Walk It Off

We have the weather to thank for the extra day off.  Back in action, it seems that the extra rest did us good.  Because we ended up on the pleasant end of a pitcher’s duel thanks to some timely production.

It was a real nailbiter.  Lester was being matched pitch for pitch.  He pitched seven innings of one-run ball, allowing five hits, one walk, and five K’s.  His ERA, if you can believe it, is below 1.50.  Small sample size or no small sample size, that is ridiculous.  And don’t even get me started on his cut fastball.  Or his efficiency.  He threw exactly one hundred pitches, sixty-three of which were strikes and most of which, strikes or not, were awesome.  Lester was a master.  Especially when he put on quite the show with four one-two-three innings.  It was like he and the ball were in constant communication, and the ball was doing exactly what he wanted it to do.  Tampa Bay wouldn’t have stood a chance if it weren’t for David Price holding his own in the meantime.

The suspense was awful.  This was a classic pitcher’s ballgame.  It was one of those games that was just a really good, old-fashioned baseball game.  Of course, it’s easy to say that when you’re the ones winning.  Anyway, then it came down to the relief corps.  And both relief corps were so effective that the game went into extras.  Bailey took care of the eighth.  Hanrahan got put in for the ninth but was taken out after having failed to record an out because he recorded two walks instead.  Uehara ended the inning instead; three up, three down, and into extras.  I have to say, the relievers were in top form.  Being able to count on your relievers as you count on your starter is not a luxury that most, or even many, teams can afford.  We managed to put it together, and it comes in extremely handy precisely in situations like this, when the whole game is basically a contest to see whose pitchers blink first and whose hitters will be astute enough to catch it when it happens.

Tazawa pitched the tenth and picked up the win.  The tenth was essentially when the game was won because it had been tied at one until that point.  Lester was the first to allow a run; he gave up a single to open the third, and the single turned into a run when he allowed a double.  It was the only extra-base hit that Lester allowed.  (The only other extra-base hit that the Rays got was another double off of Tazawa.)

We didn’t catch up until the fifth; two outs into it, David Ross worked the count full.  Three of the first six pitches of the at-bat were balls, and three were fouled off.  The seventh pitch was an eighty-five mile-per-hour changeup that he crushed beyond the Monster.  It was quite the clutch solo shot; without it, who knows whether we would have won? Perhaps we’d still be playing; maybe out biggest achievement would have been to eventually tie it at one later in the game.

And then there were ten.  Innings, that is.  Salty came in to pinch-hit for Ross and, ironically, struck out.  But then Ellsbury singled, stole second, and moved to third on a throwing error.  Okay, so maybe we had some help from the Rays as well.  Because without that throwing error, Ellsbury would not have been on third.  And he would not have been able to score on Victorino’s single, despite the obvious shift, during the very next at-bat.  Game over.  2-1.  We win.  Our first walkoff of the year, and it feels good.

In other news, the B’s lost to the Canes, 4-2.

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Wake Up

I have to admit that I was hoping for another crush.  It’s always fun to wipe the field with the opposition during the home opener.  But that didn’t happen yesterday.  It was a pitcher’s duel for most of it, but fortunately, with a little help from some timely production, Buchholz held his own.  We still walked away with the win, and it was still a great day.  There’s always something that feels so right when the home opener rolls around.  It’s like the whole ballpark wakes up after a long, cold hiatus.  Baseball is finally back in Boston!

Buchholz had himself yet another masterful start.  Like Lester, Buchholz also pitched a full seven shutout innings.  And he only allowed three hits, all singles.  He walked four and struck out eight.  His fastball and curveball were truly fantastic, and his cutter and changeup added some variety.  He kept the hitters guessing throughout his start; you could tell that they were never able to get too comfortable.

His fifth pitch of the game was hit for a single.  And he began the second inning by issuing a four-pitch walk but ended it with two four-pitch strikeouts.  He gave up two singles in the third but bookended those with called strikeouts.  He had a one-two-three third despite a seven-pitch walk.  He issued a strikeout and a walk in the sixth, and had a one-two-three seventh that ended with a called K.  He opened the seventh with a nine-pitch walk but racked up two strikeouts that inning.

He could have been more efficient; some of his walks and other at-bats really dragged on.  He threw 113 pitches; the third and seventh, during which he threw twenty-four and twenty-three pitches, respectively, were particularly arduous.  But his other innings were reasonable, and all in all I’d say that there is more to smile about than criticize.  From a pitching standpoint, we had a great home opener.  Bailey received a hold for his impeccable eighth.  Even Hanrahan, who gave up a solo shot in the ninth, picked up a save.  Allowing runs in the ninth inning is obviously a red flag, since his entire job basically consists of preventing that from happening.  We got lucky this time because we had enough of a lead to absorb it, but naturally there will be occasions when that isn’t the case and we won’t be able to offset late damage.  So it’s important that he not be as porous as this very often, or at all.

Anyway, as I said, the game was a pitcher’s duel, and through six and a half, it was anyone’s guess who would score first.  We went down one-two-three in the first, and Nava’s five-pitch walk was our only highlight of the second.  The third was particularly painful to watch; three went up and three went down, all on flyouts and after only eight pitches.

It looked like we might score in the fourth, which Victorino led off with a single.  But he was caught stealing.  Pedroia kept our hopes alive with a walk, but Napoli grounded into a double play to end the frame.  Nava singled in the fifth, but to no avail.  We went down one-two-three again in the sixth.

The whole game was decided in the seventh.  Pedroia led it off with a single on the third pitch of the frame.  Napoli followed that with a double.  Middlebrooks then struck out, and then it was Nava’s turn.  He received three four-seam fastballs, all within about one or two miles per hour of each other.  He took the first one for a ball.  He fouled off the second.  And the third ended up beyond the Monster for a homer! Specifically, the ball ended up in a garbage receptacle on Lansdowne Street, ironically enough.  It was Nava’s second homer in two days and our ninth straight home opener win.  Not even the shadows made a difference in the end.  One swing.  Three runs.  3-1.  Game over.  Welcome back.

In other news, the Bruins crushed the Canes, 6-2.

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Truck Day

This week was momentous.  This time of year usually is.  Because this week, my friends, we celebrated Truck Day! On Tuesday, all of our equipment rolled out for the long drive down to Fort Myers.  Spring Training has officially unofficially started! Man, it’s been a long winter.  It still is a long winter.  And we have a long way to go, but we’re getting there.  It’s February already, and since Truck Day has come and gone, Pitcher and Catchers is our next milestone, followed of course by the officially official start of Spring Training and then the season! We’re well on our way.  It may be freezing outside, and there may be snow in the air or on the ground, but we know that in Florida there is baseball to be played.  I can almost taste it, especially since Farrell is already talking about lineups; expect Ellsbury to bat first this year.

Pedro Martinez is back in Boston, in the front office this time; he’s a special assistant to Ben, and he’s basically going to advise the pitching staff.  Kalish had successful surgery on his right shoulder, but we re-signed Sweeney just in case.  We signed Lyle Overbay to a minor-league deal.  Terry Francona won the Judge Emil Fuchs Award, presented by the Boston Baseball Writers, for his service to the game.

Gary Tuck, our bullpen coach, decided to retire and has been replaced by Dana Levangie.  Remember him? Levangie was our bullpen coach for eight years, the last of which was 2004.  After that, he was an advance scout.  And now he’s back where he started.  Tuck was going to be the last man standing from last year’s staff, and he surely was a fantastic bullpen coach.  He expected nothing but the best from pitchers and catchers; he made our staff great, and he will be sorely missed.  Levangie has big shoes to fill, but seems like the logical choice.

Congratulations to the Red Sox and the Jimmy Fund, who celebrate sixty years of partnership this season.  This will be the inauguration of a suite available all season long for Jimmy Fund patients and their families.  A Jimmy Fund Chorus will also perform at the park.  This is one of those occasions when you feel really proud to support this organization.

Okay.  There’s something else that needs to be said, and I’m only going to say it once and then be done with it, because it’s that excruciating.  Kevin Youkilis is now a Yankee.  Like his predecessor, Johnny Damon, he has enlisted in the Evil Empire.  He has committed himself to the aiding and abetting of New York’s success.  Baseball is a complicated business these days; it’s a rare and happy find to discover a player whose sentimental connection with a particular team is strong.  In Boston, we’ve had a long tradition of such sentimental connections, and we still expect that from our players; we give them everything we’ve got, and we like to see the same in return.  So when one of our own, a homegrown farm boy no less, goes to the dark side, it’s extremely difficult to accept.  It was difficult to accept Damon doing it, and it’s no less difficult now.  We salute Youk and everything he has done for this team and this city.  He was a potent combination of hitting and fielding, volatility and versatility.  He had his good moments, and he had his bad moments, but he has left a legacy here of a stellar player.  I already made the tribute when he left, and we all know how awesome he was.  All I’m saying now is that it hurts.  It hurts, and it’s devastating, and we have to go through that pain all over again of seeing one of our own turn away from us.  That’s all I’m saying.

In other news, the Ravens won the Super Bowl, 34-31.  What a game.  It looked like the 49ers didn’t have a chance for most of it, and then it looked like the Ravens would be hard-pressed to keep them down after the power went out.  But alas, they pulled through.  At least now we get to say that it took a Super Bowl champion to defeat us this year.  The Bruins, for their part, have been doing quite well.  Since the shortened season’s first game, the Bruins have beaten the Jets by a score of 2-1, the Isles by a score of 4-2, the Canes by a score of 5-3, the Devils by a score of 2-1, the Leafs by a score of one-zip, and the Habs by a narrow yet satisfying score of 2-1.  We lost to the Rangers, 4-3, in sudden death and to the Sabres by the brutal score of 7-4.

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Anticipation

According to Ben, we’re out of the running for Roy Oswalt and we’re unlikely to make big splashes before the start of Spring Training.  I don’t really know what to make of that.

According to Beckett, what happens in the clubhouse should stay in the clubhouse, and the 2004 team did worse things.  I’m not sure that that’s really much of an excuse, but honestly I’m sick and tired of hearing about this same situation.  The whole thing is ridiculous.  The people who were actually there are the people who are denying that it was a big deal.  There’s no way to know what really went on, since we weren’t inside the clubhouse.  All I’m saying is I think it’s time to just move on already to bigger and better things.

In other news, the B’s beat the Sens but lost to the Canes and Penguins.  And, of course, the big day has finally arrived! Happy Super Bowl Sunday! As I said, I’m real hungry.  That trophy needs to come back to Boston.  Let’s bring it home tonight.  It may be a close game, and we will have to keep our heads down and play hard, but we got this.  Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but man, is it sweet.  Let’s do this.

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Nothing Doing

Well, it was a quiet week.  A quiet, quiet week.

As it turns out, my tribute to Tek may have been written too soon.  Apparently we’re talking to him to see if he wants to come to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, which obviously conflicts directly with his previously stated desire to keep playing legitimately.  Bobby V. hasn’t even spoken to him yet since he’s not on the roster, so I don’t really know.

We signed Sweeney to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal for next season worth $1.75 million.

Randy Niemann is our new assistant pitching coach.  I feel like we shouldn’t be trying to bring people from the Mets to Boston.  It’s not like we need even more dysfunction than we have already.

Theo made an appearance on WEEI’s The Dennis and Callahan Show on Thursday during which he officially confirmed that John Henry opposed the Crawford deal and that Lackey’s elbow wasn’t right at the time of his signing.  He thinks that, when Lackey returns from surgery, he’ll be right as rain.

In other news, the Pats crushed the Broncos, 45-10.  Is anyone surprised? Nobody should be surprised.  The B’s beat the Jets and Habs this week but lost to the Canes.

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