--OF Jacoby Ellsbury is leading the American League players in the write-in portion of the All-Star voting, and may be headed for a hardball popularity contest with Chicago White Sox OF Carlos Quentin during the online portion of the final All-Star ballot vote. Ellsbury has captured the fancy of Sox fans everywhere with a combination of blinding speed and baseball skills rarely seen in any player wearing the Sox uniform, and the All-Star berth isn't out of the realm of possibility.
--DH David Ortiz will miss at least a month and could be out for the rest of the baseball season, according to a report in the Boston Herald. Ortiz's left wrist will be immobilized for a month with a partial tear of the ECU tendon sheath in his left wrist, and he'll be placed on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday. OF Manny Ramirez is expected to play a great deal more at designated hitter in Ortiz's absence, and the Sox will likely use both OF Jacoby Ellsbury and OF Coco Crisp in left and center, respectively. --2B Dustin Pedroia registered his first DNP of the season for the Sox after playing in each of Boston's first 59 games this season. Pedroia had just recently turned his game around offensively after slumping during the early portion of the road trip, and the Sox second baseman had also made a series of spectacular defensive plays over the last four games. Sox manager Terry Francona wanted his second baseman to get the night off because he was "beat up" after diving every which way for ground balls during the Baltimore series.
--LHP Jon Lester will be honored before Tuesday night's homestand opener against the Tampa Bay Rays after throwing his no-hitter at Fenway Park two weeks ago. The Sox lefty will be presented with the Fenway pitching rubber that he toed as he threw the 18th no-hitter in Red Sox history on May 19.
--OF Coco Crisp snapped an 0-for-23 skid with a single in the fourth inning of Monday's loss to the Orioles. The slump was Crisp's longest since his injury-plagued 2006 season, but the defensively skilled centerfielder picked the right time to bust out of his doldrums. With David Ortiz's injury likely to keep him out for an extended time period, Crisp is likely to get a large bulk of the extra playing time in the outfield.
BY THE NUMBERS: 7 -- The number of players in big league history that have amassed 500 homers, 1500 RBIs, 1000 walks, 475 doubles, and a .300 or better average during their career, a select club that includes OF Manny Ramirez after he hit home run No. 500 last weekend.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I think that?s a little ridiculous. We don?t want J.D. to take a swing and throw his bat in the stands and hit some kid or some older lady or something. It?s kind of a ridiculous rule. I don?t know who invented it, but they need to clean it up." -- Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia, after OF J.D. Drew wasn?t allowed to apply pine tar to a replacement bat per the new speed-up rules implemented by MLB.
