Laser

What a game! I guess that, when we lose, we really like to take revenge afterwards.  As frustrating and unproductive as we were on Saturday, everybody really pulled out all the stops on Sunday.  If this team hadn’t set the stage by playing so well on the whole up to this point, I would have said that our performance last night was completely unbelievable.  Such a performance could never have happened last season.  It was so excellently awesome to watch it.  I mean, it’s nice to be dominant in every conceivable way.

Let’s start with Lester, whose performance was obviously an enormous highlight.  When I said after his last start that I wanted him to pitch longer and more efficiently and that I was sure that he’d get there eventually, I don’t think I meant that he’d get there in his very next start.  But he did, and with flying colors.  He pitched a full seven shutout innings.  He didn’t give up any walks, so if it weren’t for the five he allowed and the fact that he didn’t go the distance, he would have had a perfect game.  Minus the hits, he would at least have had seven perfect innings.  Whatever.  The bottom line is that Jon Lester was a shining example of everything that every Major League starting pitcher should ever hope to be.

Lester threw one hundred pitches exactly, sixty-seven of which were strikes.  And he had six strikeouts to his credit, which is almost one per inning on average.  His cut fastball was moving and dancing in just the right way.  There’s something really beautiful about a pitcher having complete and total control over the ball such that the ball does exactly what he wants it to every time.  And his cut fastball was on.  And he threw in some curveballs, changeups, and sinkers for variety that were potent in their own right as well.

He threw as few as eight pitches, in the first, and as many as twenty pitches, in the fifth.  His inning pitch counts were everything in between during the other frames.  He was efficient, cold, and calculating, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen his release point tighter or more consistent.

His first inning was one-two-three and featured his first strikeout, a quick, three-pitch affair ending with a swing through a curveball.  He gave up two singles in the second but bookended the inning with strikeouts, both swinging, the first three pitches ending with a cut fastball and the second four pitches ending with a cut fastball.  He gave up another single in the third, which he opened with a five-pitch called strike that ended with a cut fastball, or a cutter, depending on which way you look at it.  He racked up another three-pitch strikeout in the fourth that ended with a swing through a fastball before hitting a batter.  He gave up another single in the fifth, had a one-two-three sixth, and opened the seventh with his last strikeout, four pitches that ended with a swing through a sinker.  He gave up his last hit that inning as well.

As well as he pitched, only two of his seven innings were one-two-three.  But he never faced more than five batters.  And his other outs were the standard collection of groundouts, flyouts, lineouts, and such.  Don’t look now, but Lester’s ERA is 1.50.  That’s based on a small sample size, but we can still enjoy it.

Mortensen came in for the eighth and ninth and took some pages out of Lester’s book.  He gave up two hits and no walks, preserving the shutout.  That means that the Jays were held to seven hits but achieved nothing else all game long.  All seven were singles.  They left eight on base and had only two opportunities with runners in scoring position, of which they obviously did not take advantage.

Fortunately, the same can not even remotely be said for us.  When Ellsbury hit the second pitch of the game for a double, I knew that we were in for quite a pleasant ride.  Victorino followed that with a single, and then we undertook three straight scoring plays.  First, Pedroia brought Ellsbury home with a single.  Then, Napoli doubled in both Pedroia and Victorino.  Lastly, Middlebrooks laid on his first pitch of the game, a fastball slow at eighty-four miles per hour, for a home run to the opposite field in right.  It was his second jack in as many games and was by no means about to be his last.

Iglesias led off the second with a single, but we didn’t score that inning.  Napoli led off the third with a strikeout, but then Middlebrooks doubled, moved to third on a passed ball, and scored on a sac fly by Nava.  It was a textbook example of manufacturing a run while capitalizing on the opposition’s mistakes.  The fourth also began modestly with a groundout by Bradley.  Then Iglesias doubled and scored on a single by Ellsbury.

Middlebrooks led off the fifth and worked the count full; he took three straight pitches for balls and then encountered two fastballs that were almost identical: both were four-seams, and both traveled at eighty-two miles per hour.  He took the first one for a strike and swung through the second.  But he didn’t miss the third.  It was a little bit faster than the previous two, but he had its number the whole time and smashed it to left center for his second home run of the game.

Pedroia singled in the sixth, but we didn’t score.  But Middlebrooks issued a repeat performance to lead off the seventh inning. It was one of those moments where it takes you a second or two to realize that you aren’t watching a replay and that it’s actually happening.  Middlebrooks took his first three pitches for balls and an eighty-six mile-per-hour two seam for a strike.  Then, he got an eighty-six mile-per-hour four-seam that he just decimated and sent yet again to left center field.

Three home runs.  One game.  Will Middlebrooks, ladies and gentlemen!

And then there was occasion to do yet another double take, because Nava made it back-to-back jacks with a solo shot of his own on a two-seam clocked at eighty.  It was his second pitch of the at-bat, and it also ended up in left center field.

And then there was Ellsbury’s at-bat leading off the eighth.  The only reason why a third double take was hard to do was because Ellsbury was fighting hard in that at-bat.  It lasted for a grand total of nine pitches.  We’ve seen our hitters battle through longer ones, but his patience and eye were both still admirable.  He took a curve for a strike, fouled off a cutter, took a curve for a ball, fouled off a fastball and curveball and cutter, took two fastballs for balls, and finally, on the ninth pitch with a full count, he uncorked a massive swing on a fastball that put the ball beyond the right field fence for his first home run of the year!

And then Carp lined out, Pedroia walked on five pitches, and Napoli hit a textbook home run.  It was one of those classic Napoli ones that looks like it’s no big deal.  It was the third pitch of the at-bat, a fastball that he sent out to center.  I saw it with my own eyes, and I could not believe that it had actually happened.  I actually thought the eighth inning would see yet another homer; Middlebrooks’s at-bat resulted in a flyout because the ball was hauled in right in front of the wall, but off the bat it certainly looked like it had enough to make it out.

We probably used up everything we had at that point, because Bradley, Iglesias, and Ellsbury all went down in order in the ninth on a grand total of thirteen pitches.  All three struck out swinging.

All told, we had ourselves fifteen hits, six of which were jacks.  Bradley and Salty were the only starters who failed to get hits; Bradley walked, so Salty was the only starter who failed to get himself on base.  Iglesias and Napoli both went two for five, Pedroia went two for four, Ellsbury went three for six, and Middlebrooks, the offensive man of the hour, went four for five with four runs and four RBIs.  All four of his hits were for extra bases.  There were the three home runs of course, a baseball version of a hat trick if I’ve ever seen one, and a double.  It was his second multi-homer game and the first three-homer game of his career.  He’s our youngest to do it since Jim Rice did it in 1977 and the team’s first since Dustin Pedroia did it in 2010.  Ellsbury and Victorino both had stolen bases to their credit.  We left six on base and went five for seven with runners in scoring position.

And the best part of all: we won, thirteen-zip!

Be happy; we’re playing our home opener today! Baltimore is coming to town.  This should be fun.

AP Photo

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A Sign of the Times

Wow! We won again! Against a different team! It’s good to be psyched about winning and playing well, but at the same time I guess it’s also kind of sad.  Being as excited as I am about winning suggests that I haven’t really been exposed to it that often.  Which, accounting for last season, is true.  So that’s the sad part.  Here’s to winning becoming so common this year that it’s no big deal and gets pretty boring.

Doubront made his 2013 debut in Toronto.  He pitched five innings and gave up three runs on nine hits while walking none and striking out six.  He threw a grand total of ninety pitches.  So somehow he managed to work around all those hits he allowed and keep the damage at a minimum.  That’s even more impressive when you consider the fact that five of the nine hits he gave up were for extra bases: four doubles and one solo shot to lead off the fifth.

His four-seam and changeup were immensely successful.  His changeup was especially potent, thrown for a strike three-quarters of the time.  His two-seam was excellent, his curveball was decent, and he only threw maybe a handful of cutters, if that, but his cutter was on as well.  He threw at most twenty-one pitches in the fifth and at least thirteen in the fourth.  He threw eight in the sixth before he was lifted; it took him those eight pitches to allow a double to lead off the inning before Uehara came in.

Uehara finished the sixth without incident.  Tazawa pitched the seventh and gave up a solo shot of his own.  Bailey and Hanrahan delivered two scoreless innings to end the game.  So Doubront delivered a quality start but was awarded no decision, Tazawa received both a blown save and a win, and Hanrahan picked up the save.

The game was close.  The performances of our pitchers, were decent but not exactly impressive, so the game was allowed to go back and forth, and for a while it looked like it could end either way.  Actually, heading into the eighth, we were tied at four, so it really could have ended either way.

Two consecutive singles and a hit batsman in the second loaded the bases with one out, but we only squeezed one run out of that golden opportunity thanks to a single by Ellsbury; Nava grounded into a double play after that.  We went down in order in the third and broke what at the time was a one-one tie in the fourth, when two consecutive Toronto errors but two men on base.  Ciriaco came in to pinch-hit for Iglesias and singled in our second run of the game.

Pedroia led off the fifth with a single, setting the stage for Napoli.  The first pitch of the at-bat was a slider in the dirt.  Napoli then swung through a four-seam for a strike before practically lighting a ninety-three mile-per-hour two-seam on fire.  The ball ended up decisively beyond the right field fence for a home run, his and the team’s first of the regular season! He swung through that beautifully, like he’d been used to hitting home runs on a daily basis.  It was a beautiful and, needless to say, hopeful sight to see.  We hope it’s the first of many, of course.

We had men on base during the two following innings but didn’t score.  Finally, in the eighth, we scored the winning run that would put us on top for good.  Ellsbury struck out, the Jays made a pitching change, and Gomes walked on five pitches.  It was an eerie at-bat.  All five pitches were almost the exact same speed, and all five were fastballs. Gomes took the first one for a strike, and the last four were all balls.  And then Pedroia doubled and Napoli grounded out, which brought Gomes to the plate.  So the great thing about Napoli was that he basically did it all.  He brought the power, and he humbly plated a crucial run while getting out in the process.

I guess Middlebrooks got bored because he decided to hit a solo shot to lead off the ninth.  That was our insurance run and the reason why the final score ended up being 6-4.  He took a curveball for a ball before promptly depositing a big, fat fastball in left.  And we all know that Middlebrooks has his fair share of power as well.  There is something so neat about watching a small, scrawny guy take the skin off the ball, but there’s also something really gratifying about watching somebody huge pull out all the stops with his swing.  It’s like knowing that that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.

Unfortunately, there was a downside.  I am very, very disappointed that we went two for nineteen with runners in scoring position.  Winning should not disguise that fact.  It is something that should be addressed so that it doesn’t happen again, because we can’t always count on opposing pitchers to make key mistakes that we exploit.  And there will be times when we can’t even count on ourselves to exploit those mistakes.  We haven’t even played five games yet this year, so I’m not going to start worrying now.  But I’m just saying that I would rather not see it happen again.

Reuters Photo

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Opening Day

I can’t even believe that this day has finally arrived.  Out of the interminable slog that was all of last year, out of the rounds and rounds of speculation that was this offseason, we have finally emerged to welcome baseball back to Boston with open arms! I don’t know about you, but I really feel like I’ve earned this one.  It’s been rough, man.  With the way last season went, I felt like it was winter before the season was even over.  It was a long and cold one.  We’ve done without for way too long.  And then, suddenly, April arrived, and we enjoyed the glorious first opportunity of kicking back, relaxing, and taking in three hours and thirty-seven minutes of pure, unadulterated glory.  Man, it’s good to be back.

Where do I even start? I don’t even know.  It was all so divinely inspired.  I can’t even talk about it.

Lester.  I’ll start with Lester.  Wow.  What can I even say? Pretty much the whole staff got it together at camp, and Lester most definitely did not disappoint.  His start lasted only five innings, but this is so epically not the time to be picky.  Five solid innings on the first day of the season is fine as far as I’m concerned; he’ll pick it up as time goes on.  Besides, those five innings were pretty impressive.  Two runs, five hits.  Two walks.  Seven strikeouts.

There was a four-pitch strikeout of his first batter of the season on four pitches, ending with what was technically a cutter, but at ninety miles per hour with his movement, whether it was a cutter or cut fastball is a question that will probably not be answered anytime soon.  Then there was the seven-pitch strikeout that ended with a cutter, and the six-pitch strikeout that ended the second with a cutter, and the seven-pitch called strike in the third that ended with a cutter.  Lester had himself another seven-pitch strikeout in the fourth, this one ending with a fastball, but like I said, whether it’s really a fastball or a cut fastball is hard to answer.  And irrelevant, since a strike is a strike.  Lester bookended his fifth with strikeouts, the first five pitches ending with a changeup and the second his only one comprising three pitches: a sinker clocked at ninety-one miles per hour, a changeup at eighty-four, and a fastball at ninety-three, which wasn’t even his fastest of the day; he got up to ninety-four.

Ninety-six pitches, about sixty-six percent of which were strikes.  He was on with the cut fastball.  The overwhelming majority of his pitches were cut fastballs, as we’d expect.  And he put that fabulous Lester-esque bite on them, too.  They were moving exactly the way he wanted them to.  And he mixed in some nasty sinkers, changes, and curves in there as well.  He stood up there and he was a master.  I almost felt bad for the hitters until I remembered that we were squaring off against the Evil Empire.  And then I felt better.

Anyway, Lester threw seventeen pitches each in the first two innings, sixteen in the third, and twelve in the fifth.  The fourth was the big one; Lester threw thirty-four pitches.  He loaded the bases that inning and couldn’t completely escape without allowing a two-run single.  Other than that, Lester was solid gold.

Farrell then rolled out five relievers.  Uehara, Miller, Bailey, Tazawa, and Hanrahan combined to shut out the Yanks for the rest of the game.  All told, the Yanks were limited to six hits.

Alright, here we go.  Offense.  Let’s get down to it, because our hitters were as hot as our pitchers.  The starters stayed in for the whole nine, and they were great.  Great patience and eyes all around.  Great baserunning, too.  Ellsbury led off, followed by Victorino, Pedroia, Napoli in cleanup, Middlebrooks, Salty, Gomes, Bradley, and Iglesias.  Look for Farrell to change the lineup around pretty frequently, but this one worked out just fine.  Iglesias went three for five, Ellsbury went three for six, Gomes went two for four, and Pedroia and Victorino both went two for six.  Salty doubled, and Ellsbury tripled, and that was it for extra-base hits.  This was Bradley’s debut in the big show, and he certainly made the most of it.  Of our four total walks, Bradley accounted for three, not to mention his obvious speed on the basepaths as well as his run-saving, inning-ending, outstanding haul in left in the third.

Pedroia singled in the first, but we didn’t score.  Our big inning was the second.  Middlebrooks grounded out, and then Salty walked in five pitches, Gomes singled, and Bradley walked to load the bases.  Then Iglesias singled on the first pitch of his at-bat, bringing home one and reloading the bases.  Then Ellsbury grounded into a force out, causing Gomes to be out at home.  But then Victorino and Pedroia hit back-to-back singles, bringing in three before Napoli flied out to end it.

We went down in order in the third and put two on but didn’t deliver in the fourth.  A double and two walks, one intentional, loaded the bases again with two out in the fifth, but we didn’t deliver on that either.  Ellsbury tripled to lead off the sixth, but still nothing.  Then, in the seventh, Middlebrooks and Salty fought hard for back-to-back walks on eight pitches each.  Middlebrooks moved to third on a flyout by Gomes and scored on a groundout by Bradley.  We went down in order again in the eighth but closed it out with a bang in the ninth.  Middlebrooks was called out on strikes before Salty walked, Gomes singled, and Bradley walked to load the bases.  Iglesias struck out and then Ellsbury and Victorino singled back-to-back to bring in three.  Gomes accounted for the second of those runs, rocketing home all the way from second base.  The dugout and everyone else went appropriately insane.

And that, my friends, is the story of how we cleaned the field with the Yanks, 8-2, on their soil.  To me, this is much bigger than just winning the first game of the season.  We’ve had just abysmal starts out of the gate for the last two seasons.  This game means a lot to the team, and it means a lot to us.  We’re a new team now, and it shows.  There’s nothing like a more-than-auspicious start to the year to provide a good feeling about what’s to come.  Let’s get it!

I’ll say one last thing.  Seeing Kevin Youkilis in an enemy uniform was downright bizarre and torturous.  It’s a shame.  It’s a real shame.  And I guess that’s that.

In other news, the B’s lost to and beat the Leafs and lost to the Habs in a shootout; it was painful, but at least we get a point out of it.  We beat the Sens, lost to the Leafs, and beat the Sabres.

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Indicators

It’s the middle of March.  The roster is thinning down, and the team’s performance is moving up.  As Opening Day nears, the pitchers especially are the players to watch.  Wins and losses means nothing in Spring Training, when regulars routinely don’t complete games, but a game is a game, and you can watch a pitcher’s motion and see how comfortable he is with certain pitches and certain situations.  Also pay attention to defense and injury in the field.  These things won’t necessarily predict our performance this year, but at least we’ll be able to tell how ready this year’s team is to face the music when the season starts.  Honestly, I have to say, it looks pretty good.

Nava is surely going to win a spot on the bench now that he’s proven himself at first, where he’s seen playing time this spring.  Drew has been out with a concussion that he sustained after getting hit by a pitch.  Papi started running the bases a bit but, due to soreness in his right foot derived from his Achilles injury, he’s had to take it easy as well.  While he’s sat out, Farrell’s been rotating the DH spot.  Unfortunately, he may very well start the season on the disabled list.  So will Breslow, due to problems with his left shoulder, and Morales, due to problems with his lower back.  Napoli actually saw action in consecutive days and managed to survive, which was a very good sign.  Aceves returned to camp after Team Mexico was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic.  Fortunately, he wasn’t injured in the significant brawl that broke out between Team Mexico and Team Canada when the former got upset because the latter bunted with the game practically won already.  Team Mexico didn’t know about the Classic’s tiebreakers, which use run differential, and thought it was bad form.  So several Canadian players ganged up on Aceves and dragged him to the ground.  Like I said, we’re pretty lucky he wasn’t injured.  Victorino will also be heading back to camp now that Team USA is out.  Steven Wright, the knuckleballer who may not be, since he’s having some trouble getting a handle on the pitch, got cut along with Deven Marrero, Drake Britton, Justin Henry, Alex Hassan, Mark Hamilton, Jeremy Hazelbaker, Juan Carlos Linares, Pedro Beato, Rubby De La Rosa, Allen Webster, Christian Velazquez, Daniel Butler, and Alex Wilson.  Ryan Westmoreland, once considered one of our best farmboys, is retiring.  We traded cash to Baltimore for Mike Flacco, who plays first base.  Yes, he’s the brother of Joe Flacco.  Yaz made his annual visit to camp, making the rounds with current Sox and former teammates.

Now let’s talk action.  We beat the Rays on March 4, 5-1.  Doubront made his debut and tossed 1.2 shutout innings including a hit, two walks, and two K’s.  Carpenter also tossed a shutout frame to end the game.  Iglesias went two for two with two doubles; Salty also had a double to his credit, and Overbay tripled.  We were back in action Wednesday opposite the Pirates, who beat us, 9-3.  On the bright side, Lester looked especially sharp; he hurled four comforting and relief-inspiring innings, during which he allowed one hit on two runs while walking three and striking out three.  I wasn’t a fan of the three walks, but it’s more important that he slowly but steadily lengthens his starts without also augmenting his run total.  Wright took the loss and gave up five runs on five hits; Tazawa pitched a shutout inning to end it.  Ciriaco went two for four, and Gomes and Salty both doubled.  We beat the Twins on Thursday, 12-5.  For the first three innings, it was all Buchholz, who dominated with a shutout performance and issued two hits, no walks, and four K’s.  Hanrahan delivered a deflating fail of a third of an inning, during which he gave up four runs on four hits, but Bard pitched a shutout inning.  Meanwhile, Pedroia and Napoli each collected two hits; Pedroia doubled and Napoli smacked a home run that seemed like he could really get used to the power again.  The Twins bested us the next day, though, with a shutout performance.  Dempster took the loss and gave up the game’s only two runs.  We lost to the O’s on Saturday, 5-2.  Doubront gave up two runs on four hits over three innings with a walk and five strikeouts; Hanrahan and Bailey both delivered shutout frames.  Salty had himself two hits, and Overbay doubled.

We beat the Rays on Sunday, 6-2.  Lackey worked three and two-thirds inning and gave up two runs on four hits, one of them a homer, while walking two and striking out two.  It doesn’t seem like much, but that start was better than most of the ones we’ve seen from him in recent memory; granted, it doesn’t take much from him at this point to constitute a good sign, but you have to start rebuilding somewhere.  Overbay went two for three, and Ross had himself a three-run jack.  The Marlins beat us on Monday, 8-7; Lester delivered five beautiful innings, giving up one run on three hits while walking none and striking out four.  Carpenter took the blown save and the loss, giving up two runs on two hits en route to recording the game’s last two outs.  Salty doubled, and Middlebrooks homered for the first time since getting injured! He looked mighty comfortable doing it, too.  Like he could do it again.  Repeatedly.  We beat the Jays on Tuesday, 5-3.  Buchholz kept up his strong performance with four shutout innings during which he issued one K and gave up three hits.  Bailey turned in a shutout inning of his own.  Nava, Napoli, and Sweeney each had two hits; Napoli, Sweeney, and Middlebrooks each hit doubles.

We had Wednesday off and bested the Twins on Thursday, 7-3.  Dempster picked up the win with four innings of one-run, three-hit ball; Bard pitched a shutout inning.  Ellsbury went two for three with a double; Iglesias smacked a double as well.  Friday’s game against Baltimore ended in a tie at three after ten; Mortensen started and tossed three shutout innings of two-hit ball, and no one had a multihit game.  We crushed Tampa Bay on Saturday, 9-2.  Aceves pitched four and one-third innings during which he gave up three runs, two earned, on six hits with one walk and five K’s.  Iglesias and Gomez both had two hits; Iglesias tripled, and Gomez doubled.  We beat Tampa Bay again yesterday, 5-1, on the shoulders of a literally perfect performance by Lester.  Six innings.  No runs.  No hits.  No walks.  Six K’s, or an average of one per inning.  Even Hanrahan got in the spirit and delivered a shutout inning.  It was only Spring Training, but it was a glorious indication of things to come.  Expect him to start on Opening Day for sure.  Middlebrooks went two for three, and Gomes was perfect at the plate; both doubled.

In other news, the Bruins lost to the Caps in sudden death but then beat the Leafs, Flyers, and Sens.  We lost to the Penguins and then beat the Panthers and Caps before losing to the Penguins again.

Boston Herald Staff/Christopher Evans

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So Far

Now that Spring Training is thoroughly underway, it’s high time for a status report.

Pitchers and catchers had physicals on February 11 and their first official team workout the following day.  Naturally, Buchholz just had to strain his right hamstring about ten minutes into the first pitchers’ fielding practice of the spring, but it turned out to be minor and he was back out there that Wednesday and had proceeded to long toss by that Friday and a forty-five-pitch side session that Monday.  Lackey lost a whopping seventeen pounds and is looking lean.  Don’t expect to see fireworks right away from Breslow or Doubront, who have been assigned to a more cautious training program.  Tim Wakefield was back at camp basically tutoring Steven Wright, the knuckleball’s next generation, and as we knew they would be, Pedro Martinez and Tek are also using their veteran skill to help out.  Mike Lowell is another surprise veteran guest.  And for some bizarre reason, when Aceves started throwing live batting practice, he insisted on lobbing the ball; I don’t really know what that was about.  Needless to say, he cleaned up his act.  Nieves and Farrell didn’t seem to know what was going on either, but Farrell sure was annoyed; as were we all.

The rest of the team reported on February 14.  Look for Victorino and Ellsbury to get a lot of practice in this spring.  Fenway’s right field is probably the most formidable in all of baseball, so it’ll be good for the two of them to nail down a routine.  Also look for Farrell to exercise considerable caution with Napoli, who started defensive drills at first on February 17; his hip MRI had come back clean, so he was given the green light.  Papi is not baserunning or conditioning with the team; he’s on his own specific running program that will slowly but steadily increase in intensity.  Middlebrooks’s broken wrist is officially history, as is Drew’s fractured ankle.  We acquired Mike Carp from Seattle for either a player to be named later or cash considerations.

We played our first exhibition on January 21; it was a double-header, first against Northeastern and then against Boston College, and we won, 3-0 and 11-1.  Only the relievers pitched; each got one inning, and Hanrahan debuted, successfully getting around two baserunners.  The regulars batted in the first game, while the minor leaguers got a turn in the second.

Grapefruit League play officially began on Saturday against the Rays.  We lost by one, and Lackey pitched only one inning, giving up a walk, a hit, a strikeout, and a run, but he looked pretty comfortable.  We played the Cards next, winning by two; Lester pitched two solid innings, Nava and Gomez both had multi-hit games, and Ciriaco batted in two runs.  Then we had a double-header with the Rays and Jays, splitting the day.  Aceves gave up two runs, two hits, and two walks over two innings, but Bard issued a walk and a strikeout in his scoreless inning, and Pedroia hit a solo shot.  The staff issued a solid performance in the afternoon, with a good amount of the offensive support not coming from the regulars.  Our following game against the Cards ended in the worst way: with a 15-4 loss.  Dempster pitched two solid innings, but the same can not be said of the remainder of the staff; Mortensen took the loss.  Ciriaco went two for two, and Iglesias hit a double.  We lost to Baltimore by two after that; Morales pitched his inning well, Hanrahan struck out two but walked one and allowed a run, and Tazawa was awarded a blown save as well as the loss.  Gomes hit a solo shot, and Ciriaco had himself another two hits, including a triple.  Middlebrooks had to leave the game with soreness in his wrist, but it turned out to be nothing, and he feels fine and returned.  Thank goodness, because I don’t know what we’d do if he were down for the count.  We’re not exactly deep at the corner there.  For his part, Gomes got personal with a wall and had to get stitches in his left knee as a result; this game really was not good to us.

On Thursday against the Bucs, Lackey upped the ante with two innings of work.  He gave up three runs with a walk, a strikeout, and a homer, but it seems like the more he goes out there, the more comfortable he seems.  And there’s no question about the fact that he’s throwing the ball well.  It was a 16-6 win, so the offense was also a highlight; the regulars were pretty quiet, and there were no extra-base hits, but we made a strong showing nonetheless.  It’s nice to know that the next generation can play some strong small ball.  Lester took a turn on Friday, pitching three innings of one-hit ball against the Orioles.  Pedroia went two for two and Drew hit a double en route to the win.  We eked out a victory against the Twins next; during 1.1 innings, Buchholz walked two, struck out two, and gave up one hit.  Aceves was awarded both a blown save and a win, and Sweeney went two for four.

Last but not least, we played the Evil Empire yesterday, losing, 5-2.  But hey, it’s Spring Training; the final score is never as important as the baseball being played.  Dempster pitched three one-hit innings with two strikeouts; Hanrahan blew his save and took the loss.  No one had a multi-hit game, but Salty doubled and Napoli hit a solo shot, which was quite the sight to see.  He cleared the sign in right center field 420 feet away.  It was huge.  I saw that, and it was so nice to really observe the reason why he’s here.

Bard will throw twenty or so pitches in a simulated game on Monday.  Papi has been running the bases a little bit but has felt sore.  Finally, Lucchino thinks our sellout streak will end soon; he cites April 10 as a possible end date.  I know there’s always a debate surrounding what the sellout streak has meant and whether it really means anything at all, but for a franchise like this with a fan base like ours, such a streak really shouldn’t be ending anytime soon.  That’s all I have to say about it.  And I’ll end with the beginning: Farrell’s opening address on February 15.  This was basically his opportunity to introduce himself and his philosophy to the team.  Even though many on the team know him and are familiar with the way he works, the gesture shows humility, collaboration, and the kind of professionalism that he urged members of the team to adopt.  The great thing is that, in many ways, Farrell is a product and holdover from the Francona era, but he’s still a fresh perspective, much-needed indeed after the debacle that was last season.  Farrell was compelling and inspiring.  He’s the man we should have had at the helm all along.  It just feels right, and it’s going to be a good year.

In other news, the Bruins beat the Jets, Bolts, Panthers, Isles, Sens, and Bolts again! Sadly, our winning streak came to an end with a 4-3 loss to the Habs.

AP Photo

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