The Boston Red Sox went through some major changes over the last year. Some good, some bad and some just… meh. They unloaded some dead weight — Josh Beckett and his bad attitude, Carl Crawford and his bad contract and Adrian Gonzalez and his bad luck (as collateral damage.) Needless to say, the 2013 Opening Day line up is going to look a lot different from 2012 with only four players returning for the starting nine.

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF: He will most likely bat lead off as his did last year. That’s only if he doesn’t sprain his earlobe in spring training or catch a hangnail during warmups.
2. Shane Victorino, RF: Newly signed Victorino makes the most sense for the #2 spot. Dustin Pedroia held this spot last year, but with the addition of the speedy “flyin’ Hawaiian,” he may be better suited further down in the order.
3. Dustin Pedroia, 2B: He’s proved himself to be an offensive asset and has surprising power for a guy of his stature. He has a career .303 batting average with a .830 OPS. Last year, the #3 spot belonged to the departed Adrian Gonzalez.
4. David Ortiz, DH: Big Papi will once again commandeer the clean up spot. Let’s just hope that achilles can hold up and David can pick up where he left off last season before he went down with the bum heel.
5. Will Middlebrooks, 3B: The position stays the same, just the personel has changed. Middlebrooks takes over full time at the hot corner after the somewhat rancorous departure of Kevin Youkilis.
6. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C: Salty takes over the #6 spot from Ryan Sweeney who was allowed to go to free agency following an unspectacular year.
7. First Base?: With the Mike Napoli deal in limbo, could Mauro Gomez start the season at first base? Or will they continue to search for a more seasoned first baseman if the Napoli contract crumbles. If Napoli does end up in Boston, I imagine he’ll bat a little higher up in the order — probably 5th. In 2012, the recently departed Cody Ross held this spot in the line up.
8. Left Field?: Do the Sox see Jonny Gomes starting the season guarding the Green Monster? Or Ryan Kalish? This one baffles me. Salty batted #8 to start last season.
9. Stephen Drew, SS: Drew replaces last year’s shortstop Mike Aviles at the end of the order. Needless to say, my excitement level for this position is very low. I’m begging this guy to prove me wrong.

Well, 2013 should be an interesting year. There were some big holes to fill over the off season in this line up and I’m not feeling too confident that the new acquisitions are going to get them where they need to be. I’m not sure I can handle a “rebuilding year” so someone needs to do something really sparkly or that’s exactly what we’re going to get.

The Red Sox beat the Tigers last night 7-3 behind another strong performance by Clay Buchholz to pull one game above .500 and out of the basement once again. He seems to have successfully put that horrid start to the year behind him and is pitching like he should. Actually he’s pitching like a couple of other pitchers on the staff should be but unfortunately are not. *cough*Beckett*cough*Lester*cough*

The Tigers struck first when Austin Jackson hit the second pitch he saw for a home run to open the game. My first thought — uh oh. But the Sox didn’t get down on themselves. After Jacoby Ellsbury walked, Carl Crawford followed with an RBI triple — his first of the season. Dustin Pedroia knocked Crawford in with a ground ball out.

After Detroit tied up the game in the third, Pedroia came through again to put the Sox ahead for good with a two-run home run over the Monster. And Will Middlebrooks put the nail in the coffin with a two-run dinger of his own in the bottom of the eighth.

Clay Buchholz pitched a solid eight innings of work. He allowed five hits and three runs (two of them earned) and struck out four. Vicente Padilla pitched a scoreless ninth to close out the win. Buchholz was pleased with the all-around performance in last night’s win.

“It’s just all got to happen at the same time,” said Buchholz. “You’ve got to hit and pitch well to win games or go on a big streak that we need to go on. We’ve got to build some confidence, get on a little streak, and who knows where it will take us?”

Nice win for the Sox but it wasn’t without its drama. A frustrated Ryan Sweeney punched a door in the clubhouse following a tough out in the eighth inning and had to leave the game. Really, Ryan? Punching a door? Isn’t that a little childish? I wonder if he did it on purpose to take his name out of the trade rumors. He’ll have an x-ray today and will most likely be placed on the DL. *sigh*

Click here for the solid box score, courtesy of the Red Sox. The Tigers and Sox face off again tonight in a matchup between Josh Beckett (5-9, 4.57) and Justin Verlander (11-6, 2.60) — that’s, of course, if Josh Beckett doesn’t get dealt before the 4pm trade deadline today. Rumor has it that the Texas Rangers are no longer interested in Beckett, but there still might be some life on a deal with either the LA Dodgers or the Atlanta Braves. If you’re going to send him away, Ben Cherington, just please, please, please don’t let him go for crap. Crap isn’t going to get us more wins. And we need more wins.

And, just like that, there’s maybe a little bit of hope in the nation.  Maybe a little bit of dreaming.  Maybe a little bit of… swagger?

That was one good game last night – Felix Doubront held down the Yankees for 6 1/3 innings and one run – despite walking five – and the bullpen took over from there, eventually staking the Sox to a gritty 3-2, ten-inning win.  Pedro Ciriaco, Boston’s most unlikely but increasingly expected hero, singled softly into right field in the top of the tenth, scoring Jarrod Saltalamacchia for the win.

In fact, all the runs from both sides came from unexpected players last night.  Sox youngun Ryan Sweeney doubled in the second inning to score Slatalamacchia and Adrian Gonzalez.  New York’s Russell Martin – who currently has a .189 batting average –  put the Bombers on his back with a solo home run in the seventh and an RBI single in the eighth.

Meanwhile, New York’s Hiroki Kuroda also pitched really well.  He went eight innings, allowed only two runs, and only gave up one walk.

This is the kind of game that’s fun to watch.  This is the kind of game we hope for.  This is the kind of game the Sox need more of – a lot more of – if they’re going to stay in this race, because, and let’s not forget it: as of July 30, they’re a .500 team, and they have a long way to go if they’re going to sniff October.  There are six teams ahead of them in the Wild Card hunt right now: Oakland, the Angels, Detroit, Baltimore, Tampa Bay, and Toronto.  Now that there’s two wild cards, the Sox only need to be better than five of those six teams, but that’s still kind of a tall order.  The Angels currently hold the second wild card spot, and they’re at 55-47.  If they suddenly go .500 the rest of the way, then the Sox still have to go 34-26 just to tie them.  That 34-26 would be a .567 winning percentage, which means they’d have to play better than every American League team did in the first half except for the Yankees and Texas.

Playing better than all but two teams in the league, plus assuming that a team that’s been playing well will suddenly fall to earth for no apparent reason – those are odds I wouldn’t take to Vegas.  It’s possible, but the Sox have a very long haul ahead of them.  They really, really need Josh Beckett and Jon Lester to step up to the metaphorical plate – wins from Doubront are nice, but they’re not going to launch this team into the upper ranks of the American League in time.  As Yogi Berra said, it gets late early out there.

Boston’s long haul starts tonight, when Boston hosts Detroit at Fenway Park.  Clay Buchholz (8-3, 4.93 ERA) takes on Max Scherzer (10-5, 4.49 ERA) and the Tigers in a 7:10 start.

See the title to this post?  That’s pretty much the takeaway from last night’s game.  The Red Sox sported some obvious holes in their lineup (most notably, Adrian Gonzalez ceded first base to Mauro Gomez last night – word is that he still doesn’t feel well) but pulled through for a strong win out of the All-Star break gate.  The Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1, bringing them (wait for it… wait for it…) one game over .500, and putting them a game ahead of Toronto in the AL East standings.

Welcome back, Jacoby Ellsbury – we missed you. (Keith Allison, c/o flickr.com)

The marquee line on this game was that Jacoby Ellsbury finally made his long-awaited return off the DL, playing in his first game since partially dislocating his shoulder back on April 13.  He flew out to left in his first leadoff at-bat, but finally got on base when he dribbled a seeing-eye ground ball past second base in the seventh inning.  It’s good to have Ellsbury back – even if he doesn’t do much for a while, the simple fact that all Boston’s injured players are starting to make their reappearances will inject some life into this team, and into this fanbase.

Oh, on that note – yesterday team owner Larry Lucchino sent a letter to season ticket holders commiserating with them over the team’s lackluster first half and asking for them to keep the faith for the second haul.  The local news covered the letter this morning, and interviewed some Sox fans.  One of them actually said “it’s always been hard being a Sox fan… they do this to us every year.”  Excuse me?  It’s true that the Red Sox have had more down seasons than up seasons over the course of the last lifetime, but I think that guy missed the point.

The reason this season is excruciating as compared to other seasons, is because this season (and last season, for that matter), the Sox were supposed to be stacked.  Crawford, Gonzalez, Lackey, etc.  The Sox print money these days, and it’s an odd mixture of frustration and, I think, embarassment at continued high-priced free-agent failure that drives this melancholy.  The Red Sox are turning, if they haven’t already, into the early 2000-era Yankees – high paychecks, clubhouse discord, and an inability to back it up on the field.  That embarrasses a lot of Red Sox fans who have constructed a lot of their fan identity on, well, being the martyrs on the white horses, the anti-Yankees.  Must be tough to swallow that they’re quickly becoming them.

Anyway.  David Ortiz and Pedro Ciriaco, whose been playing out of his mind lately (3 for 3, sacrifice, stolen base last night, and 10 for 16 in his last four games) handled all the scoring for the Sox last night.  Papi launched a ball into the right field seats in the first inning to get things started, and then Ciriaco scored Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ryan Sweeney on a bases-loaded single in the second inning.  From there, Franklin Morales held the Rays scoreless through five, allowing only two hits before giving the ball to Scott Atchison.  Atchison let the Rays score off a Sean Rodriguez double, but that was all the scoring the six total Red Sox pitchers would allow.  My new persona non grata Vicente Padilla picked up his 20th hold (maybe baseball’s too easy for him, and he should pick up a tougher sport that women play, like, oh, roller derby, or my “recreational” Sunday flag football league, which, yikes), and Alfredo Aceves picked up his 20th save.

So, that’s not a bad start to the second half.  Here’s a link to the box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.  Boston takes the field again in Tampa Bay tonight, when Clay Buchholz (8-2, 5.53 ERA) comes off the disabled list from his scary gastrointestinal bleed to face David Price 11-4, 2.82 ERA).

After all that – the offseason drama, the dirty laundry, the vows to do better, the stacked lineup – the Red Sox are officially a mediocre team.  They’re back at .500 heading into the All-Star break after losing to the New York Yankees again last night, 7-3.  With the loss, the Sox dropped three of four to New York, and head into the furlough at 43-43.

Last night, Jon Lester took yet another tough loss, dropping his record to 5-6 on the season.  He allowed two runs in the first inning, via a Mark Teixeira double that scored Derek Jeter, and a double-play ball gone wrong to Sox third baseman Mauro Gomez.  For the fourth time in four games, the Red Sox let the Yankees take an early lead in the first inning.

The Sox scored in the bottom of the first, when upstart and most popular man in Boston Pedro Ciriaco singled, stole second (the throw was on time, but Jeter missed the tag), and scored when Jeter dropped a popup.  PS – Jeter was off last night.  The muffed Ciriaco steal, the dropped pop fly, a few muffed plays at short – I don’t think he’s hurt, but it was just weird to see him off his game like that.

» Continue reading “Red Sox Limp Into Break After Dropping Finale To Yankees”

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.”

I take back everything I said the other day about how this west coast swing was going to be a cinch. I TAKE IT BACK!! Ok, can we please just win already?

Last night was, in short, a pitching disaster. Daisuke Matsuzaka, still in search of that elusive first win of 2012, was… well… horrible. Granted, he did claim to have a (as Bobby Valentine called it) “a crick in his neck,” yet he took the mound anyway. Honestly, I think a high school pitcher could’ve done a better job.

Dice K left the game after 28 pitches. His line was not impressive. The Oakland A’s bashed out five runs on four hits, including home runs by former Red Sox players Josh Reddick (his 19th of the year!) and Brandon Moss. But… he was injured. So do I forgive him for his bad outing? Probably not. It’s back to the DL most likely for Dice K and a game of eeny, meeny, miny, mo to pick the next member of the starting rotation.

Maybe Clayton Mortensen? He came in to relieve Dick K and pitched five innings, giving up just one more run on two hits. He’s been relegated to relief work for the most part with the Red Sox, but did start when he played in Colorado. He can’t be any worse… or more painful to watch. Despite the loss, Mortensen told reporters he was happy with his performance.

“It’s always nice to be able to go out and pick our team up. When something like that happens, it’s huge to go out there and soak up some innings so our bullpen can be fresh for the rest of our series against these guys,” said Mortensen. “They play us tough, so we’re going to need all the pitching we can have. So it was nice, I was happy with it.”

I can’t even discuss the offense right now. It’s just… yeah. One run isn’t going to cut it if you want to win.

Will Middlebrooks didn’t play last night and will probably be making a trip to the DL with a hamstring issue. Now that’s what you call bad timing.

Click here for the uninspired box score, courtesy of the Red Sox. Jon Lester tries to right the ship tonight against Bartolo Colon who is just back from a short trip to the DL. David Ortiz will try, yet again, to hit #400.

On another note, it’s going to be an exciting upcoming week for Portland fans. Carl Crawford makes strides to get back to Boston and will be playing for the Sea Dogs tonight. Ryan Sweeney could find himself in Portland possibly on Thursday. And Jacoby Ellsbury, who hit a 2-run homer for Fort Meyers last night, should be with Dogs later this week. *runs off to buy tickets*

I think WordPress is a Marlins fan. I’ve been trying for 36 hours to write a post about the Red Sox pitching magic over the Marlins the past two games and WordPress hasn’t allowed me to get in. Therefore, I deduce they all must be Miami lovers. It’s quite a coincidence that after the series is over, I magically get in to post… right? But I digress…

I feel like I should be more excited about the progress of this team over the past two games in Miami. The pitching has been stellar and the offense (at least last night) really stepped up to the plate. Literally. So why these feelings of distaste and loathing for a team I’ve loved so much for my whole life?

You can’t blame the current state of the team entirely on injuries. Sure, Jacoby Ellsbury probably would’ve made some big contributions, but you can’t rely on him. He’s proved to us over the past few years that you don’t want to put all your eggs in his basket. He’s fragile. And you honestly can’t tell me (at least with a straight face) that Carl Crawford and/or John Lackey would’ve made a lick of difference either. If anything, I think this team is better without Lackey’s seemingly bad attitude and Crawford’s low self-esteem.

They youngsters that have come up from the minors to fill those injury-plagued positions have been nothing short of amazing. So really, who is chomping at the bit to get these guys back? Not me. A few of the veteran pick-ups — more specifically Ryan Sweeney and Scott Podsednik — have been outstanding. David Ortiz is having one of his best seasons in forever. Jarrod Saltalamacchia has turned his season around and is a force to be reckoned with at the plate.

Then it dawned on me the other day. This 2012 Red Sox team lacks heart and that makes me sad. I have a sneaking suspicion that when Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek retired this past off-season, they took the heart with them. We need to get it back! For the love of baseball, will someone please cowboy up and get this team excited. Where’s Kevin Millar when you need him?

Tuesday night, Clay Buccholz stymied the Miami Marlins bats, beating them 2-1 and improving to 7-2 on the season. In seven innings, he scattered five hits and allowed just one earned run while striking out nine Marlins batters. Remember all that bad stuff I said about him earlier in the season? Yeah, just kidding. Sort of. He’s been nothing short of lights out in June. Buccholz is 3-0 this month and has lasted an average of eight innings per outing, has struck out 22 total and allowed just three runs over those three games. Color me impressed. Click here for said “lights out” box score courtesy of the Red Sox.

Wednesday night, it was Felix Doubront’s turn to try and one-up Buccholz. Felix had a no hitter through nearly six innings, finishing his seven-inning outing surrendering just three hits and two runs and striking out nine. He’s now 7-3 on the season. The offense came through and scored more runs in this game than they had in the previous three games combined. The one through four hitters (Podsednik, Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez and Ortiz) combined to go 9 for 17 scoring six runs and knocking in seven. Not to mention, the Sox scored six runs in the eighth to really put the game out of reach. Click here for the hit parade box score courtesy of the Red Sox.

The Sox get a night off tonight before making the trip to the windy city to see old friend Theo Epstein’s Cubs (who, by the way, have the worst record in all of major league baseball.) Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-1, 7.20) takes the mound on Friday for a matinee game, trying to get his first win in a very long time.

The Red Sox lost to the Washington Nationals last night 7-4 behind two young whippersnappers who frankly, I’m glad we won’t see again this season. Hopefully. That game was just…not fun.

I don’t usually pay much attention to the National League. It’s not because I don’t want to, it’s for lack of time. Keeping track of one team is hard enough, especially when they’re  battling injuries and making (what seems to be) constant roster moves. But I knew the Nationals had something special in Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. You can’t be a baseball fan and not know that! I just didn’t know how special until last night.

The Red Sox got on the board first in the 2nd inning when David Ortiz walked, Ryan Sweeney singled and Mike Aviles doubled, scoring both baserunners. Sox up 2-0. This lead would last all of about 8.7 seconds.

Felix Doubront had probably his worst outing of the season so far. He didn’t look sharp and when he gave up a deep double to the first batter of the game, I immediately got a not-so-good feeling in my gut. I was right. Doubront lasted only four innings, giving up eight hits and six runs for his third loss of the season.

After scoring two runs in the second, the Sox were held scoreless by a locked in Strasburg. He was impressive. The 23-year-old righty threw 119 pitches in his six innings, allowing just two runs on four hits. He struck out 13 Sox batters, fanning Daniel Nava and Kevin Youkilis both three times.

The Nationals came back with three runs in the third and another three in the fourth against Doubront. Teen sensation, Bryce Harper, hit a two-run homerun becoming only the fourth teenager to ever hit a home run at Fenway Park, and the second youngest. Only Robin Yount was younger. Harper finished the night just a triple shy of the cycle.

And as if to add insult to injury, Strasburg struck out the side in the bottom of the fourth. The Sox mounted a comeback in the sixth as Strasburg was nearing the end of his outing. They managed to load the baases when Dustin Pedroia singled, Adrian Gonzalez doubled and David Ortiz walked. Jarrod Saltalamacchia struck out and Youkilis came up with two outs. He worked the count full only to be called out on a questionable third strike. It looked low to me and evidently to Youk too. He immediately blew a gasket and was quickly bounced from the game. That stupid Amica pitch zone said it was a strike, I don’t buy it.

The Red Sox managed only two more runs after Strasburg was lifted. Adrian Gonzalez hit a home run in the eigth after being robbed by Xavier Nady of one in the third inning. And Daniel Nava, happy to see the starter gone, hit an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth. Just a too little, too late…

With that loss, the Red Sox say hello again to .500 and spend yet another day in the AL East basement. Click on over to here for the box score, courtesy of the Red Sox. Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his first start in over a year today against these tough Nats. He’ll face off against Gio Gonzalez (7-2, 2.31 ERA), game time is 4:05pm.

Well, the Red Sox stint at .500 was short-lived as they lost to the Orioles 4-1 last night in a classic pitcher’s duel. Felix Doubront was sharp holding the first place O’s to just four hits and two runs over six innings. He struck out a season-high nine batters and whiffed Robert Andino and Adam Jones both three times.

Unfortunately, O’s pitcher Brian Matusz was even better, holding the usually high-powered Sox offense to just two hits while striking out 12.

Kevin Youkilis was back in the line up, playing first base while Adrian Gonzalez moved out to right field to help a injury-riddled outfield. He hit a home run in the fourth inning to account for the lone Sox run. Gonzalez had the other hit. *yawn*

Now that Youk is back, you have to wonder what going to happen. It would be silly to send Will Middlebrooks back to Pawtucket after he’s done so well in the bigs. But you can’t ask Adrian Gonzalez to continue to patrol right field — especially in Fenway Park. That corner will eat him alive. So what? Speculation is that the Sox are trying to get Youk some quality at bats to show he doesn’t suck and hopefully trade him. They really could use some more help in the outfield…

Speaking of the outfield, Ryan Sweeney was placed on the seven-day disabled list with a concussion. And Cody Ross was officially put on the 15-day DL but hopes he won’t be out the 6-8 weeks originally predicted. So right now the four top outfielders are sidelined: Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford, Cody Ross and Ryan Sweeney. Three of the four will most likely not see any playing time until July. Darnell McDonald, Ryan Kalish and Jason Repko are also out. The Sox called up Scott Podsednik from Pawtucket to fill some shoes. June could be very interesting…

Take a gander at the very slim box score courtesy of the Red Sox. The Sox and O’s finish up the series playing the rubber match this afternoon at 12:35pm. Daniel Bard (3-5, 4.85 ERA) will take on Jake Arrieta (2-4, 4.72 ERA). This game will be a good test for Bard and his ability to bounce back after a tough outing against the Phillies.