The way the season started for John Lackey, no one would have expected him to be the Boston Red Sox stopper - but if he keeps pitching like he did on Friday night, that's exactly what he will be.
Lackey dominated Terry Francona's Cleveland Indians, going seven strong, and Mike Carp provided all the offense Lackey would need with a second inning three-run blast into the people in right field as the Sox stomped the Tribe 8-1 at rainy Fenway Park in Boston one night after Ryan Dempster and two others got shelled by the potent Tribe offense.
Rain seems to be a common theme for Lackey's turn in the rotation, which is becoming more and more solidified as the big right hander continues his comeback from Tommy John surgery and, perhaps just as importantly, he's getting run support from the hot and cold Red Sox offense.
Carp's big fly came with one out and after David Ortiz drew a full count walk and Mike Napoli singled to center, giving Lackey the production at the plate that would carry him to his second consecutive victory and his third of the season against four losses - also lowering his ERA to a sterling 2.72.
Lackey's two hit, eight strike out performance actually paled in comparison from his last start, a six inning, one hit, five K gem that was interrupted by a cloud burst in Minneapolis and almost wasted by the tandem of Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa who provided plenty of anxiety in their single innings of work before finding their groove and striking out Twins' batters to retire the side...
...but there was no such anxiety in Friday's night's win, as Uehara and the normally sandbagging Alfredo Aceves providing two hit relief, both allowing the leadoff batter to reach base only to close down the the next three in order - the excitable Uehara seeking out Shane Victorino to give him a taste of the five on his fragile frame after getting the last out of the eighth...
So Lackey's consistency is giving the Sox starting rotation the look of a better than average battery, with Felix Doubront's arm out of the morgue and pair of aces Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz - Ryan Dempster's struggles notwithstanding - and realizing that there will be nights that not everything goes as planned mixed into the equation...
...and the bullpen doing the job in spots, though long relief is a work in progress to say the least - as is trying to find consistency at the plate - this Red Sox team looks like they're in this thing for the long haul and right now are just a game behind the New York Yankees for the AL East lead.
The same weather conditions persist for this afternoon's matchup at Fenway, with Lester going up against old nemesis, former Tampa Bay-thorn-in-the-side Scott Kazmir for the Tribe - so if the game goes off in the gusty winds and spotty showers, one has to like Boston's chances of catching up with the Yanks in the standings.
Slump, funk or dump - Jacoby Ellsbury is mired in one of the former, and fans are screaming for the latter, Tuesday night's dribbling single to break his slump notwithstanding.
And that hit? One of just four produced from Red Sox bats against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, Pale hose left-hander Jose Quintana taking a no hitter into the seventh inning as the south siders took a second consecutive game from the Red Sox 3-1...
David Ortiz holds the handle of his broken bat...
...and it took a bit of luck for David Ortiz to break up the no hit bid as Quintana sawed him off, half of Big Papi's bat tumbling around the infield while the ball found the dead space between short and left field - the first of three consecutive singles that chased Quintana in favor of Jesse Crain, who struck out Will Middlebrooks and Stephen Drew to preserve the shutout...
...manager Robin Ventura should have left him in for the eighth, but chose to lift him in favor of Matt Thornton, who promptly walked Jarrod Saltalamacchia and gave up Ellsbury's dribbler - which was enough for Ventura to quickly pull Thornton for Matt Lindstrom, who fell victim to his own wildness and an error by shortstop Alexei Ramirez to give up a cheap run, ruining the shutout.
Even though he took the loss, Red Sox starter Felix Doubront took another step toward cementing a permanent spot in the rotation, tossing six innings of five hit ball, his lone blemish a Jeff Keppinger two run bomb with two out in the fifth.
"Not even one mistake, just I threw a good pitch," he said. "A good hitter put a good swing on it and hit it out of the ballpark."
So the maddeningly streaky Red Sox seem to have hit another rough patch with their offense, while the equally streaky White Sox have been able to put together small rallies that have been enough against suddenly light hitting (again) Boston, game hero Keppinger summarizing it best:
"Our starting pitching's really good," Keppinger said. "Every game, we're in it. We have a chance. It's just a matter of if we can get that big hit - or get that big two-out hit. It seems as of late, we've been getting a lot of two-out hits that are turning into runs."
Hey, that sounds like the Red Sox before they hit Chitown...
What kind of craziness is going on with the Boston Red Sox now?
A 1-4 John Lackey throws a one hit gem against the Twins on Sunday night, only to have staff ace Jon Lester get mauled like a kitten in a roomful of toddlers on Monday night by a Chicago White Sox team that has certainly seen better starts to seasons' past - losing to the White Sox 6-4 on the opening night of a three game series at U.S. Cellular Field on the south side.
Adam Dunn admires his 1st inning park job
Slugger Adam Dunn greeted Lester less than hospitably, the pale hose designated hitter blasting his 11th park job of the young season in the first inning despite sporting a batting average that would make Mario Mendoza cringe - but his .179 average is actually almost 40 points higher that it was just a week ago...
...and his 11 round-trippers in the young season to go with his 54 strike outs telling one all they need to know about Dunn's all-or-nothing approach at the plate, though he makes no apologies for his one dimensional offense.
"It was hard to sit here and keep saying over and over and over how good I felt, with no results," Dunn said. "Hopefully these results keep coming and people start believing me that I wasn't lying to them."
How bad had it been to start the season for Dunn? Last week at this time he was batting an anorexic .140, with only six homers to show for his singular skill...then he went off, hitting five blasts in the past seven games, last night's bomb to right showing how his one dimension can be a game changer.
"Chicago, for some reason, I don't feel like I've ever pitched well here for whatever reason," Lester said. "It is what it is, and it always goes back down to executing pitches at the right time, and I didn't execute the pitch (to Dunn) in the first inning. That changed the whole momentum of the game."
The blast came with two men on as Lester struggled getting out of innings, all of Chicago's runs coming with two outs in the first, second and fifth while White Sox hurler Dylan Axelrod allowed the Red Sox to string together production from consecutive at bats just once, Will Middlebrooks' walk followed by Jarrod Saltalamccia's home run in the top of the third.
Middlebrooks had a bases clearing double in the seventh against reliever Matt Thronton, then nearly came away the hero once again on this extended road trip, sending centerfielder Alejandro De Aza to the wall to snare a deep drive with one out and one on in the top of the ninth that could have conceivably tied the score...
...but De Aza made the catch and the Stephen Drew got robbed by Paul Konerko on a grounder to end the game. Red Sox fans can take solace in the fact that the players never gave up and battled to the last at bat, the sign of good things to come.
Another sign of good things to come is Clay Buchholz and his undefeated record taking the hill in the last game of the series, with Felix Doubront going tonight - the bad news being Jacoby Ellsbury coming into the contest mired in a horrific funk - collecting three rare base hits in 24 appearances on this road trip - and the apparently fragile Shane Victorino on the skids once again, this time with a tight hammy...
...but while Victorino is listed as day-to-day (again), Ellsbury's robust .325 batting average at U.S. Cellular park is a consideration in keeping him at lead off and the rest of the Red Sox are in mid-season form and have won five of seven on the roadie thus far even without Ellsbury setting the table - so if Ellsbury can find his stroke, there will be nothing but optimism going forward.
What was cooler for Red Sox fans to see on a Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis, Minnesota: The Sox turning in their fifth straight win or John Lackey finally looking like a healthy contributor?
We'll go long-term, and support the notion that the prospect of the big righty being a solid presence in the starting rotation is tantalizing, as is the fact that the Sox bullpen went an entire three game series without giving up a run.
The Red Sox 5-1 rain-delayed victory over the Twins at Target Field encapsulated the entire five game streak, with solid starting pitching, timely hitting and Web Gems-a-plenty - and one can't help but notice that the power is back on, too...
...Will Middlebrooks had yet another extra base hit, Sunday's park job to center giving the Sox an early 1-0 lead. Dustin Pedroia finished the scoring, his 2 run blast adding an exclamation mark to a weekend series in Minneapolis that was good for the soul of the team - in fact the entire road trip to this point being some sort of preternatural holiday spa that has refreshed the entire roster.
That still doesn't explain what got into Lackey, who brought a 1-4 record and a bloated 4.05 ERA into his start, and proceeded to shut down the Twins, not allowing a baserunner until the fifth inning. His day ended when the rains came, and he and his team mates settled in for a showing of a classic baseball film on Target Field's jumbotron.
When the game resumed, the trio of Andrew Miller, Koji Uehara and Janichi Tazawa showed the proper respect for Lackey's six inning, one hit performance by striking out six Twins between them as each pitched an inning of relief, Uehara striking out Joe Mauer to end a bases loaded threat in the bottom of the eighth.
The Red Sox are on a serious roll, and now go to the south side to take on a Chicago White Sox team that is seeking both an identity and a win. Losers of two straight, home has been only slightly more kind to them than the Twins, which doesn't bode well for the pale hose...
...particularly with ace Jon Lester taking the hill for the Red Sox, Lester will take another crack at win number seven against Chicago's Dylan Axelrod, who sports a 1-3 mark with a 4.27 ERA.
So with the Sox now fully emerged from whatever-that-was during their last homestand, they stand just a half game behind American League East leaders New York Yankees and headed into Chicago with a full head of steam - and closer Andrew Bailey waiting for them, expecting to be activated off the disabled list on Monday and ready to resume his duties.
A starting rotation getting quality starts down the line? A bullpen that's coming together and getting their closer back? An offense that's really starting to click?
Let's wait and see how they handle the South-siders before we get all unicorns and rainbows over this Red Sox team, but it's looking pretty good so far....
The turning point - it happens at least once in every baseball game, a player will make a play that changes the course of the inning, changes the course of the game...
...and sometimes, just sometimes, a player will make a play that changes the course of a season.
Did Boston Red Sox fans witness such a turning point at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Saturday night?
Catchers collide: Lavarnway tags out Doumit
Leading 7-5 in the bottom of the sixth after starter Ryan Dempster and reliever Clayton Mortensen both combined to allow the Twins to score three times in the previous inning, Mortensen allowed a single to catcher Ryan Doumit and issued a free pass to left fielder Oswaldo Arcia before being relieved by Craig Breslow, who immediately walked third baseman Trevor Plouffe to load the bases with just one out...
...when Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia made a twisting, over the shoulder grab of an Aaron Hicks flare, then turning and firing a bullet to catcher Ryan Lavarnway who, blocking the plate, stood his ground after Doumit tagged up and was bearing down on him. Lavarnway absorbed Doumit's big hit and held onto the ball for an inning ending double play.
David Ortiz and Daniel Nava then hit home runs in the top of the seventh to increase the Sox lead to 11-5 on their way to a lengthy 12-5 victory over the Twins in the second game of their three game series.
Ortiz also hit a three run blast in the first inning and had an RBI single in the third, hitting everything that he can reach, much to the chagrin of Twins' skipper Ron Gardenhire.
The one guy we say don't let beat us is David Ortiz ," Gardenhire lamented after the game, "They've got a lot of really good hitters over there, but we told them to stay away from this guy, don't give in to him. And he keeps sending souvenirs."
Both pitching staffs were wild on a muggy Saturday night in southern Minnesota, With Dempster and Mortensen combining for seven walks in five innings before Breslow came in and settled things down - and for his efforts, throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings spanning the sixth and seventh innings, Breslow picked up his first win of the season...
...while the Twins' staff never did settle down, as evidenced by the score. The Twins had their chances but left at least one runner stranded in each inning, leaving the bases loaded twice - including the 6th inning, where Pedroia's catch and throw and Lavarnway's toughness essentially saved the game for the Sox.
The Red Sox have now taken four straight and send the struggling John Lackey to the mound for Sunday's series finale - so if Boston can come out of Lackey's start with the win, we'll all know that something special has happened with this Red Sox team.
Being clutch comes in many different forms - and apparently Will Middlebrooks is intent on finding every single one of them...
The lanky third baseman laid down a sacrifice bunt in the top of the 10th inning to move second baseman Dustin Pedroia to third base, from where Jonny Gomes brought him home with a sac fly for what turned out to be the winning run in the Boston Red Sox' 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis on Friday night.
Jonny Gomes being congratulated after plating the winning run
Pedroia singled to right field to start the inning against Twins' reliever Josh Roenicke, who followed that up by walking David Ortiz - and though Middlebrooks hadn't laid down a bunt of any sort in five years, the situation called for it and the kid came through.
"He's a very good athlete. He's got good hand-eye coordination," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "Knowing that it wasn't part of his game as an offensive player, still I thought the game situation called for it. And he executed it perfectly."
After his sacrifice moved Pedroia to third, Gomes drove a fly ball to shallow center - where centerfielder Aaron Hicks and left fielder Oswaldo Arcia narrowly avoided a collision getting to the ball - Hicks made the catch but had to double-clutch after making contact with Arcia before making a throw to the plate, allowing Pedroia plenty of time to score the winning run.
Both starting pitchers had quality starts evaporate into no-decisions.
Clay Buchholz went seven full for the Sox, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out nine - followed by perfect relief from Andrew Miller, Alex Wilson and Koji Uehara. Wilson picked up the win pitching to just one batter in the ninth and Uehara got the save, his first of the year.
Buchholz dominated in the first two innings, striking out five consecutive batters, but then yielded a double to Twins' third baseman Trevor Plouffe to start the third. Two batters later light hitting shortstop Pedro Florimon sent the first pitch he saw just over the right field wall for his second homer of the year, giving Minnesota an early 2-1 lead.
Twins' starter Vance Worley pitched six solid, giving up one run on six hits - but the Twins' bullpen wasted his effort. He started shaky, yielding singles to Daniel Nava, who moved up on a throwing error, and to Ortiz, whose single plated Nava for a 1-0 Sox advantage. But Worley shut down the Sox on just four more hits before being lifted for Brian Duensing to start the seventh...
...which was the beginning of the end for the Twins. Duensing lasted two thirds of an inning, walking Gomes and and serving up singles to Jerrod Saltalamaccia and Jacoby Ellsbury, Ellsbury's infield variety scoring Gomes to tie the game, setting up the extra inning Sox heroics.
A far cry and seemingly ions away from last week's meltdown against the Twins at Fenway, the Sox are seemingly a different team. In Boston, they were mired in a hometown funk in which they couldn't get out of their own way and ended up losing six of seven - now on the road they're coming up with the clutch hit, taking their series in Tampa Bay against the Rays and starting on the right foot in Minnesota.
Going on the road in front of hostile crowds and in uncomfortable and unfamiliar surroundings naturally cause a person focus on what they know and what is familiar, which is why sometimes that's what it takes to break a team out of a slump...
So, who knows? Maybe by the time the Red Sox return to Boston next week they will have scratched and clawed their way back into the division lead, if not the league's overall best record, which they owned before they funked out.
Seems that the Bruins Patrice Bergeron isn't the only clutch act in town these days.
On the same night that Bergeron again had a hand in a Bruins come from behind victory, Boston Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks did the same against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Will Middlebrooks lines his game winning double in Tampa
Middlebrooks came into Thursday night's game against the Tampa Bay Rays straddling the Mendoza Line and came out the unlikely hero as his bases clearing double off of Rays' closer Fernando Rodney with two down in the top of the ninth powered the Sox to a 4-3 win at Tropicana Field.
Middlebrooks lined a rope to the gap in left center, scoring Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz and Daniel Nava after Rodney has walked the bases full and Red Sox interim closer Junichi Tazawa closed out the Rays in the bottom half on the inning to give the Sox two out of three from Tampa.
"He hung me a changeup and normally he buries that pitch, and he left it up," Middlebrooks said after the game, "awesome ... get us some momentum,"
On again, off again starter Felix Doubront and his supposed "Dead Arm" went five plus, yielding 2 runs on just three hits, but gave away bases on balls like he was handing out samples at a grocery store. His six walks were ultimately his undoing, though he did also register seven strike outs.
Tampa second baseman Ryan Roberts' solo park job to left off Doubront in the second inning staked starter Alex Cobb to a 1-0 lead, and RBI singles by Desmond Jenkins and Luke Scott provided Cobb a two run cushion before being lifted with two outs in the seventh.
Cobb had retired the first 10 batters he faced before Shane Victorino doubled down the line in right in the fourth inning, then allowed a two out single to Ortiz, driving in Victorino for the lone Sox run surrendered by Cobb.
The Red Sox pitching staff had control issues all night. Doubront was pulled after walking James Loney to start the sixth, with Clayton Mortensen coming on and promptly issued a pair of walks to load the bases before Jennings singled to put Tampa Bay up 2-1.
Andrew Miller replaced Mortensen and allowed Scott's run-scoring single that made it 3-1.
Entering the ninth and the score still 3-1, Rodney pulled a Ricky Vaughn walking the bases loaded. Pedrioa walked on a full count and Papi on four straight before the lumbering DH was replaced on the paths by speedy utility infielder Pedro Ciriaco.
Mike Napoli struck out, Nava walked on a full count and Wednesday night's hero Stephen Drew struck out setting the stage for Middlebrooks' last gasp game winner. There had been signs of Middlebrooks breaking out of his long funk as he smacked a towering blast late in last night's rout of the Rays.
Rodney blew his 3rd save opportunity of the season after failing only twice all of last season.
The Rays made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth, Scott and shortstop Yunel Escobar lining singles against Tazawa, but the Sox converted closer was able to get two K's and induced Loney to ground out to preserve the victory for Boston.
So, the Sox have won two out of three to start their nine game roadie in style, and in all three games they have gotten one big inning at the plate to produce their offense. It's a work in progress as they have gotten back to being opportunistic and manufacturing runs when they need them...
...which is what made their hot April so successful - and for sure the Sox and their fans would take that over what the month of May has been like.
If your offense is limited to one inning outbursts, you'd better be sure that you score enough runs in that inning to suffice for the entire game....
...the Boston Red Sox have pulled that one brief, intense scoring outburst the past two games against division rivals Tampa Bay, Tuesday night's three run first inning not enough to sustain a Sox victory, so they know they would need more in Wednesday night's game - and got more...a lot more.
Stephen Drew watches his 3rd inning grand slam
Jon Lester went seven strong, yeilding two runs on eight hits, striking out five and running his record to 6-0 with an 9-2 victory over the Rays on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field. Even better news for the Sox, however, was a near average 5 for 11 at the plate with runners in scoring position, the result of which was the Sox largest one inning run total of the season.
It was the same folks doing the damage - Pedroia, Ellsbury, Ortiz and Drew coming through in an 8 run third inning that also saw contributions from the hot and cold Mike Napoli and the stone cold Jonny Gomes. Drew, who until just recently was hugging the Mendoza line, has come on of late as evidenced by his grand slam park job to right to cap the inning.
"It's bound to turn around," Drew said after the game in which he hit his second career full bagger, "We know the past couple games haven't been too good with runners in scoring position, so tonight was a great night to have and hopefully we can keep it going."
Will Middlebrooks, who is currently straddling the Mendoza Line, added a solo shot in the eighth to close out the scoring.
The issue that still remains is that while the Sox are able to string together hits, prolong innings and score runs in short, intense spurts, that's all there is. Sometimes, like Wednesday night, it's going to be enough, but most times it isn't.
In Tuesday night's 5-3 loss, Boston scored their three runs on two hits in the first inning, then were held to one hit for the remainder of the game. In Wednesday night's win, they scored eight runs on six hits, then managed just one run on two hits the rest of the way, leaving five baserunners hanging in the process.
The recent trend suggests inconsistency across the board, and while a road win in Tampa is nothing to sneeze about, in the games that the Sox have had their most success - i.e., the month of April - they were able to string together multiple innings of consistency.
The good news is that we know it can be done. They've done it and we witnessed them doing it - the bad news is that, for whatever reason, they aren't doing it now. The pitching has been good enough that their record should be better, so it's all a matter of discovering what's up at the plate...
...and perhaps they learned a little something about what that is last night.
For one brief, shining moment in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Red Sox' struggles at the plate were a thing of the past.
Left behind were the days of multiple runners left on base, replaced by Jacoby Ellsbury, moved over by a Dustin Pedroia double and Big Papi clearing the bases with one swing...
Big Papi following through on his 1st inning homer
Suddenly, wonderful things started happening: Hot dogs were wrapped in $100 bills, the FDA finally admitted that bacon is good for you and dogs and cats started working together to end the hate between their species.
and then the stars aligned.
Dogs and cats hated each other again (except bacon-wrapped cats, which dogs love), hot dogs were five bucks, wrapped in ordinary paper and the Red Sox' light hitting ways returned with a vengeance...
...Rays' starter Matt Moore went five strong innings after giving up the right field park job to David Ortiz and the white ceiling at Tropicana Field provided an added bonus as Tampa Bay shut down the floundering Red Sox by a score of 5-3.
Papi went deep to right in the first inning, plating Ellsbury and Pedroia in the process - and then the next hit the Sox were able to touch the undefeated Morris for was a double off the right field wall by shortstop Stephen Drew in the fifth inning, a drive that also signaled the end of any Sox offense for the evening.
Tuesday night's 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays was a microcosm of what we all see going on with the Sox, as their starting pitching is almost always good enough if the batters could take advantage of runners in scoring position.
The three runs scored is about average for what the Sox have been plating lately. Since a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on May 2nd, the Sox' 36 runs scored is only half as many as their opponents have scored as they have been swept by the Rangers in Arlington, lost three of four to the Twins and two of three to the 'Jays at Fenway.
Boston starter John Lackey pitched well to start the game - and even well enough to win the game had the Sox been able to plate any more runs, and the white-painted roof above the maze of support beams and catwalks at the Trop was at least partially to blame for what turned out to be the winning runs...
...not that the Red Sox are looking for any excuses as to their abysmal performance at the plate and equally lamented fielding woes of late, but when you've just lost for the ninth time in eleven tries, the tendency is to start looking for any angle you can find.
With the score tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth, Rays' Matt Joyce launched a pop fly that flirted with the catwalks above the field, but both Mike Napoli and Pedroia lost track of the ball in against the white backdrop of the dome, both then watching helplessly as the ball came back into view and hit the field just inside the first base line.
Pedroia followed the ball to the line, hoping it would roll foul, but the ball came to a stop about 6 inches inside fair territory - meanwhile two runs had scored and the Rays had taken the lead.
“We needed the wind to blow or something," Pedroia said.
Right now, the Red Sox will take any help they can get, even a phantom breeze inside a domed stadium.
The Toronto Blue Jays graciously allow the Boston Red Sox to use their homefield as a launching pad, so on Sunday the Red Sox returned the favor at Fenway Park.
Actually, the Sox were not feeling terribly hospitable after having their hearts ripped out by the Blue Jays' Adam Lind's Saturday night's 9th inning park job after the Sox had a rare burst of clutch hitting to tie the score in the bottom of the 8th...
...but it's as good an excuse as any for allowing the 'Jays five home runs as part of their 12-4 shellacking of the Red Sox that gave the series to Toronto and dropped the Sox to third place in the American League East behind the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles.
Jose Bautista send two balls over the Green Monster, one finding a parking spot on Lansdowne Street, and three other Blue Jays blasted round trippers as Toronto sent the Red Sox to their lone day off for three weeks with their eighth loss in ten games and a rash of fresh teeth marks to tend to before boarding a charter to Tampa for their series with the Rays.
Emilio Bonifacio , Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Lawrie also homered for the Blue Jays, who have won just seven of their last 20 and are last in the AL East at 15-24...
...which isn't a real confidence booster heading off for a nine game roadie that promises nothing but grief should the Sox not find their stroke at the plate. The Bullpen is hurting and it shows in the elevated ERA from April til May, but the inability for the offense to generate base hits with runners in scoring position is the real concern.
And with baseball being as simple as hitting a ball with a stick, perhaps the issue is that once the Sox strung together a couple of bad games they began to press, to put pressure on themselves to swing freely or not at all, never finding a happy median.
Baseball is such a mental game, a chess match with breathing pawns - to the point that the simplicity of the sport takes a backseat to the details and loses its pureness, and with a loss of innocence comes a natural evolution of doubt, starting a vicious circle that only a return to the fundamentals of the game can break.
Pitching, hitting, fielding. It's really that simple - expectations, money and the pressure to win make it difficult.
But now they have a week and a half to learn to relax before returning to their imaginary detractors in Boston. Nobody wants to see the Red Sox start to hit more than the faithful at Fenway, and nobody wants to see the Sox stay in their protracted slump more than the Tampa Bay Rays their hosts for the next three games...
...and the road has a way of affording a certain solace that can't be found at home, and provides a natural underdog atmosphere that allows players to let it all hang out - so a nine day roadie that takes the Sox halfway across the country could be just the tonic this struggling team needs.
Just pitch, hit and field, it really is that simple. If it wasn't, nobody would care.
Clay Buchholz followed up last night's one hit, complete game shutout by ace Jon Lester with a beauty of his own on an overcast and misty day at Fenway Park.
After rain delayed the start of the game for nearly an hour, the hard throwing Red Sox righty dealt for eight solid innings, yielding two runs on six hits with four strike outs. Turns out manager John Farrell pulled him from the game one batter too early, though.
Adam Lind rounds the bases on a 9th inning homer
Buchholz hit the showers after the 8th inning thinking he was going to take the loss as his light hitting teammates gave him no run support, but his spirits were bolstered as Jacoby Ellsbury tripled in catcher David Ross, then scored himself on shortstop Munenori Kawasaki's error to tie the game at 2-2 going to the top of the ninth...
...he wouldn't be in line for the decision, but he wouldn't be taking a loss either - and the Red Sox offense had finally found a little forward momentum, tagging Jays' reliever Darren Oliver for the two runs after being held in check all day by starter Mark Buehrle. Things were looking up.
Then interim closer Junichi Tazawa served up a 2-2 beach ball to the first hitter he saw, first baseman Adam Lind's park job to the tarp in deep center sending the Sox to their seventh loss in nine games.
Casey Jannsen came on for Toronto in the ninth, serving up a double to Will Middlebrooks to open the frame, but settled down and retired the side for his 10th save in as many opportunities.
The extent of the damage to Buchholz was limited to RBI singles in the 3rd and 4th innings, while Buehrle pitched his way out of a couple of early jams to take a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth. After issuing a free pass to Ross to start the inning, he was hooked for Oliver and what was supposed to be a clean win for the 35 year old turned into a disappointing no decision.
Oliver took the win even though he gave up the tying run.
So now the Red Sox head into Sunday's rubber match with the same questions regarding their lack of offense and a renewed anxiety regarding the closer's role.
Joel Hanrahan is reported to now be out for the season and Andrew Bailey is still a week away from taking part in game action, so Tazawa's beach ball to Lind - a slider that stayed right in the middle of the plate - has some concerned, though he recovered nicely to strike out the last two batters to keep the game close...
...but the Sox were again bitten by their propensity to fail in opportunities with men in scoring position. Boston had chances, but left two baserunners stranded in each of the opening two innings after having them on with one out, and Dustin Pedroia was thrown out trying to stretch a single in the third inning just before David Ortiz smacked a single to center that probably would have scored Pedroia.
In short, Saturday afternoon's loss encapsulates the Red Sox' woes for the past week: Solid starting pitching giving way to shaky relief appearances and the offense producing next to nothing in clutch situations.
Perhaps it's just a matter of timing or of chemistry, but whatever it is, Farrell needs to find it quickly. After Sunday's game at Fenway, the Sox have Monday off, then play twenty straight, with only six of those games at home - So if there is going to be a breakout from the current funk the Sox are in, they are going to have to do it on the road, where everything is more difficult..
The past seven days have been a surrealistic nightmare for the Boston Red Sox...
...taking a Texas sized spanking in their three game roadie against the Rangers, this after Toronto Blue Jays' commentator Jack Morris accused Sox starter Clay Buchholz of throwing KY balls against the 'Jays - returning home to get slugged in the teeth by the Minnesota Twins, all the while losing their only two pitchers with protracted closing experience to injury.
So, losers of six of their last seven games - the only win an extra inning walkoff against the Twins on Tuesday - their week got worse as it went along, to the point that Sox fans came into Friday night's series opening game with those same Toronto Blue Jays not expecting much...
...which is exactly what they got, in the form of Red Sox starter Jon Lester tossing an absolute gem - a one hit, complete game shutout of their nemesis from north of the border, the 5-0 win a temporary tonic to soothe the soul after a tough week all around for the Sox.
Lester struck out five Jays' and issued no free passes, taking advantage of the aggressiveness of the Toronto batters, keeping them off balance with a variety of filthy pitches that either had the Jays' flailing helplessly at the ball or handcuffed in amazement.
He was throwing everything," Toronto's J.P. Arencibia said. "I think he used our aggressiveness against us a little bit. He's pretty special when you could throw cutter, sinker, four-seam, hook, changeup, and on both sides of the plate. The guy's one of the best in the game for a reason. He showed that tonight."
Pitching problems?
Not on Friday night, not when your starter goes the distance, giving up only a clean double to Macier Izturis after retiring the first sixteen batters he faced, then mowing down the last 11 straight for the 10th complete game of his career and the third shutout.
As for the one pitch that got away, Sox catcher Jerrod Saltlamaccia was taking it pretty hard, "As soon as the game was over I started thinking about it," he said. "Changeup, first pitch. I'm going to have nightmares about it to be honest with you."
Lester was taking it in stride: "If that ball's two feet to (the) left, it's right at him, Good pitch, what we wanted to throw especially to an aggressive hitter. He did a good job of hitting it." Lester said after the game, "The no-hitter, perfect game, all that stuff, the stars got to be perfectly aligned for you."
In contrast, Jays' starter Ramon Ortiz was having a difficult time finding his spots, giving up four hits and five walks in five innings of work - yet was trailing only 1-0 to the light hitting Sox of late, Daniel Nava scoring from third on a throwing error by Izturis...
...but perhaps manager John Gibbons should have let him be, as the wheels came off of the Blue Jays' wagon when he was lifted in favor of reliever Brett Cecil.
Singles by Jacoby Ellsbury and Shane Victorino started the seventh inning for Boston, both moving up on a wild pitch by Cecil, then Dustin Pedroia singled in a run, but the next two batters struck out. With two outs in the inning, the Sox strung together consecutive doubles from Saltalamacchia and Middlebrooks and suddenly a close game was a blow out.
The Sox struggles at the plate continued, and left runners stranded in each of the first seven innings, a struggle that manager John Farrell acknowledged indirectly after the game. "In the seventh we were able to bunch some hits together, which was kind of elusive."
Despite the continuing mediocrity at the plate and the volatility of the bullpen situation, this night belonged to Jon Lester who, as it turns out, would have been the winner regardless of the four run seventh from his offense...
...but the reality is that the Red Sox have very identifiable and fixable issues to attend to, taking advantage of opportunities at the plate and finding some consistency from the bullpen being tops on the list - but having your starter pitch a complete game, one hit shutout will mask a lot of problems, if for only one game.
Minnesota Twins starter Pedro Hernandez lasted all of two innings on Wednesday night.
The diminutive lefty surrendered six runs on seven hits, including home runs to Shane Victorino and Jonny Gomes but, amazingly, was still in line for the win when he was lifted in favor of long reliever Ryan Pressly...
Oswaldo Arcia watches is home run fly into the people in right
...and that's because rookie Allen Webster, fresh off the bus from Boston Red Sox' triple A affiliate in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was pulled after just one and two thirds inning after yeilding eight runs on just six hits. Almost as bad, recently demoted starter Felix Doubront - the man that Webster replaced in the rotation - and his dead arm came on to be the stopper, but he too was pummeled harshly.
But now Webster is on his way back to Pawtucket and Joe De La Torre is on his way to Boston, Joel Hanrahan has been transferred to the 60 day disabled list while their other closer, Andrew Bailey, is also on a 15 day skid - and the Red Sox had lost 5 of their past six games coming into the finale of a four game series against the Minnesota Twins.
Clearly the Sox could deal with a dose of good news.
Problem is, right now the Red Sox can't get out of their own way and their margin for error is so thin that one mistake could spell disaster...
...like what happened Thursday night at Fenway Park, for example.
Leading 2-1 in the top of the 6th, Sox starter John Lackey was pitching his best game of the season when Joe Mauer touched him for a single to lead it off, then Justin Morneau took a one out walk to put base runners at 1st and second - Lackey needed to keep the ball in the infield and he got a perfect comebacker off the bat of Trevor Plouffe.
Lackey scooped it cleanly, pivoted and fired the ball well out of second baseman Dustin Pedroia's reach and into right center, allowing Mauer to score from second. A sac fly and right field park job later and a Red Sox team that should have been in the dugout after being spoon fed a double play ball instead found themselves trailing 5-2, a steep hill to climb for the light hitting Sox of late...
...and they had their chances, the best being in the bottom of eighth when Daniel Nava took a one out free pass and took second on Twin shortstop Eduardo Escobar's bobble of Will Middlebrooks' grounder, but Stephen Drew and Mike Carp both fanned and Minnesota cruised in from there, dropping the Sox by a final of 5-3 to take three of four from the free-falling Sox.
Lackey was terrific until the wild throwing error, in all pitching seven solid, surrendering five runs on six hits but four of those runs were unearned. Set up man Koji Uehara struck out the side in the 8th and Craig Breslow induced all grounders to pitch a perfect ninth.
Boston jumped out to a 2-0 lead, Pedroia singling in Jacoby Ellsbury in the third and Nava scoring on a Drew liner to center in the fourth. Aaron Hicks doubled in Oswaldo Arcia to cut the lead in half for Minnesota, setting up the Wheels-falling-off drama of the following inning, Arcia's two-run shot to right being the fatal blow.
Minnesota starter Kevin Correia pitched 5 1-3 innings, yielding three runs on nine hits and relievers Brian Duensing , Jared Burton and Glen Perkins held the Red Sox scoreless the rest of the way with Perkins picking up the save.
This is a team in turmoil, these Boston Red Sox. Pitching woes aside, they have lost six of seven and in the past week have had their best performing stating pitcher accused of spitballing by Toronto Blue Jays commentator Jack Morris, been outscored to the tune of 43-19, the defense is falling apart with eleven errors in the past seven games and David Ortiz gets the naked light bulb treatment from the Tabloid-esque Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy regarding steroid usage...
...and now here come the Blue Jays and their circus sideshow of Jack Morris and his paranoid conspiracy theories for a weekend series - Brandon Morrow takes the bump for the Blue Jays while Jon Lester is scheduled to make the first pitch at 7:10 for the Red Sox.
With any luck at all Morris will stay hunkered down in his hotel suite with full room service for the three game set and not say a word, maybe have Shaughnessy over for a few laughs...they are, after all, in the same business...
Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a lead off solo shot over the Green Monster in the bottom of the ninth inning. But it wasn't the walk off variety, nor did it tie a close game to send it into bonus cantos.
No, unfortunately it was the lonely highlight of an otherwise dismal offensive performance as the Boston Red Sox were taken to the woodshed by the Minnesota Twins by a final score of 6-1 at Fenway Park on Tuesday night.
Saltalamaccia's drive was just the fourth Red Sox hit all evening, and came after Twins' starter Scott Diamond had already lived up to his surname then hit the showers, throwing a seven inning, three hit gem. All three hits were singles, and Diamond issued no free passes, striking out two while not allowing a Boston baserunner to reach second base.
Josh Roenicke pitched a somewhat shaky eighth and ninth inning, allowing two bases on balls and Saltalamaccia's homer - still far and away better than what Boston reliever Craig Breslow could muster, but he wasn't the lone goat.
Breslow came on in the eighth inning, manager John Farrell lifting starter Ryan Dempster after reserve 3rd baseman Pedro Ciriaco noodle armed consecutive throws, allowing both batters to reach first on throwing errors. A double, walk and two singles later and Breslow was lifted for rookie reliever Alex Wilson...
...but the damage was done. What was a manageable two run deficit for the Sox thanks to Dempster's five hit, sight strikeout performance quickly bloated to six runs and the Red Sox were history. Wilson pitched beautifully in holding the tough Twins' batting order to just one free pass in two solid innings of relief.
It wasn't just a rough night for seldom-used relief pitchers named Breslow, though. In the fifth inning, catcher David Ross and third baseman Will Middlebrooks collided while both were trying to run under a fly ball in foul territory. Both stayed in the game, but Ross lasted just one more batter before being replaced by Saltalamaccia while Middlebrooks stayed in the clubhouse after the sixth inning.
Ross and Middlebrooks collide in the fifth inning
Both are to be evaluated on Wednesday, Ross with a bruised quadriceps and Middlebrooks with "Right side pain", but both leaving a tight game is an ominous sign - particularly at third base, because Ciriaco has struggled, both in the field and on the base paths.
Other than Dempster's and Wilson's solid outings, there just aren't many bright spots from this performance. David Ortiz kept his hitting streak alive, but overall the Sox offensive attack was, frankly, offensive. Since leaving Toronto and the launching pad at Rogers Centre, the Red Sox have lost four of five and have been outscored 25-11 in that span.
The good news is that Boston still leads the American League East, and the season is still in it's infancy, so there's plenty of time to make adjustments and tweak the staff. The Sox didn't become the first team in the majors with 20 wins by accident - they have the tools and the talent, so a big fix is not needed, Farrell just needs to figure out a way to manufacture some runs...
The Boston Red Sox were forced to make several roster moves on Tuesday as manager John Farrell tried to fill holes on his pitching staff...
...holes from having to send Joel Hanrahan to the disabled list for the second time this season, one day after closer Andrew Bailey landed there - leaving the Sox without an experienced closer. In their stead, Farrell promoted reliever Junichi Tazawa to the closer role.
Joel Hanrahan leaves Monday night's game with an arm injury
It's certainly not time to panic, as Tazawa has been solid in the late inning set up role, posting a 2.51 ERA in 16 appearances. There was some thought that the excitable Koji Uehara might be a better choice, given the fact that he has done some minimal closing work in the past, but Farrell cited the need for flexibility in regard to Uehara.
“Well, the one thing I like about Koji is, typically, if you’re going to get those pinch hit left-handers in the eighth inning, he’s so effective against lefties,” Farrell said on Tuesday afternoon, pointing out that Tazawa has a little more zip on his fastball to blow it past guys looking to take big cuts.
"Tazawa has a little bit more fastball which, whether I’m siding to the traditional approach with a little bit more power late in the game, that’s there. So, right now that’s the initial approach that we’d take to closing things out.”
Farrell assuredly has stats on his side, as Uehara dominates lefties to the tune of a minuscule .143 batting average against, and has a numbing high five when he gets back to the dugout.
In another move, Farrell also announced that left-hander Felix Doubront and his dead arm are being relegated to the bullpen and rookie Allen Webster was on his way to Boston from Pawtucket to take Doubront's place in the starting rotation.
Doubront has been struggling with both velocity and control, throwing beach balls in his last start in Texas where he was stomped to the tune of six runs on 12 hits in less than four innings, while Webster has been throwing filthy stuff for the Paw Sox...
...but the sudden issues with the pitching staff has to be concerning, despite the fact that the Sox have enough depth to mask the issues for now, but the truth of the matter is that if anything else goes down, the staff will be in serious trouble, particularly in the pen.
But for now Farrell is counting his lucky stars that Hanrahan, a total disappointment thus far in 2013, will not need surgery for what is being called a flexor-pronator strain, which will sideline him indefinately.
Hanrahan was brought in as a free agent this offseason for many dollars to take over the closer's role, but between an earlier stint on the DL and Monday night's issue, the former Pittsburgh Pirate who posted 72 Saves and logged 128 innings pitched in the past two seasons has a total of fours saves and 7.1 innings pitched for the Sox, and has now blown his last two save opportunities.
But Hanrahan has that closer's mentality and short memory and doesn't worry about things that he can't control, sarcastically stating, "I figure I’ll be fresh for October".
But if the Sox have any more problems with their pitching staff, there won't be baseball for them in October...
Boston Red Sox shortstop Stephen Drew is distancing himself from the Mendoza line, and doing so in dramatic fashion.
Drew raised his batting average to .225 on Monday night, going 4 for 5 including his first home run of the season and a wall ball double that plated the winning run, leading the Sox to a 5-4, 11th inning walk off victory over the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park.
Dustin Pedroia parks one in the 8th
"It's more or less trying to get into a rhythm," said Drew, who entered batting .182 and raised his average above .200 for the first time this season. "I've been working on some things and tonight was just a good night for me."
The win snapped a season-high three game losing skid for Boston and perpetuated their status as the best team in the major leagues, at least as far as overall record goes. Over the weekend, the Texas Rangers bullied the Sox down in Arlington, taking away their offense - to the tune of allowing just four runs on 20 hits for the entire three game series...
...staggeringly bad numbers that the Sox need just one game against the Twins to top. Conversely, the Red Sox pitching staff allowed 14 runs to Texas, the Rangers' batters roughing up both starters and relievers alike - which is a trend that could continue, given the difficulties the Sox staff had on Monday night.
Sox starter Clay Buchholz appeared in his first game since allegations of being the next Gaylord Perry surfaced after his start in Toronto last week, and the results were mixed. Buchholz left pitches hanging early, giving up two runs on a pair of wall ball doubles and a bases-clearing RBI single, then walked the following two batters to load the bases with one out...
...but Buchholz reached back for something extra and fanned the next two batters to keep the damage down to a minimum and the Sox in the game.
The lanky right hander ended up going 6 innings, yielding four runs on seven hits while walking four and striking out nine - hardly the stat line that Sox fans have come to expect from Buchholz this season, but solace can betaken in the fact that after the 1st inning he kept his composure and settled into a groove.
What can not be comforting is the state of their bullpen in light of Andrew Bailey being placed on the disabled list with a biceps injury as well as Joel Hanrahan's incompetence. With Bailey on the skids and Hanrahan not to be trusted - and fragile to boot - it presents an interesting circumstance for Boston manager John Farrell to deal with.
Hanrahan came on in the top of the ninth to try and preserve a one run lead, and with one out gave up a solo park job to Brian Dozier followed by a strike out and a walk and a complaint of tightness in his forearm, which ended his night. Clayton Mortensen came on for Hanrahan and eventually picked up the win, pitching two and a third innings of one hit ball.
Minnesota starter Vance Worley took a 4-1 lead into the fourth inning, but gave up Shane Victorino's first deep ball of the season, surrendered another run in the fifth the started the sixth giving up consecutive singles before being lifted. In all, the Sox pushed across a single run in five straight innings, including homers by Drew and Dustin Pedroia, the latter to take a 5-4 lead into the ninth to set up Hanrahan's fail.
So the gritty offense that disappeared in Texas was rediscovered at Fenway, but the closers are dropping like flies, so it's even more important for the Sox to score runs and for the starting pitching to go deep into the game...Tuesday night it's up to Ryan Dempster to keep Minnesota at bay in while Scott Diamond hopes to throw a gem for the Twins at Fenway Park, 7:10 first pitch...
...thirteen hits and one run in 18 innings against the Texas Rangers coming into Sunday afternoon's series finale, and as if that wasn't bad enough, the slumping Sox offense had to deal with the ace of the Rangers' staff, Yu Darvish.
Adrian Beltre celebrates his walk off RBI Single
How do you think that turned out for the Red Sox?
Actually, just as bad as it was built up to be - and while a loss is a loss no matter how it happens, how it happened on Sunday did nothing to ease anxieties among the faithful.
Darvish allowed three runs on four hits - both runs coming via Sox park jobs - while striking out a whopping 14 batters in 7 innings, and Adrian Beltre sliced an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to give the hometown Rangers a 4-3 walk-off victory over the Red Sox to sweep the three game weekend series.
Boston came into the series with the best record in baseball and came out of it stomped like grapes - tied with the Rangers, whose pitching staff took the Red Sox batters behind the woodshed so many times that in Sunday's matinee it seemed the Sox batter wanted no more to do with Texas or their pitching staff, waving weakly at Darvish's magical offerings.
David Ortiz continued his hot start, however, belting his 4th home run in 13 games and extending his hitting streak to 25 games. David Ross also went deep with his 4th, but nothing compared to Big Papi's drive to right field - a shot so high and deep that Ortiz took his time admiring the trajectory.
The two jobs spotted Sox starter Jon Lester a 3-0 lead and, as we've seen of Lester thus far, that should have been enough...
...but it wasn't, as Lester was victimized by the long ball as well.
Mitch Moreland sent one over the wall in left, an opposite field job that seemed to crawl into the stands to make the score 3-1 in the third, a score that held up until the sixth, when Nelson Cruz sent his seventh ball of the season into the people - a two run shot to center that tied the game and ended Lester's day with no influence on the decision.
"I felt good. I felt like I had good stuff, I just made two mistakes," said Lester after the game.
Boston made a little noise in the tops of the 8th and 9th, putting together hits and walks and stolen bases for the first time in the series against the Rangers' pen, but saw those threats fizzle - and Texas seemed to be headed in the same direction and the game destined for bonus cantos as Sox reliever Clayton Mortenson struck out pinch hitter Leonys Martin and second baseman Ian Kinsler...
...then yielding a single to Elvis Andrus and electing to walk Lance Berkman with two outs to get to Beltre, who lined his single to right center, scoring Andrus and handing the Sox their 3rd consecutive loss.
The Red Sox return home for a set with the Minnesota Twins, who will send Vance Worley to the mound to face Clay "Preacher Roe" Buchholz for a 7:10pm start at Fenway Park on Monday night.
Perhaps a return to familiar surroundings will help the Sox remember where they left their offense.
Coming into Friday night's game against the Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox pitcher Felix Doubront had a 2-0 record with the best run support of any pitcher in the major leagues...
...but after the Rangers nickled and dimed him to an early exit and starting pitcher David Holland held the perplexed and tired looking Sox offense to six measly singles in 8 solid innings, Doubront had neither.
Jacoby Ellsbury reacts after striking out on Saturday.
At 9.64 runs scored by his teammates for every nine innings pitched, Doubront had been the beneficiary of a Sox lineup that manufactured runs at a pace that is well above their quota - to the tune of a 20-8 record and the best record in Baseball....
...so the Sox offense decided not to show up. It happens every now and then, though there's no explanation for it other than just having a bad day collectively - or running into a hot pitcher like Holland.
We move on. Baseball season is so long that at this point in the infancy of the 2013 season, it's easy to let a bad game slip into the past. Chalk Friday night up to nothing more than a bad day and move onto Saturday night's first pitch - which, much to the chagrin of Sox faithful, was a disaster of equal proportions.
Rangers' second baseman Ian Kinsler led off the bottom of the 1st by driving the first pitch he saw from Sox starter John Lackey into the people in the left field bleachers and light-hitting centerfielder Craig Gentry also sent a two-run souvenir over the left field wall as the Rangers clinched the three game series with Boston by a score of 5-1.
Lackey didn't pitch badly, as a matter of fact he threw every piece of junk he could to keep the Red Sox in the game, going five innings while giving up 3 runs, while walking three and striking out four - waiting for the Sox breakout at the plate, which never happened.
After a performance like that, one would expect that the resilient Sox would regroup and bring better focus and effort at the plate - and they did, by one more hit and one more run...which is very marginal improvement when considered that Boston scored zero run on six hits the night before...
Designated hitter David Ortiz continued his fast start, belting a gapper, then scored Boston's lone run - and that was about it, though they did manage to leave nine runners stranded - and as amazing as it seems, the Red Sox still hold the best record in baseball after losing two straight to Texas, by one game over the Rangers and a game and a half over division rivals, the New York Yankees...
...so when Yu Darvish brings his 5-1 record, 58 strike outs and a shiny 2.33 ERA to the mound on Sunday afternoon at Ranger's Ballpark to face off against Sox ace Jon Lester and his 4-0 record and 3.11 ERA, Darvish has the opportunity to give Lester his first loss of the season and to give the Rangers the best record in all of baseball.
It goes without saying that the Red Sox are unplugged right now. Their performance both times that they've visited the Launching pad that is Rogers' Centre in Toronto not withstanding, their entire offensive philosophy has been based on small ball, stringing together hits to win two thirds of their games...
...but Texas has been able to take that away from them, and may be able to steal their best-record thunder if they are able to sweep the series today at 3:05 Eastern time...
When 120 year old Jack Morris accused young Clay Buchholz of throwing "Spitballs" in Wednesday night's shellacking of Toronto, the former major league pitcher and analyst for Blue Jays' telecasts came off sounding like a bitter, complaining old man ...
...because he is a bitter, complaining old man.
Preacher Row, right, with teammate Jackie Robinson
We'll let Hall of Fame releiver and former Sox closer Dennis Ekersley handle the reasons why Morris is a bitter, complaining old man - which he did quite eloquently in an interview this morning:
“I was upset during the game when we found out what was happening with Jack Morris, and the more I saw it, the more I started thinking about it, it made me more and more angry about Jack Morris. To me, that’s clueless on his part,” Eckersley said on NESN. “If he knew anything about Buchholz, he knows how nasty he is. His ball doesn’t dance all over the place. The guy paints. He’s got nasty stuff. [Morris] should know that, and he’s gotten carried away. It becomes about Jack Morris almost."
Ek went on and on, questioning the very integrity of Morris as an authority on such things as a spitter when Morris is "a guy that can’t even make it to the Hall of Fame yet", and that "he’s chirping over there - zip it.”
Indeed, Jack Morris. Zip it.
And the worst part? The worst part is that he did all of this - smeared the reputation of a young fireballer, threw his own team under the bus, questioned the integrity of baseball itself - over something that he didn't even witness, and would not have had the camera crew not pointed it out to him.
"I found out because the guys on the video camera showed it to me right after the game," he said. "I didn't see it during the game. They showed it to me and said, 'What do you think of this?' and I said, 'Well, he's throwing a spitter. Cause that's what it is."
He said he saw Buchholz repeatedly going to his left forearm, which he said was clearly smeared with a substance that Buchholz was rubbing onto the ball. Buchholz and manager John Farrell scoffed at Morris' accusations, stating that the right hander had rosin on his left forearm, not a slippery substance.
“He’s got rosin on his arm,’’ said Farrell, visibly annoyed. “He’s not loading up, he’s got rosin on his arm. As soon as someone pitches well or does well, they’re cheating.’’
Morris said he went to both Sox catchers and to Farrell to complain, but found no satisfaction.
“It was all over his forearm, all over the lower part of his T-shirt, it’s all in his hair,’’ Morris said. “I can’t prove anything. I can’t prove anything."
Morris was born in 1955, the same year that a pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers named Preacher Roe retired from the game rather than accept a trade to the Baltimore Orioles.
Roe was one of the most famous spitballers, renowned for his ability to control the pitch and to throw it without being nailed. Roe told of wiping his left hand across his brow and spitting on his thumb with juice from his bubble gum, using the base of his hand as a shield. While ostensibly hitching his belt, he then transferred moisture to his index and middle fingers, gripped the baseball on a smooth spot and threw with a fastball motion, getting a sharp downward break.
And then there was Gaylord Perry, whom Morris referred to as making a living on the spitball - Morris even describing how he went to one of Perry's former coaches to learn how to throw one. In his autobiography, Perry went as far as to describe how he would put Vaseline on his zipper, knowing that the umpires would never check there for a foreign substance.
So there is much for young Buchholz to learn as far as concealing a spitball, but perhaps the best lesson out there comes from Eddie Harris from the training film titled, appropriately, Major league:
Sure. Why not put snot on the ball? It's not as if anyone will know, and if anyone actually noticed chances are they'd skip inspecting the ball.
Dude...wait. What? That's not a training film?
The amazing thing about this film, other than how in the world the producers got so much high-priced talent gathered to make the movie - a very young duo of Charlie Sheen and Wesley Snipes star, along with Corbin Bernsen and that dude that does the Allstate commercials - is that Jack Morris stars in the movie as well, playing manager Lou Brown.
What? That's not him? Sure as hell looks like him, with the wee beady eyes and the circa 1970's Harry Reams push broom porn 'stache...
...either way, if you combine Harris' stealth technique with Perry's zipper paint and Roe's bubble gum juice trick, it would be far less conspicuous to Canadian camera crews, and Morris won't have anything to complain about.
As for Buchholz, he has little to say about the accusation other than saying that he'd been wearing the same jersey for three years so any stains on it isn't from loading the ball, just from natural human dirtiness - which may be more disturbing than the accusation of loading up the ball - and that he thinks it's funny enough to snap a pic of teammate Ryan Dempster's locker before his start on Thursday night where a bottle of baby oil, a tube of Vaseline and a container of coca butter had been lined up on the top shelf by a clubhouse prankster.
In truth, Buchholz throws some nasty stuff - and he could be able to use the negative notoriety to his advantage. Though Preacher Roe was known primarily as a spitballer, he had a repertoire of legal pitches, but the batters that he faced were always looking for the spitter.
Once when pitching against the Boston Braves’ Jim Russell, Roe went to his cap repeatedly. Each time Roe did that, Russell stepped out of the batter’s box. After this went on three or four times, Roe threw the ball. “He’s waiting for that good hard drop. I touch the visor and throw a big slow curve." Roe recanted years after his retirement, "He was so wound up he couldn’t swing. But he spit at the ball as it went by.”
Maybe that's what Morris was lamenting, that his Blue Jays just couldn't touch whatever it was that Buchholz was throwing, and they were reduced to spitting at it as it whipped by...
After pummelling Toronto Blue Jays' pitchers for a total of eight park jobs in the first two games of their three game series, the Boston Red Sox were looking for a power surge similar to the one in the rubber match from their earlier three game set at Rogers Centre in Toronto.
In that game, third baseman Will Middlebrooks homered three times, accounting for half of the Sox dingers on their way to a 13-0 pasting of the Blue Jays that commenced a season high seven game winning streak...
...but what they got on Thursday night was a pitching duel that forced the Sox to fall back on their small ball ways that dominate their offensive landscape everywhere but Toronto.
Singles, walks and sac flies brought in three runs, plenty for Ryan Dempster on this night, the righty going six solid, giving up just one run on four hits, whiffing four as well, leading the Red Sox to 3-1 victory over J.A. Happ and the Blue Jays in Toronto on Thursday night.
Happ struggled with his locations from the first batter, walking a season high seven in 3 2/3 innings. The big right hander allowed only three hits and two runs in his shortest stint of the season, but he struggled to get half of his pitches over for strikes and was nearing the 100 pitch threshold in the fourth inning before being lifted.
In that fourth inning with two gone and the Sox leading 2-1, Happ walked the bases loaded, his four pitch free pass to Jonny Gomes the talisman, lifted for reliever Brad Lincoln who induced Dustin Pedroia into an inning ending grounder to short.
Lincoln went 1.2 innings, and was responsible for the third Red Sox run as he walked David Ross to start the sixth inning then advanced him into scoring position with a wild pitch. Lincoln was immediately pulled for Steve Delabar, who promptly served up an RBI single to Jacoby Ellsbury, scoring Ross.
Toronto scored on a lead off homer by Brett Lowrie, threatening a few times along the way - particularly in the seventh inning when they loaded the bases against releiver Andrew Miller, but Junichi Tazawa came on and walked Lowrie to load the bases, then blew a nasty fireball past Adam Lind to end the Blue jays' chances.
Koji Uehara pitched the eighth and Joel Hanrahan was the surprise closer, finishing for his fourth save in five chances.
Boston scored their first two runs in the top of the second, Mike Napoli doubled and scored on Mike Carp 's single to right, and Stephen Drew drove in Will Middlebrooks with a sacrifice fly. Carp has been solid in his role and appears to be a most fortuitous late spring training pickup for manager John Farrell's offense.
David Ortiz was a healthy scratch, and with Papi out of the lineup and the Rogers' Centre roof open for the first time all season, the lack of offense on both sides can be explained somewhat. Regardless, with the win the Sox have now taken seven of nine series so far this season and maintain the title of best record in baseball, becoming the first team to 20 wins.
Now the Red Sox take their sparkling record to Texas for a weekend set with the Rangers, who are tied with the New York Yankees for the second best record in baseball. Felix Doubront and his 3-0 record take the mound for the Sox while the Rangers counter with Derek Holland.
Watching Big Papi, Jonny Gomes and Mike Carp blast home runs from the Rogers Centre launching Pad last night looked like so much fun, the rest of the Boston Red Sox thought they'd give it a shot...
...meanwhile, Clay Buchholz didn't think that Jon Lester giving up six runs on six hits in six innings last night looked like any fun at all, so he decided to pitch seven shutout innings and avoid all of the messy questions in the post-game presser.
Mike Napoli followed up last night's four strikeout embarassment in style, going deep twice and driving in four, and Buchholz threw another beauty as the Red Sox hammered the Toronto Blue Jays 10-1 on Wednesday night in the second game of a three game series.
Toronto won Tuesday night's series opener 9-7, snapping a five game Sox win streak.
Buchholz improved his league leading record to 6-0, pitching 2-hit ball before yielding to the bullpen for the 8th and 9th in a game that was reminiscint of the last time these teams met earlier in the season - the Sox getting beat in the first game of the series before Boston found their stroke and blew out the Jays to start a seven game winning streak.
Drew, who has been hugging the Mendoza line since his return from a concussion, gave the Sox the lead in the top of the first with his first dinger of the season, then Napoli to center and Nava to left in the 4th inning to give Buchholz all the offense he would need...
...but it didn't stop there. Napoli registered his second park job of the game in the top of the seventh and Mike Carp went deep for the second game in a row in the ninth to provide the final score.
The series concludes on Thursday night with Ryan Dempster starting for the Sox, facing the big lefty J.A. Happ for the Jays.
The Red Sox can log their 20th win of the season tomorrow night against just 8 defeats, as they lead all of baseball by two games for the best record in the Major Leagues. If their pitching continues to hold up and the power keeps coming around, it could be a season long lead for the surprising Sox...
