The Boston Red Sox were unceremoniously swept by the Kansas City Royals last Sunday and in writing the recap of that giant suck-fest, I happened to mention something about how the Sox were kicking the crap out of the Oakland A’s and holy crap, I almost jinxed their win. Whoa…that was scary. So I’m been keeping my mouth shut this week and trying not to gloat too much about things like the Red Sox currently having the best record in baseball. But I don’t often get to gloat about best records, so I’m officially gloating…if only for a short time.

It’s been quite a week for the Red Sox—since the double crappy loss on Sunday, they’ve gone 6-1 and welcomed the Houston Astros to the American League with a good ol’ four-game sweep. That’s what you call Boston Strong, people!

Monday, April 22: Red Sox 9 : A’s 6
Felix Doubront pitched 6.2 innings, giving up just three earned runs and striking out eight to earn his second win of the season. The Sox offense exploded for five runs in the 5th, capped by a Mike Napoli grand slam. The A’s mounted a comeback with three runs in the 8th, but it was too little, too late…thankfully!

Tuesday, April 23: Red Sox 0 : A’s 13
The only loss of the week and boy was it a doozy. Alfredo Aceves was shelled for eight runs on seven hits and four walks in just 3.1 innings of work. He was demoted to Triple-A Pawtucket shortly after the game. Don’t let the door hit you the ass, you crazy whacko. Despite the loss, his demotion was a highlight for me.

Wednesday, April 24: Red Sox 6 : A’s 5
It’s nice to see the Sox able to bounce back for a win after such a humiliating loss. Jon Lester pitched well enough for his fourth win of the season, helped by two three-run innings, which turned out to be just enough run support. Andrew Bailey came in and struck out the side in the 9th for his fifth save.

Thursday, April 25: Red Sox 7 : Astros 2
Clay Buchholz continued his tear, winning his fifth game with a 7.2 inning, five strike out performance. He did allow two earned runs which raised his ERA to a whopping 1.19. The Sox offense jumped on the Astros pitching early, scoring four runs in the 1st inning. David Ortiz hit his first home run of 2013 in the 3rd inning.

Friday, April 26: Red Sox 7 : Astros 3
Ryan Dempster finally gets his first win in a Red Sox uniform. It’s not like he hasn’t pitched well before, just wasn’t getting the support. He definitely got support in this game—in the form of the long ball. David Ross hit two home runs, Will Middlebrooks whacked his sixth, and David Ortiz launched his second in as many nights.

Saturday, April 27: Red Sox 8 : Astros 4
Not to be out-shined by Lester and Buchholz, Felix Doubront notched his third win. The Astros got close in this game, scoring one in the top of the 7th to bring them to within two, but the Red Sox would have none of it and scored three in the bottom of that inning to secure the win.

Sunday, April 28: Red Sox 6 : Astros 1
John Lackey’s return from his recent stint on the DL was celebrated with his first win of 2013. He pitched six innings on one-run ball and showed no signs of the bicep strain that knocked him out on April 6th. Ortiz, Daniel Nava and Mike Carp all had 2-hit games to spark the offense. Bailey earned his sixth save which was highlighted by a spectacular diving catch by Nava to end the game.

Can’t every week be like this one? After a well-deserved day off tomorrow, the Sox head north to Toronto for a three game series. Jon Lester is scheduled to start and will have the chance to catch Buchholz in the five win club.

Here in Boston, Fenway Park was the place to be on Saturday.  37,000 fans, crammed into the old wooden seats, the narrow walkways, and the cavernous green concourses bordered by a bright spring sky.  37,000 fans erupted during a pregame ceremony for the ages, applauding until they were hoarse for the first responders, the government leaders, and the victims that have become part of our world this week.  Yelling into the beautiful expanse of baseball diamond, shouting out names and “thank you”s and singing the national anthem.  Cheering loudly for, well, the chance to cheer loudly.

“This is our fucking city,” David Ortiz told us on the day of his return to the lineup.  He told us that, we loved it, and the Sox won on a majestic Daniel Nava three-run homer.  You couldn’t have written a movie script any better.

It must have felt incredibly liberating to be at Fenway on Saturday, to be loud and out in the open, to be obvious and unafraid and within arm’s reach of so many others who were within arm’s reach of you, because Friday in Boston was the opposite.  As the SWAT teams and the bomb-sniffing dogs and the endless, endless lines of police cruisers patrolled Watertown, Boston, Cambridge and surrounding communities, we were all – every single one of us – subject to an order to stay inside, draw your shades, and not open the door for anyone but “a properly-identified law enforcement officer.”

Ask yourself this: what do you do when you wake up on a Friday morning to what feels like a dream – a really screwed up, bizarre, barely believable dream?  When you wake up already thinking about the motions and phone calls and emails and to-dos that stand between you and the end of the work week, and your wife, who has bags under her eyes from tracking the news all night, tells you that “they found them, well, they’re chasing them, well, one of them’s already dead, they’re from Chechnya! They robbed that 7-11 in Central Square, you know the one, and then they shot a cop at MIT, and then they carjacked this SUV and drove it to Watertown and then they got in a shootout and one of them, Black Hat, was killed, and now they’re looking for the other one – White Hat.”

Imagine waking up to that.  Here’s what I know about Watertown: there are batting cages there, near that huge five-way intersection (you know the one) that scares the daylights out of drivers without the guts and steely reserve that Boston requires.  My slow-pitch team rents out the cages this time of year to get ready for our season.  There’s a decent pizza place up the street from the batting cages, kind of across from the Starbucks.  There’s a Home Depot and a Target there, that we cruise through the baby aisle at regularly.

Here’s what you do when you wake up on a Friday morning to that kind of onslaught.  You throw on sweats and a hoodie, make some coffee, and you glue yourself to the TV showing police and army guys and reporters swarming all over the town that you identify with cases of inexpensive baby wipes and smelly ill-fitting mandatory batting helmets.  You watch all day, you speculate, you honestly get a little bored with the lack of developments.  You read your book, you thumb through your magazines.  You clean the kitchen while listening to the radio so you don’t miss anything.  You fold laundry.  You scuttle around the immediate neighborhood with the dog, who’s acting like she really has to pee, but you peer around corners, stay off main roads, and keep your cell phone on its loudest volume in case your wife calls to tell you that now they think the bomber’s in the few square miles you call your own and you should run home.  All the dog did outside was eat grass, you complain when you get back – I’m standing there in plain sight, wearing a bright yellow “Boston Strong” t-shirt, even, when there’s a lunatic running around town planning god knows what, and we’re all supposed to be inside, and the dog wants to eat grass?  You look out the window whenever you hear a car engine or a siren – it’s a police cruiser, it’s an ambulance that sounds like it’s headed towards the hospital, it’s an ice cream truck?  Why is there an ice cream truck out today?

That’s why Fenway was such a beautiful sight on Saturday.  On Friday, this city was not ours.  On Friday, this city was Tsarnaev’s.  We can talk about how Friday’s shelter order was a key measure in tactical strategy and public safety that let law enforcement do its work, and that our cooperation was a show of solidarity and defiance that proved we’d already won.  We can talk about that (it feels pretty good to write it).  But the other side of that is, I was scared because my dog was taking too long to enjoy her loop around the deserted neighborhood.  I was appalled that an ice cream truck would even think to drive down my street.  I was listening to sirens and watching repetitive, unchanging news reports telling me things I already knew and questioning whether my neighbor should really let her six-year-old play in the front yard.  On Friday, this city wasn’t mine.  On Friday, this neighborhood wasn’t mine.  On Friday, this block wasn’t even mine.

Was this all an overreaction?  Looking back, maybe – probably, even.  It’s easy to feel silly for rushing your exuberant, galumphing, just-happy-to-be-here dog around corners and keeping your shades drawn and double-checking your locks when, it turns out that the entire time, Tsarnaev was hiding.  He was trapped and bleeding and slowly running out of will, in a boat high and dry in a backyard in Watertown.  The whole time, this kid was stuck a good six miles away and only a block or two from what was probably the biggest assembly of troops in the area since the very Lexington and Concord that the Marathon itself celebrates.  I mean, that sounds silly.  The guy – the boy, mind you, the teenager – that held this entire area breathless in the palm of his hand all day, that stopped the T, that shuttered downtown, that kept cars off the road and children inside – he was trapped, hiding, cowering, out of options and marooned in a boat on dry land.

But, silly as it may be, it was true at the time.  For one day – a beautiful, warm, sunny, tempting day – this was Tsarnaev’s city.  But, it’s not anymore.  “This is our fucking city,” David Ortiz proclaimed to the packed crowd, the busy field, the American flag hanging off the Monster at Fenway on Saturday, and he was so right, so perfectly on-point, that the FCC isn’t even going to fine anybody.  This is our city again, our fucking city.  It felt good to be able to let the dog sniff around and roll in the grass and maybe even chase a few squirrels for good measure yesterday; it felt good to have breakfast at this great, crowded, loud neighborhood spot this morning; it will feel good to grab my wallet and chase down the next ice cream truck i see (be honest, who doesn’t love the ice cream truck?).  This is our city again – Ortiz said it, and Fenway proved him right on Saturday.

To say that Boston can now return to normal would be wrong. Even after yesterday’s apprehension of both suspects—one dead, one in custody—in last Monday’s Marathon tragedy, it’s still a city in mourning. Things have not returned to normal—especially for the families of the deceased, and the victims still recovering in the area hospitals. For the victims, normal will never be the same.

The Boston Red Sox left Boston in the midst of the melee, heading out to Cleveland for a three game series. Each and every player worried about the city they left behind, the city they call home—at least this year. A Red Sox away jersey with the number 617 and the battle cry of Boston Strong hung in support in the dugout. And when the city needed a little pick-me-up in the midst of all trauma, the Red Sox came through for their fans with a sweep of the Indians.

It was their first meeting with former manager Terry Francona and boy did they show him just how strong Boston’s spirit is (as if he didn’t know.) After winning handily on Tuesday night behind Felix Doubront, you had to wonder how they could keep it up with the weight of a city on their shoulders. But they did.

Wednesday’s game 2 of the series saw the Sox quickly going up 3-0 in the first, staking Alfredo Aceves to a lead before he even took the mound. They pounded out 15 hits on route to their 6-3 win with 3-hit games from Jacoby Ellsbury and Shane Victorino—both also scoring two runs each. More importantly, they were able to prove Indians’ pitcher Justin Masterson is human. Click here for the box score.

The series finale on Thursday ended with the same score, 6-3 on the back of another stellar performance from Jon Lester for this third win. The game was a real nail biter until the Sox broke it open in the 7th inning with single by Jacoby Ellsbury and an error allowing Shane Victorino to reach. After a fly out by Dustin Pedroia, Mike Napoli singled to right field to drive Ellsbury home, and Daniel Nava plated Victorino with a sac fly. Pinch-hitter Mike Carp singled to right to score Napoli and give the Sox a safe lead they would never give up. Click here for the box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.

After yesterday’s madness and the Red Sox and Royals getting postponed, they’re back in action this afternoon with Clay Buchholz looking for his AL leading 4th win.

Let’s go Red Sox, let’s go!!

The Boston Red Sox have been a lot like the weather this week… they began their 2013 home schedule with an Opening Day win on a beautiful, bright blue day. But as the days have progressively gotten crappier and colder, so has their play. Maybe this year, we here at Fenway Fatales can just pretend that the games the Sox lose don’t really happen. I hate writing about losses.

Wednesday, April 10: Red Sox 5 : Orioles 8
Grrrrrrr… When I fell asleep, it was 5-3 good guys. When I woke up, it was not. After back-to-back homers by Daniel Nava and Jarod Saltalamacchia in the bottom of the 6th to put the Sox up by two, I thought the bullpen had this one in the bag. Especially considering their short history so far this season. Joel Hanrahan had other plans that basically consisted of sucking. Hanrahan blew the save and gave up five runs in the ninth—including two home runs. FYI, his ERA is currently 11.57. Gross.

Thursday, April 11: Red Sox 2 : Orioles 3
Last night’s loss was a result of not much offense. It’s hard to win without offense. Alfredo Aceves held his own in a spot start while John Lackey is on the 15-day DL allowing just two runs. But the Sox just couldn’t pull themselves together at the plate to get him much run support and the Orioles scored one late in the game to put themselves ahead for good. At least we didn’t have to witness a tragedy like the previous night… but it still isn’t easy to accept.

Friday, April 12: Red Sox : Tampa Bay Rays – Rained Out
Dear Mother Nature, I’m not sure if you’ve looked at the calendar lately, but it’s April 12th and, well, it shouldn’t be 31 degrees and snowing on my drive home. Snow in April just sucks. Do you have no sympathy for the poor daffodils that have already peaked their delicate heads up through the ground? Do you not like daffodils? Not cool, Mother Nature, not cool.

Next up on the schedule, the Red Sox and Rays will try again tomorrow at 1:05pm. A battle of the Aces is on the docket. Jon Lester will go for his third win, while David Price looks for his first.

Committing to going to a baseball game in April is a lot like playing weather roulette. It could either be 40 degrees with a 30 mph wind like it was this past Saturday… or it could be 65 degrees with bright, sunshine-y blue skies like it was today. A perfect scenario for my very first Opening Day at Fenway Park.

Me… in my happy place!

Fans were asked to be in their seats by 1:30 for some special pre-game ceremonies that began by honoring a 60 year partnership between the Red Sox and the Jimmy Fund with a performance by the Jimmy Fund chorus. Following the introductions of the two teams, there was a brief remembrance for both Johnny Pesky and former Baltimore manager Earl Weaver—who both passed away last year.

An American flag, covering the entire Green Monster was unfurled for the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner by the Jimmy Fund chorus. And what Opening Day would be complete without a flyover—this year by two vintage P-51 Mustangs from the Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation. From behind the giant flag emerged players and patients from the last several decades who made their way from the outfield in to the pitcher’s mound to throw out the first pitches… Tim Wakefield, Jason Varitek and Jim Rice were among those players. Of course, it made me teary. They always know how to make me cry.

The only thing that could make the day better was a win, which the Red Sox served up in dramatic fashion. The pitchers dueled for the first 6.5 innings—Clay Buchholz for the good guys and Wei-Yin Chen for the Orioles. At this point, I figured the first team to score would win the game. Luckily, the Sox struck first.

You just knew good things were going to happen when Dustin Pedroia led off the bottom of the 7th with an infield single. Mike Napoli quickly followed with a line shot to the center field wall for double. The fans got a bit restless when Pedroia was held up at third, especially when Will Middlebrooks whiffed for the first out. Not to fear though, Daniel Nava smashed a 91 mph fastball over everything into a dumpster on Landsdowne Street.

Clay Buchholz was masterful, pitching seven innings of three-hit shutout ball, while striking out eight Orioles. He joins Jon Lester at 2-0 on this young season with an ERA of 0.64. Joel Hanrahan earned his third save, but it was not without drama. He gave up two hits in the top of the ninth, one a home run to Adam Jones to make us all hold our breath just a little bit.

The Sox take on the Orioles again for game two of the series on Wednesday night with Ryan Dempster taking the mound, trying for his first win with his new team. Click here for the exciting box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.

The Red Sox won again last night, bumping their early-season record to 2-0 and knocking the battered Yankees down a peg.  The score was 7-4, behind a strong outing from Clay Buchholz.  Buchholz held the Yankee bats to one run over seven innings of work.  The New York pitching staff wasn’t as lucky: starter Hiroki Kuroda took a Shane Victorino single off his pitching hand in the second inning and had to leave the game with what turned out to be a bruise.  Pinstriped old-timer Vernon Wells hit a three-run home run in the New York eighth, and Travis Hafner hit a single shot in the fourth, but that was all the offense the Yankees could muster (it’s almost symbolic that this creaky old Titanic of an offense only scored off of home runs hit by two of the creakiest men in the majors).

The Red Sox, meanwhile – screw small sample sizes.  The Sox are going to go undefeated, win the division, sweep the postseason, and win the World Series AND the 2016 Democratic primary (Massachusetts is a blue state, after all).  Look at these lines:

Daniel Nava – .667/.800/1.000

Jose Iglesias (yes, Jose Iglesias) – .556/.556/.667

Jonny Gomes – .500/.600/.500

Jarrod Saltalamacchia – .429/.600/.571

Jacoby Ellsbury – .400/.455/.600

Dustin Pedroia – .364/.364/.364 (4 for 11, all singles – how often do you see a line that matches up across the columns?)

Now granted, the only one of those players I think can actually stay near those early marks is Pedroia – he could hit .360 if he had a great year, and obviously he’ll also hit something more than a single eventually – as we know, all he does in the off-season is straight bodybuilding, so, there’s that to look forward to.  And Jackie Bradley, Jr., the king of the spring, has only hit .167/.500/.167 in the early going (three walks and one single in six official at-bats, giving us the low average and slugging percentage but the eyebrow-raising on-base percentage).  Will Middlebrooks has a .000 batting average – (hopefully) that won’t stick, either.  But, these lines are fun.  Daniel Nava will be 80 years old one day, sitting in a rocking chair and talking to his grandkids about the week he had a .660 average in the major leagues.  Early statistics are basically worthless, but they sure do make for good “listen up sonny, and I’ll tell you about back when I was a major-leaguer” story.

Red Sox-Yankees again, tonight.  Ryan Dempster makes his debut against Andy Pettitte, who still hasn’t retired (again).  Let’s see if the Yankees can make something of this series behind one of their greats, or if the Sox can open up with a series sweep on the road.

Here’s the box score from last night, courtesy of the Red Sox.

Of course no one will actually confirm that this 2013 Red Sox roster is official, but if you ask me, it looks pretty solid so I’m going with it. There was no ceremonial announcement that Jackie Bradley Jr. was a definite to be in New York on Opening Day but word on the street is he is headed to NY with the club. [Yay!] After finishing up the spring with impressive numbers — .419 average and a 1.120 OPS — it would’ve have been a damn shame if he found himself in Pawtucket.

So without further ado…

Starting pitchers:
Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Ryan Dempster, Felix Doubront, John Lackey
No surprises here, although I thought Felix might grab the #3 spot.

Bullpen:
Joel Hanrahan, Andrew Bailey, Andrew Miller, Koji Uehara, Junichi Tazawa, Alfredo Aceves, Clayton Mortensen
Daniel Bard, who the Sox broke last season, will start the season in Portland! Sounds like a rebuilding year for Bard. And I wonder what the over/under is on when Aceves has his first whiny meltdown.

Catchers: 
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, David Ross
And once again, Ryan Lavarnway is sent to Pawtucket. He’s like the high school senior that can’t seem to make the varsity club. *sigh*

Infielders:
Mike Napoli, Dustin Pedroia, Jose Iglesias, Will Middlebrooks, Pedro Ciriaco, Mike Carp
With Stephen Drew on the DL (WHAT? a Drew on the DL?), Jose Iglesias will get a shot to show us his moves and his greatly improved offense. He did hit a respectable .294 this spring.

Outfielders:
Shane Victorino, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jackie Bradley Jr., Jonny Gomes, Daniel Nava
I’m most excited about the outfield this season — Bradley, Ellsbury and Victorino could make up one of the best defensive outfield we’ve seen in a loooong time!

Tomorrow’s the day, Sox fans. The Red Sox visit the New York Yankees for an Opening Day matinee with Jon Lester taking on CC Sabathia. Game time is 1:05pm. Where will you be?

I mean…

Granted, the Red Sox didn’t exactly put their best lineup on the field yesterday.  Dustin Pedroia sat out with what was later reported to be a fractured finger (he won’t go on the DL, since there’s only two games left), and Jacoby Ellsbury also didn’t make an appearance.  I’m not making excuses for the Red Sox, but let’s be honest: when Ryan Lavarnway (currently batting somewhere in the .160s) is your fifth hitter, and three-hitter Cody Ross is the biggest threat in your batting order, you’ve gone off the reservation somehow.

Regardless of whether the Sox were either flopping around in the bottom of the fishing boat, or just giving their exciting up-and-comers a chance to play, last night’s game against the Yankees was the most one-sided rivalry game I’ve seen in a long time.  Clay Buchholz imploded in the second inning, giving up eight runs in a nine-run frame that decided the game early and sent a disinterested fan base packing for yet another depressing night.

Robinson Cano started the second-inning barrage off for New York, launching a solo home run to center field.  Buchholz got Mark Teixeria to strike out, but the unflappable Nick Swisher glanced a double off of center field with one out.  Curtis Granderson scored Swisher by hitting a home run of his own, and then Russell Martin promptly hit another home run, making the score 4-0.

Undaunted, Buchholz announced himself with authority by walking Eric Chavez and Derek Jeter, and loaded the bases via an Ichiro Suzuki single.  Alex Rodriguez sacrificed Chavez home for the second out, before Cano used his second at-bat of the inning to double home Jeter and Suzuki.

With the score 7-0 with two outs, Bobby Valentine had finally seen enough.  Alfredo Aceves replaced Buchholz.  Aceves faced Teixeira first, and Teixeira (of course) hit the Yankees’ fourth home run of the inning, scoring Cano and leaving the score at 9-0.  Swisher followed up with another double, but Aceves finally got Granderson to ground out to first to end the inning.

The Sox didn’t really get any kind of offensive rally going.  They scored a couple of baserunners here and there, care a well-executed Jarrod Saltalamacchia sac fly and a Daniel Nava home run; but there was really nothing happening at all at the plate.

With the win, coupled with Baltimore’s loss to Tampa, the Yankees took sole possession of first place with two games to play.  The Red Sox’ best-case scenario now is to play spoiler for either the Yankees or the Orioles, as both teams continue to battle for the division title.  That’s literally about all that Red Sox fans can look forward to – an exciting game 162 that means nothing for the Sox, but could potentially affect another team’s postseason. Blah.

Here’ a link to last night’s box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.  Tonight’s game 161 pits Jon Lester (9-14, 4.94 ERA) against David Phelps (4-4, 3.34 ERA).  Phelps replaces the beleaguered Ivan Nova in a start that will probably decide Phelps’ prominence on the Yankees’ postseason roster.

Jacoby Ellsbury – 6 for 14 in his return to the line up. (Photo by Keith Allison, c/o Flickr.com)

For the better part of this weekend, I was in enemy territory… the Empire State. Our trip started at 8:30am on Saturday and ended at 3:30pm on Sunday. In total, we spent about 15 hours in the car and about three hours at my sister-in-law’s 40th birthday party! We had fun… even if I did have the misfortune of overhearing some party goers discussing another baseball team… it was all “blah, blah, Yankees…blah, blah 20-something games over .500″ — enough to make me want to vomit into my wine glass. *sigh* Yes, I’m a disgruntled Red Sox fan. I’m not afraid to admit it.

I was pretty excited when we made it home in time to catch the end of the Red Sox game on the MLB Network… Yay! Ooooh, looks like they’re losing. Booo-hiss! From the looks of things, I didn’t miss much of a game. Here are the highlights, or I guess I should call them lowlights since we did take the L.

The good news — Jacoby Ellsbury had two more hits. And Clay Buchholz, just off the DL for a life threatening internal bleed, struck out eight! The bad news — Buchholz also gave up four earned runs which turns out was just enough for the Rays. The Sox bats had a difficult time figuring out David Price and could manage just three runs Saturday night. Rays won 5-3.

Today was a much better day. If you stopped watching after the first inning, you might not agree with me. The Sox put up a run in the first when James Shields walked Daniel Nava and David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez smacked a single to drive in Nava.
» Continue reading “Red Sox Take Two of Three From Those Pesky Rays”

Well Red Sox Nation, yesterday was quite a busy day! Round two of the weekend battle with the NY Yankees took place yesterday afternoon — making up a rainout in April. I’m probably not the only one who wished this game got rained out again.

It was hot and muggy and it appeared to throw Red Sox starter, Franklin Morales, off his game. Similar to Friday night’s first inning, the Yankees jumped out to a quick lead putting up four runs on back-to-back homeruns by Nick Swisher (a 3-run shot) and Andruw Jones.

I looked at my husband (who is a Yankees fan) and said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if the Sox scored four in the bottom of the first?”

He chuckled and said, “Ah…no.” Party pooper.
» Continue reading “Red Sox: Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.”