Series Preview: Toronto @ Boston

Blue Jays (43-44) @ Red Sox (53-34)
4 Game series at Fenway
Standings: Bos up 10 on TOR
Season Series: BOS leads, 5-3

• Game1Thu 7 Halladay (10-3, 4.46) v Wakefield (9-8, 4.39)
• Game2Fri 7 Marcum (4-3, 3.62) v Tavarez (5-7, 4.97)
• Game3Sat 7 McGowan (5-4, 4.65) v Matsuzaka (10-6, 3.84)
• Game4Sun 2 Litsch (1-3, 4.74) v Beckett (12-2, 3.44)

Keep an Eye On: Alex Rios.294/17HR/62R/53BI--the talented 26-year-old has finally blossomed into an All Star after a 2006 season marred by illness and unfulfilled potential. The right fielder was a participant in both the Home Run Derby and the All Star Game this year, and he leads the loaded Jays in average, homers, runs, RBIs, OBS and steals.

Preview:
The Sox kick off the second half with a four game set against their pesky division rivals to the North, the Blue Jays.

Although Boston has won five of the eight games between the two this season, it lost both contests at home back in late April, and the team always seems to have a tough time beating the scrappy Canadian club.

That one of the best pitchers in the game happens to start for the Jays might have something to do with their travails, and unfortunately for the Sox it seems like they must face perennial Cy Young candidate Roy Halladay about 10 times per season.

Boston begins the second half saddled with the sour taste of the three game Motown Wipedown last weekend and with numerous question marks surrounding the growing list of injured players.

On top of pitchers Curt Schilling (shoulder), Brendan Donnelly (forearm), and Joel Pineiro (ankle), hitters like Kevin Youkilis (quad), Mike Lowell (hand) and David Ortiz (hammy, quad, knee) are nursing some degree of injury.

The Herald in fact reported yesterday that Ortiz admitted his knee, which he tweaked last season during bunting drills in New York, has bothered him off & on all year, and he will probably need surgery in the off season, and hopefully not sooner.

Gulp.

I don't need to remind anyone of the similarities to the disastrous second half of 2006, do I? You know, when Boston owned an identical record and a slimmer (3 games) lead on New York, yet came unglued mainly due to some untimely injuries to key players like Tek and most notably Papi.

But for some reason this season just feels different. The team is deeper, for one, the pitching staff is stronger and has capable backups at Pawtucket to fill in, and there is an aura about the team and its fanbase, the ever-loyal, ever-expanding Red Sox Nation, that gives off the vibe that things won't end the way they did last year.

As long as Papi stays off the DL and the Stanks keep imploding from within.

Game 1 Preview:
Halladay brings a stellar record but a less-than-impressive ERA to Fenway for the second half opener, and the Cy Young winning righty has already made three starts against Boston this season. Although he's compiled modest stats, by his standards, in those games (1-1, 5.31 ERA), the crafty vet always has the potential to shut a team down on any given night.

Tim Wakefield continues his roller coaster season, bouncing back from a 1-4, 7.98 stint to post a 4-1 record with a more palatable 4.78 ERA in his last five starts. The knuckleballer has won two starts in a row and four straight at Fenway, so we got that going for us.

I know the odds are against Boston, with Papi ailing, the team riding a three game losing streak, and one of their more unpredictable hurlers on the hill, but...

...the joy of seeing the first place Sox, possessors of baseball's best record, open the second half in the friendly Fenway confines, in front of 36,000 fans on a mid-July evening is enough to make me be live they will torch Halladay and the Jays, setting the tone for a second half run to the AL East title.
MY PICK: Sox baby!

Go Sox!