Wagner pitched in 17 games this season for the Mets and Red Sox, compiling a 1.72 ERA and pitching some meaningful innings down the stretch in Boston.  The Red Sox did not pick up his $8.8 million option for 2010 which means that Wagner will hit the free agent market 15 days after the end of the World Series.  Wagner is going to make his family his priority, but he might also want to give it a few more years to try to win that elusive World Series Championship.  Plus, he he some personal numbers to achieve that might be important to him.  He would love to become one of only 5 MLB pitchers to reach the 400 save plateau – Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera, Lee Smith and John Franco are the others – and he is just 15 saves shy of that number.  If he can land a closer’s job on a competitive team in 2010, there is a good chance that he could reach that 400-mark.

Guess we’ll have to see what Wagner decides to do, but it was a pleasure having him in the bullpen this past September.  With the struggles of Daniel Bard and Hideki Okajima down the stretch, it was great for Manager Terry Francona to be able to rely upon Wagner in late-inning situations…

I’m still finding it hard to believe that the Red Sox are out of the playoffs.  The way it ended on Sunday afternoon was just shocking.  The Angels rallied for 5 runs in the final innings, including 3 runs off of closer Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th to pull off the improbably 7-6 win at Fenway Park.  The Angels swept the Red Sox out of the playoffs in the ALDS after beating the Red Sox only once in the 10 previous post-season meetings since 2004. What the hell happened?

After jumping out to early 3-0 and 5-1 leads, Clay Buchholz did a solid job of keeping the Red Sox in the lead.  Making his 1st ever career post-season appearance, Buchholz pitched into the 6th inning, giving up just 2 ER on 6 hits and 1 walk.  Daniel Bard relieved Buchholz with the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the 6th inning, and managed to get the Red Sox out of the game with just 1 more run scoring on a Juan Rivera double play ball.  Bard ended up pitching 2 scoreless innings withoout giving up a hit or a walk in his 1st ever career post-season appearance.  At least the future still looks bright for these Red Sox.

The veteran relievers struggled however.  Billy Wagner only recorded 2 outs in the 8th inning, giving up 2 ER on 1 hit and 1 walk.  Manager Terry Francona called on Jonathan Papelbon to get the Red Sox out of a 2nd and 3rd 2 out jam, but he promptly served up a single to Juan Rivera that cut the Red Sox lead to 5-4.  And despite adding an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th inning to increase the lead back to 2 runs, Papelbon couldn’t finish off the Angels after getting the 1st 2 outs of the 9th inning.  Papelbon gave up a single and a walk and then Bobby Abreu’s double scored Erick Aybar to cut the lead to 6-5.  Papelbon had Vladmir Guerrero down to his final strike, but Guerrero came through a clutch single that scored both Chone Figgins and Abreu to give the Red Sox the 7-6 lead.

The Red Sox went quietly against Brian Fuentes in the 9th inning, and just like that the season was over.  I’m sure I’ll have more to say about the team and the players over the next few weeks once it all sinks in, but I am still pretty shocked by what happened at Fenway on Sunday.  Going into the game, Papelbon had never given up a single run in the post-season – a streak spanning 27 innings over 17 appearances.  He went from being “perfect” to being downright awful – accounting for all 5 Angels runs at the end of the game even though only 3 runs were charged to him.  He’s gotta be feeling awful right now, but this could be a blessing in disguise, making the Red Sox want it even more in 2010.

At least the offense showed up in Game 3.  After being held to just 7 total hits and 1 run in the 1st 2 games, the Red Sox got a 2-run double from Dustin Pedroia and an RBI single from Victor Martinez in the 3rd inning.  After the Angels cut the lead to 3-1 in the top of the 4th inning on a Kendry Morales HR, J.D. Drew increased the Red Sox lead to 5-1 with his 2-run shot to deep center field in the bottom of the inning.  And even though the Red Sox only had 7 total hits, they worked out 4 walks and came through with the clutch hits when they needed it.

It’s a sad day for Red Sox nation – I was so looking forward to seeing Jon Lester force a Game 5 with a dominating performance at Fenway tonight, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be…

Finally – the Red Sox winning recipe finally came back to fruition on Thursday night behind a solid outing by Jon Lester.  Lester proved that he was fine after getting hit with a line drive in last Friday night’s loss to the Yankees in New York.  Lester threw 84 pitches and came out of the game after issuing a walk with 1 out in the 7th inning.  Lester gave up only 2 hits and 1 walk, with 7 strikeouts.  Manager Terry Francona felt he had proved enough at that point:  “We were really happy.  I don’t think we thought it was an issue.  We wouldn’t have allowed him to pitch.  It was really nice to see him pitch as well as he did for a lot of reasons.”

Daniel Bard, Billy Wagner and Jonathan Papelbon did the rest, allowing just 1 hit the rest of the way.  Wagner and Papelbon worked perfect 8th and 9th innings and seem primed for a solid post-season.

With most of the starters back in the lineup, the Red Sox offense clicked on all cylinders.  Although they only scored 3 runs, the team crushed 12 hits and drew 4 walks.  Jacoby Ellsbury led the way with 3 hits and 1 run scored.  Victor Martinez, Jason Bay and Alex Gonzalez each had 2 hits.

The rest of the weekend series for the Red Sox looks like this – Daisuke Matsuzaka tonight; Josh Beckett on Saturday night and Clay Buchholz on Sunday afternoon.  Lester is line to be the Red Sox Game 1 starter against the Angels next week in Anaheim.  How sweet is that to have Lester going in Game 1 and Beckett going in Game 2?  Look out Angels fans…

This one is going to hurt – the Red Sox blew an 8-2 lead and ended up losing to the Royals 12-9 in Kansas City.  With the Yankees losing to the Angels on the west coast, the Red Sox blew a golden opportunity to cut the AL East lead to just 4 games with a big weekend series coming up in the Bronx.  If the Red Sox end up sweeping the Yankees this weekend, they’ll look back to this loss to the Royals if they don’t end up winning the division.

Jason Bay got the Red Sox off to a great start with a 3-run HR in the 3rd inning as part of a 6-run outburst.  Bay has been on fire of late, hitting home runs in 4 consecutive games and increasing his team-leading totals to 36 HR’s and 113 RBI’s.  Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez and Rocco Baldelli each had 2 hits, as the Red Sox pounded out 12 hits, 9 runs and 7 walks against Lenny DiNardo and 3 Royals relievers.

But the bigger story was the Red Sox poor pitching.  Tim Wakefield made his 1st start since he lost to the White Sox on September 5th and struggled with his control.  Wakefield gave up 5 hits and 7 walks in just 5 innings of work.  He gave up 5 runs, 4 of which were earned.

Manny Delcarmen recorded only 2 outs in a 6-run 6th inning for the Royals.  He gave up 4 ER on 3 hits and 1 walk.  And Daniel Bard wasn’t much better – giving up 2 ER on 2 hits and 1 walk while recording the final out of the 6th.  Bard suffered his 2nd loss of the season and has really been exposed as of late as his ERA (3.72) and WHIP (1.30) are both on the rise.  The Royals regained the lead – 11-9 – with that 6-run inning, and the Royals bullpen held the Red Sox offense scoreless through the final 3 frames to record the win.

Even though the Royals have been playing the spoiler of late (they took 2 of 3 games from each of the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox last week), the Red Sox are really going to kick themselves with this loss.  Having such a big lead only to see it slip away while the Yankees were losing will be a tough pill to swallow.  Let’s hope the Red Sox can rally behind Paul Byrd tonight, because they are going to have their hands full with Zach Greinke and his 2.14 ERA…

Clay Buchholz won his 6th game of 2009 as the Red Sox opened their 10-game road trip with a 3-1 win over the O’s in Baltimore.  Buchholz pitched 6 innings of 1-run ball, giving up just 5 hits and 3 walks with 1 strikeout.  Daniel Bard, Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon each pitched a scoreless inning of relief to close out the win.  It was Papelbon’s 37th save of the 2009 MLB schedule.

Casey Kotchman had 3 hits including an RBI single that gave the Red Sox an early 1-0 lead.  Jason Bay’s 34th HR of the season gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead in the 4th.  Victor Martinez and Jacoby Ellsbury each had 2 hits.

The Red Sox have a 7-game lead over the Rangers in the AL Wild Card race.

Wah, wah, wah… That’s the noise you heard coming from the Angels dugout after the Red Sox rallied for a 3rd time to win 9-8 in the 9th inning at Fenway Park.  Gimme a break – don’t put your team in a position to lose, and then you don’t have to bitch about “bad umpiring”.

The Red Sox won for the 7th straight game and for the 10th straight time at Fenway Park.  The Red Sox now lead the AL Wild Card race by 6.5 games over the Texas Rangers and they close out the series with the Angels on Thursday night at Fenway.

The Red Sox trailed the Angels by 3-0, 7-5 and 8-7.  The final rally came when closer Brian Fuentes got into trouble with 2 outs in the 9th inning.  Fuentes walked David Ortiz, and then gave up infield singles to J.D. Drew and Jed Lowrie to load the bases.  Then came the drama.  Fuentes got 2 quick strikes on Nick Green.  Green then offered at the 3rd pitch, but 1st base umpire ruled it was not a swing, so the count went to 1-2.  Green fouled off the next 3 pitches to keep the inning alive, and then Fuented threw 3 straight balls to walk Green and allow the tying run to score.  Then Alex Gonzalez followed that up with a bloop single down the left field line that Juan Rivera decided not to dive for – Drew scored with the winning run and we were left to listen to the Angels bitch about the bad umpiring during Green’s at-bat.

Hey Scioscia, Fuentes – if you didn’t walk Ortiz with 2 outs, if Rivera dove for the ball in left, or if you didn’t give up the lead 2 times before the 9th inning – you wouldn’t need to bitch about things “not going your way” in the 9th inning.

In any event, it really wasn’t a pretty win for the Red Sox.  Paul Byrd had another mediocre outing – 3ER on 9 hits and 1 walk in 5+ innings.  Ramon Ramirez lost his cool in the 7th inning after he struck out Kendry Morales for the 3rd out in the inning, but he reached base because of Jason Varitek’s passed ball error.  Instead of buckling down with 1 on and 2 outs, Ramirez imploded, giving up a single and 2 straight doubles to allow the Angels to re-take the lead at 7-5.  And while the Red Sox did pound out 13 hits and were patient enough to earn 7 walks, the Red Sox scored “only” 9 runs and left way too many men on base – 18.  Jacoby Ellsbury, Jason Bay and Alex Gonzalez each had 2 hits, but they never seem to have that clutch hit to blow an inning wide open.

But a win is a win, and the good news is that the Red Sox are in the heads of the entire Angels organization.  The Angels have never beaten the Red Sox in 4 playoff series and they have lost 12 of 13 games to the Red Sox dating back to 1986.  With the 2 teams likely meeting in the 1st round of the playoffs, that is a HUGE advantage for the Red Sox, even if the Angels have home field advantage.  The Red Sox have won in Anaheim/Los Angeles before, and they will likely do so again in October…

I didn’t see this one coming – 6 scoreless innings from Dasiuke Matsuzaka as he pitched into the 7th inning – - unbelievable!!!  If Matsuzaka is truly healthy and really has his stuff figured out, the Red Sox could be ready to roll right into the Fall Classic in October.  I am giddy!

Loved the strikes, loved the low pitch count, loved seeing Daisuke pitching into the 7th inning. And although it didn’t start pretty – leadoff walk to Chone Figgins who then immediately stole 2nd base – Dice-K buckled down to retire the next 3 batters to end the threat.

Manager Terry Francona pulled Daisuke after a lead-off walk in the 7th inning, but I’ll take 6 scoreless innings from Matsuzaka any day, especially with only 93 pitches (52 for strikes).  He still has an ERA over 7 and a WHIP over 2, but let’s throw the 1st 2 months out the door at this point.  Start #2 will come Sunday afternoon against the Orioles in Baltimore, so let’s hope we see another solid outing from Daisuke to give us a little more confidence.

The bullpen did the rest – Ramon Ramirez, Billy Wagner and Daniel Bard held the Angels scoreless in the 7th and 8th innings, while Jonathan Papelbon pitched the 9th inning in a non-save situation, giving up a run on a 2-out double by Erick Aybar.

The Red Sox pounded out 9 hits and 3 walks against John Lackey and Jose Arredondo, and Lackey actually worked out of trouble until the 6th inning.  With 1st and 2nd and nobody out, Dustin Pedroia reached base on a throwing error by Lackey which allowed Alex Gonzalez to score.  Lackey then retired J.D. Drew and Jason Bay, but Big Papi David Ortiz came through with a clutch 2-out single that drove in Jacoby Ellsbury to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.  The Red Sox then tacked on 2 insurance runs in the 8th inning on a Bay RBI single and an Ortiz solo home run – his 24th of the season.

With the Rangers continued collapse, the Red Sox have now opened up an AL Wild Card race of 5.5 games.  The Yankees have even lost 3 of 5 games, so the Red Sox trail the Yankees by 6.5 games.  With 3 games against the Yankees still to be played in New York, a shot at the division title is still not out of the question…

The Red Sox completed a 2-game sweep of the Orioles with a 7-5 win at Fenway Park on Wednesday night.  Victor Martinez came through with the clutch hit – a 3-run pinch-hit double with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th inning that broke a 4-4 tie.

Billy Wagner pitched a perfect top of the 7th inning with 2 strikeouts, to notch his 1st win in over 2 years.  It was his 1st ever decision in the American League.  Wagner has been nothing short of brilliant since being traded from the Mets.  In 6 2/3 innings in 7 appearances, Wagner has given up just 1 ER (a solo home run) on 2 hits and 2 walks.  Wagner has racked up 13 K’s, striking out at least 2 batters in all but one appearance.  This is all good for a 1.93 ERA and a 0.64 WHIP, and he has clearly earned the confidence of Manager Terry Francona and all of his teammates.

Daniel Bard tried to get the game into the 9th inning, but after he got into a 2-on, 2-out jam, Francona called upon Jonathan Papelbon to finish off the job.  He got out of the 8th inning unscathed, and although Papelbon gave up a run in the 9th inning, the Red Sox held on for the 7-5 win.

The Red Sox offense had another productive night at Fenway, slugging out 15 hits and drawing 6 walks.  Jason Bay had 3 hits, 2 RBI’s and 1 run scored, while Dustin Pedoria, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and Jason Varitek each had 2 hits.

The Red Sox stayed 2 games ahead of the Rangers for the AL Wild Card lead.  They continue to fall behind in the AL East race, as the Yankees are now 9 games ahead.

As it good as it gets in Tampa for the Red Sox – - the Red Sox defeated the Rays 6-3 on Thursday’s get away day, and took 2 of 3 from the Rays in Tampa.  It was a total team effort.

Clay Buchholz toughed out a rough 1st inning in which he allowed 2 ER on 3 hits and a walk.  Buchholz buckled down and struck out Greg Zaun with runners on 2nd and 3rd to prevent any further damage.  The rest of the way, Buchholz scattered 3 more hits over 5 more innings, and left the game with the Red Sox leading 4-3.  6 innings, 91 pitches, only 3 ER allowed in Tampa Bay?  We’ll take that any day from any of our starters.  Buchholz has quietly put together a nice string of starts.  Save for a 7 ER hiccup against the White Sox on August 24th and a 7ER hiccup against the Orioles on August 2nd, Buchholz has not allowed more than 3 ER in any of his 10 starts since July 17th.  And in 4 of those starts, he only allowed 1 ER.  His WHIP at 1.50 is a little high, but his 4 wins is deceiving.

The Red Sox bullpen did the rest to preserve the lead.  Billy Wagner, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon did not allow a single Rays hit from the 7th inning on.  Wagner and Bard each walked 1 batter, but that was it.  Wagner and Papelbon each had 2 K’s and Bard added another K in the 8th.  This combo is starting to look like a lottery winner for Manager Terry Francona and Red Sox Nation.

As for the offense, the Red Sox slugged out 12 hits and drew 3 walks, scoring 6 runs along the way.  Kevin Youkilis went 3 for 5 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.  Victor Martinez and Jason Bay each had 2 hits in the win.  Jacoby Ellsbury had 1 hit and 1 walk and stole 2 bases, bringing his season total to 58!

The Red Sox complete their 7 game road trip with a 4-game set against the White Sox in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend.  With the band box that is US Cellular Field, and the sunny, 80 degree weather predicted for the Chicago area all weekend, look for some high offensive outburst from the Red Sox this weekend.  The Red Sox lead the Rangers by 3 games and the Rays by 6 games in the AL Wild Card race…

The Blue Jays roughed up Josh Beckett again, but the Red Sox rallied for a 6-5 win Friday night at Fenway Park.  It was the Red Sox 4th win in 5 games, and their 8th win in 11 games.

Beckett struggled with his control all night long – needing 108 pitches to labor through 5 innings. Beckett gave up 5 earned runs on 5 hits and 5 walks.  He served up a 3-run HR to Aaron Hill and a 2-run HR to Rod Barrajas and was constantly working out of jams.  Takashi Saito, Daniel Bard and Hideki Okajima combined for 3 scoreless innings to get it to Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th inning.  And although he gave up 2 singles and hit Randy Ruiz to load the bases with only 1 out, he beared down to strike out Rod Barrajas and Travis Snider to notch his 31st save of the 2009 MLB schedule.

After trailing 5-3 in the top of the 5th inning, the Red Sox rallied to tie the game at 5 on Jason Bay’s 2-run HR in the bottom of the inning.  The Red Sox scored the go-ahead run in the 8th inning by playing small ball.  David Ortiz walked and moved to third on J.D. Drew’s double to center field.  The Blue Jays intentionally walked Jason Varitek to face Alex Gonzalez, but Manager Terry Francona pinch-hit Casey Kotchman for Gonzalez.  Kotchman delivered the game-winning RBI with a fielder’s choice groundout that plated Ortiz with the go-ahead run.

The Red Sox are back to 20 games over .500 at 74-54.  Although they still trail the Yankees by 6 games in the AL East, the Red Sox have built a little cushion in the AL Wild Card race – 2.5 games over the Rangers and 4.5 games over the Rays.