RESULT – WIN 4-3
One of the Boston Marathon bombers was dead and
another on the run. Friday’s Red Sox
game would end up being postponed due to a city wide lockdown that left the
city deserted and many people scared.
The Boston Police would capture the other bombing suspect late Friday
night and as the city rejoiced the Red Sox planned something special in their
first home game since the horrific events.
They had the Marathon Volunteers, the Police and Fire Department, the
Mayor, Governor and Police Chief all on the field in a tremendous
ceremony. Some of the survivors and heroes
from the attack even came out and delivered a first pitch. It was moving and symbolic and 37,000 people
stood as one. David Ortiz ended the
ceremony taking the microphone and addressed Red Sox Nation, fittingly as he is
both the longest tenured player and beloved in the city by all. His crude but perfect statement said it best,
“This is our f---ing city. And no one is
going to dictate our freedom. Stay
strong.” Though he may have been better
off not dropping the “f” bomb on live TV, it was fitting for what the city is
feeling, both anger and pride and the resilience of a city standing together.
Then they hit the field and pulled off a dramatic
win for the home town. Clay Buchholz got
off to a fast start striking out 4 through his first 4 scoreless innings. The top of the fifth would see the Royals
scratch a run across but Clay would get out of the inning by striking out the
remaining 2 batters. Clay was effective
and efficient going 8 innings, giving up 8 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk and 6
strikeouts. He needed only 104 pitches
to get through 8 innings of work and again looked brilliant out there. He left after a clutch inning ending double
play to end a Royals threat in the 8th. The Sox were down 2-1 though and it seemed
like Clay would be the hard luck loser on the afternoon.
That is until Daniel Nava hit a game winning
clutch 2 out 3 run home run into the Red Sox bullpen. The inning started with a bang when Jonny
Gomes doubled to lead off the inning and then Dustin Pedroia followed with a
walk. However David Ortiz then grounded
into a double play and the inning looked like a wasted opportunity. Mike Napoli then walked on four straight
pitches and Daniel Nava came up and connected on a 1-1 fastball for an
emotional home run to send all 37,000 fans into hysteria. It was a fairy tale ending to an emotional
day.
Andrew Bailey came on in the top of the ninth to
close it out and immediately got into trouble as Lorenzo Cain blasted a leadoff
homer to cut the lead to 4-3. He then allowed
more men to reach base but with two outs he got Alex Gordon to hit a weak
groundball to Stephen Drew to close out the game for his third save of the
year. Bailey was a little dicey again
and I liken it to relying on his fastball too much again. I think I saw 18 of his 22 pitches were
fastballs. When will these closers learn
that they need to trust their other pitches as well as their big overpowering
fastball.
“Big Game” James Shields was as he usually is
against the Sox, brilliant. James went 6
innings, gave up only 4 hits, 1 run, 3 walks and 8 strikeouts. The Sox batters did grind out a lot of at
bats and forced Shield’s pitch count up to 106 through only 6 innings. Thank goodness for that because it forced him
out of the game and on to the suspect Royal bullpen. The Sox were able to get 3 runs off the
Royals bullpen and steal a win from the up and coming team.
David Ortiz had a successful first day back in at
the office going 2 for 4 and driving in a run.
It was nice to see Big Papi back in the lineup and their 3 through 5 hitters
are going to be tough outs. Daniel Nava’s
big 8th inning home run was his 4th of the year and he
went 1 for 2 with 3 RBI and a walk.
For the Royals, Lorenzo Cain went 4 for 4 with 2
doubles and a home run and 1 RBI. He
scored 3 runs and is red hot right now batting .392 on the young season. Alcides Escobar and Jeff Francour each had 2
hits apiece and Salvador Perez added a one run triple.
The Sox will close out the series today with a
day-night double header at 1:00 and 7:00.
The big news was that John Farrell decided to bring up young pitching
prospect Allen Webster to start game 2 of the double header. Webster was the “steal” of the big
blockbuster trade last August that sent Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Adrian
Gonzalez to the Dodgers. I’m very
interested in watching the young pitching prospect as he’s only allowed 1
earned run in his first two starts at Triple A this year. Ryan Dempster will start Game 1 and has
looked pretty good so far this year.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP
Daniel Nava.
The resilient outfielder went 1 for 2 with 3 RBI and a walk. The one being a big clutch 3 run home run to
give the Sox an emotional win in their first home game after the attacks on
Boston.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
David Ross.
Ross went 0 for 2 with 2 strikeouts and again looked overmatched at the
plate. I’d say that Ross is a lot like
Doug Mirabelli who was either all or nothing.
Like Mirabelli, Ross is a great fielder and I guess we’ll have to have
that as a tradeoff for his good defense and game calling.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Is there really any doubt what the play of the
game was? Daniel Nava’s clutch 2 out
three run home run in the top of the eighth.
NEXT
Today, Sunday, 4/21 double header at home vs. the
Royals 1 and 7.
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