Game 27 – 4/29/2014 – at Home vs. the Tampa Bay Rays

RESULT – WIN 7-4

It looks like we turned the clocks back to 2013 last night as the Sox had that grind-it-out plate approach that was so prevalent last season.  The Red Sox rolled to a 7-4 victory over the Rays last night at cold Fenway Park in the same way they grinding out wins in their championship run of 2013.

The quality at-bats came from everyone in the lineup, from top to bottom and John Lackey looked unhittable for the second straight outing.  The Sox are healthy again and with one game left in April, their record now sits at 13-14 and they’re only 1.5 games back in the AL East.

Shane Victorino, who is just back from a DL stint, led the charge last night going 4 for 4 with 2 RBI, a double and a sacrifice fly.  It was the jolt the offense needed at the top of the order and he seemed to do what he did a lot last year and get that big hit with runners in scoring position.

Speaking of runners in scoring position, the Sox went 5 for 15, which isn’t great but isn’t terrible either, however, they did leave 10 men on base and this game shouldn’t really have been as close as it was.

Jackie Bradley Jr. went 2 for 4 with a run scored, 2 RBI and 2 doubles and is leading the Sox in batting with runners in scoring position with an average of over .400.

A.J. Pierzynski continued his hot hitting, going 2 for 4 with a run scored and a RBI.  Will Middlebrooks went 1 for 3 with 2 runs, an RBI, a double and a walk.  Dustin Pedroia went 1 for 5 with a run scored and David Ortiz also went 1 for 5 and drove in a run, though he also struck out 3 times.

Jonny Gomes went 1 for 4 with a double and a walk and Mike Napoli went 1 for 3 with a run scored and 2 walks.  He also saw a team high 33 pitches in 5 plate appearances and really drove home that grind it out approach at the plate.

It wasn’t all offense though, as starter John Lackey was down right filthy again for the 2^nd straight start.  Lackey went 8 strong innings, giving up just 2 runs on 6 hits while walking 1 and striking out 5.  He again had the breaking ball working and good command of his fastball.  He’s pitching like an ace this year and really coming out strong after Sox losses and being that stopper the team really needs.

The bullpen was scary last night as Edward Mujica was dreadful again in his outing.  He went 2/3 of an inning and gave up 2 runs on 2 hits while walking 1 and striking out none.  His ERA this year is up to 10.00 and he simply is not trustworthy right now.  I’m hoping it’s just early season jitters but if this continues, the Sox are going to have to make a decision with him and bring up Workman or Britton who are excelling down on the farm.

It got so bad that the Sox had to use Koji Uehara to get the final out of the game with 2 down and a runner on 2^nd.  Koji promptly struck out Ben Zobrist on 3 pitches to record his 6^th save of the season.

This game looked like the Red Sox team I remember and I hope they can continue to build on this and get quality at bats as they did last year.  The pitching is there and if the hitting can come around, I think they’ll be alright.

With rain in the forecast tonight, I don’t expect them to play but if they do, the Sox will send struggling Felix Doubront (1-3, 6.00) to the mound to face Ray’s starter Chris Archer (2-1, 4.11).  Doubront has struggled as of late and needs to turn it around before the Sox decide to try someone else in that slot.  There are many options, starting with Chris Capuano who has excelled in his outings this season.

Chris Archer is coming off a rough start last time out against the Chicago White Sox which saw him surrender 4 runs on 9 hits in 6 innings of work.  He’s been pretty good against the Sox in his starts last season so look for the Sox to take the same approach they did last night and run up his pitch count to get to that shaky Rays bullpen.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

Shane Victorino.  Victorino was instrumental in the win last night.  He got on base 4 times, drove in 2 runs and when healthy, there’s no one better hitting out of that 2 hole.

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

Xander Bogaerts.  Bogaerts went 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.  Although he walked once, he also committed his 5^th error of the season in the 9^th to help the Rays get closer and make the game much more interesting than it should have been.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Jackie Bradley Jr.’s 2-run double in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-1.

NEXT

Wednesday, April 30^th at home vs. the Tampa Bay Rays.

Game 26 – 4/27/2014 – in Toronto vs. the Blue Jays

RESULT – LOSS 7-1

Jon Lester has been this year’s John Lackey of 2013.  Last season, John Lackey, despite pitching well all season didn’t have a lot of wins and was the unfortunate benefiter of little to no run support.  Well, this year, that honor goes to Mr. Jon Lester, who lost for the 4^th time in 6 starts as the Sox went ice cold and the Sox dropped the series finale in Toronto 7-1.

Lester has now received only 1.83 runs of support per start which is the 2^nd lowest mark among 114 qualified pitchers.  Though he’s 2-4 on the season, his ERA is low a 3.10 and he has the best walk rate of his career and is striking out over a batter an inning.

On Sunday afternoon, he was good as usual going 7 strong innings, giving up 4 runs on only 5 hits while walking none and striking out 7.  Most of the damage came late in his start as he was down only 2-1 going into the 7^th inning.

He allowed back-to-back doubles to begin the frame, Moises Sierra added another run on a ground out and Lester couldn’t field a chopper back to the mound cleanly which allowed Lawrie to score to make it 4-1.  He would get out of the inning without further damage but with the bats as cold as they were, it would be all the Jays needed to nail down the win.

The Sox squandered its best chance to score in the top half of the frame as they put runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with only 1 out and were able to chase R.A. Dickey from the ball game.  The Jays turned to reliever Steve Delabar who was able to get Jackie Bradley Jr. to pop out and then David Ross to fly out to deep center field.

Toronto would add more insurance in the 8^th as Andrew Miller was truly awful in his 1/3 innings of work.  He allowed 2 earned runs, 3 in all, on 3 hits while not walking or striking out anyone.  Ultimately Burke Badenhop came on to record the final 2 outs of the game.

The Sox managed only 6 hits on the afternoon while going 1 for 4 with runners in scoring position and leaving 6 men on base.  They struck out 9 times on the afternoon as a team and could only manufacture one walk against the knuckle baller.

Dustin Pedroia went 1 for 4 and Mike Napoli went 1 for 4 as well.  Xander Bogaerts went 2 for 4 with a double, his 6^th of the year and Jonny Gomes went 1 for 4 with a run scored.  Jackie Bradley Jr. went 1 for 3 with a RBI in the loss.

In the end, the Sox were unable to complete the sweep but they did snap a 4-game road losing streak and scored 16 runs over the 3-game set.  They are now only 1 game below .500 and have moved up to 3^rd place in the AL East, only 2 ½ games behind the Yankees.

They’ll have an off-day Monday and then begin an 8-game home stand starting with the Rays on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.  This is where they need to start hitting and get back on the winning way.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

Xander Bogaerts.  Bogaerts was the only one that was able to do anything on Sunday afternoon. He went 2 for 4 and had the Sox only extra base hit.

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

Grady Sizemore.  Sizemore went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.  I’m starting to thing, the Sizemore project may be coming to an end.  He’s batting .208 with an on-base percentage of only .275 with 2 homers and 7 RBI.  He’s struck out 5 times in his last 3 games.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Jose Bautista’s RBI infield single which Jon Lester couldn’t field cleanly.  It put the Jays up 5-1 and out of reach for the win.

NEXT

Tuesday, April 29^th at home vs. the Tampa Bay Rays.

Game 25 – 4/26/2014 – in Toronto vs. the Blue Jays

RESULT – WIN 7-6

The game started off terrible, fought back, took the lead, then almost coughed it up at the end but held on to beat the Blue Jays 7-6 in Game 2 Saturday afternoon.

Staked with an early 3-0 hole against Brandon Morrow, the Sox responded with a huge rally in the 3^rd inning with a 6-run output.

With 2 outs, Brandon Morrow, who walked 4 batters the first 2 innings but was helped out with 2 inning-ending double plays, walked 4 consecutive batters to bring in a run and load the bases.  The walks eventually got the best of him and he was lifted after only 2 and 2/3 innings and issuing a career-high 8 walks.

Chad Jenkins came on to relieve Morrow and promptly served up a grand slam to A.J. Pierzynski on the 2^nd pitch he threw.  It was A.J.’s 8^th career grand salami and gave the Sox a 5-3 lead.  Will Middlebrooks followed up A.J.’s blast with a solo homer to put the Sox up 6-3.  The 6 runs in the inning were the most they have scored in one inning this year.

They would extend their lead to 7-3 on back-to-back doubles in the 5^th by Mike Carp and Grady Sizemore but the normally good Red Sox bullpen tried to blow it all up in the 8^th.

Juan Francisco hit another solo homer, his 2^nd in as many days off Junichi Tazawa to begin the 8^th to make it a 7-4 game.  Tazawa doesn’t have all that great of luck against the Blue Jays, as it was the 7^th homer he’s given up to them since the start of the 2013 season.  His career ERA vs. Toronto is 11.88.

Tazawa would allow another run after the homer and then Chris Capuano would load the bases with a walk before John Farrell had to turn to Koji Uehara for the 4 out save.  Uehara would retire Melky Cabrera and end the threat in the 8^th but drama would return in the 9^th.

Jose Bautista homered to start off the 9^th to pull the Jays within one run.  Singles by Dioner Navarro and Brett Lawrie put 2 on for the very dangerous Edwin Encarnacion with 2 outs but Koji was able to get him to line out to center to end the game.

The homer by Uehara was the first run he’s allowed this season and first homer since June 30^th of last season.  He earned his 5^th save of the season but showed he’s mortal after all allowing 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 2.

Starter Clay Buchholz started the game off shaky but turned it around after the rough first inning.  He went 7 innings, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while walking 3 and striking out 3.  Buchholz was clearly not his most effective but was able to adjust on the fly and earn his first victory of the season.

After banging out 16 hits, the Sox could manage only 5 on the day as they were definitely helped with the 9 free bases.  They were 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left 4 men on base.

A.J. Pierzynski went 1 for 3 with a run scored, 4 RBI, his 2^nd homer of the year and also walked once.  Will Middlebrooks hit his 2^nd homer of the year as well and Dustin Pedroia went 1 for 4 with a walk.

Grady Sizemore went 1 for 2 with a run scored, 2 RBI a double and walked twice.  Mike Carp went 1 for 3 with 2 runs scored, a walk and a double.  David Ortiz didn’t have a hit but walked 3 times and scored a run.  Victorino walked once and scored once.

Though it was scary, the Sox have assured themselves a series win and a sweep is possible with Jon Lester taking the hill against knuckleballer R.A. Dickey for the Jays.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

A.J. Pierzynski.  A.J. hit his 8^th career grand slam and finally made the Jays pay for all the free passes they were giving out after 2 frustrating innings that ended in double plays.

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

Jackie Bradley Jr.  Though he was great in the field, tracking down many balls, he couldn’t get anything going at the plate, going 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts.

PLAY OF THE GAME

The grand slam off Pierzynski’s bat in the 3^rd.

NEXT

Sunday, April 27^th in Toronto vs. the Blue Jays.

Game 24 – 4/25/2014 – in Toronto vs. the Blue Jays

RESULT – WIN 8-1

The Red Sox battered around Mark Buehrle and the Toronto Blue Jays to the tune of 8-1 in the series opener at the Rogers Centre Friday night.  Belting out a season-high 16 hits and a very impressive outing by Jake Peavy, the Sox get the series off to a great start and put that awful Yankee series behind them.

Mark Buehrle has been excellent to start the season.  Coming into the game he was 4-0 with an ERA under 1 (0.64) but the Sox got to him early dropping 4 runs in the 2^nd inning.  It was their highest hit and run total of the year.  The 4 runs scored off Buehrle in the 2^nd inning were more that all his other games combined.

Dustin Pedroia went 2 for 5 with 2 RBI and a walk out of the lead-off spot.  Mike Napoli went 2 for 3 with a run scored, RBI, double and 2 walks.  Napoli is quietly batting .307 and has driven in 15 runs.

The bottom of the order did a lot of damage in the game.  Batting 7^th, A.J. Pierzynski went 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored, an RBI and double.  Will Middlebrooks went 2 for 4 with a run scored, 2 RBI and a double in his first game back off the DL batting 8^th, and batting 9^th, Jackie Bradley Jr. went 3 for 4 on the night.  He scored twice, had 2 doubles, a triple, an RBI, stole a base and walked once for good measure.  Overall they were 8 or 12 with 4 RBI, 5 runs and had 4 doubles, pretty good production from the bottom 3.

David Ortiz went 1 for 4 with an RBI, and his 5^th homer of the year, he also walked once.  Shane Victorino and Xander Bogaerts each had a double and Jonny Gomes went 1 for 4 with a walk.

Overall the Sox had 9 extra base hits and believe it or not, it could have been much worse as the Sox left 12 men on base and were a dreadful 3 for 15 with runners in scoring position.

Though I don’t like the statistics with runners on, I’ll take the outbreak of 16 this any day.  Maybe this offensive explosion will get everyone out of the funk they’ve been in.

Jake Peavy was the benefiter of all the run support but honestly, he didn’t really need it.  Peavy was brilliant in his 7 innings of work, giving up just 1 run on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7.  His only blemish was a solo homer let up to Juan Francisco in the 7^th that was an absolute moon-shot that reached the top deck of the Rogers Centre.  It was Peavy’s first win of the season and he’s lowered his ERA to 2.87 on the year.

Chris Capuano bounced back nicely from a rough outing against the Yanks and struck out all 3 hitters he faced in the 8^th.  Andrew Miller pitched the ninth and worked around a hit and struck out 2.

After the disaster that was on Thursday, it was nice to see the Sox come out and pound the ball around.  There are 2 more games up north with Clay Buchholz taking the hill on Saturday against Brandon Morrow.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

Jackie Bradley Jr.  JBJ went 3 for 4 and was a home run shy of the cycle.  The Sox really need him to start hitting and getting on base as he’s started off slowly this year.

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

Shane Victorino.  There really wasn’t a guy that deserved it here but I’ll give it to the guy that went 1 for 6 with a strikeout.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Dustin Pedroia’s 2-run single in the top of the 2^nd to put the Sox up 4-0.

NEXT

Saturday, April 26^th in Toronto vs. the Blue Jays.

Game 23 – 4/24/2014 – at Home vs. the New York Yankees

RESULT – LOSS 14-5

Boy do the Red Sox really stink right now.  The offense is still unable to get going, the starting pitching has been very sketchy as of late and their defense has been downright awful to start the season cultivating in the debacle of last night’s efforts at home against the Yankees.

In a 14-5 loss to the Yanks in the rubber match to decide the series and Boston committed 5 errors in a game for the first time since April 28, 2001.

It wasn’t just the errors; the Sox also committed 3 wild pitches, a passed ball and let up 3 stolen bases.  It was just an all around horrible game to go with their terrible start to the season.

Their record now stands at 10-13 through 23 games and they head up north to Toronto for a quick 3 game set this weekend.

The good news, if any, is that Shane Victorino was back in the lineup last night and Will Middlebrooks was just activated from the disabled list and will start Friday’s game so they’ll finally be 100% healthy and hopefully can make some noise moving forward.

Shane Victorino went 1 for 5 with a run scored in his season debut.  It wasn’t a great performance but just seeing him back in the lineup was a sight for sore eyes.  The Sox went with their “lefty” lineup last night with Gomes in left, Bradley in center and Victorino in right.  I expect that to be the norm against lefties and when a righty is on the mound, it’ll be either Sizemore or Carp in left.  When Sizemore is in the game, the outfield will be very good, on paper at least.

The offense last night continued to stink up the place, getting only 4 hits on the night.  Yes, you read that right; they had only 4 hits and committed 5 errors.  It was that bad folks.  They were 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position and left 8 men on base.  The Yanks even tried to help them out by walking 6 men but the Sox could do nothing with the free passes and struck out 10 times in the game.

Xander Bogaerts went 2 for 4 with an RBI and double.  Jonny Gomes went 1 for 2 with 2 RBI, a double and a walk.  Jackie Bradley Jr. walked and scored once.  Brock Holt, Mike Napoli and Jonathan Herrera all walked once and David Ortiz drove in a run on a sacrifice fly.

The defense was terrible as I mentioned above.  Pretty much everyone on the infield made an error last night except for Napoli.  Bogaerts committed his 3^rd of the season, Holt his 2^nd and Pedroia his 1^st.  Doubront made one and Jackie Bradley Jr. also made 1.  Just terrible last night.  It was almost unwatchable as they resembled the Bad News Bears.

Shoddy defense wasn’t able to help out Felix Doubront last night as he was awful again.  He’s been bad in 3 of his 4 starts this year and last night was his shortest outing of the year.  He went just 2 and 2/3 innings giving up 7 runs, 3 were earned, on 6 hits while walking 2 and striking out 1, he also let up a homer.  When you allow extra outs to a good team like the Yankees, you’re bound to get burned and Doubront couldn’t minimize the damage at all as he allowed 3 extra base hits.

Craig Breslow was equally as bad as he went 1 inning and allowed 5 runs, 4 earned, on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out no one.  It was probably the worst I’ve ever seen Breslow pitch and his season ERA is now up to 7.50.

Edward Mujica was again so-so last night as he allowed 1 run on 2 hits with a walk in only 1 and 2/3 innings pitched.

The only good pitcher on the night was Burke Badenhop, who went 2 and 2/3 allowing just 1 hit while walking 1 and striking out 1.  It was the 2^nd time this week that Badenhop helped out with more than 2 innings pitched and no runs allowed.  He started off the season a little scary but has completely turned it around to be the most reliable reliever on the team next to Koji and Tazawa.

Things got so bad last night, that John Farrell had to use a position player to finish off the ninth.  Not wanting to tax the bullpen anymore, Farrell called on Mike Carp to finish off the game.  It was his first ever Major League pitching performance and he allowed only 1 earned run on 0 hits.  However he did walk 5 and struck out no one but he minimized the damage and worked around his walks…

It was a game to forget about and with the team 100% healthy now, hopefully they can now get on track.  They’ll face Toronto tonight with Jake Peavy (0-0, 3.33) taking the hill in Game 1.  Peavy was knocked around pretty good in his last outing against the Orioles and he’s hoping to bounce back in a big way.

He’ll be opposed by Mark Buehrle (4-0, 0.64), who’s been absolutely brilliant so far this season.  In his last 2 starts he’s pitched 14 innings, allowed only 1 run on 9 hits while striking out 5 and walking only 3.  Buehrle works fast and the Sox will have to get to him early because when he gets in a groove, it’s usually lights out for the opposition.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

Xander Bogaerts.  Though he did make a terrible error in the game, he also had 2 of the 4 team hits with an RBI (his 5^th) and a double (his 4^th).

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

David Ross.  Ross went 0 for 4 with a strikeout, allowed 2 passed balls and just had one of those games he’s rather soon forget about.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Jacoby Ellsbury’s RBI single in the top of the 3^rd to make the game 7-0 and pretty much over at that point.

NEXT

Friday, April 25^th in Toronto vs. the Blue Jays.

Game 22 – 4/23/2014 – at Home vs. the New York Yankees

RESULT – WIN 5-1

John Lackey didn’t let the controversy get to him as he put in a stellar pitching performance Wednesday night to get tie the series at 1 with a 5-1 victory over the rival Yankees.

The story of the last 3 games has been the terrible starting pitching the Sox have been having.  They needed someone to step up and not only give the bullpen a break but someone to go out and throw a gem and hopefully get the other starters going because we all know, good pitching is contagious and these pitchers feed off each other.

Lackey did just that as he pitched 8 outstanding innings, giving up just 7 run on 7 hits while striking out 11 and walking none.  He needed only 111 pitches to get through 8 innings and had the Yanks off their game all night.

Though all the talk will be on Michael Pineda, the Yankees starter who was ejected in the 2^nd for being caught with pine tar on his neck (we’ll get to that later), the real story was the absolute dominate pitching performance put in by the big Texan.

He looked like the guy we saw the first 2 starts of the season, not the last 2 starts that saw him give up 6 runs in each game.  It was a return to form and it couldn’t come at a better time as the Sox really needed a pick-me-up after the last 3 games.

Michael Pineda, wow, what can I say, just incredibly dumb.  Last time he faced the Sox, he had what looked like pine tar on his hand.  The Sox didn’t call him on it and it ended up disappearing after a few innings.  The thing is, everyone noticed it, the Sox announcers, the Yankee announcers and while it’s a pretty known thing that every pitcher uses a little something to get better grip on the baseball, most pitchers do a way better job at concealing it.  If he had anything on him this time, you had to figure John Farrell would call him on it.

In the bottom of the 2^nd, Farrell did just that as Pineda had a big smear of pine tar on the right side of his neck.  I mean, it wasn’t just a little something; it was huge and very blatant.  Home-plate umpire, Gerry Davis called time, and went out and checked the Yankee starter.  He found the pine tar and ejected him.  There is almost certainly going to be a suspension as well, I think the minimum is 10 games, so this was really really stupid of Pineda.

To his credit, Pineda owned up to it after the game saying, “In the first inning, I didn’t feel the ball, and you know, I didn’t want to like hit anybody so I decided to use it.”  That’s fine and all, but man, come on, do a better job of concealing it.

I don’t think his ejection would have mattered, because the Sox seemed to be taking some pretty good swings against him anyway.  Grady Sizemore broke out of a 0 for 13 funk by leading off the game with a triple into the right field corner.  Dustin Pedroia followed with an RBI single.  Napoli kept the inning rolling with a broken-bat blooper to right and A.J. Pierzynski followed with a RBI single up the middle to make it 2-0 after one frame.

Overall the Sox scored 5 runs on 10 hits but left a lot more out there.  They were 4 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 9 men on base.  Mike Napoli was 3 for 4 with an RBI and a double.  Dustin Pedroia was 2 for 5 with 2 runs scored and an RBI.  Brock Holt went 1 for 2 with an RBI and 2 walks and continues to shine at the Major League level.

Pierzynski went 1 for 3 with an RBI and a walk, Xander Bogaerts went 1 for 4 with a run scored.  David Ortiz went 1 for 3 with a run scored and a walk and Sizemore went 1 for 5 with that triple but also stuck out 3 times.

The bats were good enough for Lackey who was just downright filthy.  The big righty put in a great pitching performance that John Farrell really needed at a time when the bullpen was reeling with all the innings they have pitched the last 3 days.

Koji Uehara pitched the ninth and gave up one hit but also struck out the side in the non-save situation.  Uehara was the only pitcher in the bullpen that wasn’t taxed in the last few days so it was nice to see him get some work and pitch so effectively.

The Sox will go for the series win tonight at Fenway as they’ll send Felix Doubront (1-2, 5.48) to the mound.  Doubront has pitched well in his last 2 starts against Baltimore and New York.  His last outing vs. the Orioles he went 6 and 2/3 innings giving up just 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 7.  His last time out against the Yanks he went 6 and 2/3 giving up 3 runs and striking out 2.

He’ll be opposed by C.C. Sabathia (2-2, 5.19).  Sabathia looked to be the old Sabathia in his last start against Tampa Bay.  He went 7 solid innings giving up just 1 run on 7 hits while striking out 6.  He didn’t fare well against the Sox back on 4/11, when he went 7 innings and gave up 4 runs on 6 hits.  He did strike out 9 however so he may be tough tonight.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

John Lackey.  Was there any doubt he would be the game MVP?  Lackey looked like an ace out there Wednesday night and he’s someone you can trust to give you a solid pitching performance when you need it.

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

Mike Carp.  Carp went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.  Carp hasn’t been all that good to start the season this year but the Sox clearly value him more than Nava who was sent back down to Triple-A Pawtucket to get out of his early season funk.

PLAY OF THE GAME

The pine-tar incident that made the Yanks go to their bullpen early and hopefully that will help the Sox in game 3.

NEXT

Thursday, April 24^th at Home vs. the New York Yankees.

Game 21 – 4/22/2014 – at Home vs. the New York Yankees

RESULT – LOSS 9-3

It was the first night back at Fenway for Jacoby Ellsbury and the Red Sox first look at the Japanese import Mashiro Tanaka.  Unfortunately the Sox threw up a stinker last night as Lester was terrible and the offense could do very little against Tanaka as the Yanks rout the Sox 9-3 in the series opener.

Jacoby Ellsbury was met with a quite crowd, mostly boos but some applause when he came to bat in the top of the 1^st inning.  Helped by the fact that it was a cold rainy night and attendance wasn’t nearly as much as was stated (37,041), Ellsbury came to the plate and promptly hit a triple to start off the game.  It was a sign of things to come as Ellsbury went 2 for 5 on the night with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored and made a hell of a grab in center to steal a hit away from Grady Sizemore.

My first impressions of Mashiro Tanaka, impressive.  He has very good command of all his pitches and throws a nasty splitter/sinker.  His velocity is very good, topped out at 95 but his fastball is very straight, not much movement and it seems that’s where he’s gotten into trouble with the long ball early on.  He’s not like your typical Japanese pitcher as he doesn’t nibble, he attacks the strike zone and it shows as he went 7 and 1/3 innings but only threw 105 pitches.  If he can limit those long balls, he’s going to have a good career in American baseball.  He ended the night with 7 strikeouts allowing only 2 runs on 7 hits while walking no one.

The ugly string of starting pitching continued as this time Jon Lester stunk up the place.  Lester allowed 8 runs, 3 earned, on 11 hits in only 4 and 2/3 innings of work.  He got lucky only 3 were earned as they gave Mike Napoli an error on a smoked diving line drive at first base.  They called it an error but I don’t see how as Napoli had no chance.

Lester also walked 4 and struck out 7 but his pitch count was 118 in just 4 and 2/3.  His command was off and he let up a lot of ringing hits.  No one took him deep but there were a lot of gappers and wall balls.  Just not his night and lately it seems the starters are putting the team in a big hole they can’t seem to get out of.

With the Yanks up 4-0 after 4, the Sox got back into the game with back-to-back homers by David Ortiz (4) and Mike Napoli (5).  Ortiz’s shot was a bomb to deep right center field.  I haven’t seem many balls land where Big Papi hit that one.  Napoli’s blast was a laser that got out of the park and into the Monster seats in about 3 seconds.  Both were great shots.  Unfortunately it would be all they could get that inning.

With the Sox back in the game at 4-2, Lester needed a shut down top of the 5^th but it didn’t happen.  After giving up a leadoff walk and single, he struck out Solarte and Suzuki to get 2 outs but Brian Roberts smoked that ball to 1^st that was called an error for a run, then Ellsbury ripped a double to plate two more.  Lester was lifted in favor of Chris Capuano who allowed a single to Jeter to plate the 8^th Yankees run and put the game out of reach for the Red Sox.

The bullpen was good at keeping the deficit where it was as Chris Capuano went 2 and 1/3 innings of 2 hit, 0 run ball.  He struck out 1 and walked none.  Edward Mujica went 1 inning and allowed a solo homer to Carlos Beltran but did strike out one.  Junichi Tazawa pitched one inning and allowed only 1 hit.  It was a little, too little too late as the bats just couldn’t get anything going yet again.

Red Sox hitters were 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left 5 men on base.  They simply didn’t put a lot of runners on base as they had no walks as a team and struck out 9 times.

Mike Napoli went 2 for 4 with a run scored, an RBI, double and homer.  Dustin Pedroia had a double, Ortiz had that homer discussed earlier, Gomes had a double, Pierzynski a double and Xander Bogaerts went 1 for 4 with a double and RBI.  Brock Holt and Jackie Bradley Jr. each had a hit in the loss.

It was one of those games you’d like to forget and luckily there’s another game tonight as the Sox will face the Yanks at 7:05.  Taking the hill for the Sox is John Lackey (2-2, 5.25).  Lackey was great in his first 2 starts of the year but his last 2 have been dreadful.  He’s allowed 12 earned runs, 20 hits and 5 homers in his last 2 starts.  One of the starting pitchers has to step up and stop this ugly start and I hope that starter will be John Lackey.

On the bump for the Yankees is Michael Pineda (2-1, 1.00), who’s been brilliant early this season.  He pitched against Boston back on 4/10/2014 and went 6 innings allowing only 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 7 and walking 2.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

Mike Napoli.  Nap continues to shine early this season adding 2 more extra base hits in the loss.  A double and laser homer, his 5^th of the year.

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

Grady Sizemore.  Sizemore struggled again at the top of the order going 0 for 4 with 1 strikeout.  He’s in a bit of a funk right now and I can’t tell if it’s because he’s not starting everyday and it’s affecting his rhythm or if he’s just not all that great anymore.

PLAY OF THE GAME

The 2-run double by Jacoby Ellsbury in the top of the 5^th to make the game 7-2 and get Lester out of the game.  It was the nail in the coffin.

NEXT

Wednesday, April 23rd at Home vs. the New York Yankees.

Game 20 – 4/21/2014 – at Home vs. the Baltimore Orioles

RESULT – LOSS 7-6

The Red Sox bring the drama to Fenway Park on Patriot’s Day but they can’t overcome a huge deficit to get the win.  With the runner only 90 feet away, they can’t do what they did on Sunday night and complete a big comeback.  They fall to the O’s 7-6 and split the 4-game set.

Down by only 2 runs in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and one out, the dangerous Mike Napoli stepped to the plate.  If you remember correctly, last year, Mike Napoli was the walk-off hero on Patriot’s Day and he looked like he could do it again on Monday.  Unfortunately, Napoli tapped a 3-1 pitch to second base to plate one but also record the second out of the inning.

Mike Carp was up next with the tying run only 90 feet away and the winning run on 2^nd base.  Tommy Hunter, the O’s closer was able to get Mike Carp on a slow grounder to first to end the game and the threat.

It was an impressive comeback seeing as they were down 6-0 early as Clay Buchholz was terrible and has now struggled in 2 of his 4 starts this season.

Buchholz lasted only 2 and 1/3 innings and gave up 6 runs on 7 hits while walking one and striking out 1.  His velocity is way down and though no one is saying he’s hurt, something is up.  He’s not touching the low to mid 90’s as we’re accustomed to and instead hovering in the 87-89 range.  Yesterday, he left a lot over the plate and the Oriole hitters made him pay.

It all fell apart for Clay in the top of the 3^rd when the first 5 Orioles singled, knocking in 3 runs.  Then a groundout by Adam Jones plated the 4^th run but Steve Clevenger doubled in another and Schoop singled in Clevenger to make it 6-0.  Buchholz was pulled in favor of Burke Badenop.

The bullpen was really good yesterday and allowed the Sox bats to make a game out of what looked like a sure blow-out.  Burke Badenbop pitched outstanding in his 3 and 2/3 innings, giving up just 1 hit and 2 walks while striking out 1.  Craig Breslow went 2 innings and gave up 1 run on 2 hits with a walk and Andrew Miller pitched a perfect 9^th inning.

For what it’s worth the bullpen did it’s job by keeping Baltimore within striking distance until the bats could come around or at least try to come around.

If it weren’t for Clay’s terrible performance we’d be talking about the awful clutch hitting again for the Red Sox.  They were just 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left 8 men on base.  The top of the order seemed to get on base but the middle of the order couldn’t get them in.

Brock Holt continues to shine in his return to the Majors.  Hitting lead-off Monday, he went 2 for 4 with a run scored, RBI and sacrifice fly.  Dustin Pedroia continued his recent surge by going 2 for 3 with an RBI, 2 walks and 2 doubles.  He nearly tied up the game on his own in the ninth inning with a wall scrapper to left that nearly left the ballpark.

David Ortiz was 1 for 3 but walked twice.  Daniel Nava went 2 for 4, David Ross was 1 for 3 with 2 runs scored, an RBI and his 1^st homer of the year.  Jackie Bradley Jr. went 1 for 4 with a run scored, double and RBI.  Mike Napoli went 1 for 5 with 2 RBI with his 4^th homer of the season.

Xander Bogaerts went 1 for 3 with a run scored and a walk but was caught stealing in a huge blown opportunity in the 8^th inning.  After Napoli homered to make it 7-5 to start the inning, Bogaerts singled with one out and Nava followed with another single to put runners on 1^st and 2^nd with only 1 out.  Jonathan Herrera was sent up to pinch hit for David Ross and with the count 3-2, both runners took off in what looked like an attempted double-steal.  Only Bogaerts stopped and Herrera struck out.  This left Bogey out in no man’s land and he couldn’t go back to 2^nd because Nava was standing there.  It looked like Bogaerts missed a sign and with that a big blown opportunity.

The Sox now stand at 9-11 after 20 games with the Yankees coming in for a 3-game series.  Despite the below .500 record, they’re only 2.5 games out and I feel like the bats may be coming around.  They’ll be test against the Yanks, as it sets up nicely for them with their best 3 pitchers taking the hill for the series.

Tonight, we’ll get our first look at Masahiro Tanaka (2-0, 2.05), who has been as advertised so far this young season.  His last outing was probably his most impressive with him striking out 10 and allowing only 1 hit.

Jon Lester (2-2, 2.17) will take the hill for Boston and he’s been very impressive as well this young season.  It should be a great pitching duel tonight and I expect a low scoring game.  Hopefully the bats will start heating up this series when the Yanks are in town.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

Dustin Pedroia.  Pedey went 2 for 3 with 2 doubles, an RBI and also walked twice.  Since missing a couple games with a bum wrist, he’s come back on fire.  I guess the MRI that showed no structural damage and the short of cortisone is all he needed to feel confident at the plate.

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

Jonny Gomes.  Gomes was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts at the plate and left a ton of guys on base.  He did make a sweet diving catch in left to save some runs.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Ryan Flaherty’s RBI single in the top of the 8^th that put the O’s up 7-4.  The extra run that late, ended up being the difference in the game.

NEXT

Tuesday, April 22nd at Home vs. the New York Yankees.

Game 19 – 4/20/2014 – at Home vs. the Baltimore Orioles

RESULT – WIN 6-5

The Red Sox take advantage of the O’s miscues to cap a comeback from 5-0 down to steal one at Fenway Park 6-5.

What an ending in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday night.  Facing a dreaded situation of extra innings, the day before a very early start on Monday morning, the Sox loaded the bases with only 1 out.  With 1-out, Pedroia hit a deep-fly to left that looked like a game winning Monster homer but after review, it was confirmed to be a ground-rule double as a fan reached over and touched the ball.  A wild pitch moved Pedey to 3^rd and the O’s elected to just intentionally walk David Ortiz.  Mike Napoli was then drilled by a 1-0 pitch in the knee to load the bases.

Mike Carp stepped to the plate to pinch hit for Jonny Gomes and smoked a line drive to left field that didn’t look deep enough for Pedroia to score.  Pedroia tagged up and took a few hard steps toward home to bait David Lough into throwing.  It worked as Lough made an errant throw to home that went all the way to the backstop to plate Pedroia and complete the comeback for the 6-5 victory.

It was the first walk-off win of the 2014 season.  They had 11 last year, including the first that came on Marathon Monday.

The bats didn’t start until the 6^th inning as the Sox were staring a 5-0 lead in the face.  As usual, they couldn’t get that one big hit as they were stranding runners each inning.  However, in the sixth with one out, David Ortiz singled to center and Mike Napoli drew a walk to put 2 runners on for Jonny Gomes.  Gomes then unloaded the 2-2 pitch into the Monster Seats to put the Sox on the board 5-3.

Then in the 7^th, a little bit of good luck finally came Boston’s way as Grady Sizemore hit a ball back to pitcher Zach Britton.  Britton fired to 2^nd base for the force but Ryan Flaherty dropped the ball on the transfer trying to throw to first.  Brock Holt was ruled safe and the O’s didn’t challenge it because of the new way that Major League Baseball is interpreting the rule.  You must have full control of the ball when transferring and it’s been a hot button issue for the league early on this year.  I thought it was clear he caught it and dropped it on the exchange so it should have been an out but the way the rule reads now, it’s not.  It’s a stupid rule that I hope MLB fixes soon before it costs the Sox.  Luckily it went in their favor this time and the Sox were able to tie up the game 3 batters later.

Overall, the Sox scored 6 runs (only 3 earned as the O’s made 3 errors) on 8 hits and walked 4 times.  They were only 3 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 9 men on base.

Dustin Pedroia seems to be heating up as he went 2 for 5 with a double.  David Ortiz went 2 for 4 with a run scored, RBI and a walk.  Jonny Gomes went 2 for 4 with a run scored, 3 RBI, a double and his 2^nd homer of the season.  Xander Bogaerts went 1 for 4 and Brock Holt went 1 for 3 with a walk and stolen base.  Mike Napoli was on base twice with a walk and hit by pitch and Grady Sizemore also walked and scored a run.

Starter Jake Peavy wasn’t good on Sunday night.  He went only 5 and 2/3 innings allowing 10 hits and 5 earned runs.  He walked 4 and struck out 5 while allowing one homer run.  His pitches seemed to have too much movement on them as they danced around out of the strikeout and he couldn’t get any of the patient O’s hitters to chase.  It was his first bad outing of the season as he’s been stellar up to this point.  Let’s hope it’s just one bad game and he can rebound in his next outing.

The bullpen picked Peavy up in a huge way.  Chris Capuano went 1 and 2/3 inning allowing only 1 hit and striking out 2.  Junichi Tazawa retired the only batter he faced and Andrew Miller went one inning allowing only 1 hit and struck out 1.

Edward Mujica had the biggest out of the game in the top of the ninth as John Farrell went to Mujica when he through Delmon Young, who came out on the on-deck circle was going to bat for lefty David Lough.  Unfornately Young was never announced so Showalter pulled him back and had Lough hit instead.  Lough is a lefty, so the matchup favored the O’s in a big way.  Mujica beared down and struck Lough out on 4 pitches including a nasty splitter for a swinging 3^rd strike.  He earned his first win in a Sox uniform as the Sox would walk-off next inning.

It was a great momentum building game for the Red Sox and hopefully they can continue it today with the annual Patriot’s Day game Monday morning at 11:05.

Clay Buchholz (0-1, 5.51) will take the hill and he’s been very good as of late.  He’ll be looking for his first win of the season against Wei-Yin Chen (2-1, 4.76).  Chen pitched effectively last outing and has had success against the Sox in the past.  Emotions will be running high today as the Boston Marathon will be going on simuntaesly.  With last year’s tragic events, it should be a very nice day in Boston and hopefully the Sox can send everyone home happy like last year.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

Jonny Gomes.  Gomes went 2 for 4 and hit his 2^nd homer of the season to bring the Sox back to striking distance Sunday night.  Gomes got the rare start against a righty and took full advantage of it.

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

A.J. Pierzynski.  Pierzynski went 0 for 4 with a strikeout and is in the middle of a crazy bad slump where he’s 0 for his last 15 or so.  Let’s hope he can find his stroke soon.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Edward Mujica’s big 4 pitch strikeout of David Lough in the top of the ninth to keep the game tied at 5.

NEXT

Monday, April 21st at Home vs. the Baltimore Orioles.

Game 18 – 4/19/2014 – at Home vs. the Baltimore Orioles

RESULT – WIN 4-2

The Sox get a rare big hit and the even more rare sacrifice bunt to get 2 runs on the 7^th to best the O’s in the 2^nd game of the series 4-2.

It looked like it was going to be one of those games again as the Sox offense couldn’t get anything generated and the O’s were able to tie up the game in the 6^th when yet another call was overturned against the Sox.  Brock Holt fielded a ground ball behind the bag at third and threw across the diamond for the final out at 1^st.  A runner came in from third but didn’t score due to the out call.  Buck Showalter challenged the call and I do have to agree that the umps did get this one right as Cruz definitely beat out the throw.  The run scored to tie the game at 2.

It was just a temporary setback for the Sox as they were able to break through in the bottom of the 7^th as Mike Carp led off the inning with a walk.  There was then some fireworks as David Ross and Bud Norris got into it as Norris was throwing a little too close to Ross’ head on a bunt attempt.  Ross seemed to shout out at Norris after the 2^nd pitch near his dome, the benches cleared but there were no punches thrown and no warning were issued.  Ross, who had 2 severe concussions last year just thought the pitches were a little too close for comfort.  He’d wind up striking out for the first out of the inning but Brock Holt would pick him up.

Brock Holt would triple to deep right-center on Norris’ next pitch to plate Carp and give the Sox a 3-2 advantage.  Jonathan Herrera would then lay down a perfect sacrifice safety squeeze in the next at bat to give the Sox the 4-2 advantage that they would hold on for the win.

Holt went 1 for 3 with that big RBI triple and just seems to be taking full advantage of his 2^nd opportunity back in the big leagues this year.  He’s played very well defensively too and continues to impress.

The offense was yet again pretty bad as the Sox managed only 6 hits and 2 walks on the entire afternoon.  Of those 6 hits, 2 came from Dustin Pedroia wen went 2 for 3 with an RBI, double and a walk.  David Ortiz also had 2 as he went 2 for 4 with a run scored, RBI and his 3^rd homer of the year.  Mike Napoli went 1 for 4 with an RBI, but that was it for the Sox offense.

As you can see, the Sox could get nothing going against Bud Norris and the O’s relievers.  Thankfully they had some clutch hitting in the 7^th and once again good pitching.

Felix Doubront went 6 and 2/3 and was very effective.  He allowed only 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 7 and walking 2.  He didn’t stick around long enough for the win but looked impressive after a shaky 1^st inning.  Doubront needed 29 pitches to get through the 1^st inning but did strike out the side.  Unfortunately he gave up a run but didn’t let it get any worse as he was able to get out of the rest of the inning unscathed.

Junichi Tazawa went 1 and 1/3 innings to pick up his first win of the season.  He was great, retiring all 4 batters he faced while striking out 1.  Koji Uehara pitched the 9^th and gave up a very rare walk but also struck out the side for his 4^th save of the season.

The Sox tie up the series at 1 with 2 to play in the rare 4 game set.  They’ll play Sunday night, at 7 however, because of the early game on Monday morning.  Jake Peavy will take the hill against Ubaldo Jimenez.  Jimenez has been terrible to start this season and Peavy has done very well.  Hopefully the Sox can get some momentum going here and pull off a win Sunday night.  Monday is sure to be emotional with the Boston Marathon going on, so a win Sunday night will go along way for Monday’s game.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

David Ortiz.  Ortiz went 2 for 4 with a big homer to get the Sox going.  Ortiz has started off slowly this season but still is a force to be wrecked with in the middle of the order.

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

David Ross.  Ross went 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts and was overmatched most of the afternoon at the dish.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Brock Holt’s RBI triple in the bottom of the 7^th.

NEXT

Sunday, April 20th at Home vs. the Baltimore Orioles.

Game 17 – 4/18/2014 – at Home vs. the Baltimore Orioles

RESULT – LOSS 8-4

John Lackey had another rough outing as the Sox lose the first game of the series 8-4 in Boston on Friday night.

For the second consecutive start, John Lackey was knocked around for 6 earned runs.  He lasted only 5 and 1/3 and allowed 10 hits while walking 4 and striking out 6.  He threw 100 pitches and was just lousy all night.  He allowed runners on base in all innings except one and faced 8 batters in a 3-run 3^rd inning and 7 in a 2-run 5^th.  He’s now 2-2 on the year and his ERA has skyrocketed up to 5.25.  The biggest problem was the 4 walks which is more than he’s allowed in all of his previous outings (3 in 18 and 2/3).

Of course it wouldn’t be a Sox game without some replay controversy.  On the first pitch of the game, Nick Markakis lofted a fastball down the left-field line that looked to be foul but the umpires called fair.  Markakis ended up with a stand-up double but John Farrell came out to challenge the call.  As you’ve seen, the Sox haven’t exactly had the best luck with the replay system this year.

After a 2 minute, 56 second review, the call on the field stood.  Three batters later, Markakis scored the game’s first run on an Adam Jones' infield single.  John Farrell seems to be growing very frustrated with the replay system and I can see why.  The views on NESN clearly showed the ball was foul but they said it wasn’t conclusive enough to be overturned.  Every view on NESN showed that ball hit foul but the call stood and it was a sign of things to come as things went from bad to worse for Lackey and the Red Sox offense.

It was a very good night at Fenway Park with temperatures starting at 39 degrees at first pitch to go along with an 8 mile per hour wind blowing in from the ocean.  It was cold and the offense still is not clicking.

They had runners on base in all innings except for the third but couldn’t push many across.  They had 11 hits in the game and 5 free passes but left 12 men on base.  With runners in scoring position they were 5 for 15 and again that elusive big hit evaded them.

Brock Holt, who was recently called up from AAA Pawtucket went 2 for 4 with a RBI.  Holt was on fire down in the minors and he’s definitely an upgrade at 3^rd as Ryan Roberts has been designated for assignment and likely will not be back in Boston.  While Holt isn’t a big power hitter, he has gap power and is solid at 3^rd base.  If he keeps hitting, the Sox may have some questions to answer on Jonathan Herrera when Middlebrooks is back next week.

Mike Carp went 2 for 4 with a run scored and a double.  And Dustin Pedroia went 1 for 4 with a run scored, RBI and a walk.  Xander Bogaerts went 1 for 3 with an RBI and 2 walks as A.J. Pierzynski went 1 for 4 with an RBI and hit by pitch.

All Red Sox starters had a hit and Nava and Napoli’s lone hits were doubles.  Jackie Bradley Jr. was on base an additional time with a walk.  The hits came but again, not in key situation with runners on base.  It was a problem last year and so far this year it’s an even bigger problem.  Perhaps it’s the weather but the Sox need to figure it out quickly because it’s a tough AL East this year and they can’t be struggling to score runs.

Andrew Miller went 2/3 of an inning, striking out 1 of the 2 batters he faced and seems to be back on track after early season control issues.  Burke Badenhop went 2 innings and allowed 1 run on 3 hits while walking 1 and striking out 1.  Edward Mujica continued his Jekyll and Hyde pitching performance by turning in a bad performance going 1 inning allowing 2 hits and 1 earned run.  I can’t seem to figure this guy out yet as he’s not been very consistent early on.

It’s a long 4 game series for the Sox and Baltimore as they’ll play the Patriots Day game on Monday morning and hopefully the Sox will rebound for the rest of the series.  I don’t have any faith in their offense but their pitching has been stellar.  Felix Doubront will take the hill on Saturday afternoon against Bud Norris.  Both have had some success and bumps in the road early on this year.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

Brock Holt.  Holt went 2 for 4 with an RBI in his first game back up in the Majors.  Holt was insanely on fire in Pawtucket and I’m hoping he’ll continue his hot streak in the bigs.

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

John Lackey.  Lackey was once again roughed up and this time it wasn’t the long ball that did him in.  Instead it was his wildness as he walked 4 batters.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Nelson Cruz’s 2-run single in the top of the 3^rd to put the O’s out in front 4-0.  The Sox just could not recover.

NEXT

Saturday, April 19th at Home vs. the Baltimore Orioles.

Game 16 – 4/17/2014 – in Chicago vs. the White Sox

RESULT – WIN 3-1

The battery of Jon Lester and David Ross came through last night as Lester fired a gem and Ross provided some clutch hitting to down the White Sox 3-1 in cool U.S. Cellular Field last night.

David Ross went the other way for an RBI double down the right field line to snap a 1-1 lead in the top of the ninth.  It gave the Sox a two-game winning streak and a series win heading back to Boston.

It seems like all series long, well really, all season long so far, the Sox have been struggling to score and last night was no different.  Jon Lester was in a duel with Chicago ace Chris Sale.  Both were marvelous but it was Lester that came out on top with Ross’ help.

In the top of the ninth, with the game tied 1-1 and 1 out, Napoli singled to start a rally with Mike Carp (pinch hitting for Gomes) singling to put runners on 1^st and 2^nd.  David Ross then doubled down the right field line to make it 2-1 with runners on 2^nd and 3^rd.  After an intentional walk to load the bases to Daniel Nava, Jonathan Herrera laid down a perfect bunt that he beat out to plate another run and give the Sox a 3-1 advantage.  It would be all the Sox would need.

Overall, the offense was terrible again.  3 runs on only 5 hits with 3 walks and they struck out 11 times (10 by Sale himself).  They were 2 for 6 with runners in scoring position and left 6 men on base.

Xander Bogaerts went 1 for 3 with his 1^st homer of the year in the 6^th to break up the no-hitter by Chris Sale.  It was an absolute bomb to left-center that travelled about 425 feet.  Very reminiscent of his 1^st homer of the year last year against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium.  He also reached base via hit by pitch.

Mike Napoli went 1 for 3 with a single and a walk.  Mike Carp went 1 for 1 and Jonathan Herrera went 1 for 1 with an RBI.

David Ross went 1 for 2 with a double, 2 walks and that big RBI.  Ross hasn’t seen a ton of action this year but when he’s out there with Lester they seem to have good chemistry and good things generally happen.

The biggest performance of the night was from the ace of the staff, Jon Lester.  Lester had a perfect game going for 5 and 1/3 innings but Tyler Flowers broke it up in the sixth with a seeing-eye single to left that was just out of the reach of Xander Bogaerts.

Lester went 8 innings, giving up only 1 run on 7 hits.  He struck out 9 and didn’t walk anyone.  His cut fastball was downright filthy last night and he got a lot of swinging strikes on his slider.  Another solid outing for Lester as he recorded his 2^nd win of the season.  The Red Sox are going to wish they had agreed to an extension before the season because his stock is doing nothing but rising at this point.  His ERA is 2.17 and he’s been nothing but outstanding to start this season.

Koji Uehara was back for ninth inning duties and he allowed 1 hit and struck out 1 to record his 3^rd save of the year.  I’m sure John Farrell will monitor just how much he uses Uehara for the rest of the season hoping that the shoulder stiffness isn’t a huge problem but it was nice to see him come out and nail down the ninth again.

The Sox will return home to face the Baltimore Orioles Friday night.  As we know, the O’s can mash and it’ll be a good 4 game series.  Stepping to the mound for the Sox in Game 1 will be John Lackey (2-1, 3.86) who was stellar in his 1^st 2 games but allowed 4 long balls to the Yanks this past Saturday.  Hopefully he can keep the long ball threat O’s in the yard and get back to his winning ways.

Opposing Lackey will be Chris Tillman (1-1, 0.84).  Tillman has been disgusting to start the season going 8 innings in his last outing and 8 and 1/3 in the outing before that.  He faced the Sox on Opening Day and allowed only 1 run on 7 hits while going just 5 innings.  The Sox were able to hit him pretty well but couldn’t put hits together to get him out of the game.  Let’s hope tonight they can string a bunch together.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

Jon Lester.  Another great pitching performance to start the year.

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

David Ortiz.  Ortiz went 0 for 4 with a strikeout on the night.  He did have some bad luck in the 1^st as he was robbed of a homer by Adam Eaton in centerfield but on his next 2 at bats against Chris Sale, he looked hopeless up there.

PLAY OF THE GAME

David Ross’ RBI double in the top of the ninth to give the Sox a 2-1 advantage.

NEXT

Friday, April 18th at Home vs. the Baltimore Orioles.

Game 15 – 4/16/2014 – in Chicago vs. the White Sox

RESULT – WIN 6-4 (14 innings)

The Sox still aren’t hitting the ball but on Wednesday nigh and into Thursday morning, they did what they did a lot last year and grinded out a win in extra innings.

They amassed only 6 hits on the entire night with 3 coming in the 1^st inning, the Chicago White Sox helped them out by issuing 15 walks.  With those walks and 3 sacrifice flies, the Red Sox were able to pull out a 6-4 win in 14 innings over the White Sox in cold Chicago early this morning.

Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a 2-run double into the right-field corner that proved to be the difference in the top of the 14^th.  It was the 1^st extra base hit since the 1^st inning of the game and the only hit that left the infield in the final 13 innings.  It ended a marathon of a game that clocked in a 5 hours and 17 minutes.

It started out so well for the Sox as Dustin Pedroia led off the game with a double then Xander Bogaerts singled him in for a quick 1-0 lead.  Ortiz would then single for the Sox 3^rd straight hit and it looked like the offense was going to break though.  NOPE!  The Sox wouldn’t get another hit until the top of the 9^th when Jonny Gomes dribbled a weak infield single to third.

Pedroia went 2 for 6 on the night with 3 runs scored and 2 walks.  Xander Bogaerts went 1 for 3 with an RBI and 2 walks.  Ortiz went 1 for 5 with a run scored and 2 walks as Jonny Gomes went 1 for 4 with an RBI and 2 walks.  Jackie Bradley Jr. went 1 for 6 with 2 RBI and a walk.

Joining the walk party was Grady Sizemore with 1 and also a sacrifice fly to tie the game in the top of the 9^th.  Pierzynski also had an RBI sacrifice fly and Daniel Nava walked twice.  Ryan Roberts, Mike Carp and Jonathan Herrera all drew walks in the win.

I’ve never seen a team give a game away like the White Sox did last night.  15 walks and only lose by 2 in extra innings shows you just how terrible the Red Sox offense is right now.  If you receive 15 free passes, you should win by a lot more than 2 and the game definitely shouldn’t be going into extra innings.

The defense again wasn’t great as the Sox made 2 errors with one leading to a run in the bottom of the 1^st inning.  Ryan Roberts had a bad throwing error on a groundball by Jose Abreu in the inning that allowed Adam Eaton to score the White Sox’s first run.  Daniel Nava would add another error that luckily wouldn’t lead to a run but when the offense is sputtering like this, all other facets of the game need to be excellent and so far this young season, the defense has been very iffy.

Clay Buchholz was solid for the 2^nd straight start.  He went 6 innings giving up 3 runs, only 2 earned, on 6 hits while walking 2 and striking out 6.  The blemish was the 2-run homer he gave up to Alexei Ramirez in the 6^th to give the White Sox a 2-run lead that looked like it would hold up.  Other than that, though, Buchholz kept the White Sox bats off balance with a good array of fastballs countered with his off speed stuff.  The first couple innings saw him throw a lot of pitches, but he settled in and did nicely in the middle of the game.  It was the 11^th quality start for a Red Sox starter in 15 games this year.

The bullpen was excellent again as Craig Breslow started it off going 1 and 1/3 giving up no runs on 1 hit and striking out 2.  Junichi Tazawa went 2/3 of an inning and retired both batters he faced.  Andrew Miller looked great in his 2 innings of work, allowing only 1 hit and striking out 3.

The only blemish from the bullpen was Edward Mujica, who came on with a 1-run lead in the bottom of the 11^th but could not nail down his 2^nd save of the year.  He allowed 1 run on 1 hit and also walked 1 and struck out 1.  It’s his first blown save of the year.

Chris Capuano was great as he pitched the next 2 and 2/3 innings giving up just 1 hit and striking out 3 for his first win of the season.  When the Sox signed Capuano late in Spring Training, I didn’t think much of the move thinking that Capuano was just rotation depth but he’s really become an asset in the bullpen early on.

Burke Badenhop pitched the final out of the ballgame for his 1^st save of the year.

It was a nice grind-it-out win and hopefully this will jump start the Sox.  A win like this has that potential to be a momentum swing that the Sox really need right now.

They’ll go for the series win tonight in Chicago as ace Jon Lester (1-2, 2.57) will take the hill.  Lester has been stellar to start the season and he’ll have to be sharp again tonight facing the White Sox’s ace Chris Sale (3-0, 2.66).  The lefty is off to a fast start getting a victory in each of his first 3 games.  He lasted only 5 innings last time out against the Indians and let’s hope the Sox can get to him early and get to that mess of a bullpen.

SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP

Chris Capuano.  As I stated earlier, I had zero expectations for Cap but he’s been one hell of a weapon out of the bullpen.  He got his first win of the season by pitching 2 and 2/3 inning of no-run ball allowing only 1 hit and striking out 3.

ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP

Edward Mujica.  With Koji Uehara having some shoulder stiffness and likely to be used less and less this year, the Sox need Mujica to step up and become that closer that he was last year with the Cardinals.  In his 2^nd attempt at a save, Mujica walked the first batter he faced.  He then retired the next 2 but allowed a single by Tyler Flowers to blow the save and allow the White Sox to tie the game.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Jackie Bradley’s 2-run double in the top of the 14^th.

NEXT

Thursday, April 17th in Chicago, vs. the White Sox.