YOUK OUT FOR SEASON...Red Sox Win 6-2 Behind Matsuzaka's Arm And Beltre's Bat

Much to no one's surprise, after all this IS 2010, the year of mortal injuries for the Boston Red Sox, Kevin Youkilis is scheduled for surgery today (a simple procedure) and will be lost for the season. That might be a mortal blow to Boston's post season chances. This is from the Boston Globe...

"After sustaining a tear in an adductor muscle Monday night, Youkilis visited Dr. Thomas Graham at the Cleveland Clinic yesterday, with news coming back that the first baseman will require surgery, to be performed this morning in Cleveland.
“This was team medical director Tom Gill’s initial diagnosis as well,’’ general manager Theo Epstein said, “but it wasn’t certain. There was still a little bit of gray area. The reason we sent him to see a couple of specialists was to get a more definite image. Today, with the MRI, they were able to get one that confirmed beyond any doubt that the head of the adductor muscle was indeed torn. That creates a certain plan of attack. He needs to have it repaired. He wouldn’t be able to play at a high level without surgery. The silver lining is that it’s a fairly straightforward procedure and we’re very confident that it’ll go well and he’ll be able to have a pretty normal offseason and be 100 percent for spring training.’’

We wish Youk well and we hope for a speedy and 100% recovery. From what I've been hearing, the doctors consider this a "simple procedure." I hope so.

Last night on the eve of a four game set with the NY Yankees, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Cleveland Indians by a score of 6-2. Daisuke Matsuzaka gave his team eight one run innings and Hideki Okajima, with a little help (2/3 inning) from his buddy Jonathon Papelbon, survived a shaky ninth. The batting stars? JD Drew and Adrian Beltre. Beltre hit a fourth inning grand slam and will be counted on more than ever after the loss of Youk. This is also from the Boston Globe...

“We’ve got to battle back,’’ Ortiz said before the game. “We’ve got to keep on fighting. It’s not over yet. You can’t hang it up. Of course, you want to have Youk in the lineup doing his thing, helping us out the way he normally does. But if you can’t, you’ve got to try to compete and whatever happens, happens. Definitely, we’re going to try to fight back and put ourselves in a situation where we can be playing ball in October.’’

Them is fighting words, David. Go for it, Beantown Buddies! And now we go to the Big Apple to take on the pinstripers four times. The Sox are currently six games behind that first place club. Two sounds SO much better, doesn't it? Taking three out of four would be almost as sweet but right now, four sounds great to me. Here are the pitching match-ups...

Fri. 6 at NYY **7:05 PM ET *NESN/WWOR ***Buchholz (11-5)vs. Vazquez (9-7)
Sat. 7 at NYY **4:10 PM ET *FOX ***Lackey (10-6) vs.Sabathia (13-5)
Sun. 8 at NYY **8:05 PM ET *ESPN ***Beckett (3-1) vs.Burnett (9-9)
Mon. 9 at NYY **2:05 PM ET *NESN/YES ***Lester (11-7) vs.Moseley (1-1)

Those are our four best pitchers (on paper...Daisuke's been putting up good numbers) and we all know three of four wins are a MUST. GO SOX. Click on this post's title for more from Red Sox dot com and as always, BE WELL. I'll see you soon.