Stat break: 09 Red Sox

Hitters

Name                AB   R   H   RBI   2B  3B   HR   BB   SB   Avg,
B Anderson           8     2     4     2       1    1     0      0      0     .500
Baldelli                  3     2     2     3       0    0     2       0     0     .667
Bay                      58   14   10   12       3    1     5    12      0     .172
Drew                    55   10   22   18      3    1     5     12      0     .400
Ellsbury               64     5   16     3      2    2     0       5      1      .250
A Gonzalez           8     2     5     3       2    0     1       0      0     .625
N Green              42     3  13     2        4    0      0      2      0     .310
Kottaras                5     0    1     0       0    0      0      2      0      .200
Lowell                50     8  18     6       7    0     1      3      1       .360
Lowrie                10     2    2     2       0    0     1       1     0       .200
V Martinez         48     5    5    5        0    0      1      3      0      .104
Ortiz                   36     1    5     6       1    0     1       4      0      .139
Pedroia               71     8  21    6        3    0     1       4      0      .296
Varitek               26     5     3    5        0    0     2      6      0      .115
Youkilis             57   12   17    5       5    0     3       5      0      .298

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.     W    L   ERA

Beckett               5      5    32.3     38    23   23      8      31       0      2    2       6.41
Buchholtz           1      1      6.6       8      8     8      4        3      0       0    0    10.79
Byrd                   2      0      7           8     6     6      5         1      0      0    0       7.71
Delcarmen         5      0       8       10      7     6      5        6       0      0    0       6.75
Lester                 4      4    29.6     18      6     4     9       29       0      2    1       1.22
Matuzaka           1      1       3         6      5     5      3        3       0      0     1     15.00

Okajima             7       0     6          8     3     3       1        3       0      0     2      4.50

Papelbon            9       0     9         4      2     2       2        9       5      0     1      2.00

Penny                 2      2      8.3       9     8      8       5       3        0      1    1      8.64

R Ramirez          6      0      7.3      5      2       2     1       2       0        1     0     2.46
Saito                   7      0      8.6       6     4      4      7       6       0       1     1      4.15

Smoltz                1      0      1.6       3     1      1      0       3        0     0     0      5.39
Wakefield           3     3    18.6      21     8     8      6     10        0      1     0      3.86

George bracket: Orioles (69) defeat Red Sox (09) in four games

Game One: 69 Orioles 4, 09 Red Sox 3 (11 innings)
WP: Watt (2-0)
LP: Okajima (0-2)
Save: D. Hall (2)
HR: Powell (6)

Game Two: 69 Orioles 7, 09 Red Sox 3
WP: McNally (2-0)
LP: Beckett (2-2)
HR: Lowrie (1), Blair (2)

Game Three: 69 Orioles 6, 09 Red Sox 3
WP: Palmer (3-0)
LP: Penny (1-1)
Save: Richert (2)
HR: Lowell (1)

Game Four: 69 Orioles 10, 09 Red Sox 9
WP: Watt (3-0)
LP: Saito (1-1)
HR: F. Robinson (6), Al Gonzalez (1), Bay (5)

The games were competitive, but they all had the same outcome: A Baltimore Orioles victory.

The series opened in Fenway Park, and Boog Powell homered in the Birds' two-run second off Jon Lester. Baltimore led 3-0 after five innings, scoring two runs with the aid of a pair of Nick Green errors, and Mike Cuellar sliced through the Red Sox lineup through seven innings. But in the eighth he walked J.D. Drew and hit Jason Varitek. With two outs Jacoby Ellsbury tripled. After Dustin Pedroia walked, Eddie Watt relieved and yielded a game-tying single to Kevin Youkilis.

Watt and the Boston bullpen held the tie into the 11th inning. when Frank Robinson doubled and Powell singled him home. Dick Hall relieved Watt and improbably -- Hall was one of the greatest control artists in baseball history -- walked three men before escaping the bottom of the 11th with the save.

The Orioles again scored twice in the second inning of Game Two. Designated hitter Dave May's double was followed by consecutive singles by Brooks Robinson, Elrod Hendricks and Mark Belanger. Jed Lowrie countered in the bottom of the third inning with a two-run homer off Dave McNally. Paul Blair's two-run homer in the fifth gave the Birds a 4-2 lead, and the Orioles broke the game open with three runs in the seventh, with Powell driving home two men.

The series shifted to Memorial Stadium in Baltimore for Game Three, and the Red Sox took their first lead of the series in the first inning as Ellsbury, Pedoria and Victor Martinez bunched base hits off Jim Palmer. The Orioles blasted Brad Penny for four runs in the bottom of the third, gathering two doubles, two singles and two walks. The Sox got one run back in the fourth (David Ortiz, pinch-hitting for Penny, with an RBI ground out) and another in the sixth on Mike Lowell's homer. But Belanger and pinch-hitter May hit consecutive doubles in the seventh, and May later scored on another Green error to widen the margin to three, Hall and Pete Richert tossed a scoreless inning apiece to wrap up the win.

Their backs to the wall, the Sox got a homer by Alex Gonzalez in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead off Tom Phoebus, then blasted the struggling right-hander for five more in the fourth, They added another off reliever Marcelino Lopez for a 7-0 lead. The inning featured a triple by Jason Bay, doubles by Gonzalez and Pedroia, singles by Ellsbury and Drew, a walk and a HBP for Youkilis and an unlikely two-base error by Blair.

But the Birds fought back. They got three in the fourth (a bases-loaded walk by Brooks Robinson and a two-run single by Hendricks) and two more in the fifth (homer by Frank Robinson). Bay's homer off Jim Hardin made the score 8-5 going into the bottom of the seventh, with Clay Buchholtz still working for the Sox. With one out, pinch-hitter May singled. One out later, Davy Johnson singled. Frank Robinson singled to load the bases, and Hideki Okajima entered to face Powell, who plated all three runners with a double. Merv Rettemund, in the lineup for the injured Blair, singled home Powell, and the Orioles had a 9-8 lead.

Richert threw a scoreless eighth and was hit for in the bottom of the inning as the Orioles were unable to add on against Takashi Saito. Watt took the hill for the top of the ninth, and immediately gave up a game-tying homer to Youkilis. But in the bottom of the ninth, Johnson led off with a single against Saito. Frank Robinson walked. Powell popped up. but Rettemund walked, and with Jonathan Papelbon on the hill, Brooks Robinson got the base hit that ended the game and the series.

Player of the series: Frank Robinson was 5-for-13 with four walks, two doubles and a homer. He scored seven runs and drove in three. He gets the honor over Powell, who was 5-for-16 with three walks, one double and one homer with two runs scored and seven RBIs.

Player availability: Blair will be recovered by the time the fourth round begins. The pitching staff will be fully rested.

Projected rotation: Cuellar-McNally-Palmer-Phoebus(?)-(Cuellar)-(McNally)-(Palmer). Phoebus may give way to Hardin or Dave Leonard.

Stat break: 09 Red Sox

Hitters

Name                AB   R   H   RBI   2B  3B   HR   BB   SB   Avg,
B Anderson           8    2     4     2       1    1      0      0      0     .500
Baldelli                  3    2     2     3       0    0     2       0      0     .667
Bay                      43  12     7   10       3    0     4       9      0     .163
Drew                   41     9  16    17      3    1     5       8      0     .390
Ellsbury              45     2  10      1      2    0     0       5      1      .222
A Gonzalez           4     1    2     0       1    0     0       0      0     .500
N Green              37     3  12     2       3    0      0      2      0     .324
Kottaras                5     0    1     0       0    0      0      2      0      .200
Lowell                34     3  12     5       5    0     0      2      1       .353
Lowrie                  3     0    1     0       0    0     0       1     0       .000
V Martinez         33     5    4    4        0    0      1      3      0      .121
Ortiz                   25     1    5     6       1    0     1       4      0      .200
Pedroia               54     8  17    3        2    0     1       3      0      .315
Varitek               24     5     3    5        0    0     2      6      0      .125
Youkilis             42   10   13    3       4    0     2       3      0      .310

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.     W    L   ERA

Beckett               4      4    26.3     31    19   19      7      25       0      2    1       6.50
Byrd                   1      0      2           4     4     4      3         1      0      0    0     18.00
Delcarmen         4      0       7          8     4      4      3        6       0      0    0      5.14
Lester                 3      3    22.6     14      3     3       5     25       0      2    0       1.19
Matuzaka           1      1       3         6      5     5      3        3       0      0     1     15.00

Okajima             4       0     3          3     1     1       1        0       0      0     1      3.00

Paplebon            7       0     6.6       3     2     2       2        7       5      0     1      2.70

Penny                 1      1      5.3       4     4      4       3       2        0      1     0     6.75

R Ramirez          4      0      5          3     2       2     1       0       0        1     0    3.60
Saito                   6      0      7.3       5     3      3       4       6       0      1     0      3.68

Smoltz                1      0      1.6       3     1      1      0       3        0     0     0      5.39
Wakefield           3     3    18.6      21     8     8      6     10        0      1     0      3.86

George bracket: Red Sox (09) defeat Padres (09) in six games

Game One: 09 Red Sox 10, 09 Padres 3
WP: Beckett (2-1)
LP: Correia (1-2)
HR: A Gonzalez (2), Ortiz (1), Drew (2)

Game Two: 09 Red Sox 2, 09 Padres 1
WP: Saito (1-0)
LP: Peavy (0-1)
Save: Papelbon (4)
HR: Youkilis (2)

Game Three: 09 Red Sox 3, 09 Padres 1
WP: Lester (2-0)
LP: Gaudin (2-1)
Save: Papelbon (5)
HR: Bay (3)

Game Four: 09 Padres 10, 09 Red Sox 4
WP: Geer (1-0)
LP: Matusazka (0-1)
HR: Bay (4), Baldelli (2), A Gonzalez (3)

Game Five: 09 Padres 8, 09 Red Sox 7
WP: Mujica (1-0)
LP: Papelbon (0-1)
HR: Drew 2 (4), Blanks 2 (2)

Game Six: 09 Red Sox 5, 09 Padres 1
WP: Wakefield (1-0)
LP: Stauffer (0-2)
HR: Drew (5)

The Red Sox overpowered the Padres in a 2009 matchup heavy on bullpens and multi-run homers.

The Sox opened with an easy win in Fenway. Josh Beckett allowed a second-inning run on three singles, but his teammates scored two in the bottom of the inning, then added two in the third and two more in the fourth, getting six doubles and a homer in those three innings against Kevin Correia. Boston really opened it up with four runs in the seventh off Luis Perdomo, with two more doubles, a triple and a homer.

Game Two was much more sedate. Tim Wakefield and Jake Peavy each allowed a run in the second inning, and the next run game in the bottom of the eighth, when Kevin Youkilis led off with a homer off Peavy. Wakefield allowed eight hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 6.2 innings. Takashi Saito got the last out of the seventh after Wakefield had loaded the bases and then pitched around a two-out triple in the eighth to get the win. Peavy went the distance in his loss, allowing just one earned run in eight innings on seven hits.

The series shifted to San Diego and Petco Park, where Jon Lester and Chad Gaudin provided another pitchers duel in Game Three. The Padres scored in the first but left the bases loaded, an opportunity they would regret. Jacoby Ellsbury doubled home Lester in the third to tie the score, and Jason Bay homered in the sixth for the lead. The Sox added a third run in the eighth off Edward Mujica. Lester allowed just two hits after the first inning.

With the Sox up 3-0, the Padres pounded Daisuke Matsuzaka for five runs in the third inning of Game Four and and Paul Byrd for four more in the fifth. Clayton Richards gave up four runs in five innings, and Josh Geer threw four innings off shutout relief to get credit for the win in a scorer's decision. Evereth Cabrera went 4-for-4 with a walk, two doubles and two RBIs but didn't score a run for the Padres, who lost their number four and five hitters, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Chase Headley, to injury.

Those injuries forced Kyle Blanks into the lineup and the cleanup slot, and he came up big in a dramatic Game Five slugfest. Blanks clubbed a three-run homer off Beckett in the first inning to give the Padres a 3-0 lead. The Sox responded with six runs in the third off Correia, with J.D. Drew bopping a grand slam. Drew added a solo shot in the fifth off Mujica to make it 7-3. But Blanks hit another three-run homer in the bottom of the inning to pull the Padres within a run. The bullpens trades scoreless innings (Mujica going four innings in total for San Diego) until the bottom of the ninth. Jonathan Papelbon got the first two hitters, but then Cabrera walked and stole second, David Eckstein singled him home to tie the game. Gonzalez walked, and Blanks ripped what would have been an extra-base hit had it not brought home the winning run from second base.

The Padres' big-inning magic ran out there. Back in Boston for Game Six, Wakefield had his second quality start, allowing one run in six-plus innings on four hits and three walks. By the time he departed, his teammates had put up five runs against Tim Stauffer, highlighted by Drew's three-run homer. Four of the five runs the Sox scored were unearned.

Player of the series: J.D. Drew hit four home runs and had 11 RBIs. He gets the honor in a narrow decision over Wakefield.

Player availability: Lester and Beckett are available for the first two games of Round Three. The bullpen will be fully available.

Projected rotation: Lester-Beckett-Brad Penny-Clay Buchholz-(Lester)-(Beckett)-(Penny)

Stat break: 09 Red Sox

Hitters

Name                AB   R   H   RBI   2B  3B   HR   BB   SB   Avg,
Baldelli                  2    1     1     1       0    0     1       0      0     .500
Bay                      23    6     5     7       2    0     2       5      0     .217
Drew                   19    4     6     6        2    0     1      6      0     .316
Ellsbury              28     1    6     0        1    0     0      3      1     .133
A Gonzalez           4     1    2    0        1    0     0       0      0     .500
N Green              19     1    3    1        1    0      0      2      0     .158
Lowell                19     2    8    3         3    0     0      2      1      .421
V Martinez         17     4    3    4        0    0      1      2      0      .176
Ortiz                   11     0    1     2       0    0     0       3      0      .091
Pedroia               28     5   10    1        0    0     1      2      0      .357
Varitek               14     3     2    5        0    0     2      4      0      .143
Youkilis              22     6    8    1       1    0     1       2      0      .363

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.     W    L   ERA

Beckett               2      2    13.3     18    11   11      2      11       0      1    1       7.43
Delcarmen          2      0      3          5     2      2      2        2       0      0    0       6.00
Lester                 2      2    15.6     10      2     2       1      17      0      1    0       1.15

Okajima             2       0      1          1     1     1       1        0       0     0     1      9.00

Paplebon            3       0     3          1     0      0       0        4       3      0     0     0.00

Penny                 1      1      5.3       4     4      4       3       2        0      1     0     6.75

R Ramirez          2      0      3         2     2       2       1       0        0      1     0     6.00
Saito                   3      0      4          4     3      3       4       1       0      0     0      6.75

Smoltz                1      0      1.6       3     1      1       0       3        0     0     0      5.39
Wakefield          1       1     6          9     6       6      0       1        0      0     0      9.00

George bracket: Red Sox (09) defeat Red Sox (69) in six games

Game One: 69 Red Sox 10, 09 Red Sox 4
WP: Culp (1-0)
LP: Beckett (0-1)
HR: Andrews (1), Yastzremski (1)

Game Two: 09 Red Sox 3, 69 Red Sox 1
WP: Lester (1-0)
LP: Nagy (0-1)
Save: Papelbon (1)
HR: Youkilis (1), Petrocelli (1)

Game Three: 69 Red Sox 12, 09 Red Sox 11 (10 innings)
WP: Lyle (1-0)
LP: Okajima (0-1)
HR: Bay 2 (2), Petrocelli 2 (3), Pedroia (1), Andrews (2), Yastzremski (2), Smith (1), Gibson (1), Varitek (1)

Game Four: 09 Red Sox 8, 69 Red Sox 5
WP: Penny (1-0)
LP: Lonborg (0-1)
Save: Papelbon (2)
HR: Varitek (2), Baldelli (1), Andrews (3), Petrocelli (4)

Game Five: 09 Red Sox 6, 69 Red Sox 3
WP: Beckett (1-1)
LP: Romo (0-1)
Save: Papelbon (3)
HR: Drew (1), V Martinez (1)

Game Six: 09 Red Sox 2, 69 Red Sox 1 (10 innings)
WP: R Ramirez (1-0)
LP: Lee (0-1)

This series featured 20 home runs, two extra-inning decisions and few strong starts from anybody not named Jon Lester.

The 69 Red Sox fell behind 4-1 in the second inning of the opener, but Ray Culp steadied for four shutout innings while Josh Beckett melted down in the fifth and sixth. By the time John Smoltz got out of the sixth, the 69 Sox led 9-4 and were never threatened the rest of the way. Rico Petrocelli went 5-for-5 with three doubles and a triple for the 69 Sox.

Lester got the 09 Sox even in the series with eight innings of six-hit, one-run ball. Petrocelli dinged him for a homer in the first; Petrocelli got hits in his first three trips, running his streak to eight straight hits before Lester struck him out to end the eighth. Mike Nagy walked six in his six innings, and two of the free passes forced in runs.

The series shifted to the 1969 version of Fenway Park for Game Three, and the old yard yielded a 10-homer slugfest that went the home team's way in the 10th inning. In a dubious managerial decision, 09 closer Jonathan Paplebon never appeared as the visitors frittered away a game they led by six at one point,

Among the highlights:

• The first three hitters for the 69 Sox -- Mike Andrews, Carl Yastzremski and Petrocelli -- homered off Tim Wakefield.
• Jason Bay of the 09 Sox hit a three-run homer in the third inning and a grand slam in the fourth off Sonny Siebert.
• Jacoby Ellsbury threw out two 69 Sox runners at the plate in the bottom of the ninth to get the game to extra innings.
• Russ Gibson, light-hitting backstop for the 69 Red Sox, led off the bottom of the 10th with the game winning homer off  Hideki Okajima.

Bill Lee kept the 69 Sox in the game with four innings of one-run relief after Siebert gave up 10 runs in less than four innings. The 69 Sox plated two runs in the seventh off Ramon Ramirez, two in the eighth off Takashi Saito, and another in the ninth off Manny Delcarmen.

The 09 Sox bounced back in Game Four. Jason Varitek hit a three-run homer in the second, and they batted around for four runs in the fifth against Jon Lonborg. The 69 Sox knocked Brad Penny out of the box in sixth and pulled within two runs after seven, but Okajima and Paplebon shut them out in the last two frames.

Game Five was out of the Earl Weaver text book for the 09 Red Sox. Beckett went eight innings, allowing seven hits and three runs, while the 09 Sox got a three-run homer from Victor Martinez in the sixth off Culp and a three-run homer from J.D. Drew in the eighth off Vincente Romo.

Back in the 2009 version of Fenway, the 09 Sox wrapped up the series in Game Six with a 10-inning win. A sac fly from David Oritz in the first inning gave the 09 Sox a quick lead, and Lester made it hold up through seven innings, The 69 Sox tied it in the eighth on singles by Gibson, Yastzremski and Petrocelli, and Sparky Lyle tossed 2.3 shutout innings in relief of Nagy to push the game into the 10th.

Lee, so strong in the Game Three slugfest, entered for the bottom of the 10th and didn't retire a batter. Bay led off with a double and Drew followed with a long single for the 2-1 win and the series triumph.

Although his team lost the series, Rico Petrocelli was player of the series. The shortstop was 15-for-23 with 11 extra base hits (four homers, one triple and six doubles), nine runs scored and eight RBIs.

Pitcher availability: Burkett is at full rest for Game One. Lester can pitch Game Two with penalty. The bullpen will be fully available. Roster shuffle may be advisable.