RED SOX TAKE ON ANGELS: GAME 2

LEFTY LEDGER: The Red Sox face left-hander C.J. Wilson tonight…The club owns the AL’s best mark against lefty starters at 25-16 (.610), 4th in the Majors, and Boston batters have posted an AL-high .461 SLG vs. LHP (2nd in ML).

CENTER OF ATTENTION: Jacoby Ellsbury has tallied multi-hits in each of his last 6 games, going 13-for-28 (.464) with 5 RBI over the 6-game stretch and scoring at least 1 run in each game with 9 total runs scored in that span…According to Elias, his stretch of 6 straight games with at least 2 hits and 1 run is tied for the longest such streak in the Majors this season (also Albert Pujols, 7/30- 8/4)…The only other Boston player in the last 5 years who had a single-season streak of at least 6 games of that type was Ellsbury, who had a 6-game run from 6/7-12/11.

• Ellsbury has hit safely in a season-high 8 straight games overall, batting .405 (15-for-37) with 3 doubles, a homer, 5 RBI, 9 runs and 4 steals in the 8-game stretch.

DUSTIN STREAKING TOO: Dustin Pedroia has also hit in 8 straight games, going 12-for-36 (.333) with 4 doubles, 2 home runs, 6 RBI and 8 runs in the 8-game stretch.

• Pedroia has hit safely in all but 1 of 22 games dating back to 8/5, batting .359 (33-for-92) with 11 doubles, a triple, 3 homers, 14 RBI and 19 runs in that span.

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SOX TAKE ON ANGELS : GAME 1

AUGUST RUSH: Red Sox batters lead the Majors with 68 doubles and 93 extra-base hits in August…They are 2nd in the ML with 254 hits and 3rd with 127 runs (2nd in AL) during the month.

• Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury are tied for the Major League lead with 11 doubles each in August…Pedroia is also tied for the ML lead during the month with 15 extra-base hits, and is 3rd among AL leaders with 35 hits and 21 runs…Scott Podsednik is tied for 4th in the AL with a .360 August AVG.

OFFENSIVE OUTPUT: Red Sox batters have combined for 10 or more hits in 5 of their last 6, 7 of their last 11, and 9 of their last 14 contests…Over the last 6 contests, the team is hitting at a .340 clip (80-for-235) with 16 doubles, 8 home runs, 39 RBI and 42 runs scored.

MAKING AN IMPACT: Scott Podsednik is batting .375 (42-for-112) in 35 games with the Red Sox while Pedro Ciriaco is hitting at a .353 clip (49-for-139) in his 43 tilts with Boston…They own the top 2 batting averages in the Majors among players with at least 50 plate appearances.

CENTER OF ATTENTION: Jacoby Ellsbury has tallied multi-hits in each of his last 5 games, going 11-for-24 (.458) with 5 RBI over the 5-game stretch and scoring at least 1 run in each game with 7 total runs scored in that span…According to Elias, his stretch of 5 straight games with at least 2 hits and 1 run is 1 shy of the longest such streak in the Majors this season (Albert Pujols, 6 straight from 7/30- 8/4)…The only other Boston player in the last 5 years who had a single-season streak of at least 5 games of that type was Ellsbury, who had a 6-game run of that kind from 6/7-12/11.

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RED SOX VS BLUE JAYS GAME II

SOX STATUS: The Red Sox have won 7 of their last 9 games (.778), tied for the Majors best record since 6/16 (also Texas, 7-2)…Boston is 9-3 (.750) since 6/12 and 26-16 (.619) since 5/11, 3rd best in the Majors in that time.

• The Red Sox and Blue Jays are tied for 4th in the AL East despite 38-35 records (.521)…Since each league split into 3 divisions in 1994, it is the highest winning percentage for any team with a share of last place entering play on 6/26.

TO THE LEFT: The Red Sox are 15-9 (.625) this season when facing left-handed starters…Boston batters lead the Majors with 35 homers, 86 extra-base hits and 366 total bases against left-handed pitching this season…They also top the AL with a .477 SLG and .805 OPS against lefties.

• Boston has hit 3 homers off their last 2 left-handed starters faced (ATL’s Mike Minor on 6/24, MIA’s Mark Buehrle on 6/19)…It is the 1st time the Sox have homered at least 3 times off back-to-back lefty starters faced since at least 1980.
• David Ortiz leads the Majors with 9 homers off left-handers this season and tops the AL with 16 XBH vs. southpaws.

DAVID’S 2 FOR 20 SPECIAL: David Ortiz hit his team-high 19th and 20th home runs of the season last night, matching his single-game career-high for the 39th time, which trails only Alex Rodriguez (60), Albert Pujols (42) and Andruw Jones (42) among actives…It was Ortiz’s 37th multi-homer game as a member of the Red Sox, tying him with Ted Williams for the most in Red Sox history…His 37 multi-homer games since 2003 ranks 2nd in the Majors after Pujols (40).

• Ortiz has reached the 20-homer plateau each of the last 11 years (2002-12), the only Major Leaguer to accomplish that feat…His 10, 20-homer campaigns with Boston are 4th in club history after Ted Williams (16), Dwight Evans (11) and Jim Rice (11)…It took him 73 games to reach 20 homers, the 2nd fewest of his career…He needed just 67 games in 2006 en route to a club-record 54 bombs that year.
• Ortiz is tied with Dale Murphy for 51st place on baseball’s all-time home run list at 398…He is 2 shy of becoming the 7th active player to hit 400 career long balls.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Yesterday Will Middlebrooks was named AL Player of the Week for the period ending 6/24…He went 10-for-16 (.625) with 3 doubles, 3 homers, 10 RBI and 6 runs in 6 games during that week, topping AL leaders in AVG, SLG (1.375), OBP (.632) and total bases (22)…Middlebrooks is the 1st Red Sox to win Player of the Week  in 2012 and is the 4th Boston rookie to get the nod since the award’s inception in 2003, joining 2007 winners Daisuke Matsuzaka, Dustin Pedroia and Clay Buchholz.

DRAFT SIGNINGS: The Red Sox have signed 2012 First-Year Player Draft selections RHP Greg Larson (20th round) and 2B Keaton Briscoe (24th round)…Larson has been assigned to Short-A Lowell and Briscoe to the GCL…Boston has now signed 19 players from the 2012 Draft.

LACKEY BACK: WEEI reported today that John Lackey, eight months following Tommy John surgery, threw in the Red Sox bullpen this afternoon

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