To Review, Or Not to Review

Jon Lester and Joe Blanton were in midst of a pitchers duel at Citizen's Bank Park. Both lasted seven innings, but Lester allowed only two hits, one run, two walks, and struck out eleven. Blanton allowed two earned runs on five hits and two walks and struck out seven.

Blanton allowed two solo home runs to Kevin Youkilis and J.D Drew.

Leading 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox were forced to use Ramon Ramirez in a save situation because closer Jonathan Papelbon was unavailable after pitching several days in a row. They would pay. Ryan Howard's monster solo home run tied the game at two.

In the 11th inning, the Phillies came oh-so-close to winning the game. With two on, Greg Dobbs smoked a mile high fly deep down the right field line. The ball was called foul, however it was extremely close. On a first look, it looked foul. On a second look, it looked like it may have went over the top of the pole. Charlie Manuel asked to review the play, however the umpires declined.
Even though instant replay will mean more accurate calls, it takes away the human element of the game. That's baseball.

As much as I don't like the whole instant replay idea, they have the option to review, so use it. It was too close. That is a play the umpires need to review.

The Phillies ended up losing 5-2 in the thirteenth inning. Kyle Kendrick, fresh from AAA, allowed three runs in his second inning of work.

The Phillies struck out 20 times, a franchise record. There were a total of 34 strikeouts in the game.

Call of the Day: Ryan Howard hit two home runs against the Red Sox last season.

"Here's another one Sarge! Left-center field, outta here! Ryan Howard with
another home run. The Phillies lead it 4-0, his 19th home run of the year. Great
to see him hitting the ball to the opposite field, and a lot of his home runs go
to the other way. Both tonight go the other way, and the Phillies lead it
4-0.

A-Rod Opts Surgery; Other Updates

Alex Rodriguez opted to have surgery on his right hip. A-Rod will go under the knife on Monday and will miss 6-9 weeks.

"In a situation like Alex's, when we're trying to return him rapidly to his
high-level function, it's certainly a very good option," Dr. Marc Philippon
said. "It's a little more demanding on the patient, but Alex is very athletic
and has overall very good muscular strength. I firmly believe that this approach
will be successful."

Because of surgery, A-Rod will not be playing through much pain when he returns to the playing field. A-Rod should recover quicker, but will likely undergo another procedure once the season is over.

There could be some good to come out of the surgery. It could take away from the steroid controversy, however the Yankees hate to lose one of the best players in the game.

"Alex is a big part of what we're doing out there, and we need him healthy and
we need him around," Joe Girardi said. "We're going to be without him for a while,
but good teams find ways to overcome situations like this."

In other injury news, the Los Angeles Angels' Ervin Santana has been shut down due to inflammation in his pitching elbow.

Mike Pelfrey of the Mets has also felt pain in his leg.

MLB News: Jon Lester has agreed to an extension with the Boston Red Sox. The deal is 5 years, worth $30 million. Lester, a cancer survivor, is 27-8 with a 3.81 ERA in his career.

The Brewers have released pitcher Eric Gagne.

QUOTE SOURCE: MLB.com