but he finally struggled Wednesday in a 5-3 loss to Arizona (AP) . . . Carl Pavano got his eighth win of the season (twinkietown.com) . . . Carlos Pena may only be hitting .227, but he hit his 26th homer in the Cubs' win over the Reds and is on pace to finish with an OPS over .800 for the fourth time in five years (rotoworld) . . . Yes, that was Coco Crisp's 40th stolen base. (AP)
AND FINALLY . . . Looks like this feud between Nyjer Morgan and the Cardinals is getting interesting. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)