By RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer,

Saturday, September 25, 2010 at 4:44 p.m.

NEW YORK ?
Jon Lester thought about the standings and realized the hole the Boston Red Sox are in — 5 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees in the AL wild-card race with just eight games to play.

Difficult. Unlikely. But not impossible.

Especially with four more games against the Yankees.

“We’ve got a chance,” he said Saturday after taking a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and leading the Red Sox over the fading Yankees 7-3. “Weirder things have happened in baseball.”

Lester (19-9) became the first Boston left-hander in 57 years to win 19 games, overpowering New York in the late-afternoon shadows before Francisco Cervelli singled off the glove of diving rookie Daniel Nava in left field with one out in the sixth.

Lester allowed two hits in seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts and three walks. He won his sixth straight start, extended his scoreless innings streak to 15 and lowered his ERA to 2.96. The only other Red Sox left-handers with 19 wins were Jesse Tannehill (1904-05), Ray Collins (1913-14), Dutch Leonard (1914), Babe Ruth (1916-17), Lefty Grove (1935) and Mel Parnell (1949 and 1953).

“It was so hard to see the first, what, five innings,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “His two-seamer had such good, you know, depth to it, and his cutter. He was explosive.”

While the Red Sox are spurting with eight wins in 12 games, the Yankees are sputtering. New York dropped out of first in the AL East on Friday night, falling a half-game behind Tampa Bay, and is 26-26 since Aug. 1 following a 66-37 start. The Yankees have lost four straight at home for the first time since May 2-7 last year.

Getting outscored 34-16 during the skid, the veteran-stocked Yankees are 10-13 in September- hitting just .256 with a 4.66 ERA. They appear to be tired, and their magic number remained at three, making it impossible to clinch a playoff berth at home.

“We need somebody to go out and shut the door on the other team,” said Alex Rodriguez, whose fifth-inning walk gave the Yankees their first baserunner. “When you’re down five or six runs, it’s hard to play with an edge.”

Lester pitched a no-hitter against Kansas City at Fenway Park on May 19, 2008. Trying to join Cy Young (1904 and 1908) and Dutch Leonard (1916 and 1918) as the only Red Sox to pitch a pair of no-hitters, Lester walked Austin Kearns starting the sixth, and Curtis Granderson’s groundout advanced the runner.

Cervelli then lined a ball to left, and Nava sprinted in. The ball hit off the heel of his glove, bounced off his chest and rolled onto the field for a hit. Thinking the ball might be caught, Kearns held at second. Derek Jeter then stroked a single to left, and Nava threw out Kearns at the plate.

Since losing his first three starts, Lester is 19-6 with 2.49 ERA.

“For whatever reason, it takes him whatever time to get rolling and to kind of repeat his pitches,” Francona said. “Once he gets into that mode, man, he’s like — he’s relentless.”

While the Yankees’ CC Sabathia (20-7) and Seattle’s Felix Hernandez (2.31 ERA) are the top AL Cy Young Award contenders, Lester could get consideration.

“Would it be nice to get a vote, or would it be nice to be recognized for it? Sure. I’m not going to lie to you and say no,” Lester said.

After rookie Ivan Nova (1-1) was knocked out early, J.D. Drew and Victor Martinez hit consecutive home runs in the seventh against Chad Gaudin, bringing loud boos from a sellout crowd.

Granderson hit a two-run homer off reliever Daniel Bard in the eighth, Granderson’s sixth homer in 10 games. Hideki Okajima completed the four-hitter, allowing Rodriguez’s 28th homer of the season and 611th overall.

Nova gave up four runs, four hits and three walks in 4 1-3 innings. Boston took a 3-0 lead in the third when Marco Scutaro and David Ortiz had RBI singles around Drew’s run-scoring, double-play grounder. Ortiz greeted Royce Ring with a run-scoring single in the fifth.

“We’re still in a good spot,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We have seven games left to play, and our club needs to win three games. If you had said that Feb. 15th, all of us would have signed up for it.”

NOTES: The crowd of 49,448 was the 14th sellout at Yankee Stadium this year, double last year’s regular-season total but down from 58 in the last season of old Yankee Stadium. … Thirteen of New York’s last 14 runs have been driven in on homers. … Kearns played for the first time since he was hit on the left elbow by a Matt Albers pitch at Baltimore last Sunday. … Drew reached 20 homers for the third straight season and sixth overall.

By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 5:08 p.m.

TRENTON, N.J. ?
New York Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte began a minor league rehabilitation start Thursday night by breezing through Double-A hitters as he works his way back from a groin injury.

Pettitte allowed two hits in four innings for the Trenton Thunder in an Eastern League playoff game. He struck out four against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

Pettitte threw 51 pitches, 37 for strikes. He also uncorked two wild pitches.

A healthy Pettitte is considered crucial to the Yanks’ chances of repeating as World Series champions. The 38-year-old Pettitte is 11-2 with a 2.88 ERA in 18 starts.

The Yankees are closely watching Pettitte’s progress in light of the continued ineffectiveness of starters A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez, and the recent inconsistency of Phil Hughes.

By JOHN MARSHALL, AP Sports Writer

Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 8:19 p.m.

PHOENIX ?
Their teammate lying on the dugout floor, barely conscious and surrounded by trainers, the San Francisco Giants weren’t thinking about moving runners, getting outs, even winning the game.

They were praying Eugenio Velez would be OK.

The outfielder should be after a scary head injury and that’s all that really matters to the Giants, even after their impressive 10-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks Saturday night.

“A scary moment because it hit him good,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We were concerned about him.”

Velez was injured in the fourth inning when a sharp liner by teammate Pat Burrell shot into the dugout. Unable to see the ball coming through the teammates standing in front of him, Velez couldn’t react in time and was hit on the left side of the head.

Some teammates immediately gathered around, while others couldn’t look. The trainers rushed over. Burrell took a few moments before returning to the batter’s box. Even the opposing team cringed at seeing the fluke injury.

“It made me sick,” said first baseman Adam LaRoche, the closest Arizona player to San Francisco’s dugout. “I heard it hit and it sounded like it hit the back wall. Apparently, it hit him right in the face and he went down so fast you couldn’t even tell it was him. I will say a prayer for him.”

The prognosis is good.

Bochy said Velez never lost consciousness, though wasn’t real responsive after first being struck, and CT scans were negative. Velez was talking at the hospital, where he’s expected to spend the night for further tests.

The news sent a wave of relief through San Francisco’s clubhouse.

“It’s too bad when you see your friend, your teammate like that,” Giants second baseman Juan Uribe said. “On the other team, too. Nobody wants to see a player get hit like that. We’re glad he’s going to be OK.”

The Giants kept focus after seeing their teammate carried off on a stretcher.

Uribe hit a grand slam off Sam Demel in the seventh inning. Aubrey Huff and Edgar Renteria drove in two runs each. Madison Bumgarner (4-2) was effective before and after the scary scene, pitching seven effective innings for his fourth consecutive win.

Buster Posey had two hits and an RBI to extend his hitting streak to 17 games, matching Orlando Cepeda’s 1958 streak for second-longest by a Giants rookie and leaving him five short of the record set by Willie McCovey in 1959.

The Giants also pounded out 11 hits, giving them 15 wins in 19 games and wins in four straight road series for the first time since 2004.

Considering the injury to Velez, this may have been one of San Francisco’s best games of the season.

“It’s a distraction. There’s a lot of concern for Eugenio,” Bochy said. “We were praying at that time, but the guys did a good job of keeping their focus in a well-played game. We did a lot of good things today.”

Arizona can’t say the same.

The Diamondbacks wasted Mark Reynolds’ 23rd homer and a two-run shot by LaRoche with ineffective pitching and another lackluster day at the plater.

Starter Ian Kennedy (5-8) had a shaky-at-times outing coming off consecutive wins, allowing four runs in 6 2-3 innings that included two wild pitches in the first. The bullpen was brutal after showing signs of improvement over the past couple of weeks, four relievers combining to allow six runs over the final 2 1-3 innings.

Arizona’s offense had four other hits beside the two long balls by LaRoche and Reynolds, and went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. The Diamondbacks also struck 11 times, giving them 51 in four games and 907 on the season — well ahead of the pace for baseball’s all-time record.

“There is no question they are pressing,” interim manager Kirk Gibson said. “It is a brutal game sometimes and we have to push through it.”

Notes: A scoring change from Friday night’s game took away an error from Diamondbacks RF Justin Upton in the ninth inning and awarded a double to Andres Torres. … Arizona C Miguel Montero was given his second straight day off and will rest again on Sunday before going back in the lineup. … LaRoche made an over-the-rail grab at first for the second time in three games, snaring Burrell’s pop-up while leaning over in the first inning.

By JOSH DUBOW, AP Sports Writer

Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 9:04 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO ?
Buster Posey and Andres Torres homered, and Matt Cain extended San Francisco’s scoreless streak against the Mets to 24 innings before New York finally scored in an 8-4 loss to the Giants on Saturday night.

The drives by Posey and Torres against Hisanori Takahashi (7-4) helped stake the Giants to a 6-0 lead after three innings.

It came as little surprise that the lead proved safe considering the Mets had scored only five runs in their previous five games, including back-to-back shutout losses to the Giants.

New York finally scored for the first time since the All-Star break when Ike Davis hit a two-run homer off Cain (7-8) in the seventh inning to cut San Francisco’s lead to 6-2. That snapped the longest scoreless streak for the Mets since they went 30 innings without a run July 24-28, 1992.

Davis added a solo shot in the ninth for his second career multihomer game — both against San Francisco.

Giants management challenged the pitching staff before the All-Star break to step it up and the starters have responded so far. Tim Lincecum got it started with a shutout Thursday night and Barry Zito followed with eight scoreless innings Friday.

Cain, who had lost his previous four decisions, picked up where they left off. He allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings to win for the first time since June 13. He had a 7.45 ERA during his five-start winless stretch.

Pablo Sandoval drove in three runs for the Giants, who have won a season-high five straight. San Francisco is 10-2 following a season-worst, seven-game losing streak.

Brian Wilson struck out Angel Pagan with two on in the ninth for his 25th save in 27 chances.

The performance of Posey has been a big reason for San Francisco’s turnaround. The rookie is hitting .481 in July, helping the Giants become the highest scoring team in the majors this month.

Posey got the Giants started in the five-run second inning with a leadoff double. Juan Uribe and Sandoval hit RBI singles to make it 2-0 after one trip through the order.

Opponents’ average against Takahashi goes up .138 points after the first time through the order, and the pattern continued against the Giants.

Torres hit a three-run homer in his second at-bat to make it 5-0 in the second. The leadoff hitter’s eighth homer gave San Francisco as many runs that inning as the Mets had scored in their previous five games.

If that hole wasn’t big enough, Posey added an opposite-field drive in the third inning to make it 6-0 and Takahashi’s night was over soon after.

Takahashi, who was moved up in the rotation because of Mike Pelfrey’s stiff neck, allowed six runs and seven hits in 2 2-3 innings.

NOTES: Posey has an 11-game hitting streak. He has joined Orlando Cepeda (1958) and Chili Davis (1982) as the only San Francisco rookies to have two double-digit hitting streaks. … Mets SS Jose Reyes (sore right side) took batting practice, played catch and ran before the game but is not expected to return to the lineup until Monday in Arizona. … Mets CF Carlos Beltran will get a day off Sunday after playing his first three days back from offseason knee surgery. … San Francisco 2B Freddy Sanchez returned after missing Friday’s game with an illness. … Giants RHP Todd Wellemeyer will make a rehab start at Triple-A Fresno on Monday.

By JON KRAWCZYNSKI, AP Baseball Writer

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 6:58 a.m.

MINNEAPOLIS ?
With a payroll swelling to nearly $100 million and a spectacular new open-air ballpark, this was supposed to be the season the Minnesota Twins took hold of the AL Central from the start and challenged the New York Yankees for the American League pennant.

Two months into the season, everything was falling into place. The Twins were 11 games over .500, Target Field opened to rave reviews and Minnesota held a 4 1/2-game lead in the standings, clearly looking like the class of the division.

As the season turned from May to June, the Twins watched their starting rotation crumble into an inconsistent mess, while injuries to Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy took some of the bite out of a potent lineup.

The Twins have stumbled into the All-Star break at 46-42 and trail the surging Chicago White Sox by 3 1/2 games, having missed out on the opportunity to acquire ace Cliff Lee from the Seattle Mariners. He went to another AL power, Texas.

“We have to put a better effort forth and right our ship,” manager Ron Gardenhire said after his team lost two of three in Detroit over the weekend. “That’s what we talked about. The effort has to be better.”

The Twins started the season 31-20, but have won only 15 games since June 1. Only Baltimore, Toronto, Washington and Pittsburgh have won fewer games in that span.

Starting pitching has been the biggest culprit. Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey, Scott Baker and even Francisco Liriano have been shelled repeatedly over the last month. After going 5-0 in May, Blackburn is 1-6 with a 10.00 ERA and 11 home runs allowed.

“I’m sick of this,” Blackburn said after giving up seven runs in four innings against the Tigers on Saturday. “Every time I go out there, I’m not getting the job done. It’s not a lack of effort. I’m doing everything I can think of, but nothing is working. I’m not executing pitches, and I’m leaving way too many balls over the plate.”

Baker has been pitching with tendinitis in his right elbow. The Twins have reshuffled the rotation so Baker can get some more rest through the All-Star break and Gardenhire was asked if Blackburn could be dropped from the rotation.

“Our starters are doing this too often, and it isn’t one guy,” Gardenhire said. “It’s three or four guys. … I don’t have four new starters to put in the rotation.”

The problems don’t end there. The slow-footed Twins have grounded into more double plays than any other team, and Joe Mauer, the homegrown swing king who signed a $184 million contract extension in the offseason, has hit just three home runs after putting 28 into the seats last year.

Mauer, the leading vote getter in the All-Star game, has been bothered by a sore shoulder brought on by the daily wear and tear behind the plate. His .293 average marks the latest in a season the three-time batting champion has been under .300 since 2007, and he has just 35 RBIs, not nearly enough for a No. 3 hitter.

Justin Morneau is having another stellar season at the plate, hitting .345 with 18 homers, but he missed the Detroit series and will sit out the All-Star game because of a concussion.

“You’re always concerned about a head injury,” Gardenhire said. “He’s getting better, but the bottom line is that we’re going to make sure he’s healthy before we put him back on the field. There’s no timetable.”

Then again, maybe the Twins have the rest of the division right where they want them.

Minnesota has won five division titles since the turn of the century. Only once, the first title run in 2002, have they held a lead in the standings at the All-Star break. They trailed by 7 1/2 games in 2003, 11 games in 2006 and 4 games last season before mounting rallies each time to take the title.

“We’ve been in this situation before, and the key is cheering for each other and staying positive,” Gardenhire said.