Bay homers in 9th, Youkilis in 11th for Red Sox

Jason Bay homered off Mariano Rivera with two outs in the ninth to send the game to extra innings, and Kevin Youkilis hit a solo shot in the 11th to help the Sox beat the Yanks for their eighth straight win. (AP, 11:49 p.m.)


Even before tonight, Kevin Youkilis was on fire. Batting .429 with 14 runs scored, six doubles, four homers, and 12 RBI.


As David Ortiz recently said about Youk, "He gets up in the morning and he's already got a hit."

EDIT: I found the NESN video of the game ender here:

Ranking the Red Sox Roster

From Boston.com. I will try to comment once I get rid of this headache...

25. Julio Lugo
24. Josh Bard
23. Manny Delcarmen
22. Tim Wakefield
21. Brad Penny
20. Rocco Baldelli
19. Javier Lopez
18. Takashi Saito
17. John Smoltz
16. Jason Varitek
15. Ramon Ramirez
14. Hideki Okajima
13. Justin Masterson
12. Jed Lowrie
11. Mike Lowell
10. Daisuke Matsuzaka
9. Jacoby Ellsbury
8. J.D. Drew
7. Jonathan Papelbon
6. Jason Bay
5. Kevin Youkilis
4. Dustin Pedroia
3. Josh Beckett
2. Jon Lester
1. David Ortiz

Red Sox lock up Youkilis with $40 million deal

Direct from si.com...

The Red Sox locked up another key piece on Thursday, as Kevin Youkilis agreed to a four-year, $40 million contract through 2012 with an option for 2013, SI.com has confirmed.

The 29-year-old infielder established himself as a top-tier run producer in 2008, batting .312 with 29 home runs and 115 RBIs and making his first All-Star team. Youkilis would have been eligible for arbitration.

The Youkilis deal, which was originally reported by ESPN.com, comes just six weeks after Boston signed 25-year-old second baseman Dustin Pedroia to a six-year contract worth $40.5 million. Pedroia and Youkilis finished first and third, respectively, in American League MVP voting last season.

The Red Sox are also attempting to sign electric closer Jonathan Papelbon to a long-term deal, but they haven't been able to reach an agreement thus far.

Some Sox Thoughts From Tony Massarotti

Time for a baseball post!

The Joy of Sox (I am sorry to say I just "got" the title this morning!) summed up Tony Massarotti's most recent Boston Globe chat thusly: Mark Teixeira will be playing first base for the 2009 Red Sox (with Kevin Youklis returning to third), we'll be stuck with Julio Lugo (or at least stuck with his contract), the Papi noise is just that, the Sox will make a deal for either Ranger catcher Taylor Teagarden or Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Justin Masterson will stay in the bullpen.

And he mentioned Manny might fill the hole the Phillies have with Pat the Bat leaving town...