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BOSTON -- Jacoby Ellsbury continues to rehab his broken foot with various activities, none of which are baseball related. While Ellsbury will not seem close to returning until he is running the bases and swinging a bat, the continued pool exercises are not an indication that his rehab has slowed.

“That is consistent with what he’s been doing since we returned off the road,” Farrell said. “That includes pool work, that includes ground base stuff in the weight room here and he remains in that same rehab program. Baseball activities are yet to be initiated. That hasn’t changed our feel and our thought that he’ll be back on the field before the regular season ends.”

As Ellsbury contends with a more serious matter, third baseman Will Middlebrooks is regaining his strength after a bout with a flu-like illness. He is out of the lineup for the second straight game Tuesday. Xander Bogaerts is starting at third.

“He’s available tonight,” manager John Farrell said of Middlebrooks. “As a matter of fact, he feels fine and ready to go but I just feel like he needs a day of work before we get him back in there.”

* Farrell did reference the playoff roster, but it did not involve his rotation. He hinted that if and when the Sox enter a postseason series, Middlebrooks could serve as the backup to second baseman Dustin Pedroia.

Middlebrooks made a couple of appearances at second earlier in the year. With veteran John McDonald in the fold, both Middlebrooks and Bogaerts have ceased to take ground balls at second, sticking only to the left side of the infield.

Come October, that might change.

“As we’ve said before, Will has been the guy that we’ve pointed to before Johnny Mac got here to go to second base,” Farrell said. “Depending on how that playoff roster looks, that option is still definitely open.”

BOSTON -- The Orioles represent the fifth straight opponent for Boston that has playoff aspirations and, therefore, plenty for which to play. That may be a factor in the Red Sox’s ability to put their foot on the gas in September.

“It’s caused us, or it’s forced us, to remain focused,” Sox manager John Farrell said. “We can’t take anything for granted and in a way it keeps us accountable to our work based on the level of competition and who we’re playing that are in that contention. I think more than anything it speaks to the strength of the division.”

About the division, the Sox own a nine-game advantage on second-place Tampa Bay entering Tuesday. The division has not finished with a double-digit margin between first and second since 2006. The Sox certainly have surprised many with their turnaround in 2013, but they have positively shocked observers with the manner in which they have run away from a formidable group.

“I think everyone, back in January, when a lot of the moves were made by respective teams, everybody felt like this division was completely up for grabs and we were of the same mindset,” Farrell said. “Injuries, performance obviously directly impacts how things unfold. Am I surprised with the way we’ve played? Not at all.”

BOSTON -- After days of doing his best to thwart questioning that involves the playoffs, Red Sox manager John Farrell is beginning to open up. Just a bit.

Farrell mapped out a large portion of his upcoming rotation and revealed the trio in the final series of the season at Baltimore, which would end five days before a possible Division Series opener at Fenway Park on Oct. 4.

Felix Doubront, who threw a simulated game Tuesday, will return to the Red Sox rotation Saturday against Toronto, Farrell said, slotting between Jon Lester on Friday and Clay Buchholz on Sunday. The club then visits Colorado for two games, which will feature Ryan Dempster and Jake Peavy on the mound, and then ends the regular season with three games at Camden Yards.

John Lackey, Lester and Buchholz each will be rested and ready to go in that season-ending series, potentially in that order. However, there are also two days off in the mix, giving Farrell plenty of wiggle room as he maps out the order for the Orioles series with an eye toward the first round of the playoffs. Who starts Game 1 is the question on everyone’s mind, but the Sox skipper stopped short of giving any answers beyond his Baltimore plans.

And even those remain up in the air.

“As the rotation kind of plays out over the next three series prior to Baltimore, those three guys are going to be rested and available to pitch in that series,” Farrell said Tuesday afternoon at Fenway Park. “We haven’t mapped it out who’s going to start Saturday or Sunday there. We also have to balance two off-days next week and then the potential for those four days off [before the playoffs start] as well, and not have a guy get too far away from a start.

“I mention those three guys because they’re all going to be eligible and rested going into Baltimore. What rotation they fall under, that’s yet to be determined.”

If Buchholz, who improved to 11-0 on Sunday night against the New York Yankees, is Farrell’s pick for a Game 1 start, he could conveniently stay in order and pitch Buchholz in the season finale and then again five days later in the Division Series opener. If Lester is the choice, it is an easy swap for Farrell, who might be inclined to give Buchholz more time between starts and make him the Game 2 choice.

Either way, with the Sox on the cusp of clinching the American League East and possessing a 3 ½-game advantage for the best overall record in the AL, it is obvious that the wheels are beginning to turn in the direction of a decision, even if Farrell is doing his best to put up roadblocks.

“We haven’t even looked at it that close. We don’t know who we’re playing so it can’t be matchups at this point,” he said when asked if reward or matchups is the bigger factor in deciding a Game 1 starter. “We’re going on those three guys rested enough to pitch in Baltimore and we’ll be sure that we get everybody to the mound prior to the end of that weekend to make sure that we get the most recent action leading into what might be following that. We’ll delve into that more once that gets closer.”

Every day between now and the end of the regular season, we'll check in on where things stand in the playoff race.

• Red Sox record: 92-59

• Games left: 11

• Lead in AL East: 9½ games over Tampa Bay (82-67)

• Magic number to clinch playoff spot: 2 (Sox can clinch tonight with a win over Baltimore and an Indians loss to the Royals -- hat tip to Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal for that nugget).

• Magic number to win division: 4

• Magic number to clinch best overall record: 9

• What does "magic number" mean? If Tampa Bay wins all 13 of its remaining games, Boston would have to win four to win the division.

• How to calculate magic number: You calculate your magic number by looking at the number of games remaining in the season and assuming that your nearest competitor will win all its remaining games. Then you see how many games you still need to win to ensure the division title even with your nearest competitor winning all its remaining games.

• Overall ranking in league (important for determining home-field advantage in playoffs): First, 3½ games ahead of Oakland, 4½ games ahead of Detroit.

• If season ended today, teams in playoffs: Sox, Tigers, Athletics, Rays, Rangers

• What about the Yankees? They begin their last stand Tuesday night in Toronto, with a dozen games left to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and second time since 1994. They’ll need better starting pitching. In their last five games, Yankees starters are 0-3 with a 6.32 ERA and have allowed 56 baserunners in 31 1/3 innings.

• Who’s hot?: Tampa Bay Rays starter Alex Cobb struck out the first four batters he faced, and 10 overall in eight innings, to beat the Texas Rangers and former Rays starter Matt Garza, MVP of the 2008 ALCS, in Tropicana Field. Only 10,725 fans showed up at the Trop. "What a difference 24 hours makes," Rays manager Joe Maddon told reporters. "We all flew back (Sunday) night, everybody was bummed out. Everybody's euphoric (Monday). Twenty-four hours in this game is an incredible amount of time; it's almost like a year."

• Who’s not?: The Rangers, who went to back-to-back World Series before losing the wild-card play-in game last season, have lost seven straight and are 2-12 in September after losing to the Rays. Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan defended manager Ron Washington in a radio interview before the latest loss. "Ron is not the guy out there standing on the mound or in the batter's box or fielding a position," Ryan said. “I think Ron has done everything within his power to try to motivate his club, and I just think we have some people having subpar years, and we've had some injuries, and we just -- we brought a lot of young players into our organization that don't have a lot of experience.

“I think it's a combination of a lot of things. But it comes down to the guys on the field."

• Red Sox latest outcome: Beat the Yankees 9-2 on Sunday.

• Rays latest outcome: Beat the Rangers 6-2 on Monday.

• Notable: The Orioles are staking a claim to being the best defensive team ever. They’ve made just 43 errors in 149 games; the record is 65, set by the 2003 Seattle Mariners. It took the Orioles only 48 games to make 43 errors last season. "Numbers can lie sometimes, and numbers don't lie sometimes," second baseman Brian Roberts told the Baltimore Sun. "I don't think numbers lie with this one."

• Playoff format: AL wild-card play-in game on Wednesday, Oct. 2. AL best-of-five division series begins Friday, Oct. 4.

Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell shed a little light on who will get the start in Game 1 of the ALDS on Monday night, telling WEEI’s Road to October show that it’ll probably be either John Lackey, Jon Lester or Clay Buchholz.

He said those are the three pitchers lined up to start in Baltimore in the final series of the season from Sept. 27-29. Because of the one-game wild card playoff game, the Sox -- provided they win the AL East (their magic number is four) -- have an opportunity to line their pitchers up any way they want for the playoffs.

“This year is so different,” Farrell told WEEI. “We’ve got 4 days off between the end of the season and the possible first game. There’s not the play-in game, there’s the ability to arrange things. In the past, we never had that option. You went from the last day of the season, one day off, and your next series started. So your rotation was kind of pared down to maybe one or two options, it was pretty clear. This time around, we have the possibility of more options.

“Just looking at the way our rotation plays out the remaining 11 games, when we go to Baltimore it’s going to be Lackey, Lester and Buchholz. That’s the way it’s falling right now. Those are the three guys who are going to start that series. That’s kind of where we are, and I think probably one of those three will end up pitching Game 1, provided that we get there.”

Which one would you choose for Game 1? We make the case for each below:

* Jon Lester: In his past eight starts, Lester has been the dominant ace the Red Sox were hoping for all season long. He is 4-2 with a 1.86 ERA since early August, this after a 14-start stretch from May-July in which he was 4-6 with a 5.81 ERA.

* Clay Buchholz: After missing almost three months, Buchholz has actually been better since his return that he was over his first 10 starts of the season (9-0 with a 1.71 ERA). Though he walked four and surrendered an unearned run in his last outing, Buchholz has gone 11 innings without surrendering an earned run in two September starts.

* Jon Lackey: Though he hasn’t gotten the run support, Lackey has been the most consistent Red Sox starter this season. He had a 3.22 ERA before a bad outing in the Bronx (7 runs in 5 2/3 innings) earlier this month.

Gordon Edes takes a look at what the Red Sox will do toward the end of the regular season to prepare for the playoffs.

For the second straight week, the 92-59 Boston Red Sox hold the No. 1 spot in ESPN's MLB Power Rankings, with the Los Angeles Dodgers (86-63) and the Atlanta Braves (89-60) holding steady behind them at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.

With their sweep of the Yankees this past weekend, the Red Sox earned their 92nd win of the year in their 151st game. It's the Red Sox's fewest games to 92 wins since the 1950 team did it in 151 games. -- Hunter Golden, Fire Brand of the AL

Meanwhile, the Oakland Athletics are on the rise, jumping two spots to No. 4, while the Texas Rangers are falling fast, dropping two spots to No. 11. Check out the rankings by clicking HERE.

To make your own Top 5 picks and see how they compare with ESPN's, click HERE.

Every day between now and the end of the regular season, we'll check in on where things stand in the playoff race.

• Red Sox record: 92-59.

• Games left: 11

• Lead in AL East: 9 games over Tampa Bay (81-67)

• Magic number to win division: 4

• What does magic number mean? If Tampa Bay wins all 13 of its remaining games, Boston would have to win 4 to win the division.

• How to calculate magic number: You calculate your magic number by looking at the number of games remaining in the season and assuming that your nearest competitor will win all of their remaining games. Then you see how many games you still need to win to ensure the division title even with your nearest competitor winning all of their remaining games.

• Overall ranking in league (important for determining home field in playoffs): First, 3» games ahead of Oakland, 4½ games ahead of Detroit.

• If season ended today, teams in playoffs: Sox, Tigers, Athletics, Rangers, Rays.

• What about the Yankees? The Yankees were outscored 22-7 in losing three straight to the Sox this weekend. "We stunk here," manager Joe Girardi said. "We didn't play well here. We've got an option; we can continue to stink or play better. If we play better, we have a shot." The Yankees have a dozen games left. Nine of them are against teams 12 or more games under .500: the Blue Jays, Giants and Astros. The last three games of the season are against the Astros, who have 98 losses. The other three are next week against the Rays at Yankee Stadium, giving the Yanks a head-to-head chance to catch one of the teams ahead of them.

• Who’s hot?: An hour before Sunday's game, Oakland emergency starter Tommy Milone learned he would be pitching; Jarrod Parker, who had not lost since May 22, had a bad stomach. No matter. Milone beat the Rangers, 5-1, completing a three-game sweep in Arlington and giving the Athletics five straight wins and 16 wins in their last 20 games.

• Who’s not?: The Rangers lost all six games of their homestand and failed to hit a home run, the longest homer-less stretch since the Ballpark in Arlington opened in 1994. They were averaging 3.2 runs over their past 14 games entering Monday, which includes 11 losses. “We are pretty much doing the complete opposite of everything we did in August,” former Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan told the Dallas Morning News. “We’re not getting on base. We’re not moving runners. And we’re not getting hits with runners in scoring position. When you aren’t scoring runs, there are a lot of things you are not doing well." The Rangers lost Monday as well to the Rays.

• Red Sox latest outcome: Beat the Yankees, 9-2, on Sunday.

• Rays latest outcome: Beat the Rangers, 6-2, on Monday.

• Notable: The Indians had to wait through 4 hours and 23 minutes of rain delays, but Sunday completed a four-game sweep of the White Sox, their third four-game sweep of Chicago this season, something no team has done to an opponent since the Dodgers swept three four-game sets against the Mets in 1963. They did it by beating erstwhile Cy Young candidate Chris Sale for the fourth time. Against the rest of baseball, the White Sox left-hander is 11-9 with a 2.37 ERA. Against the Indians, he is 0-4 with an 8.61 ERA.

• Playoff format: AL wild-card play-in game on Wednesday, Oct. 2. AL best-of-five division series begins Friday, Oct. 4.

John Kruk, Orel Hershiser and Dan Shulman of "Sunday Night Baseball" size up the Red Sox entering the final two weeks of the regular season.

BOSTON -- What Red Sox manager John Farrell called “a story that is like no other in the game” added another chapter in Sunday’s 9-2 victory over the New York Yankees.

Outfielder Daniel Nava, whose unique journey to the majors has been often cited, went 4-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI, playing a key role in the Red Sox's final win in a three-game sweep of their division rival. Nava’s four hits tied a career high, a number he’s reached three times this season.

“I think anytime there’s a willingness to take constructive feedback and work as hard as he has to overcome maybe a deficiency in the moment, it’s a guy you root for,” Farrell said of Nava before Sunday’s game. “To perform at the level he is right now, this is something that no one could ever foresee.”

“That’s why you never give up on a guy that shows you some talent.”

Indeed, Nava has worked hard to earn the position he’s been in this season. From being turned down by multiple college and independent league teams to having his rights purchased by the Red Sox from the Chico Outlaws for $1 to hitting his way through each minor league level to his first-pitch grand slam in his first major league at-bat, Nava has proved anyone who has doubted him wrong.

However, the always-humble 30-year-old believes he’s just doing his part along with the rest of the team.

“I think I’m just trying to finish the season strong just as every guy in this clubhouse is,” Nava said. “We put up nine runs and there’s a lot of guys who contributed to those nine runs besides myself.”

Since returning from paternity leave on Aug. 8 after the birth of his daughter Faith, something he joked could be the reason for his recent hot streak, Nava has hit .400 while getting on base in nearly half of his at-bats. His torrid pace has vaulted him into the American League top 10 in both average and OBP (seventh in BA, fifth in OBP), behind only Los Angeles Angels phenom Mike Trout in those categories among outfielders.

“There’s never any panic, there’s never any expanding of the strike zone,” Farrell explained. “He’s very disciplined and a very consistent hitter.”

Nava believes having a consistent role has been the biggest reason for his success this season.

“Knowing when you’re going to play really allows any player in my position to get in a good rhythm, a good routine, and that goes a long way with the length of the season,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about anything else other than going out and having fun and playing ball.”

Having fun and playing ball is something the Red Sox have had no trouble doing this month, going 11-3 and riding a torrid offense that has scored 100 runs in the span of those 14 games. However, according to Nava, there are still ways for the team to get better.

“It’s baseball, you can always play better,” he said, before offering a reason how.

“How? We could never get out.”

BOSTON -- The staged farewell was for Mariano Rivera, although the way the Red Sox played it, Rivera must have thought he’d walked into a Friars Club roast. The Sox forced him via video to relive his worst Fenway Park moment -- the Dave Roberts steal and blown save in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS -- before breaking out the gifts and salutations. With his typical grace, Rivera smiled through all of it.

But it was the unscripted goodbye Sunday night that should resonate most for Red Sox fans. With a 9-2 win, the Sox officially eliminated the Yankees from the AL East race. A mere formality at this point, to be sure, as the Yankees are in fourth place in the division, 12½ games behind the Sox and closer to last place (10½ games) than first.

Nonetheless, Sept. 15 is the earliest the Yankees have been officially eliminated since 1992, when Rivera was a 22-year-old starting pitcher for Class A Fort Lauderdale, where his manager was Brian Butterfield, Boston’s third-base coach, and a teammate was Carl Everett, the ex-Sox outfielder whose ejection by plate umpire Ron Kulpa was far more memorable than when Mike Napoli was tossed by Kulpa Sunday night.

Napoli’s two-run home run onto the center-field camera well in the first inning, when the Sox took a 3-1 lead and were never challenged, was his seventh home run against the Yankees this season, just one shy of the record for home runs against the Yankees by a Sox player (Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx having hit eight in 1936).

The Sox first baseman had two more chances when he is most dangerous -- with the bases loaded, when he came into the game batting .524 (11-for-21) with three grand slams and 31 RBIs -- but he went down swinging in the fifth and was called out on strikes by Kulpa in the sixth.

Napoli, not enchanted with the call, spiked his helmet, which was sufficient provocation for the plate umpire to give Napoli the rest of the night off. Napoli has played 859 big league games since making his debut in 2006. This was his first ejection, his behavior evidently having been found more acceptable back in his clean-shaven days.

The strikeout also was of some consequence, although it’s almost unseemly to mention it when a player is swinging the bat the way Napoli has of late: .438 (14-for-32), five home runs, four doubles, 13 RBIs in his last nine games. But when Kulpa rung him up in the sixth, Napoli entered the Sox record book as the player with the most K’s in a season, that whiff giving him 178, one more than Mark Bellhorn, the man of notable sideburns on the ’04 World Series winners. (Somewhere Bellhorn was channeling Mike Torrez post-Buckner and thinking, “I’m off the hook.’’)

The Sox will gladly take the whiffs as trade-off for the production: Napoli’s seven home runs and 20 RBIs in 63 plate appearances against the Yanks this season, for example, compared to the five home runs and 21 RBIs his predecessor at first base, Adrian Gonzalez, amassed in 133 plate appearances against New York over two seasons. And there is the track record in October to consider: In 17 postseason games with the Rangers beginning in 2011, Napoli hit .328 with three home runs and 15 RBIs.

And by the time Napoli registered K No. 178 (which he did not stick around to discuss), the Sox were safely ahead 7-1, Clay Buchholz holding the Yankees to just two hits over six innings in his second tuneup for October since returning from the disabled list after a 94-day absence.

Buchholz, who was charged with an unearned run in the first after his wild pickoff attempt allowed Curtis Granderson to flee from first to third and subsequently score on a ground ball by Alex Rodriguez, was not particularly sharp, especially with his hard stuff. He walked four, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch. But the Sox turned two double plays behind him (three in all) and he remained unbeaten with an 11-0 record and 1.51 ERA, the kind of numbers that tend to play well in October.

“You remember where you’ve been,’’ Buchholz said. “I’ve been probably just about to the pinnacle, the best feeling you can get from this game, and I’ve been pretty low in it too. My mindset is to stay on an even keel. Stuff happens, you’ve got five days, and go about your business. I try not to get too high, too low. Just do your job.’’

The Sox took 13 of 19 games from the Yankees this season, their most wins against their archrivals since they won 14 in 1973, the year the DH was introduced. They beat the Yankees by four or more runs seven times, while scoring eight or more runs eight times.

“Our confidence continues to grow,’’ Sox manager John Farrell said after the Sox won for the fifth time in six games and 10th time in the last 12 to move 33 games over .500 (92-59) for the first time this season. “That’s not to take anything for granted or guys thinking that someone is not going to either pitch a good game against us or put together a good game against us. It’s just a matter that this group believes in itself and continues to show it between the lines.

“The beauty of this team is that it’s a collective group. It’s not about individual accolades or awards or acknowledgments, it’s about what we hope to continue to work toward and achieve.”

And besides everything else Sunday night -- Buchholz’s pitching, Napoli’s homer and four doubles, two by Daniel Nava, who went 4-for-4 -- there also was a double steal as catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia was credited with a steal of home when the Yankees threw down to second in the fourth inning.

“Speed kills,’’ Buchholz said. “That’s what they were saying in the dugout.’’

The last time Saltalamacchia stole home? “Probably T-ball,’’ he said. “It’s definitely something I never thought would happen.’’

Saltalamacchia then ticked off the names of the players he knows have stolen home. “There’s [Jacoby] Ellsbury, Jackie Robinson and me,’’ he said.

How much difference does a year make? The regular season ended last year in Yankee Stadium with the Sox swept three straight by the Yankees by a cumulative score of 28-7, the final indignity a 14-2 defeat.

This season? With the Rays losing again Sunday, the magic number to win the division is down to four. The Sox, who have 11 games left, could clinch as early as Wednesday.

“It’s hard to sweep any team,’’ Buchholz said, “but finishing it off against the Yankees, it’s not an easy feat. I think everybody did their job.”

The broken-down Yankees, meanwhile, remain three games behind in the wild-card race and head to Toronto. The last Yankee to walk off the field Sunday night was Rivera, trailed by a TV camera, waving to the clusters of fans that waited to bid one last farewell. Before he left, he wrote a message on the bullpen wall, the only time all weekend he used his magnificent right arm. Rivera did not pitch once here in three games, and chances grow slimmer that he will ever pitch again in October.

BOSTON -- A few notes prior to Sunday night’s farewell to Mariano Rivera:

* The Red Sox are urging fans to be in their seats by 7:30 for the pregame ceremony honoring the Yankees' closer.

* Sox manager John Farrell, with all due respect, hopes he has seen the last of Rivera on the mound.

“Hopefully we don’t have to face Rivera -- that means it’s not a save opportunity for the Yankees,’’ Farrell said. “But I think it’s deserved, the tribute that’ll be paid to him here before the game, if you’re a fan of the game. Just a remarkable career and he has set the standard for all those that occupy the closer’s role.’’

* Farrell’s expectations of Clay Buchholz, making his second start since coming off the DL: “There’s not a hard, fast number of pitches to look at, but I will say if he walks out to start the sixth inning, that would be another step in the right direction.”

* Farrell, on the chances of an uptick in velocity from Buchholz’s last start: “It might be. The one thing that was encouraging, there were a couple of pitches in Tampa where he needed to get a strikeout and he reached back to get a little extra velocity. Not that velocity is the end-all, be-all, but it’s a sign that arm strength is building. I would expect that to hopefully tick up a little bit tonight but I think even before the injury, he would pitch very comfortably in that low 90s, 92-93 range. We saw a lot of that the other night in Tampa.”

* Shane Victorino was given a night off, as the Sox manage his hamstring and back issues. Will Middlebrooks is out of the lineup, Farrell said, with flu-like symptoms. Daniel Nava and Mike Carp are the corner outfielders, Nava in right, Carp in left, while Xander Bogaerts will play third.

* Even before taking the field, the Sox's magic number was reduced to five, as the Rays blew a lead to the Twins and lost. The Rangers also lost, their sixth in a row, meaning Terry Francona’s Indians had a chance to draw within a half-game of a wild-card spot with a win over the White Sox in a game delayed by rain. (UPDATE: The Indians delivered with a 7-1 victory.)

BOSTON -- Amid his struggles from June to August, Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli reiterated several times that he’s a streaky hitter -- as low as his lows go, his highs will make up for them. Now, 14 days into September, the Red Sox are riding those highs toward the best record in all of baseball.

Facing New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia on Saturday afternoon, Napoli was once again at the center of a relentless offense, reaching base safely in all four of his plate appearances and scoring two runs in the Red Sox’s 5-1 win over New York. All five of the team’s runs were charged to Sabathia, bringing his ERA to 7.22 (23 earned runs in 28 2/3 innings) in five starts against Boston this season.

“CC’s a very good pitcher; he’s had a tremendous career,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “We’ve had some success against him here, particularly in Fenway, whether it’s the wall, whether it’s just confidence going against him.”

Confidence is something this Red Sox team hasn’t been short on recently, winning eight straight series for the first time since 1995 and claiming their league-leading 91st win of the season Saturday. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a cleanup hitter who’s batting .424 with 11 RBIs in nine September starts to get you to that point.

“Right now I’m recognizing pitches,” Napoli said. “I’ve been getting deep into counts all year. I just felt really good today, and we were able to [sit] on some pitches that usually you swing through.”

Recognizing that he needed to start his swing earlier in order to get his foot down on time in the batter’s box, Napoli was all over Sabathia on Saturday. The 31-year-old first baseman saw 13 pitches from Sabathia in three plate appearances, not swinging and missing once.

“In years past, he threw a lot harder,” Napoli said of the 33-year-old Sabathia. “It’s always tougher when he has his good changeup. Maybe it’s just one of [those] years.

“He’s a good pitcher. Been grinding at-bats away and been doing what we’ve been doing all year against everybody. Just trying to pass it on to the next guy and battle against him.”

Like it has been in many of the Red Sox starts against left-handers this season, the next guy behind Napoli was outfielder Jonny Gomes, who nearly duplicated what Napoli passed on to him in his four plate appearances. Gomes reached base all four times and went 2-for-2, scoring no runs but adding a double and an RBI.

Napoli cited the team’s patience in the middle of the order as the reason for its success against Sabathia on the afternoon.

"We’ve got a lot of guys that get deep into counts, and that’s the goal,” he said. “When everyone’s working together to do that, it works. We’ve been doing it all year and we don’t plan on stopping.”

BOSTON -- Many things have changed for Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester since he made his major league debut with Boston in 2006.

Off the mound, he has won his battle with cancer. He has become a husband and a father. But one thing has remained constant: When Lester has a baseball in his hand and he is standing on the mound in front of thousands and thousands of fans, he has been one of the most dominant left-handers in the game.

For the majority of this season, he has been vintage Lester, and his eight-inning performance Saturday helped the Red Sox to a 5-1 win over the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. Lester allowed only one run on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts to improve his record to 14-8 and lower his ERA to 3.75.

Each season, Lester sets a goal to reach 200 innings, and he surpassed that mark Saturday, working 201 1/3 innings this season. The most he logged in a season was 210 1/3 innings in 2008, when he posted a 16-6 record with a 3.21 ERA in 33 starts.

He is the ninth pitcher in Red Sox history with five seasons of 200-plus innings. He became only the third left-handed pitcher to reach that plateau, joining Mel Parnell (six seasons) and Bruce Hurst (five).

“That’s the one goal, individual goal, that I set every year for myself, and that’s make every start that I can and throw 200 innings,” Lester said. “When you’re on a good team like this, the rest of it takes care of itself. That’s all you can control is innings, and it’s something I take pride in and the thing I work toward every year.”

Red Sox manager John Farrell, who served as Lester’s pitching coach in Boston from 2007 to 2010, has a close working relationship with the staff’s ace and has been impressed with his ability to reach 200 innings in five of his six seasons as a full-time starter.

“Above and beyond that, it’s been outstanding innings pitched for the better part of his career,” Farrell said. "Every starter goes into a season thinking 200 innings is a minimum you’d like to get to. It proves you’ve put in the work, you’ve been consistent, you’ve stayed healthy. And today was probably an example of the bulk of his career that we’ve talked about. He was powerful. He had good command inside the strike zone. He pitched in effectively to both lefties and righties. Just a very solid, very good eight innings of work.”

On Saturday, Lester outdueled Yankees starter CC Sabathia. The New York lefty worked six innings and allowed five runs on nine hits with four walks and five strikeouts. He threw 110 pitches (70 strikes). Boston has won 10 consecutive games when facing a left-handed starter.

Getting back to Lester, Saturday was his 218th career start to pass Hurst and Tom Brewer for seventh on the Sox’s all-time list. He also passed Hurst for second-most games started by a Sox lefty.

Other than a nasty 0-4 skid in a span of six starts from May 20 to June 16, then another 0-2 skid in three starts from July 3 to July 13, Lester has been consistent for the majority of this season, especially since the All-Star break.

He owns a 2.52 ERA in his 12 outings since July 13, including 11 quality starts. Since Aug. 8, he has recorded a 1.86 ERA and a quality start in all eight games, which is one shy of his career-high nine-game streak set in 2009.

It’s a safe bet his confidence is soaring.

“Anytime you take somebody that’s had some success, obviously your confidence is high,” Lester said. “When you struggle, that kind of varies from start to start, but I don’t think this year it’s been a factor in anything. I believe in myself, and these guys in here believe in me. I knew going through what I went through in the middle of the year that it was just a matter of time. Just keep running out there and things will take care of itself.”

Each pitch in his repertoire has been working effectively too. He has command of his fastball and is throwing it in the mid-90s. His cutter is cutting with some bite. His changeup has been nasty, and his curveball has been keeping opposing hitters off-balance.

“When Jon is executing pitches, it gives him clarity on the mound,” Farrell said. “And what I mean by the clarity is that there’s no indecision with pitch selection. He’s got confidence to go to a given pitch when he needs to get a strike, whether that’s a four-seamer down and away to a righty or whatever the moment might be.

“But it’s more about him having confidence in his pitches. That’s what reduces the frustration with him and allows him to maybe not carry the previous pitch into the next one and that frustration is eliminated. That’s where he’s been for pretty much the whole year with the exception of that month stretch where things were a little hit or miss for him.”

Lester’s professional résumé is an impressive one. He was the winning pitcher in Game 4 when the Red Sox clinched a World Series sweep against the Colorado Rockies in 2007.

When he returned completely healthy and cancer-free in 2008, he made 33 starts and reached 210 1/3 innings. Being his first full season in the big leagues, he was wide-eyed and still learning. His accomplishments that season were a prelude to what has turned into an impressive career.

“Completely different seasons,” he said when asked to compare what he’s been able to do this season compared to ’08. “It was my first full year, and [I experienced] all the new firsts of playing a full season in the big leagues. Getting to 200 innings for the first time, making 33 starts and making a playoff run from spring training until whenever we finished. I don’t think you can really compare those years. I know my body pretty well now and when we need to scale back some workouts or when we need to get after it and what to expect when you get to 160 or 180 innings, how your body’s going to feel and how to maintain that.”

Farrell likes what he's seeing.

“When you think of the velocity that’s in the mid-90s now pretty consistently, it just makes his cutter that much more effective where hitters have to commit early to address the velocity," Farrell said. "Just the consistency, ability to repeat his delivery, put the ball on the ground and get strikeouts, that combination is a very good one.”

Lester has always been the type of pitcher who gets stronger late in the season. He has had consecutive starts of eight innings, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.

“It’s not uncommon for power pitchers to really hit their stride in the second half of the season,” Farrell said. “He’s an example of that. His delivery becomes that much more efficient, and he repeats it more consistently. With that rhythm comes power, and that’s what we’ve all seen in Jon over the course of the time here.”

Lester has at least two starts remaining in the regular season, and while he's concentrating on those, he’s in the right frame of mind and the success is evident with the way he’s been pitching.

Based on his past experience when he’s pitching this well, especially at this time of the season, one can only imagine how he’ll pitch in October.

“You’re either going to get me, or I’m going to get you,” Lester said.

The Red Sox are banking on Lester.

BOSTON -- The best record in baseball continues to get better.

The Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees 5-1 on Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park to improve to 91-59. With the win, Boston has won 32 series this season and leads the majors in that category.

Jon Lester continues to pitch well and improved to 14-8 in his 31st start of the season. The left-hander worked eight innings and allowed only one run on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts. He tossed 115 pitches (79 strikes).

Each season, Lester sets a goal to reach 200 innings, and he surpassed that mark Saturday. He has worked 201 1/3 innings this season. The most he logged was 210 1/3 innings in 2008 when he posted a 16-6 record with a 3.21 ERA in 33 starts.

On Saturday, Lester outdueled Yankees starter CC Sabathia. The New York lefty worked six innings and allowed five runs on nine hits with four walks and five strikeouts. He threw 110 pitches (70 strikes). Boston has won 10 consecutive games when facing a left-handed starter.

With Lester dialed in, his teammates gave him the early lead.

Using a bit of small-ball action, the Red Sox gained a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the second inning. Mike Napoli led off with a single and reached second on a throwing error by Yankees third baseman Mark Reynolds. After Jonny Gomes drew a walk, Daniel Nava dropped a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. Will Middlebrooks grounded out to short but was able to push the run across.

Meanwhile, Lester retired the first nine batters he faced.

The Red Sox added to their lead with two runs in the bottom of the third inning. Again, small ball proved crucial. Dustin Pedroia led off with a single, and Shane Victorino executed a sacrifice bunt before David Ortiz provided an opposite-field RBI double for a 2-0 lead. Napoli followed and collected his second hit of game. Gomes added an RBI single for a 3-0 advantage.

New York pushed across its only run of the game in the top of the fourth inning. Curtis Granderson led off with a triple to deep center field and scored on a one-out groundout by Robinson Cano.

The Red Sox continued to slowly pick away at the Yankees.

Victorino’s RBI single in the fourth inning gave Boston a 4-1 lead before Nava’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth inning increased the Sox’s lead to 5-1.

For the second consecutive start, Lester worked eight innings. He ended Saturday's outing with a solid defensive play, snaring a hard chopper back to the mound by Reynolds.

Red Sox lefty reliever Franklin Morales retired the side in order in the top of the ninth inning.

UP NEXT: Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz will make his second start Sunday night since being activated from the disabled list Tuesday. The right-hander is 10-0 with a 1.61 ERA. The Yankees will send righty Ivan Nova (8-4, 3.17) to the mound in the series and season finale. Buchholz is 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA in two starts against the Yankees this season.