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ABERDEEN, Md. -- To the outside observer, the last two MLB drafts might seem to have been nothing if not frustrating for Boston’s 2013 second-round pick, Teddy Stankiewicz.

In 2012, the Mets took Stankiewicz as a high school draftee with the 75th overall pick, only to offer him less than slot money and ultimately not sign him. After he compiled a 4-5 record with a 2.52 ERA last year at Seminole State (Junior) College in Oklahoma, the Red Sox selected Stankiewicz in the second round in 2013, 45th overall, but ultimately cut his bonus from a reported $1.1 million to $915,000 because of an issue that arose in his physical.

Even so, the humble, gracious young Texan is able to see the positives in the detours on the way to his goal of the major leagues. The pitcher Boston drafted this June, he said, was much different from the one the Mets could have signed.

“College was a very smart choice for me because I got to mature a lot more in that year,” Stankiewicz said last week in Aberdeen, Md. as his Lowell Spinners wrapped up their season. “It also helped me see a lifestyle of living away from home, living in a dorm room, making sure I have my own meals -- doing all my stuff on my own instead of having my parents there.”

Stankiewicz chose Seminole State not only because it allowed him to be redrafted in a year, but because the program is run with professional baseball in mind. Seminole State’s manager, Lloyd Simmons, spent six years coaching rookie ball in the Royals organization, and spent stints as an area scout for the Royals and Yankees. Since he knows what the next level looks like, Simmons said he and his staff “spent a majority of our time getting guys ready for the next level.”

“There’s not a whole lot of difference between junior college and rookie ball because of the fact that they’re 17-, 18-year-old kids who think they know how to play the game, but they don’t,” Simmons said. “I pretty well manage my whole system after what I did in pro ball as far as time management on the field. A lot of these young men come in here, they’ve never had a set schedule. That’s why a lot of kids get in trouble in pro ball, because they don’t know [time management.”

Simmons said Stankiewicz “was a pretty mature young man” when he arrived in Seminole, and committed to the program’s conditioning regimen to help him on the mound.

“I think the biggest thing we did for him here was ... we got him in great shape,” Simmons said. “He’s a good athlete, there’s no doubt about that, and he’s got a great arm, but the biggest thing is we put strength on him, trimmed him down and put good, lean muscle on him.”

When he arrived, Simmons said the book on Stankiewicz was that he was a hard thrower who lost his velocity as games went on. At the end of the season, Simmons said Stankiewicz was still hitting 95 mph in the ninth inning.

Stankiewicz also ironed out his delivery, Simmons said. Stankiewicz said his unique motion to the plate, which begins with a high leg kick and includes a pronounced tilt backward, was honed through years of coaching and tweaking. But Simmons found that Stankiewicz could rush through his motion at times, and the manager sought to slow down his delivery to allow Stankiewicz to stay over the rubber longer and allow him to get better “tilt.”

Stankiewicz debuted for Lowell on July 21 and enjoyed an extended spell of success, though the organization limited his usage. He carried a 1.08 ERA in 16 2/3 innings into his final start Sept. 3 at Aberdeen, when the IronBirds tagged him for three first-inning runs that raised his ERA to 2.29 at season’s end. Still, Stankiewicz allowed earned runs in just three of his nine short outings, striking out 15 batters and walking just two in 19 2/3 innings in his first taste of the pros.

In his final outing, Stankiewicz featured a 92-94 mph fastball in the first inning, along with a mid-80s changeup and a mid-70s curveball. His fastball settled into the low 90s as his outing progressed, but despite the dip in velocity, Stankiewicz was easily able to repeat his methodical delivery throughout.

Simmons said Stankiewicz returned to Seminole after the season ended to work with his old team. Though Stankiewicz had been gone for just a few months, Simmons saw a pitcher who had improved.

“I think his off-speed stuff was much better than it was back in the spring,” Simmons said. “He got a little bit better over the summer, and his off-speed pitches are a lot longer. He’s not trying to rush through those or overthrow them. He’s slowed down a bit with his arm.”

The next step for Stankiewicz will be the fall instructional league, where he will continue to hone his arsenal and build toward a full season next year, likely starting in Class A Greenville. Going forward, his college coach expects the improvements to continue.

“He’s an exceptional young man,” Simmons said. “He’s got a burning desire to be successful, and I think that’s why he’s going to be successful. He’s got a deep desire to succeed, and I think he’s going to do that.”

Jon Meoli is a Senior Columnist for SoxProspects.com. Follow him on Twitter @JonMeoli.

BOSTON -- Fresh off a thrilling 8-4 win thanks in part to a grand slam by Jarrod Saltalamacchia, it’s a quick turnaround for the Boston Red Sox as they host the New York Yankees in a matinee game today at Fenway Park.

It’s an absolutely beautiful day at the ballpark this morning and besides the music blaring in the Sox’s clubhouse, it’s relatively quiet, which is odd for a Red Sox-Yankees series in September. Boston enters today’s game atop the AL East with an 8 ½ game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays, and 10 ½ over the Yankees.

While Jon Lester starts for the Red Sox today, fellow starter Clay Buchholz gets the nod in the series and season finale Sunday night against New York. It will be his second start since returning from the DL after missing three months with a neck strain. The right-hander worked five scoreless innings last Tuesday against the Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla., and he’s still progressing and preparing for the postseason.

Red Sox manager John Farrell indicated Saturday morning that Buchholz is still limited by a pitch count.

“We’ve got a range. It would be great if he can go out and continue what he did down in Tampa,” Farrell said. “But, as I mentioned yesterday, the stress of the pitches from the start to the end of his night, that’ll have as much bearing as the number of pitches thrown.”

Buchholz reached 74 pitches against the Rays and that number could increase against the Yankees. Despite the hiatus due to injury, Buchholz is 10-0 with a 1.61 ERA this season. Against the Yankees, he’s 2-0 with a 0.75 in two starts this season.

* Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury began physical activities Friday as he attempts to return from a fracture in his right foot. He suffered the injury on Sept. 5 and was given clearance to remove the walking boot Friday to begin his comeback attempt. The hope is the Sox’s leadoff hitter will be able to return in time for the postseason. Farrell said Ellsbury’s first day of physical activities went well. “As anticipated,” he said. “He’s going through more exercises here today which is all part of his rehab plan at the time of the exam. No baseball activities, this is just all physical activities.”

* Red Sox pitcher Felix Doubront is on track to start a game against the Toronto Blue Jays next weekend. The left-hander will work side session Sunday and he’s scheduled to throw a simulated game on Tuesday. Because the Red Sox currently have six healthy starters, Doubront was skipped his last time around as Farrell is balancing rest and trying to figure out how the rotation and bullpen will look for the postseason.

“We felt like this was the need just from the physical standpoint,” Farrell said. “There wasn’t anything glaring inside the last five or six starts that he made, it was just the lack of consistency and to me that looked like fatigue.”

That fatigue Farrell speaks of could be a result of the career-high 161 innings in 29 starts Doubront made last season. Plus, he wasn’t completely ready for spring training and his success rate during the season has fluctuated.

“He went through different phases this year where he started a little bit behind in spring training, caught up, got on a very good run for an extended period of time and then things started to catch up to him again,” Farrell said. “That’s just our response to the waves that he’s gone through and we have to address it accordingly.”

BOSTON -- After a seven-game road trip filled with close games and late-inning heroics, it was only fitting for the Red Sox to return home on Friday night doing the same in grand style.

Following a two-run top of the seventh inning for the Yankees that tied the score at 4, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a grand slam, his first since May 2009, to put the Red Sox on top for good in their eventual 8-4 win.

“I was really just trying to get a good pitch to hit in the air,” Saltalamacchia said. “I just needed to get a strike up in the zone to do something with.”

Facing reliever Preston Claiborne, who hadn’t pitched since allowing six runs to Boston in two-thirds of an inning between two appearances September 5 and 6, Saltalamacchia took a 92 mph fastball over the plate to deep right for the team’s eighth grand slam this year, and fourth since the start of September. Each of Boston’s four September slams have been hit by a different player (Mike Carp on Sept. 11, Mike Napoli on Sept. 6, Will Middlebrooks on Sept. 4).

“That’s what is making this season fun,” designated hitter David Ortiz said. “You’re not talking [about] a team that depends on one guy ... we have plenty of guys doing their thing out there.”

The Red Sox established a lead early, scoring four in the first inning. But Boston starter John Lackey ran into trouble in the top of the seventh. After he allowed back-to-back singles to the bottom of the Yankees order, manager John Farrell pulled Lackey in favor of his bullpen, a group that has allowed the game-tying or winning run to score after the sixth inning in three of their last four games.

“I thought he had done his job,” Farrell said of his decision to pull Lackey after only 82-pitches. “I felt like that was the move at the time.”

The move backfired as reliever Craig Breslow loaded the bases on an Alex Rodriguez walk before yielding a two-run double to Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano. Brandon Workman came in to retire Alfonso Soriano, turning things over to what became yet another Red Sox offensive rally following a bullpen falter.

“We’ve got the ability to show the resiliency,” Farrell said. “They score the two [runs] to tie it, and then we build the inning obviously prior to Salty’s grand slam. We’re getting big hits and it’s been spread around.”

BOSTON -- When Jarrod Saltalamacchia hammered a fastball into the right-field bleachers for a decisive grand slam Friday night against the New York Yankees, it represented more than just a big man hitting a small ball a long way.

Not only was it another sign of Saltalamacchia’s ascension into a more complete offensive player, but it gave support to the notion that you are only as strong as the last man on your bench. In the case of the Red Sox, that bench, and all the support it has offered for regulars like Saltalamacchia, has proven incredibly valuable.

Saltalamacchia needed several days off earlier in the month to rest a sore back. He was hitless in six at-bats in his first two games back but has homered in consecutive games, looking very much like the guy who hit at a fairly consistent clip from May through August before a swoon as the calendar turned to September.

"I felt that I wasn't helping the team," he said of his decision, with the training staff, to take some time off. "I didn't want to hurt the team. We had worked too hard and done too much so it felt like it was the right thing. Get it looked at, take some time, take a couple of days off, get back to where I was to help the team."

The decision has proven to be a wise one.

"It's showing in his game," manager John Farrell said. "Whether it's the transfer on his throws, which have been strong. The freedom in the lower back has allowed that swing to play as we've seen before. He's doing a hell of a job with a little extra rest right now.”

With expanded rosters and the ability to carry three catchers, it was easy to give Saltalamacchia a breather without necessitating a massive roster shuffle. However, several guys (Dustin Pedroia excluded) have taken similar respites throughout the season. Most have returned from their layoffs with obvious indicators that rest was all they needed to get back to where they needed to be.

"It's huge," Saltalamacchia said of the team's depth. "Victorino's had to take time off. Stephen [Drew], [Jacoby Ellsbury]. When you have those core guys that have to take a few days, it's better to take a few than be out for the season. So to have guys like [Mike] Carp and [Daniel] Nava step up and just do an unbelievable job really just says a lot about this team and where we're at."

In this game rife with numbers, ratios and percentages, it is not always easy to quantify the precise impact a few days of rest can have on a catcher down the stretch. With this edition of the Red Sox, however, the ability to manage those little storms has been a constant theme and has to be a major factor in the team's impressive win-loss record.

Credit goes to the top.

"That's been the key to this season," Farrell said. "Not to take anything away from the individual performances, but the depth has allowed us to go to a guy when someone else needs a day or three. [General manager Ben Cherington] has put together a very good roster."

On Saturday, there is a day game after a night game and, perhaps, a good chance to get Saltalamacchia off his feet again. The same may occur for others who pounded their way through the club's 17th game in 18 days. If recent history is a guide, the fill-ins will do just fine and the regulars will return ready to contribute.

BOSTON -- The Red Sox are doing their best to avoid talk of the playoffs, but with every win their return to the postseason looks increasingly inevitable. Once that berth has been assured, the next goal will be securing the top spot in the American League and home-field advantage as long as they are alive in the postseason.

At some point, that quest will become a major talking point, too.

If and when Boston locks down the No. 1 spot in the American League playoffs, it assures the club of getting the lion's share of games in a place that has been this season what it used to be -- a nightmare for opponents and a romper room for the Red Sox, who improved to 48-25 at home with an 8-4 joint-jumping win over the New York Yankees on Friday that cut Boston's magic number to seven to clinch the American League East.

Consider manager John Farrell's pregame thoughts on the matter: "The one thing that stands out is our guys respond to the environment in here. Any time you come off the road either after a long road trip, the energy that is created here our guys thrive on it. I'm not going to say we do things differently from an offensive standpoint to play to the ballpark, but I think our guys love playing in this ballpark and in this city and for these people."

Hours later, Boston had a 4-0 first-inning lead. Hours after that, a roar that harkened back to the glory years of the previous decade was heard when Jarrod Saltalamacchia hammered a tiebreaking grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning. It took time, but the city and its people have largely bought in, and that roar of approval was further proof.

Simply put, the Sox have taken back Fenway Park, a phenomenon that bodes extremely well for October. Farrell and the players do not want to discuss such matters, but it has to be in their heads. And if they need a history lesson, the numbers are easy to crunch.

Since 1999, Boston is 20-11 at Fenway Park in the postseason versus 16-18 on the road. That is a massive discrepancy, especially given the nip-and-tuck nature of the best-of-five and best-of-seven postseason sets. Again, talk of such matters is limited in the clubhouse, at least publicly, but getting to the point where such conversations can begin is important.

"We're just playing hard and trying to bury everybody," said designated hitter David Ortiz. "Not trying to be sneaky, just trying to win games. ... We're just trying to win games to make sure we walk into the playoffs."

Boston has won 14 of its last 19 at home, several in dominating fashion (it has outscored opponents 28-8 in the last two games at Fenway). A few more performances like Friday night and the Sox will be waiting for the winner of the wild-card play-in game and gearing up for two home games to begin their October run.

Sure, anything can happen in the postseason, but history has proven that successful playoff runs for the Red Sox often involve Fenway magic. It's not a bad place to start, and anyone needing further proof on the matter need only listen to the roars Friday night.

BOSTON -- The current Red Sox campaign may one day draw comparisons to the 1967 “Impossible Dream” team that shockingly won the American League pennant, but as of now it’s a stretch. The ’67 crew ended years of frustration at Fenway and survived an intense race with several teams, while this year’s unit is running away with the division and the organization has had just one losing season since 1997.

However, the 2013 Red Sox have now surpassed those impossible dreamers in one regard. With their 90th win of the season Friday, an 8-4 triumph in the first of three games against the New York Yankees, Boston has produced a 21-win turnaround from last year’s dismal 69-93 campaign. The 1967 turnaround was “only” 20 games, from 72 to 92.

That’s just one of the many remarkable aspects of the Sox’s continued success, which now has their magic number to clinch the American League East crown at seven games (pending the result of Tampa Bay’s game with Minnesota later Friday).

Here is some of what we saw along the way Friday night:

Too Salty: The Sox lost all of a 4-0 lead before getting all four runs back on one swing as Jarrod Saltalamacchia hammered a grand slam with one out in the seventh to provide the decisive blow. It was Saltalamacchia’s third career slam and his ninth home run in 59 games at home. And if you’re keeping score at home, it is the second tiebreaking grand slam in the past three games for Boston.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig: Manager John Farrell spoke before the game about how his players “thrive” on the energy at Fenway Park and how it can be a pick-me-up after returning from a long road trip. That certainly seemed to be the case during a four-run first inning that saw the Red Sox wear out Hiroki Kuroda with some trademark at-bats.

At that point in time, Boston had produced an awesome 24 runs in its past eight innings at home. Overall, the Sox have won 14 of their past 19 at Fenway, where they own the American League’s best home mark.

Eat U-heart out: There was no save involved, but Koji Uehara retired all three men he faced in the ninth to extend his streak of consecutive outs to 37, ending it on a three-pitch strikeout of Curtis Granderson. That stat pretty much speaks for itself.

Pedroia’s performance: The Red Sox second baseman had another busy game in his fourth straight in the leadoff role. He had a base hit to begin the four-run first inning, becoming the 20th Boston player to reach 1,200 hits with the team, and ripped another in the second to become the 20th to reach 1,201.

In the fourth, Pedroia had just his fifth error of the season on a hard one-hopper that hit off his glove, spoiling a potential inning-ending double play and giving the Yankees a little life. True to form, Pedroia ended up saving a run and finishing the inning with a great diving stop of an Ichiro Suzuki grounder.

Pedroia was threatening to set the all-time Red Sox mark for fielding percentage by a second baseman, a record set by Mark Loretta in 2006. Pedroia entered the night just a shade behind Loretta and with a nice errorless stretch in the final two weeks would have easily surpassed him. Not that anyone is holding their breath on Pedroia’s pursuit, but it may be out the window now.

The cryin’ Hawaiian: After getting plunked on the right elbow in the bottom of the second inning, Shane Victorino had been hit by a pitch 11 times in just 91 plate appearances while batting right-handed against a right-handed pitcher. Victorino received a brief visit from Farrell and a trainer while slowly walking to first base but remained in the game.

While Victorino is the one getting beat up, it is a wonder how frustrating it is to opponents who throw pitches an inch off the plate and see Victorino reach base. The one that caught him in the second was practically a strike, but after catching a leaning Victorino on the elbow it put two men on with one out for David Ortiz, a scenario no pitcher wants.

Victorino also made a sensational running catch on a ball in the gap in the sixth and walked gingerly back to his position, adding some sort of ache or pain to a litany of minor physical issues for him this year. That play is a great representation of Victorino’s season: a remarkable defensive play made in the clutch by a guy who has the appearance that he might crumble to pieces if caught in a light breeze.

Now why doesn’t Ortiz do that?!?! That must’ve been the cry in the top of the first inning from some of those who feel that Ortiz should drop more bunts down the third-base line whenever opposing teams shift heavily to the right against him. Those on both sides of that debate had just witnessed Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano drop a bunt double (yes, double) down the line, racing for two bases as the ball rolled fair past the bag and almost to the wall jutting out in shallow left field.

Eleven pitches into a Yankees-Red Sox contest, and we already had our “You don’t see that every night” moment.

John Lackey sandwiched swinging strikeouts of Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano around the odd two-bagger to make it an afterthought.

Missed opportunities: The Sox had Kuroda on the ropes early. There was the four-run first that seemed to set the tone and then they loaded the bases with one out in the second before squandering that chance.

Saltalamacchia then doubled to start the third and moved to third with one out. Kuroda fanned Will Middlebrooks and got Jackie Bradley Jr. to pop to center. That was early in a stretch that saw Kuroda retire 13 of 14 hitters before a leadoff hit in the seventh began Boston’s four-run rally.

Before Saltalamacchia’s blast it looked as if the blown chances early might haunt the Sox.

Up next: The series continues Saturday with a matchup of big lefties as CC Sabathia opposes Jon Lester in a 1:05 p.m. start.

BOSTON -- Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury has begun physical activities as he works his way back from a fracture in his right foot.

Ellsbury, who has been out of action since Sept. 5, was re-examined Friday and given the go-ahead to remove the boot protecting his injured foot in order to engage in limited exercise. The activity does not include anything baseball-related, as Ellsbury initially will take part in exercise inside a pool and mix in limited dry-land workouts. While it is just a baby step in the speedster’s return, it is timely.

“Based on the exam and the second opinion, this was the first day to begin that [exercise] so he’s on target as far as that initial plan,” manager John Farrell said Friday afternoon before the Sox hosted the New York Yankees in the first of three games.

Ellsbury was diagnosed with a compression fracture of the navicular bone in his right foot. The team still has no timetable for his return and the hope remains that he will be back prior to the postseason. Farrell said Ellsbury’s tolerance for each new activity will dictate the duration of the recovery period.

* Jake Peavy made it clear there was no need to talk about the line drive he took off his wrist in Thursday’s loss at Tampa Bay.
Peavy told reporters after the game that his wrist was fine, something X-rays supported and Farrell backed up again one day later.

“There’s no residual effect and even last night his comments were pretty honest about that. It wasn’t really worth reporting,” Farrell said. “Given that it was a line drive, but he had no ill effects finishing out the inning. He’s fine.”

Peavy is lined up to go next week against Baltimore at Fenway Park.

* Clay Buchholz, who had a successful return to the mound Tuesday against the Rays, will start the series finale against the Yankees on Sunday. Farrell said there is no set pitch count for Buchholz, adding that the intensity of the contest will dictate how long the righty can last.

Buchholz threw 74 pitches in his first start in three months against Tampa Bay. Although he looked sharp, there was no need to push the issue.

“Basically coming out of his final rehab start to match the number of pitches previously thrown is the norm because you’re going to ramp up the intensity first time back in the big leagues,” Farrell said. “I didn’t want to compound it with jumping him up 15 or 20 extra pitches along with the intensity. He came through it fine.”

* Pawtucket was scheduled to host Game 3 of the Governors’ Cup on Friday night. The earliest its season can end is Saturday, but the best-of-five series with Durham could last through Sunday, after which Boston will be able to pluck some players to help fortify its bench or bullpen.

Farrell would not provide any names of potential call-ups. Some will be rewarded for their play with the promotion while other decisions are based on roster fluctuations with an eye toward 2014.

“All those things are involved,” Farrell said. “And at least some of the initial conversation that would continue to grow in the offseason on guys that either they’re out of options next year or factor into our planning as far as depth. That’s all probably a normal conversation that’s including those things.”

* Pawtucket has already provided a handful of relievers, particularly Brandon Workman and Drake Britton, who have gained the trust of the Red Sox. As the club heads down the final stretch, Farrell often deals with the temptation to test such youngsters and see how they respond to particular situations.

“There are and have been a couple of situations where you want to see a guy, how he responds to it,” Farrell said. “Not to say that you’re looking to sacrifice a game but the opportunity for growth in a certain moment can far outweigh maybe some negative results. We’re also in a position where we’ve got a number of guys that are going to be in that position for the first time. We can’t run from that.”

As the postseason approaches, other bullpen-related decisions will be made, such as when to move a starter to the pen in anticipation of a playoff series, and who that starter would be. With Buchholz’s return, the Red Sox have six healthy regular starters. Ryan Dempster and Felix Doubront, both of whom have bullpen experience, comprise the back end of the current rotation, with Doubront’s most recent turn being skipped.

Both are candidates for such a move, and both could be left off a playoff roster entirely.

“Probably depends on who that might be,” Farrell said. “Going with a four-man rotation versus five [down the stretch], who’s the guy that comes out, has there been some experience in that before, do we trim back a pitcher because we’ll need an extra position player. That’s kind of a sliding scale to a point right now.”

* Friday night’s contest with the Yankees marks the beginning of Boston’s final homestand of the season. The Sox enter with a 47-25 mark at Fenway Park, tops in the American League. There was a time when Boston annually displayed such dominance at home, but it has been rarer in recent years.

From 2003 to 2009, the club won at least 50 games at Fenway six times. It has had totals of 46, 45 and 34 the last three years, with more road wins over the last two seasons combined.

The current team has looked much more comfortable in the cozy confines.

“The one thing that stands out is our guys respond to the environment in here,” Farrell said. “Any time you come off the road either after a long road trip, the energy that is created here, our guys thrive on it.”

Farrell said that while the acquisition of Shane Victorino was done in large part because of the way he would fit in right field at Fenway Park, the bulk of the offseason moves were made with other ideas in mind.

“The bigger picture is who would embrace the environment here and the challenges that are presented and that’s probably common through the eight or nine free agents that were signed,” Farrell said.

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: 89-59

• Games left: 14

• Lead in AL East: 8½ games over Tampa Bay (79-66)

• Magic number to win division: 8

• What does magic number mean?: If Tampa Bay wins all 17 of its remaining games, Boston would have to win 8 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 its remaining games. Then you calculate 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, 4 games ahead of Detroit, 6½ ahead of Texas.

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

• What about the Yankees?: Beat the Orioles, 6-5, for their third win in a row, remaining a game behind the Rays in the wild-card race. The Yanks, who beat the Sox on Brandon Workman’s wild pitch on Sunday, did the same to the Orioles on Thursday night, the go-ahead run scoring on Jim Johnson’s first wild pitch of the season. Yankees manager Joe Girardi was forced to use Mariano Rivera for the fourth time in five games.

• Who’s hot?: Ryan Raburn, who is just coming back from a strained Achilles, drove in five runs, three on his 16th home run, as the Indians routed the White Sox, 14-3, to stay within 1½ games of a wild-card spot. The Indians have won a franchise-record nine in a row against the White Sox and 12 of 14 overall, with three more games this weekend.

• Who’s not?: Of the 22 pitchers Alex Rodriguez has faced 50 or more times in his career (including postseason), Red Sox pitcher John Lackey ranks second in lowest batting average, with A-Rod batting just .194 (13 for 67) against the Boston right-hander (Sidney Ponson, of all people, has held him to the lowest average .188, 13 for 69). Lackey has struck out Rodriguez 28 times, more than any other big-league pitcher in his career.

• Red Sox latest outcome: Lost to the Rays, 4-3, on Thursday.

• Rays latest outcome: Beat the Red Sox, 4-3, on Thursday.

• Notable: David Ortiz and Will Middlebrooks are the only current members of the Red Sox to hit a home run off Mariano Rivera, the great Yankees’ closer who is making his farewell regular-season appearance in Fenway Park this weekend, barring an unexpected change of heart. Of all players who have had 20 or more plate appearances in their career against Rivera [including postseason], Ortiz ranks sixth in batting average, at .342 (13 for 38). Two former Sox players have a higher average against Rivera: Carl Crawford (.364, 8 for 22) and Nomar Garciaparra (.348, 8 for 23). Crawford was 1 for 2 against Rivera while with the Sox. The Yankees, meanwhile, have one baserunner in 18 plate appearances this season against Sox closer Koji Uehara, that coming on a double by Lyle Overbay. Uehara has 10 strikeouts and no walks against the Bombers.

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

All season, we’ve been tracking Mariano Rivera as he prepares to pitch in his final series against each team. Next up on the goodbye list: the Boston Red Sox this weekend.

Did you know?
• Rivera's 58 saves vs. the Red Sox are not only the most against the franchise by any player, but are more than the next two pitchers on the list combined -- Rick Aguilera (27) and Roberto Hernandez (22).

• He has four saves vs. the Red Sox this season and with three games remaining has a chance to match or surpass his single-season mark for saves against Boston. In 2001, 2005 and 2007 he had six saves against the Red Sox.

• Rivera's 13 wins over the Red Sox are his most against any team. He is also tied with Rollie Fingers for the most wins by a relief pitcher against the Red Sox in the Divisional Era (since 1969).

• Mariano did not allow a home run to a Red Sox batter over his first 30 appearances (34 innings) against the team.

That streak of 30 straight relief appearances without allowing a homer to begin his career versus the Red Sox is the second-longest such streak all-time, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Red Faber didn't allow a homer in his first 32 relief appearances vs. the Red Sox from 1914-33.

• The first Red Sox hitter to go deep vs. Rivera was Manny Ramirez on June 4, 2001. Rivera blew the save thanks to Ramirez's two-run shot in the top of the ninth inning, but Luis Sojo's walk-off single in the bottom of the frame gave Rivera and the Yankees the win.

• Rivera's six postseason saves against the Red Sox are his most against any team. It is also tied for the most postseason saves by a single player vs. any team. Dennis Eckersley also has six postseason saves vs. the Red Sox.

• In seven playoff appearances at Yankee Stadium vs. the Red Sox, Rivera has converted all three of his save opportunities and has not allowed a run in 10 innings. In those games he has faced just nine batters with a man in scoring position and has retired all of them, including five via strikeout.

• Rivera has blown 16 regular season saves vs. the Red Sox, his most vs. any team. It is also the most blown saves by a single pitcher vs. any team, ahead of Kent Tekulve's 14 blown saves vs. the Phillies.

• Rivera has hit nine Red Sox batters in his career. That's three more than any other team he's faced. He has hit Kevin Youkilis three times, but no other Red Sox player more than once.

• Rivera did not allow a stolen base in any of his first 48 appearances against the Red Sox, a streak that would end during the 2004 regular season when the Red Sox had steals in two different games against him.

They would get another in the postseason, the famous one by Dave Roberts in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, the only one they would get in 12 postseason games against him.

He Said It
"In a world of uncertainty, in a world of 'look at me athletes', for almost 20 years he was the most selfless, accountable and consistent professional in the history of sports."
-- Curt Schilling, former Red Sox pitcher

The Magic Mo'ment
• Oct. 16, 2003: Rivera closes out Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS vs. the Red Sox with three scoreless innings. Rivera's effort allowed Aaron Boone to win the game with a walk-off home run leading off the 11th inning, giving the Yankees and Rivera one of the most dramatic postseason wins in baseball history.

More on Game 7:
• Rivera is one of four pitchers to throw at least three scoreless innings of relief to earn the win in a winner-take-all postseason game, joining Hall-of-Famer Walter Johnson (1924 Senators), Joe Page (1947 Yankees) and Pedro Martinez (1999 Red Sox).

• Rivera has pitched three innings or more in two postseason games, both of which the Yankees won on dramatic home runs, the first by Jim Leyritz in Game 2 of the 1995 ALDS against the Mariners and the other in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, won by Boone’s homer.

Other Mo'ments
• April 11, 2005: Rivera is given a standing ovation as players are introduced at Fenway Park prior to the Red Sox home opener against the Yankees, one in which the home fans would celebrate the team ending its World Series drought. Rivera would respond by tipping his cap to the crowd.

• July 5, 2008: The Red Sox trail the Yankees 2-1 with the bases loaded and nobody out in the ninth inning. The time has come for a Rivera great escape. He would strike out Coco Crisp, get Jason Varitek to pop to first and strike out Julio Lugo to end the game.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- It’s one of those quirky things that happens to teams every September.

The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Red Sox Thursday night to salvage the final game of their three-game set with a 4-3 win. And as soon as the game was over, they became Sox fans, rooting for Boston to do their dirty work for them against the New York Yankees this weekend at Fenway Park.

Tampa Bay’s prolonged free fall -- they were a major league worst 4-13 since Aug. 25 and had lost five straight before Thursday night’s win -- has left the Rays feeling some heat from the Yankees, who come into Boston just a game out of a wild-card spot after taking three of four from the Baltimore Orioles.

How do you kill off the Yankees -- on life support after three excruciating losses to the Red Sox last weekend in the Bronx -- the team no longer able to depend on a late-September lift from captain Derek Jeter, who is through playing hardball this season?

"You’re never going to kill them off," said catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who hit his 12th home run and threw out his third straight baserunner attempting to steal, each with a strong, accurate throw. “They’re such a veteran team. They’re going to battle. That’s a good coaching staff, and the guys that have filled in are good veteran guys that have been there before. They’ve got a lot of guys who can pull their clubhouse together.

"The Yankees were rooting for us this series, and now the Rays are. Weird, isn’t it?"

For Jonny Gomes, disposing of the Yankees once and for all is not on his to-do list, which he purposely keeps very short.

"We’re in a situation where we don’t look outside this clubhouse," Gomes said. “We don’t scoreboard-watch, we don’t worry about who’s pitching. We beat everyone already, you know. We’ve beat teams’ aces. We’ve scored a lot. We’ve won close games.

“That’s what happens in here. We’ve set ourselves up where if we play our game, we win [the division title]."

There’s no need, Gomes said, to admonish this bunch about paying attention to the task at hand.

"We’ve played our butts off all the way up to this point," he said. "We control our own destiny. I don’t think we need to tell anyone to focus on our game and not what [other teams] do. It’s pretty easy."

The Rays would have found themselves in a virtual tie for the second wild-card spot had they lost to the Red Sox, who had won seven of their past eight and put the go-ahead runs on base in the ninth on a one-out infield hit by Stephen Drew and a four-pitch walk to pinch hitter Mike Carp, whose 10th-inning grand slam the night before shocked the Rays.

Sox manager John Farrell then called upon Will Middlebrooks, who was pinch hitting for the first time all season. The young third baseman, who had been given the night off so that Xander Bogaerts could get a start, started thinking by the sixth inning he might hit.

"I was ready," he said. "I didn’t hear anything until the eighth. I saw [Fernando] Rodney warming up, and I told a couple of guys I want him if the situation comes up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the run in."

Middlebrooks crushed a pitch from Rodney but lined it right into the glove of third baseman Evan Longoria for the second out of the inning. "Tough one to swallow," he said. Rodney then got to go into his flaming-arrow act when he retired Dustin Pedroia on a pop fly to end it.

Middlebrooks, too, did not have the Bronx on the brain.

"We’re not worried about anybody but ourselves, man," he said. “If we lose, we beat ourselves. We’re a good team. We’re not worried about the Yankees. We’re not looking at the standings. Just come to play baseball, and win every day."

The Rays broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth against Rubby De La Rosa when Longoria doubled and scored on a two-out, fly-ball double by Wil Myers that fell just inside the right-field foul line. Farrell had committed to giving a breather to his usual suspects in the pen and turned to Drake Britton and De La Rosa as setup men, with Franklin Morales held in reserve to close. Britton pitched a scoreless seventh and got the first out in the eighth.

De La Rosa gave up a ground-rule double to Longoria on an 0-2 slider -- Saltalamacchia was chiding himself afterward, saying he shouldn’t have asked De La Rosa to try to duplicate the excellent slider he’d thrown on the previous pitch, at least not right away -- and Myers’ fly ball kicked up chalk.

"When you get to this point," Rays manager Joe Maddon said, “there are always these little moments that occur, and it is about inches, whether it goes your way or not. Finally, we got a break tonight."

The Rays had taken a 3-1 lead against Sox starter Jake Peavy in the first four innings. Longoria tripled in the second and scored on a single by Myers. David DeJesus walked -- one of five issued by Peavy in six innings -- and scored on James Loney’s two-out double. And Desmond Jennings hit a two-out home run in the fourth.

The Sox, whose first run came on the home run by Saltalamacchia -- who broke an 0-for-21 slump -- tied the score in the sixth when David Ortiz hit his 27th homer to open the inning. Saltalamacchia walked, stole second, then scored on Drew’s double.

But there would be no adding to their total of 22 last-at-bat wins. Not on this night. Instead, they make a trip home for nine games against the Yankees, Orioles and Blue Jays and a chance to clinch the division on their own terms, on their own turf. The magic number remains at eight. The Bombers become the first order of business.

“I don’t know that we wrote them off," Farrell said of the Yankees. “[Alfonso] Soriano has come to that team. [Alex] Rodriguez has come back. Their offense is a strong one. We saw them for four games. No lead was seemingly safe. They’ve done an awesome job to be in the position they’re in given the number of games missed by their regular players.

“You respect the way they go about their work. Their pitching has been constant, and they’ve scored a lot of runs of late. And this weekend is going to be, as we’ve looked at every series over the course of the season, challenging in and of itself.

“I think there will be excitement around the three games we play. Every time we play them is a spectacle, and we’re going to see Mariano [Rivera] for the last time, hopefully. Looking forward to a really good series.’’

In this week's "State of the Nation", Gordon Edes breaks down the amazing performance of Koji Uehara as Red Sox closer.

The Red Sox announced they will honor retiring New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera in a pregame ceremony at Fenway Park on Sunday night.

The 8:05 p.m. finale of the Yankees' three-game series in Boston will be Rivera's last regular-season game at Fenway.

Rivera, the league's all-time saves leader now in his 19th season, has made more appearances than any other visiting reliever in the 102-year history of Fenway Park.

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: 89-58.

• Games left: 15

• Lead in AL East: 9½ games over Tampa Bay (78-66)

• Magic number to win division: 8

• What does magic number mean? If Tampa Bay wins all 18 of its remaining games, Boston would have to win 8 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, 4 games ahead of Oakland, 4½ games ahead of Detroit, 7 ahead of Texas.

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

• What about the Yankees? Beat the Orioles, 5-4, to pull within one game of Rays in wild-card race. The Yankees had just four hits, but three were home runs, including Robinson Cano’s 27th that broke a 3-all tie in the ninth. Yankees shut down Derek Jeter for the season; the captain played just 17 games after leading the majors in plate appearances last season with 740. "I think it's important that we don't put him in position to have further damage," GM Brian Cashman said. "So today I met with Derek and told him this is what we've decided to do. Obviously it's not an easy situation."

• Who’s hot?: The Royals are 8-3 in September, just a half-game behind the Red Sox for best record in the AL this month, and now head into Detroit for a three-game series against the Tigers, their second series in a week against the AL Central leaders. The Royals took two of three from the Tigers in Kansas City, and will send Bruce Chen against Justin Verlander on Friday night. Chen held the Tigers to two runs in seven innings in his last start and has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his last three starts.

• Who’s not?: The Rangers have lost 8 of their last 10 after being swept three straight by the Pirates in the Ballpark at Arlington. Trading deadline acquisition Matt Garza lost his third straight decision and has a 7.36 ERA in two September starts, allowing 8 earned runs in 11 innings.

• Red Sox latest outcome: Beat the Rays, 7-3, in 10 innings on Wednesday.

• Rays latest outcome: Lost to the Red Sox, 7-3, in 10 innings on Wednesday.

• Notable: While the Red Sox scored six runs with the bases loaded Wednesday on Mike Napoli’s two-run double and Mike Carp’s grand slam, the Rays are 0-for-12 in their last 12 chances with the bases loaded, failing twice Wednesday. "It doesn't get any worse than this. It feels like a punch in the gut," Rays starter Alex Cobb said. "We're at the low point of this season right now. It can only go up from here."

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

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- So, just how long will that beard survive after the season?

"Funny question," Mike Carp said Wednesday night. "Same thing my wife is asking me all the time.

"I definitely want to show it off when I get back home, because not a lot of people can pull it off and do it. There's a few weeks to go, so it still has some growing to do."
A longer beard, Carp hopes, will offer some protection from what he endured Wednesday night after hitting a 10th-inning, pinch-hit grand slam that broke a 3-3 tie and catapulted the Red Sox to a 7-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, reducing their magic number to win the AL East to eight with 15 games to play. It started with Jarrod Saltalamacchia waiting at the top step to give Carp's beard a joyous tug, but it didn't end there.

"Pulling on the beard, that's a big thing going on here," Carp said. "There's about 25, 26 pulls in the dugout, so I'm a little sore. If it grows a little longer, it'll be OK. That's why I'm hoping it grows to be as long as possible."

Koji Uehara, who pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to set a couple more club records and gain the win, was on an exercise bike back in the clubhouse when it happened. There was no one to high-five, so Uehara just thrust his fist in the air.

Dustin Pedroia, who had drawn a leadoff walk, was on third base.

"I mean, I was kind of like an idiot, tagging up," Pedroia said. "Butter [third-base coach Brian Butterfield] told me to tag up. It was a great swing. He went down for the ball, hit it with backspin. It was loud."

Carp?

"That might have been the fastest I've ever run around the bases," he said. "I looked up, and I was already halfway to third. I kind of wanted to savor that moment, but at the same time, I wanted to get in and savor it with the boys.

"I knew I'd gotten the job done off the bat. I knew I put a good swing on it. I knew it was deep enough to drive in a run. But when I saw it go over the fence, wow."

In New York last Sunday, the Yankees had accused Mike Carp, who was playing first base, of being a sign-stealer, an accusation that at first made Carp incredulous, then angry, as he barked back at a Yankee dugout that was woofing at him.

"I couldn't take that from them," he said.

Wednesday night in Tropicana Field, the Red Sox part-timer became a scene-stealer. Guilty as charged, in this case, Carp hit a first-pitch slam off Rays reliever Roberto Hernandez, which cleared the center-field fence and sent the Sox to their 14th win in 17 games and the Rays to their 13th loss in 17 games.

Only 19 days earlier, the teams had been in a virtual tie for first place, and Sox players were being asked about the September collapse in 2011, when they went 7-20 and the Rays slipped into the playoffs ahead of them on the season's last day.

Those questions aren't being asked now.

"I don't [know if] there are too many players now who were around then," manager John Farrell said.

The Sox, who have won nine consecutive series, are now 9½ games ahead of the Rays, who once had a five-game cushion for a playoff spot but now have four teams within two games of their spot, the closest being the Yankees, only a game behind.

"Everybody's been preaching gloom and doom," Rays manager Joe Maddon said, "and from my perspective, it's been a very tough run right now. But as we right ourselves, we're in pretty good position to continue on into the playoffs. I don't want our guys to go out there and worry about sharp objects."

No such concerns on the Sox side, where someone has been showing up on a nightly basis to do something to put their chin in jeopardy. That's one of the reasons, Carp said, that makes a very difficult job -- coming off the bench to be productive -- a welcome challenge more than a cross to bear.

It had been more than 10 years since a Sox player hit a pinch grand slam; one of the Idiots, Kevin Millar, did so on June 7, 2003, against Milwaukee.

But this was the seventh pinch home run hit by a member of the Soggy Bottom Boys, breaking the club record of six set 60 years ago.

Sox pitchers, meanwhile, have not allowed a single pinch-hit home run this season.

"Just watching these guys go to work every day, wanting to be part of it, wanting to be that guy who has a big hit, the big pinch-hit home run in the game," said Carp, who now has two pinch homers to the four hit by Jonny Gomes, the man whom Carp hit for Wednesday night.

"That's what we're all playing for. If I get an opportunity to do something, I want to do it."

And what exactly was the point he stole the sign for Hernandez's hanging slider, a wise guy asked.

"Never," Mike Carp, scene-stealer, said with a grin. "When the ball left his hand."

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- What do such Red Sox players as Mike Napoli, Jonny Gomes, Dustin Pedroia and Mike Carp have in common with Ulysses Everett McGill and his fellow escapees, Delmar and Pete, from a Mississippi chain gang?

Some of you might think nothing whatsoever. The film buffs among you, and those with a particular sense of humor, might see why we here at ESPN Boston looked at your bearded Red Sox heroes and were reminded of the "Soggy Bottom Boys," the protagonists in the 2000 Coen brothers film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

The film is loosely based on Homer's "Odyssey" and starred George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman and Holly Hunter. In the course of the film, the fugitives unwittingly record a hit record, "Man of Constant Sorrow," which they perform in the film while hiding behind phony beards.

The Sox beards are real, of course. But we offer you a chance to judge for yourself. Take a look at the photos and vote in our poll.