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Red Sox-Blue Jays Preview

Aug 19, 2009 - 4:24 AM By MATT BROWN STATS Editor

Boston (66-51) at Toronto (55-61), 7:07 p.m. EDT

For a bullpen in need of rest, there may be no better starter to see on the mound than Roy Halladay.

The Toronto Blue Jays' workhorse takes the ball Wednesday night seeking to help his club bounce back from a series-opening loss to the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre.

Toronto nearly dealt Halladay (13-5, 2.65 ERA) at the trade deadline to build for the future, but the current Blue Jays (55-62) should be glad the 2003 Cy Young Award winner is still on their side. He's been a staff saver, as his five complete games are tied with Kansas City's Zack Greinke for the major league lead.

One of Halladay's complete games this season came in a 3-1 home win over Boston on July 19, when he gave up six hits and struck out seven without walking a batter. He shows no sign of wilting in August, as he's thrown at least eight innings in all three of his starts this month.

"My goals are to keep things simple and keep your approach simple as you pitch, and I think that allows you to get deep in the game," he said Friday after limiting Tampa Bay to one earned run over eight innings of a 5-2 victory.

Halladay gave up eight hits to the Rays, but escaped two situations with runners in scoring position and less than two outs without allowing a run. Opponents are batting .254 against Halladay this season overall, but that average drops to .214 with runners in scoring position.

"When he has those kind of situations, I don't think he worries so much about it," Toronto manager Cito Gaston said. "This guy is certainly a Hall of Fame type pitcher and that's what Hall of Fame pitchers do. They step up when they need to and get some outs for you."

The Blue Jays' bullpen could certainly use a break after a 10-9 loss Tuesday, when five relievers had to pick up the pieces after starter Ricky Romero yielded six runs in 3 2-3 innings. David Ortiz homered, doubled, drove in three runs and scored three more for Boston (67-51), which evened its record at 2-2 on its road trip and pulled back into a tie with Texas for the AL wild card.

"We've got to try to win some games," Ortiz said. "We're against the ropes. It's all about winning games right now. That's it."

The loss was the third straight and fifth in six games for the Blue Jays, who will now try to avoid dropping four in a row for the first time since June 27-30. Toronto has endured six other three-game losing streaks since then, but won the fourth contest each time.

While Toronto's bullpen may get a break Wednesday, Red Sox right-hander Clay Buchholz (1-3, 4.45) can't seem to buy one. Halladay will be the third straight elite starter Buchholz has faced, as his last two starts came against Justin Verlander - the 2006 AL Rookie of the Year - and 2007 Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia.

Buchholz held the opposition to two runs in each outing, but didn't receive any support either time and took the loss.

"I'm picking the wrong pitchers to throw against," Buchholz said Thursday after pitching seven strong innings in a 2-0 loss to Verlander and Detroit. "The last two guys have been as good as I've seen, so you can't read too deep into it. It's proven that it's working, but it's hard to win games when you've got guys throwing like that."

Buchholz earned his lone win of 2009 at Rogers Centre in his first major league start of the season, giving up one run and four hits in 5 2-3 innings of Boston's 4-1 victory July 17.