End of the road

I always wonder how far I can ride my bike. When I used to regularly train for my annual ride, I tried to go a little further than the previous time. Of course, I abandoned that routine once Trent came along, but yesterday I set out for a 70-mile ride in preparation for next week's 75-mile ride.

(I know I probably should have cut it back, but I want to send a message to the little guy about commitment, perseverance and health.)

Naturally, I wondered what I would see in those few miles I never rode before. But toward the end, I saw signs saying the road was closed and only open to local traffic. I kept going, figuring if it were safe for the locals, it would be safe for a guy on a bike.

I kept pedaling; the signs kept popping up. Finally, three miles before the point where I planned to turn around, I hit a concrete barrier and could go no further.

I think this must be what it's like for the Red Sox and the other 19 teams that are playing out the string. There's nothing ahead, but you just keep going until you hit the end of the road, or season.

Today's games: Jon Lester shut down the Blue Jays 6-0. The Phillies kept their hopes alive (of clinching at home this weekend) by scoring four runs in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Nationals 7-6.

Say it ain't so, Joe

It's no secret I never liked Joe Torre.

He had good people skills but was ultimately a middling manager who benefited from an obscene payroll.

Yes, his teams won four World Championships, and he only missed the playoffs once in 12 years as Yankees manager, but the combination of his $200 million teams and his managerial genius should have produced more. He was at the helm when the Yankees blew a 3-0 lead over the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS. He also helped the Phillies advance to the World Series in 2008 and 2009.

I hope his decision to step down as Dodgers manager is really a retirement, but I get the sense it's not.

It was funny watching Kevin Millar, whose analysis I don't like on MLB Network, interview Torre. "I hate you," Torre quipped in reference to Millar's 2004 walk that set up the great comeback.

I hope this is my last impression of Joe the foe, because it was a good-natured rib that I appreciated. But he's still a Yankee, and I still don't like him.

Personal: I did my longest bike ride ever - 70 miles. I think I'm ready for next week's 75 miler.

Today's games: The Phillies beat the Nationals 5-2, but the Mets once again could not beat the Braves. The Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays while the Rays and Yankees both won.

Quick playoff picture

Trent and I finished the doors today and serviced the heater before the season changes. Tomorrow, I'm taking my last training ride in preparation for next week's big bike ride, and on Sunday, we'll paint the new doors.

Trent couldn't convince Christine to go SoxandPhils and paint them red and blue. She tried to reason with him that both teams have white in their uniforms.

The Phillies beat the Nationals 9-1, lowering their magic number to 12. (Despite Christine and Trent's rooting, the Mets couldn't beat the Braves.)

The Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays, and the Yankees beat the Orioles, so the Red Sox magic number remains at 21.

Yes, the Red Sox are still alive. They just have to go 10-5 and hope the Yankees go 3-12. Stranger things have happened (see: ALCS, 2004).

Sitting in the rain

When we found out about Trent, we knew we had to give away the Phillies tickets we had for the first weekend he was home.

We planned on making our next game, however, and even toyed with the idea of taking him with us when we found out it was Cole Hamels' lunch bag giveaway day for all kids 14 and under.

Responsible heads prevailed, and we decided it would be our first extended time away from Trent. We spent weeks joking about how our luck of hitting rainy days at the park would probably continue.

Above is a picture of weather conditions when the game started; below is what it looked like during the 1 hour and 45 minute rain delay we sat through. I was even able to get in a nap.

Meanwhile, Roy Oswalt pitched a gem, and the Phillies beat the Nationals 6-0. We'll have our SoxandPhils recap of the rainy day at the park tomorrow - providing I get a chance to write, as Christine has to go back to work and Daddy Daycare opens for business.

The Red Sox also managed a shutout, 5-0 over the Blue Jays, despite rain in Boston. Clay Bucchholz lowered his league-leading ERA.

D-Brown kills the phenom

We were busy today visiting with grandparents and then trying to find the perfect Halloween costume for Trent.

(We know it's early, but Christine's Mom may handcraft it. We have an idea for something. Non-baseball.)

Anyway, we were still able to follow the first ever major league matchup of the phenoms Domonic Brown and Stephen Strasburg. D-Brown grounded out in the 2nd inning, but Jesus did not survive their faceoff in the 5th inning. He left the game, shaking his arm and grimacing in pain. Nationals Nation, including Joe Wolf's Vertical Jump, who was at the game, may be wondering whether all the hype was worth it.

The Nationals did win the game, 8-1, although I'm sure they would have preferred a loss if it meant their prized prospect's arm were still in tact.

The Red Sox and Blue Jays are tied at 4 in the 11th, but Jonathan Papelbon just came in, so this one should be over shortly. Yup, Paps held 'em, and Jed Lowrie homered in the bottom of the inning to win 5-4. Dustin who?

More drug news

Roy Oswalt could win every single start for the rest of the season, including Game 7 of the World Series, yet some Phillies fans would lament that the Phillies made a bad deal in dumping Cliff Lee.

This won't help.

Phillies prospect Tyson Gillies, one of the three players acquired in the Lee trade this past off-season, was arrested for cocaine possession in Clearwater, Fla., early Friday morning.

I guess I incorrectly predicted in February that Gillies would best be known for his shagging prowess.

Tonight's games: Jon Lester and the Red Sox played like they were on something, losing 16-2 to the Blue Jays. The clock's ticking, boys. ... Roy Halladay and the Phillies played a slightly different game, beating the Nationals 1-0.

Do they have to report everything?

Just as the media was starting to report that the Red Sox bullpen is turning things around, Jonathan Papelbon gave up four runs in the 9th inning today, blowing an important game against the Blue Jays. Things were so bad that the closer was yanked before the game ended. Closer-in-waiting Daniel Bard gave up a sacrifice fly to end the game.

The Yankees have a cakewalk against the Royals, and the Rays are off, so this would have been a good one to have in pocket.

Joe Blanton made sure Brad Lidge wouldn't have the opportunity to duplicate Papelbon's poor performance. J.B. gave up three runs in the 1st inning. In the 8th inning, the Phillies are attempting a comeback, but the Dodgers still lead 9-4.

Another injured SoxandPhils catcher

Victor Martinez, Carlos Ruiz, Jason Varitek, Brian Schneider and now Kevin Cash. Five catchers DL'd by the Red Sox and Phillies this year.

It's incredible that both our teams have lost their entire catching corps for portions of the season. Although, the latest addition, Cash, who I believe is the 17th Red Sox to hit the DL this season, might need an asterisk.

That's because there have been several wink-like references from beat writers that suggest this move was a sham just to call up newly acquired Jarrod Saltalamacchia:

Meanwhile Varitek is working on his throwing with Gary Tuck, playing catch with Cash.

Boy, for a guy who needs to go on the DL Cash looks pretty good.

Whatever. All I know is that the Red Sox beat the Blue Jays 10-1, which pulls them within 3.5 games of the Rays. And if the Rangers can clean up Cliff Lee's mess and hold on to beat the Yankees, we'll be just four games from the top spot.

The Phillies partied like the 2005 Astros, beating the Dodgers 2-0 behind Roy Oswalt's first Phillies win and a clean save by Brad Lidge.

Everybody loves Chooch

The other day, Todd Zolecki noted what a great year that our beloved Carlos Ruiz is having:

Ruiz is hitting .298 with a .395 OBP and a .443 SLG this season, all of which are career bests. Ruiz has been a regular since 2006. He hit a career-high .259 in 2007. He set career-highs with a .355 OBP and .425 SLG last season.

If Ruiz had enough plate appearances to qualify, he would rank fifth in the National League in OBP and 13th in batting.

As if that weren't heady enough, today the Daily News and Inquirer upped the ante by taking a multifaceted look at whether Carlos Ruiz is the MVP of the 2010 Phillies:

Playing on a team filled with accomplished all-stars, an argument could be made that Ruiz has been the Phillies' most valuable player through the first four months of the season. His five home runs and 27 RBIs cannot compare with the statistics of most of his fellow position players, but Ruiz's manager, teammates and coaches understand the hidden value of what their catcher does.

"He gets the tempo of the game moving the right way," leftfielder Raul Ibanez said. "He stands up back there and you see him punch his fist into his mitt and he's barking and showing his intensity. He's the guy who is facing us. We're all looking at him. A lot of times if a guy is dead back there, it's human nature to imitate what you see. But when you see all that intensity back there, I think it rubs off on the rest of us in a positive way."

There's lots of love for Chooch from Rich Dubee, Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendrick and, especially, Jamie Moyer, the Chooch Whisperer, who was credited for Ruiz's development:

"I don't want to take credit and I don't think I can," the 47-year-old said. "But when he first came here, I would talk to him about some basic things I saw in catchers when I was a younger player. I know the game has changed a little bit from that time to now. But, for me, the catching part hasn't."

Too bad the MVP couldn't help Kendrick tonight. Kendrick was so bad that Chooch was double-switched out of the game in the 4th inning. In the 9th, Dodgers 15, Phillies 7. ... Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez couldn't keep Daisuke Matzusaka's recent magic going. Dice-K was knocked around a bit, but the Sox hung in there and beat the Blue Jays 7-5.

Nice way to end the first half

Toward the end of the Phillies 1-0 win over the Reds today, Christine noted that I prefer pitching duels. I didn't understand that she was referring to the fact that it would have been a great game to go to and that we would have been there today if something better hadn't come along.

I enjoyed watching my first Sunday afternoon game with my wife and our son, which we followed with a barbecue. (I wasn't allowed to give Trent a burger.) I know we're still in the early innings and that there will be difficult and unpleasant times ahead, but I'm going to like this parenting thing.

And everyone likes that the Phillies are now 4-0 since the little guy came home. Although he broke his streak of walk-off extra-inning wins, he did will them to consecutive 1-0 wins for the first time since 1913.

The Red Sox have improved to 2-1 since Trent came home, after beating the Blue Jays 3-2 in a game affected by shadows because of a malfunctioning retractable roof.

At the All-Star break, the Red Sox trail the Yankees by 4.5 games and the Rays by 3. The Phillies trail the Braves by 4.5 games and the Rockies by 2. (The Mets and Dodgers are also ahead of them.) Despite all their troubles in the first half, I think our teams are well positioned for a magical ending in which I'll have to wake Trent up on a fall night and he won't know how to react to the ending of the SoxandPhils World Series because one of his teams will have won, the other will have lost.

Interesting trivia: Yesterday's gem between Roy Halladay and Travis Wood was the first time two starters matched nine shutout innings since 2003. Doc was one of those starters too. ... Nick Cafardo notes that "Adrian Beltre had hit the most home runs among active players who hadn’t made an All-Star Game, until he was finally selected. Beltre hit 262 homers before being named. Matt Stairs has hit 261, and will likely never go."

Premature retirement: I retired my David Ortiz T-shirt today. I wanted to wear it one more time, but it's just too big.

Trent likes Chooch too

It was the best game of Trent's life.

I know, we're talking about only little more than a month's sample size, but it was a pretty darn good game.

Reds rookie Travis Wood took a perfect game into the 9th before Trent worked his magic, willing a double for his mother's favorite Phillie, Carlos Ruiz, who was just activated from the DL.

The Phillies didn't score in the inning, but it didn't matter because Roy Halladay also pitched nine shutout innings.

Trent toyed with the Reds for two more innings before willing another double for Chooch, who later scored the winning run on a hit by Jimmy Rollins.

So in our three nights with Trent, there have been three walkoff extra-inning wins for the Phillies. I swear I didn't mean to turn this into a baby blog.

The Red Sox lost ugly to the Blue Jays 9-5.

Possible good luck charm

Trent was a little fussy tonight as we tried to watch the end of the Phillies game. We finally caved and brought him downstairs for a bottle a little earlier than we planned.

"If this is just a ploy to watch the Phillies, there's nothing to see," I said as the Phillies trailed the Reds 7-1 in the 9th.

Of course, the Phightins' scored six runs in the 9th as Trent gulped down his formula. A short while later, we were upstairs changing his diaper when we heard some cheering. We missed Ryan Howard's two-run home run in the 10th.

Trent's been with us for two nights, and the Phillies have two extra-inning wins. The Red Sox are also undefeated since our family grew to three. Red Sox 14, Blue Jays 3.

I know three games is an extremely small sample size, but if this is the year of the SoxandPhils World Series, we won't credit Roy Halladay or Jon Lester or Kevin Youkilis or Ryan Howard, but a little guy who likes to eat, poop and sleep, though not much of the latter so far tonight.

A rare E-C

Christine and I had to run a couple of errands in Philadelphia today. It felt weird driving over the Walt Whitman Bridge for non-baseball purposes on a Sunday afternoon with the Phillies in town. It felt almost as weird as the Phillies batting in the top half of the innings in Citizens Bank Park.

When we were leaving a store, I spotted a TV that had the game on and asked Christine if she wanted to check the score. She walked over and I thought she smiled after getting a look at the screen. I gave her a thumb's up. Thumb's down, she replied from across the room.

"Four nothing Blue Jays, and Jamie Moyer has the bases loaded with one out," she said when she returned.

But in the car, we heard that the Phillies were beating, not trailing, the Blue Jays 4-0.

Christine immediately realized her mistake - she assumed the 0 applied to the home team, forgetting that in this weird case, the Blue Jays were the home team. Christine rarely makes a mistake like this (usually it's me), so we had a few good-natured laughs on the way home, especially every time an announcer talked about the "home" team.

"Stop rubbing it in," she'd scold the radio.

Today's games, or SoxandPhils lefties old and young: Jamie Moyer set a record for most home runs given up and also became the 40th pitcher to log 4,000 major league innings as the Phillies beat the Jays 11-2. The win of the "road" series gave the Phils a 10-8 interleague record this year.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, who are dropping like flies (Dustin Pedroia, Clay Buchholz and Victor Martinez suffered injuries of various degrees this weekend) got a dominating performance out of Jon Lester - nine strikeouts in the 5-1 complete game over the Giants. Tim Lincecum didn't hold up his end of the bargain as he was gone after three innings.

We have a busy week coming up, so posts will be light, but we'll do our best to keep our Cal Ripken streak (not one day missed since Jan. 1, 2008) intact.

What's a SoxandPhil

By definition, a SoxandPhil is someone who has played for both teams - Curt Schilling, Jamie Moyer, Pedro Martinez, for an example of three great pitchers.

But sometimes, I'll use the definition loosely (and incorrectly) if lumping Red Sox and Phillies players together; for example, the SoxandPhils have a monopoly of great lefties (Cole Hamels and Jon Lester), second basemen (Dustin Pedroia and Chase Utley), first basemen (Ryan Howard and Kevin Youkilis) and mascots (the Phanatic and Wally). OK, the last one's a bad example.

But what about players who played in the majors for one team and the minors for another team? The only example I can think of is John Marzano, who we consider an honorary SoxandPhil because of his Philadelphia roots and being a Phillies postgame analyst in addition to playing in the majors for the Red Sox and in the minor leagues for the Phillies.

In December, Christine and I decided that such a player (except in special circumstances such as Marzano) would not count as a SoxandPhil until/unless he was called up to the majors. The topic came up when the Red Sox signed Fabio Castro to a minor league deal.

Castro, whose claim to fame was being traded from the Phillies to the Blue Jays for legitimate SoxandPhil Matt Stairs, was called up to the Red Sox again, so he could soon be legit. (He may be already if he appeared in last night's game after I went to sleep.) Although, we've been through this before; he was called up in April but sent down before making his Sox debut.

Christine and I will be tied up today, but we'll have an eye on the Red Sox in San Francisco and the Phillies on the road in Philadelphia against the Blue Jays.

Just another game

Tonight was just another game for the Phillies and Roy Halladay.

Yeah, just another game in which the Phanatic danced with Canadian Mounties.

Yeah, just another game in which the Phillies wore their road grays in Citizens Bank Park and pitched in the bottom of the 9th.

Yeah, just another game in which Roy Halladay faced the Blue Jays:

The Phillies righthander will square off against the Toronto Blue Jays, his former team, for the first time tonight at Citizens Bank Park. That's a big deal. He was that rare professional athlete who embedded himself into the community he worked in. His stellar performance on the field coupled with his good deeds away from the pitcher's mound made him a sporting icon in Canada's vibrant metropolis.
[...]
"It will be a regular start," he said.
No, it won't.
"Fortunately I got that out of the way in spring training," he said.
Nice try. Doesn't count.
"It's a little different being an American League team, obviously guys I've seen a lot but haven't really faced a lot. So do your homework and just go out and pitch like it was any other team," he said.
It's not the Mariners or the White Sox or the Rangers. It's the Blue Jays. And that makes all the difference.

Although, Paul Hagen couldn't get him to bite, Roy opened up a bit to his old friends in the Canadian press:

He briefly allowed himself to think about what it would have been like had these games been played in Canada as originally scheduled. "It would have been fun to go back, [but] in terms of from a media standpoint, it's probably just as well the games are here," he told the Toronto Sun on Wednesday.

No matter what he said, he did pitch like this game mattered a little more than a random interleague game. Halladay went seven innings and gave up six hits and one walk with four strikeouts in the 9-0 win.

Just another game.

The Red Sox and Tim Wakefield play really late in San Francisco. Former Phillie Pat Burrell is not starting, but Aaron Rowand is. Rowand kills Wakefield: 12-19 with four home runs and two doubles - that's a .632/.667/1.368 line.

Catching crisis

Or ... A funny thing happened on the way

to the All-Star Game

This week it seemed everybody caught Carlos Ruiz fever. He is off to a great start, and some think this might be a breakthrough year at the plate for Chooch:

"You develop through experience," Manuel said before the game. "You develop relaxation, concentration, confidence ... all that comes together."

With Charlie Manuel getting to select the All-Star team this year, Chooch's chances of making the team seemed pretty good.

But then, today, I got an e-mail from Christine with "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" as the subject. I knew it was going to be about a Phillies injury. I was kind of relieved when she said it was Ruiz, not Roy Halladay.

He has a capsular strain in his knee (whatever that means), and the Phillies expect him to avoid the DL, but it's not reassuring that the catching depth chart for the immediate future (starting with tonight's nightcap with the Rockies) is Paul Hoover, followed probably by Jayson Werth.

Although I love the resurging Jason Varitek and what he has meant to the team, and the fact that he is the best backup catcher in baseball, I have offered to trade him to the Phillies. I told Christine that I'd start the bidding with Halladay (she said he stunk after he couldn't hold a 3-1 lead in the 7th).

Today's games: After they lost Chooch and that 3-1 lead, the Phillies dropped the first game of their doubleheader with the Rockies 4-3 in the 10th. The Rockies catcher, Miguel Olivo, survived the game, going 5-5 with the game-winning home run off Chad Durbin.

Tim Wakefield pitched well for the Red Sox and notched his 2,000th career strikeout, but he did not get much support as the Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays 3-2. They nearly came back in the 9th, but wound up with just some gripes at the umpires:

"Thank God I wasn't hitting righthanded because that would have hit me in the ribs," (David Ortiz) said.

Suffice it to say, the strike zone was expanded all game. Replays and Pitchf/x showed the pitch to Ortiz was well was outside.

We'll leave the final word to Dustin Pedroia:

"[The umpires] must have had a flight. I'm actually going to check on that," he said. "If they had a flight, we're going to make sure it was delayed. Because I can do that. I have that kind of pull."

Tonight's game: Jamie Moyer takes on the Rockies. I hope he's over his preference for experienced catchers because he is kind of stuck with Hoover. If they even get the game in, because it's raining again in Denver and game 2 has been delayed.

Mugged

At the game on Saturday, we noticed that the Phillies have a new screenshot for players.

Shane Victorino's looked like a mugshot. Actually, not so much when we loaded the picture onto the blog, but on the scoreboard at the park, he really looked like he was just booked for something. Trust us on this one.

The Philadelphia Zoo isn't new to the scoreboard, but it usually it features a frog (one of Christine's favorite critters), not a polar bear (one of mine).

We think Jayson Werth looks like he's ready to go bear hunting.

But considering all the talk about his next contract, he should probably stay safe and keep away from bears in the immediate future.

Today's news: The Blue Jays were mugged and will have to "host" the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park because of the G20 summit next month. Prediction: The Blue Jays will win one game with a walk-off in their opponents' park. ... Josh Beckett was mugged by a back spasm and will miss a start. Tests came back OK, so I hope this is a case where he takes a couple days off and comes back pitching like the ace we paid for. ... Roy Halladay was mugged from his first start in his hometown tonight because of rain. The Phillies and Rockies will play two tomorrow.

Tonight's game: Daisuke Matsuzaka is pitching well - one run on three hits (no walks and nine strikeouts) through six. He's only thrown 94 pitches, but I hope Terry Francona quits while we're ahead. Jason Varitek hit his 6th home run of the season. In the 6th, Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 1.

Off to Colorado

It's a good thing Roy Halladay wasn't involved in the debate Christine and I were having the other day about who Phillies fans would choose as their favorite BraveandPhil. He would have sided with Christine because he was a big Dale Murphy fan, as we learned in this story about Halladay who is scheduled to start against the Rockies on Tuesday - the first start he'll make in his hometown:

"I was a big Dale Murphy fan, so it was pretty exciting when they got him," Halladay said. Just before the start of their inaugural season in 1993, the Rockies signed Murphy after he had been placed on waivers by the Phillies at the end of spring training. Halladay was 15 at the time and had grown up a fan of the Atlanta Braves.

"I just watched them on TBS all the time, so I became a Braves fan," Halladay said. "They weren't any good until after Murphy left, which is when I became a Phillies fan for a couple of years."

Murphy was traded to the Phillies in August 1990 and also played for them in 1991 and 1992. Because of a balky left knee that required constant draining, Murphy's career with the Rockies lasted only 26 games, and Halladay's interest in his hometown team did not last much beyond that.

Because of Doc's connections among these teams, I thought I would do the all-time RoxandBravesandPhils team. Christine doubted me ... she was right. There are only eight such players, including someone else who was an option in the poll the other day, Ron Gant, current hitting coach Milt Thompson and the immortal Andy Ashby. Off the top off my head, I could only come up with Marvin Freeman. The others: Adam Bernero, Jose Hernandez and Jeff Parrett.

SoxandPhils who don't love their Mommas: I know that not every player uses a pink bat on Mother's Day, but I've never heard of players specifically shunning them. Today, we learned that Phillie Jayson Werth and Red Sox Adrian Beltre and David Ortiz wouldn't use them yesterday.

"I tried those pink bats in the past and they didn't work so well," Werth said.

He added that his mother would not be offended.

Tonight's games: In an ugly one, the Red Sox lead the Blue Jays 7-4 in the 4th. The Phillies are just under way in Doc Halladay's hometown with an early 1-0 lead.

Game of the year

I know we're just a sixth of the way through the season and April games are often forgotten in the long run, but this one might have staying power.

I was anxious for the matchup of Cole Hamels and Tim Lincecum after reading all the game stories contrasting the careers of the young pitchers. This passage stuck in my head all day:

Once upon a time, people thought Cole Hamels would enter 2010 coming off back-to-back Cy Young victories. His opponent today, Giants righthander Tim Lincecum, has that honor.

Matt Gelb remembered that Lincecum made his major league debut against Hamels in 2007, although the game was in San Francisco, not Philadelphia, as Gelb reported. (I think Philadelphia newspaper reporters can be forgiven today for making an error like that.)

Anyway, I was looking forward to this game and was a little jealous when I first checked the score at work and saw a scoreless duel with just two hits for the Giants. Hamels scuffled a bit, giving up four runs in six innings, but each pitcher struck out more than 10, which hasn't happened since 2008, according to the Phillies announcers.

I listened to the game on the ride home. I knew the Phillies would win after the Giants yanked Lincecum, whose pitch count was a reasonable 106, after he walked a batter with one out in the 9th and a 4-1 lead.

The Phillies rallied against closer Brian Wilson, and when Ryan Howard walked to load the bases, I figured I had time to run inside to watch the next at-bat instead of sitting in my car like an idiot. When I got inside, Christine didn't have the game on - she got distracted and thought it was over because Daily News Live did a promo that seemed like the post-game show. She was surprised to see Jayson Werth battling with the bases loaded before dunking one down the right field line to clear the bases.

Ryan Madson, playing the role of Brad Lidge circa 2009, blew the save in the 10th inning, but the Phillies scored two more in the 11th, setting up Nelson Figueroa's first major league save. Of course, the real save came on a play at the plate in which Brian Schneider made an incredible swiping tag to prevent the potential game-tying run.

What a game. Phillies 7, Giants 6.

Red Sox: Brett Cecil and Jon Lester are trying to give a suitable encore to the Lincecum and Hamels show. They were scoreless until the 6th. Now, it's 1-0 Red Sox ahead of the Blue Jays. Welcome back, Jon.

Halladay lowers expectations

So Roy Halladay will not go 32-0, just a pedestrian 31-1 after he lost last night 5-1 to the Giants. The region is in shock. Halladay vows to learn from the experience:

"You learn from it and move on," Halladay said. "You take something out of it. You take the positives and try to correct the mistakes and move on. There's nothing you can do about it now other than learn from it. You do that, show up tomorrow, work hard and go out and be aggressive next time."

I wonder, however, whether last night was just a masterful stroke by Doc and that in six months we'll be reading about how he set up the Giants for his first playoff win by losing to them in April.

Halladay's ERA skyrocketed from 0.82 to 1.80. But that's still minuscule compared with Josh Beckett's 7.22 after last night's debacle in Toronto. The Globe points out that his crappy start to 2010 is very similar to his crappy start in 2009:

Josh Beckett after five starts last season: 2-2, 7.22 ERA, 28.2 IP, 36 H, 24 R, 23 ER, 16 BB, 31 K, .303 OBA

Josh Beckett after five starts this season: 1-0, 7.22 ERA, 28.2 IP, 37 H, 24 R, 23 ERR, 13 BB, 20 K, .316 OBA

Let's hope he finishes this year as well as he did last year, or else the season could hinge on whether Daisuke Matsuzaka redeems himself:

"If by coming back I can help give the team any sort of little boost or change of momentum, I think that's all that I can ask for," Matsuzaka said. "And by that, I don't mean that I single-handedly am going to make all the difference. But I think sometimes you change the roster up a little bit, and good things start to happen, and I'm hopeful that I can be a part of that."

He starts Saturday, and we'll be watching very closely.

New SoxandPhil: Fabio Castro was called up; Scott Atchison was sent down. Bittersweet day over here.

Tonight's games: The Red Sox lead the Blue Jays 2-1 in the 8th. OK, I'll jinx it - Clay Buchholz is pitching well. Phillies play late again in San Fran.