BOSTON (AP)—The Boston Red Sox placed struggling right fielder J.D. Drew(notes)
on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday with a sore right shoulder and recalled
infielder Drew Sutton(notes) from Triple-A Pawtucket.

Drew is batting just .219 with four homers and 21 RBIs in the final year of
a five-year, $70 million contract and had largely lost his starting job to
rookie Josh Reddick(notes). The move was retroactive to July 20.

Sutton was called up for the third time this year. He was 5 for 16 on his
most-recent stay.

Also Tuesday, infielder Kevin Youkilis(notes) was not in the starting lineup a day
after straining his right hamstring trying to beat out an infield single.

“He’s a little sore. But he came through the exam last night pretty good,
which is really good,” manager Terry Francona said before Boston’s game against
the Kansas City Royals. “When he hit the bag, it looked bad and he kind of came
off limping and we got him out of there for precautionary reasons, and I’m glad
we did.”

Youkilis is hitting .279, with 14 homers and 72 RBIs and had appeared in 93
of the team’s first 100 games.

Drew was just 6 for 47 with no homers and three RBIs this month, with his
last homer on June 8.

Francona said Drew’s shoulder had been bothering him for two weeks.

BOSTON (AP)—The Boston Red Sox placed struggling right fielder J.D. Drew(notes)
on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday with a sore right shoulder and recalled
infielder Drew Sutton(notes) from Triple-A Pawtucket.

Drew is batting just .219 with four homers and 21 RBIs in the final year of
a five-year, $70 million contract and had largely lost his starting job to
rookie Josh Reddick(notes). The move was retroactive to July 20.

Sutton was called up for the third time this year. He was 5 for 16 on his
most-recent stay.

Also Tuesday, infielder Kevin Youkilis(notes) was not in the starting lineup a day
after straining his right hamstring trying to beat out an infield single.

“He’s a little sore. But he came through the exam last night pretty good,
which is really good,” manager Terry Francona said before Boston’s game against
the Kansas City Royals. “When he hit the bag, it looked bad and he kind of came
off limping and we got him out of there for precautionary reasons, and I’m glad
we did.”

Youkilis is hitting .279, with 14 homers and 72 RBIs and had appeared in 93
of the team’s first 100 games.

Drew was just 6 for 47 with no homers and three RBIs this month, with his
last homer on June 8.

Francona said Drew’s shoulder had been bothering him for two weeks.

Read More: Mark Teixeira (1B – NYY), Freddy Garcia (P – NYY), David Ortiz (DH – BOS), Tim Wakefield (P – BOS), A.J. Burnett (P – NYY), Hector Noesi (P – NYY), New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, Jun 8, 2011 7:05 PM EDT

The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, tied atop the American League East standings, meet in Game 2 of their three-game series at Yankee Stadium Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. ET. The pitching matchup has A.J. Burnett going for New York against the seemingly ageless Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

While we wait for first pitch, let’s look at a few notable stories following Boston’s 6-4 victory Tuesday night.

Yankee starting pitcher Freddy Garcia was awful Tuesday night, lasting just 1.2 innings.

“I didn’t have anything today,” Garcia said. “I can’t throw strikes, can’t throw my slider. That’s what happened. I didn’t have the chance, really, to make any adjustments. Everybody’s seen my offspeed.”

Garcia (4-5, 3.86 ERA) has been pretty good in 10 starts so far this season, but the way Boston battered him around calls into question whether or not the Yankees can count on Garcia against the good teams in a pennant race. The veteran right-hander tops out at 85-86 mph and has to rely on keeping hitters off-balance with a variety of breaking balls, change-ups and splitters.

The Yankees need to hope Tuesday’s performance was an aberration for Garcia, not a sign of things to come.

First baseman Mark Teixeira is day-to-day after leaving Tuesday’s game when he got drilled in the right kneecap by a Jon Lester fastball. The Yankees are breathing a sigh of relief that the injury wasn’t worse.

“There are certain guys you can’t go without and Tex is one of those guys,” A-Rod said. “He’s in the middle of our lineup and he produces day-in and day-out on both sides. I had a little bit of a flashback to the postseason when he got hurt running down the bases. You talk about him or Robbie, there are some guys that are irreplaceable.”

Yankee manager Joe Girardi was not pleased by David Ortiz’ bat flip following his two-run home run off rookie right-hander Hector Noesi in the fifth inning Tuesday night. He said he “didn’t really care for it.” Big Papi’s response? “Big deal.”

So, what was the deal? To be honest, I didn’t care for it much, either. Ortiz can deny it, but there’s little doubt he was showing up Noesi. The young man dared to throw an inside pitch that made Ortiz move his feet, then follow it by trying to come inside for a strike. Ortiz hit the second pitch over the right field wall, then defiantly flipped the bat. On Ruocco and Lundberg today, Yankee broadcaster Al Leiter refused to criticize Ortiz based on his career and the fact that he does not habitually showboat.

You know what impressed me, though? Noesi went right back to pitching after that and put up four more scoreless innings. The home run was the only blemish on a six-inning, three-hit relief effort by the 24-year-old, who seems to impress every time he gets the ball.

By Ed Valentine

– Regional Editor

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Jun 7, 2011 – In some ways, you could say the 2011 Major League Baseball season begins Tuesday night. With slightly more than 100 games play and one game separating the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the American League East standings Boston comes to Yankee Stadium to begin a three-game series (7:05 p.m. ET) as the best rivalry in sports is renewed once again.

Boston has overcome its dismal 2-10 start and is now 33-26, just one game behind the Yankees for the top spot in the division. Since May 13 when the Red Sox began a three-game sweep of the Yankees with a 5-4 victory they are 16-6.

MIke Lupica of the New York Daily News put Tuesday night’s series opener in a different light.

This isn’t the season starting, we did that already. This is the baseball summer starting Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, three between the Red Sox and the Yankees, Jon Lester against Freddy Garcia all the way until what looks like the main event for the week, Josh Beckett against CC Sabathia on Thursday night. This is the baseball version of school letting out, just with the first pitch from Garcia a little after 7 Tuesday night over there on the north side of 161st St. With the Yankees ahead of the Sox by a game. Even with LeBron and Wade playing Dirk. …

Somehow this feels like the perfect time for this series to happen, even if it does happen in the middle of the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals. It is a perfect time to find out what it looks like when the Red Sox are finally playing the way they are supposed to and the Yankees are doing the same, having come back from losing the first two games of their West Coast trip to winning six out of their last seven and coming within a couple of runs of making it seven in a row coming home.

Somehow, there is symmetry to it. June is here, summer is arriving and pennant race between the Yankees and Red Sox is heating up. Hard to ask for much more than that.

Read More: rivalry, al east standings, mlb standings, mlb schedule, mlb scorer, CC Sabathia (P – NYY), Freddy Garcia (P – NYY), Josh Beckett (P – BOS), Daisuke Matsuzaka (P – BOS), Phil Hughes (P – NYY), John Lackey (P – BOS), Jon Lester (P – BOS), New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, Jun 7, 2011 7:05 PM EDT

BOSTON (AP)—The Boston Red Sox have activated right-hander Bobby Jenks(notes)
from the 15-day disabled list.

Jenks was in uniform and available for Tuesday night’s game against his old
team, the Chicago White Sox.

To make room for Jenks on the roster, the Red Sox optioned righty Michael
Bowden(notes) to Triple-A Pawtucket.

Also Tuesday, the Red Sox said injured shortstop Marco Scutaro(notes) has been
cleared to resume baseball activities. Pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka(notes) went for a
second opinion on his injured right elbow.

Jenks has been on the disabled list since May 2 with a right biceps strain.
He has pitched in 11 games in Boston this year, going 1-2 with a 9.35 ERA and 10
strikeouts.

By SportsDirect

POSTED: 1:53 pm MDT May 31, 2011