Pitchers v. Hitters

In yesterday’s game, it seemed as if the Red Sox pitchers were against the Red Sox hitters. Beckett started the game by giving up 3 runs in the 1st, but the Sox hit back and scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st. The Sox scored another run in the bottom of the 3rd. Then, Beckett gave up 3 runs in the 5th, but the hitters scored 2 runs in the bottom of the inning. Beckett then gave up 2 runs in the 6th (he was out of the game after this), and Mortensen gave up another run in the 7th. But, the Sox offense came to life, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th.

The game was tied 9-9 heading into the top of the 9th inning. At this point, Mortensen had thrown almost 50 pitches in relief, but Valentine kept him in. The first batter walked, followed by a single, so runners were on first and third with no outs when Valentine lifted him. Aceves came in and allowed the runner on third to score on a sac fly by Beltre before getting the final two outs. 10-9 heading into the bottom of the 9th inning.

The bottom of the 9th inning started with Gonzalez popping out, and Ross hitting a double. Kalish went in to run for Ross. Middlebrooks and Lavarnway both struck out to end the game.

Throughout the game, it really seemed as if the Sox hitters were trying their best to win the game; they kept scoring runs. The Sox pitchers, on the other hand, kept giving up runs. Yes, Texas has the best offense in the American League, and they’re a tough team. However, the Sox are almost as productively offensively. The season is really turning into pitchers v. hitters.

The Sox had 12 hits in the game, including 3 doubles by Gonzalez, doubles by Ciriaco and Ross, a triple by Crawford, and home runs by Ross and Middlebrooks. Pedroia, Gonzalez, and Ross all had multiple hits. The offense is there, just not the pitching.

However, I think some of the blame has to be put on Valentine for this game. I’m sorry to the Valentine supporters, but there were two big decisions in the 9th inning that should have been done differently. One, Mortensen should have come out after having thrown so many pitches and it being a tied game. Valentine said the only available relievers for the game were Mortensen, Miller, and Aceves. Fine, then Miller or Aceves should have started the 9th. Mortensen is a young player who, while doing great when called up, should have been taken out in the tied game. I would’ve put in Aceves. He’s also able to go more than one inning, if it continued to be a tie game.

Secondly, with a runner on second and two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, Lavarnway came to the plate. Lavarnway, if memory serves me correctly, only has 1 hit in the Majors and is batting below .100. He was the DH yesterday. Saltalamacchia, who has had a few walk-off hits this season, was on the bench. Don’t you pinch-hit for Lavarnway in this situation? I know I would have.

A Change Would Do Them Good

Quick post today as I’m frustrated with the team at the moment. Here’s the line-up from last night with their batting averages:

Ellsbury- CF- .282
Ciriaco- DH- .333
Pedroia- 2B- .267
Gonzalez- 1B- .291
Ross- RF- .261
Middlebrooks- 3B- .297
Crawford- LF- .219
Nava- LF- .250
Shoppach- C- .270
Aviles- SS- .257

Aside from Ciriaco, Gonzalez, and Middlebrooks, no one else really strikes fear into opposing pitchers from this line-up. Gonzalez, who has been hot lately, went 0-for-3 last night. Ciriaco and Middlebrooks are rookies. Everyone else needs to step it up.

I don’t want to make excuses for Beckett’s loss either, but the man really doesn’t get the run support. Yes, they played the Rangers this past game. Here’s a look at Beckett’s last 7 starts this season:

June 6th- Baltimore- L,1-2: 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR
June 11th- Miami- L, 1-4: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR
June 30th- Seattle- L, 2-3: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR
July 6th- NYY- L, 8-10: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR
July 15th- TBR- W, 7-3: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO, 0 HR
July 20th- Toronto- L, 1-6: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO, 0 HR
July 26th- Texas- L, 3-5: 7.0 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR

With the potential that the Sox have (on paper at least), the games when Beckett gives up 4 or less runs should be wins for the Sox. In 6 of the last 7 games, Beckett has given up 4 or less runs, and he’s only won 1 of those games. Even if you took out the games when he gave up 4 runs, there are 3 games when he gave up 3 or less runs and only won 1 of those games. Plus, I don’t want to jinx him, but Beckett hasn’t given up a home run since May 10th.

The Sox need a shake-up, but I don’t know if it’s coming.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Red Sox are on a three-game winning streak heading into to their early (10:05 Central time) game for Patriots Day. Instead of recapping the three games, I thought I would give a few observations and tidbits from what transpired this weekend:

The Good

* The Red Sox are winning, so that’s the main good thing to come out of this weekend.

* Josh Beckett found his groove again. For Fridays game, he went 8 innings pitched, giving up 1 run on 5 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 1.

* The Red Sox owned Tampa Bay in the 8th inning. On Friday, they scored 8 runs, and on Saturday, the scored 5 runs

* The offense really started coming around these three games:

Gonzalez: 5/13 with a double and an RBI

Youkilis: 4/10 with 3 RBIs
Ortiz: 9/13 with a home run, 4 doubles, and 8 RBIs
Ross: 3/10 with 2 home runs, a double and 8 RBIs
Aviles: 5/13 with 2 home runs, a double, and 2 RBIs
Shoppach: 4/7 with 3 doubles, 3 RBIs, and a stolen base (his first attempt in the Majors… ever. It was nic-named “The Stop, Shop, and Roll” on Twitter).

* The bullpen was great (minus Melancon on Friday who gave up a home run):

Morales: 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 BBs, 1K

Atchinson: 1/3 IP, 1 hit, 1 BB, 1K

Padilla: 1 2/3 IP, 1 hit, 0 BBs, 2Ks
Aceves: 2 IP, 0 hits, 0 BBs, 3Ks

 The Bad

* For some reason, Valentine is not playing Sweeney, who, if memory serves me, has not gone a game he’s played without a hit. In the two games he played this weekend, he went 2/7 with 2RBIs.

* As much as I like McDonald, he’s cooled way off since Spring Training. This weekend, he was 1/9 with a double. With Ellsbury out (more on that in The Ugly section), I’m sure we’ll be seeing much more of McDonald.

* While Beckett seemed to have found his groove, Buchholz and Doubront still have some work to do:

Buchholz on Saturday: 7 IP, 6 hits, 5 runs, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts. (Also worth noting, that while I wasn’t able to watch most of this game, I did check the score in the 3rd inning. It was 5-0 Rays. Luckily for Buchholz, the offense clicked later in the game.)

Doubront on Sunday: 5 IP, 9 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts (Doubront did great until the 5th inning, when he gave up all 4 runs).

 The Ugly

* The Red Sox will be without Ellsbury an estimated 6-8 weeks because he has a subluxed right shoulder. A shoulder subluxation is when the shoulder doesn’t completely become dislocated. I wrote briefly about how the injury occurred on Friday. The word “surgery” hasn’t appeared associated to Ellsbury’s name as of yet, and it could just require rest and rehabbing.

* Valentine is causing controversy with Youkilis. Valentine made the following comment to WHDH’s Sports Xtra show Sunday night:

I don't think he's as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past for some reason. But [on Saturday] it seemed, you know, he's seeing the ball well, got those two walks, got his on-base percentage up higher than his batting average, which is always a good thing, and he'll move on from there.

When Youkilis was asked about the comments this morning, he replied with:

I’m more confused than anything because everyone knows I go out and play the game as hard as I can. It’s just my style of play. I was never blessed with the raw tools and I’ve always had to use playing the game hard and with full effort my whole life.

Valentine stated that he met with Youkilis and offered him a clarification and an apology. For what it’s worth, Youkilis was not in the line-up today for what Valentine called a “groin injury.” When asked about the clarification and apology, Valentine stated:

Kevin came in this morning and I thought it was about his groin. I thought he was going to tell me how his groin was, and I said, `Hey, how’s the groin?’ and he said, 'Well, all right, but what’s going on?'

When he told me that people called him and told him that I said things that he didn’t like, I totally apologized. I said the last thing in the world I want you to think is that I'm doing anything to criticize you. I was giving an answer to a question and I should've been more specific and said your physical was about your swing and your emotional was not being happy when you don't hit a ball off the wall.

I don't know if he accepted my apology, but it was very sincere. The last thing in the world is that I didn't want him to think that this was anything but an answer to a question that seemed to be jabbing at him. I was just trying to smooth it over and I guess that I didn't.

I’m not sure how I want to read into this. I want to think that everything’s going great with the new manager, but it just may not be that way. Pedroia said it best, I think:

I don't know what Bobby's trying to do, but that's not the way we do things here. Maybe that stuff works in Japan.

Ugly indeed.

Trying to Stay Optimistic

The Sox lost last night in an ugly game, 7-3. I should’ve known it would be an ugly game in the 1st inning when Punto, playing shortstop, didn’t make a play on a ball hit to his position, instead allowing the batter to get on base and the runners to advance. It would’ve been a play that Iglesias more than likely would’ve made, and probably Aviles for that matter.

I really don’t want to discuss too much about the game last night. The good thing about the Red Sox is that even with a slow start, you know they’ll eventually get better. If they can’t do it with the players they have, then they’ll figure something else out. The Red Sox have that ability, and it’s good they’re not jumping the gun on using that ability.

Bard wasn’t as bad as the score depicts. He left the game in the 6th inning with two runners on base and the score 3-1. Thomas came in, and the score quickly became 6-1. Bowden gave up a 2-out home run in the 7th, making the score 7-1. It was at this point I shut off the television and fell asleep. It was a frustrating night.

Actually, Bard did pretty well in terms of pitching. He pitched 5 innings, gave up 8 hits, 5 runs (though it could’ve easily have been 2 or 3 runs but was 5 because of defense and Thomas coming in), struck out 6, and only walked 1. He pitched 96 pitches, which wasn’t very efficient but encouraging. Of the 8 hits, 5 were on 2-strike pitches, 2 were infield singles, and 4 others were groundballs. It could’ve easily have gone the other way for Bard, and he knew it:

“Let’s say half of those get fielded, which is probably a normal night. If we catch three or four of those and get outs on them, that’s probably three runs and about thirty pitches, and I’m pitching into the seventh and giving up two runs,” Bard said as quoted by The Boston Globe.

The offense wasn’t very kind to Bard either. The Sox scored 3 runs on 9 hits, 2 of the runs coming in the 9th inning. There was some good news with the hitting: Youkilis got his first two hits of the season, one being a double. Pedroia was 3 for 5 with a double. Sweeney also hit a double.

But the offense needs to pick up; the team can not be carried by four players who are hitting consistently (Pedroia (.364), Gonzalez (.316), Sweeney (.444), and Ortiz- who did not have a hit during last night’s game but is hitting .368 for the season). Ellsbury (.100), Youkilis (.125), and Saltalamacchia (.077) need to pick it up… and quickly. I could also put Cody Ross into the “needing to pick it up” category. His batting average is .188, but he’s been getting on base these and have had a few good hits these past couple games.

Also, what is up with the fans at the Rogers Centre the past two nights? Monday night, there was a big fight in the bleachers, people were ejected, and during the game, things (large crepe paper balls, etc.) kept being thrown on the field. Last night, there was a streaker and some stupid person shining their cellphone into the batter’s eye. Stupid! I understand that some Canadians are still upset with Boston because of they lost the Stanley Cub to the Bruins last year, but that was the Vancouver Cunucks and a
completely different sport!

Well, that’s the end of my rant. Again, I know it’s early and the ship will be righted (it was last year for most of the year afterall), but the Sox needed to get off on a strong footing because of September 2011. They are not doing that, and things seem to be getting worse.

A Few Observations From Opening Day

The Red Sox lost to the Tigers in their first game, 3-2.  It would've been 2-0 Tigers if it wasn't for the Red Sox rallying in the 9th.  Both Lester and Verlander looked great, but neither factored into a decision.  Here's some observations from the first official game of the Red Sox's 2012 season:

* The bullpen may be worse than I thought.  Padilla started the bottom of the 8th by giving up a triple to Austin Jackson, and with one out, intentionally walked Fielder.  Morales came in gave up a short flyball to Center which Ellsbury botched the throw to home plate.  In the bottom of the 9th, Melancon gave up two singles in a row, and Valentine put in Aceves.  Aceves hit the next batter to load the bases and gave up a game-winning single to Santiago, costing the game.

* Lester was great.  His line: 7 IP 6H 1R 1ER 3BB 4K 0HR  107 pitches, 63 for strikes.  That's the way to start the season!  I do think Valentine may have kept in a bit too long, but I can't complain with that performance. 

* The Sox offense just wasn't firing, but they were also going against Verlander ("Cy Young, MVP!").  Verlander went 8 innings and only gave up 2 hits while striking out 7.  Ortiz and Pedroia both had doubles, and Sweeney had a game-tying triple in the 9th.  Sweeney was the only player to have more than one hit on the Sox, going 2-4.  Youkilis struck out twice.

* Was it just me, or did Francona sound like he wishes he was still on the team?  He had a sort of longing in his voice, and I could tell he missed being with the team.  He made one comment about Pedroia knowing what's going on at all times.  He said, "He (Pedroia) can hold the runner on second and waive to us up here."  Francona, we miss you too.

That's all I have for now.  I'm hoping the game of Saturday goes better for the Sox.  Beckett v. Fister.  Let's go Sox!