Power Up

Confidence is the key.  Feeling confident and channeling that confidence into finding a groove is how to get out of a slump.  We’re not necessarily out of the woods yet, but we’re taking positive steps to get there.  We’ve had some nailbiter wins recently; it’s nice to to back to coming out on top and then staying on top.  It felt easy and effortless last night, like we started the season that way and never stopped.  Here’s to keeping that going.

Ellsbury singled on the game’s third; one out later, Pedroia walked, and Papi worked the count 2-2 thanks to two balls and two fouls.  He got a curveball he could hit, and he hit it.  He sent the ball beyond the fence in right center field for a three-run shot, just like that.

We went down in order in the second; Middlebrooks singled, but it didn’t matter thanks to Lavarnway’s double play.  Gomes walked in the third and scored on a single by Papi.  Middlebrooks’s walk was our only damage in the fourth.

Dempster gave up five runs on eight hits while walking six and striking out two over the course of four and two-thirds innings.  So, on average, he gave up more than one walk, one hit, and one run every inning.  That is not what I call a good start.

He issued two consecutive walks to lead off the second; both runners advanced on a groundout, and a force out was successfully converted at home.  But he gave up a single that scored his first run right after that.  He was able to pitch himself out of a bases-loaded situation in the third.  He gave up another run thanks to a double-single combination.

He ran into real trouble in the fifth.  He gave up a double that turned into a run two groundouts later.  He issued a walk that turned into a double thanks to a steal, and the runner scored on a single.  That first base-steal-single-run sequence then repeated itself.  And that was when Mortensen came in, gave up a single, and ended the inning.

Dempster was lucky that we scored three runs of our own in the top of the frame.  Gomes and Pedroia hit back-to-back doubles, scoring one run.  Papi grounded out, which moved Pedroia to third, and Napoli’s walk put runners at the corners.  Nava’s sac fly brought Pedroia home, Middlebrooks’s single moved Napoli to second, and he scored on a single by Lavarnway, who was thrown out at third.

So each team had scored three runs in the fifth inning alone.  Even if we hadn’t scored again for the rest of the game, and provided that the Twins didn’t either, we would have won.  Each team had scored in two other innings before the fifth; the Twins had scored two prior runs, but we had scored four, so we were already on top.  It stayed that way in the sixth; neither team scored, thanks in the bottom of the inning to the combined efforts of Mortensen and Breslow.

We blew the game wide open in the seventh.  Pedroia walked to lead it off, and after working the count 2-1, Papi had himself a multi-homer game! He hit the ball again beyond the fence in right center field, again with at least one man on base.  It was a fine piece of hitting.  And it was made even better when Nava went back-to-back.  The Twins made a pitching change that did no good; Nava hit a solo shot in the very next at-bat.  His ball also ended up beyond the fence in right center field.  I love back-to-back jacks; it’s so much fun reveling in the fact that, at first, you think it’s just a replay until you realize that we actually powered our way through.

So that was another four runs right there, and Breslow kept the lid on the Twins in the bottom of the inning.  We went down in order in the eighth, and Wilson did a fine job.  It looked like we might get yet another rally going in the ninth when Papi and Napoli worked back-to-back walks and Nava singled to load the bases with nobody out.  Middlebrooks struck out, and Papi did score on a sac fly by Lavarnway; I guess we weren’t finished quite yet.  The bottom of the inning was pretty uneventful.

So we ended up winning, 12-5.  It was a slugfest, all right, and we buried the Twins with our massive power.  Both teams had an almost equivalent number of hits and walks, but our hitters were better at taking advantage of our opportunities, and our pitchers were better at closing the deal; we’ve seen recently the effects that that can have first-hand.  That’s basically all there is to it.

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Homer Unhappy

We really are in the middle of quite the slump.  This team looks completely different from the one that had the best record in the Majors.  Our record is now 22-16; if we continue at our current rate, we’ll have to start winning just to stay at .500, and we all remember what that feels like.  We got swept by the Rangers; at least, at the time, we felt like the Rangers were a good match.  But Minnesota’s pitching staff has one of the lowest strikeout counts in the Majors, and Toronto’s pitchers are mediocre at best and their hitters swing at almost anything.  We are losing games we should not be losing.  Not that there’s ever a game that we should lose, but still.  Speaking of the Jays specifically, it would have been very nice to escape the series without allowing them to hit a slew of home runs.  Sure, we hadn’t been able to win by doing that, but at least we, for the most part, eliminated their chief mode of attack.

Dempster was not so fortunate.  He didn’t keep the ball down.  His heat is more lukewarm than anything else, so you can see why location would have been the key to a successful performance on his part.  He lasted only five innings and gave up six runs on seven hits while walking one and striking out three.  And he allowed three home runs.

It started in the second.  He gave up a single, a double, and a three-run home run with two out.  He gave up a solo shot to lead off the third, and he issued a walk and then allowed a two-run home run in the fourth.  It would have been worse had Victorino gotten hurt trying to haul the ball in for an out.  He tried to catch it right at the bullpen fence but fell flat-out; he left the game in the seventh with some stiffness.  Dempster gave up another solo shot in the fifth.  On a splitter.  If Dempster is anything, he’s a splitter pitcher, so the fact that he missed his spot with a splitter says something.  Dempster, overall, has been pitching very well, at least for him.  But, yes, all of his runs scored via the long ball, which is exactly how the Jays like it.

Miller came on for the sixth and gave up a solo shot on his third pitch.  After recording the inning’s first out, he gave up a single, issued a walk, and was replaced by Mortensen.  Mortensen gave up a successful sac fly followed by a two-run home run.  He had a one-two-three seventh, and Breslow had a one-two-three eighth, making him our only pitcher to not allow any runs in the game.  Jose De La Torre came in for the ninth and gave up a double, a walk, an RBI single, and an RBI double play.

All in all, that’s twelve runs.  By the time we got on the board in the fourth, we were already down by five.  Napoli answered the Jays’ power with his own, smashing a solo shot on the second pitch of his leadoff at-bat in the fourth.  And he hit it to one of the deepest parts of the park.  It was a nice piece of hitting; if only such a phenomenon were more common for us.

We didn’t score again until the sixth, when Pedroia singled and scored on a sac fly by Nava.  We went down in order in the seventh, and then Ciriaco hit a home run.  It was also a solo shot, and he also led off an inning.  It was the second pitch of his at-bat, also a fastball.  But he hit his beyond the Monster.  Either way, it was still also a nice piece of hitting that we also could have used more of.

Then Pedroia flied out, and Napoli singled, Nava walked, and Gomes got hit.  Just like that, the bases were loaded.  It was Salty’s turn to bat, but a force out was all he could muster; Napoli scored our last run of the game.  Napoli went three for four; the only other person to have a multi-hit game was Pedroia, who went two for five.  Napoli alone scored half of our runs.

So the Jays finally got what they wanted: a win via the long ball.  Dempster, a single pitcher, accounted for half the runs they scored, while the relief corps divided the other half among themselves.  The final score was 12-4; we scored less than half the number of runs that Toronto scored.  We left eight on base and were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position, so our dismal streak of being completely ineffective in situations when we need effectiveness most continues.  Dempster took the loss, but it was a team effort.

In other news, the Bruins got shut out by the Leafs, two-zip.  So it all comes down to tonight.

Boston Globe Staff

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Erroneous

The game lasted three hours and one minute.  When a game is short, it’s either really good and really bad.  Usually, it’s really good for one team and really bad for the other team.

Dempster gave a great start.  He was the victim of some errors, but overall he made a great start.  He pitched seven innings, which is longer than usual for him.  He gave up four runs, only two of which were earned, on five hits.  He walked only one and struck out eight.  Disregarding the unearned runs and accounting for the number of innings, the lack of walks, and the abundant strikeouts, it was one of his best starts this year.

He had a one-two-three first.  A single was his only blemish in the second.  He had a one-two-three third.  He gave up a single and issued a walk in the fourth.  The trouble started in the fifth.  He gave up a double and then balked.  He induced a popout that was more trouble than it was worth; Middlebrooks caught it in foul territory, but he collided with Ross en route.  It was so bad that the two of them had to leave the game; Ross had an injured leg, and Middlebrooks had an injured side.  It was truly, truly painful to watch too.  But what a catch.  Seriously, what a catch.  And Dempster allowed a single that Drew deflected and that scored a run.

He had a one-two-three sixth, and he gave up a solo shot in the seventh.  It was reviewed but ended up standing.  But it was close.  Really, really close.

Dempster had two baserunners reach in the eighth on errors.  Both were fielding errors by Ciriaco.  That was when Dempster was replaced by Breslow, who gave up a double, a walk, and two singles.  The latter two singles were both responsible for loading the bases.  Four runs scored on Breslow’s watch; the first two were attributed to Dempster because they were scored by inherited runners, and those were the ones that were unearned, although one of Wilson’s own runs was also unearned.  Wilson replaced Breslow and induced a force out; the runner was out at home, but that didn’t stop another runner from scoring.  Salty tried to make it a double play by firing to first, but supposedly the ball hit the runner.  John came out to argue; he wasn’t ejected, but his argument wasn’t accepted.  Wilson ended the inning shortly thereafter.  Other than a walk issued in the ninth, Wilson was right on.

Meanwhile, our hitters were doing absolutely nothing.  It was like all their strength was sapped by the walkoff win, and they had nothing left.  We mustered a grand total of four hits all night.  Ellsbury singled to lead off the first, Papi singled to lead off the second, Drew singled to lead off the third, and Salty homered beyond the Monster.  Ellsbury and Pedroia both walked in the ninth.  So all of that means a few things.  First of all, without those four hits, we would have been no-hit.  Secondly, without Salty’s homer, we would have been shut out.  Thirdly, because Ellsbury walked after Salty’s home run and because Pedroia walked after Ellsbury was thrown out in a double play, at no point during the entire game did we have a single baserunner in scoring position.

Lastly, it means that we lost, 6-1.

Boston Globe Staff/Matthew J. Lee

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Milestones And Breakouts

Quite literally, it was an evening of milestones and breakout performances.  It’s funny how there are players on our roster who we don’t really get to know as well as some others until that one big game when we remember how much of an asset they are.  I would say that David Ross is such a player.  We acquired him due to his awesome skills as a backup catcher.  But offense-wise, there were probably many people who, around Spring Training, were thinking of him as just the other Ross.  I’m pretty sure that that will no longer be a problem.

We scored in each of the first five innings.  Ellsbury hit a deflected single to open the first and scored on a double by Pedroia.  With two out in the second, Ross went way deep.  Like, beyond the Monster deep.  Get-a-ninety-two-mile-per-hour-two-seam-and-crush-it deep.  Put-us-on-top-by-two deep.

Pedroia doubled off the Monster and scored on a double by Napoli in the third.  And then the fourth happened, and it was awesome.  Middlebrooks and Ross smacked back-to-back jacks.  Middlebrooks’s at-bat was a real battle.  He took his first three pitches for balls, took the fourth for a strike, and then fouled off the others until he got one he liked.  A lot.  It was a changeup, and it found its way beyond the Monster in no time.  And then Ross took two balls and gave a repeat performance.  It was epic.  You see something like that, and you do a complete double-take.  Actually, in this particular instance, you do two double-takes.  First you think you might be seeing a replay of Middlebrooks’s home run.  Then you realize it’s Ross at the bat, so you think you might be seeing a replay of Ross’s earlier home run.  And by the time he’s taking his own sweet time to round first, you realize that it’s the real deal and you just scored two runs on two swings.

Pedroia grounded out to start off the fifth.  And then Papi wanted in.  On a 2-2 count, he got a four-seam clocked at ninety-four that was basically a straight shot to the plate.  Big mistake.  Yet again, he let the ball find the deepest part of the park.  It was his second homer in as many days.  This one just barely got out, but out is out.  And even though we didn’t score in the sixth, it’s of course worth mentioning that Ellsbury stole his two hundredth base.  That total puts him in heady Sox company; he’s the third since Harry Hooper and Tris Speaker did it, and he’s leading the Majors with eleven so far.

And just in case we needed a little extra, we added some insurance in the eighth.  Middlebrooks, Ross, and Ciriaco hit back-to-back-to-back singles to load the bases with nobody out.  Unfortunately, Ellsbury lined into a double play, but Ross did score on a single by Gomes.  Napoli has set two club records for this month, which by the way isn’t even over yet; his seventeen extra-base hits and twelve doubles are both monster stats for April.  Ross was officially the man of the hour with the two homers as well as the first four-hit performance of his career.

Dempster, who’s been an unfortunate stranger to run support until yesterday, held down the fort from the mound.  Two runs on four hits while walking three and, taking a page from Buchholz’s book, striking out ten over six innings.  He gave up a double to lead off the third, which turned into a run on a groundout.  He gave up another double to lead off the fifth, which turned into a run on a sac fly, which itself could have been trouble had it not been for Gomes’s phenomenal diving catch in the classic Ellsbury style.

Anyway, let’s talk about his K’s.  There were the two swinging strikes in the first, one ending with a four-seam and the other ending with a slider.  Then there were the two that began the second, both ending with sliders.  There were the two in the fourth, one swinging on a splitter and the other looking on a four-seam.  There was the one in the fifth, ending with a swing on a splitter.  And last but not least, there were the two in the sixth, one swinging on a slider and the other looking on a slider and requiring all of three pitches.

Mortensen came in for the seventh.  He hit a batter and gave up a single made worse when Napoli missed a catch.  He finally recorded the first out of the inning, but Tazawa came in after that.  He gave up a sac fly that allowed one of his inherited runners to score.  And then he gave up a single of his own before ending the inning.  Uehara pitched the eighth, and Wilson pitched the ninth.  The final score was 7-3.  All in all, I’d say it went well.

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Double Dose

It’s always nice to sweep a twin bill.  I bet the Royals are having just a grand old time of it.  It was both exhausting and awful.

Ryan Dempster gave a great start in the opener.  He gave up four runs on six hits while walking three and striking out eight over the course of seven innings.  I would have preferred he’d given up less runs, though, because we didn’t score enough to make up for that damage.

Dempster gave up a solo shot in the first, but we moved ahead in the bottom of the frame.  After Ellsbury popped out to lead it off, Nava, Pedroia, and Papi hit back-to-back-to-back singles that scored one and a groundout that brought home another.  Those were the only two runs we’d score that morning.  The Royals, meanwhile, were not done. Dempster gave up two consecutive singles in the fourth; a double brought in their third run, and another single two strikeouts later brought in the last run of the game.  Mortensen pitched the eighth, and Alex Wilson pitched the ninth.  The final score was 4-2.

Allen Webster got the nod to start the nightcap.  It was a decent start.  The important thing is that we put ourselves in a position to win.  He gave up three runs, two earned, on five hits while walking one and striking out five.  He gave up a double on his first pitch of the game, and then he gave up a single that resulted in a run thanks to Ciriaco’s throwing error.  Webster was great in the second, third, and fourth.  But then he gave up two solo shots in the fifth: strikeout, solo shot, strikeout, solo shot, groundout.  Tazawa came on for the seventh.

We were a run behind by the time the second inning rolled around, but we quickly took the lead.  Napoli worked a 2-1 count to lead off the second and then got an eighty-four mile-per-hour slider.  He crushed it.  Over the Monster in left.  Watching him hit home runs is a beautiful thing; it looks so natural, like it’s the easiest thing in the world.  It’s absolutely fantastic.  Salty worked a five-pitch walk after that and scored on a double by Carp.

We added another run in the third.  Ellsbury opened the inning with a double, moved to third on a groundout by Nava, and scored on a single by Pedroia.  The rest of the inning could have seen the rally go on, but it was a complete and total mess.  Pedroia got caught stealing second base, thrown out by who but George Kottaras.  Then Napoli doubled, and Salty singled.  And then the ball was deflected by the first baseman, and Napoli tried to score but was out at home, and that was the end of that.

In the bottom of the fifth, the game was tied at three, but we scored the winning run yet again.  Ellsbury lined out, but then Nava walked, Pedroia singled, and Napoli singled in Nava.  Napoli moved to second on a passed ball, but Salty struck out and Middlebrooks grounded out, killing any rally that would have arisen.

It was all going so well.  Neither team scored after the fifth, and the fifth had left us on top by one.  But Tazawa handed the ball to Uehara in the eighth, and unfortunately he brought the badness on a day when we hadn’t scored enough runs to absorb it.  He got the first two outs of the inning but then gave up a solo shot to tie it at four.  It stayed like that through the ninth, when Bailey pitched.  Then Miller came on for the tenth.  He induced a strikeout for the first out of the inning but then gave up a single and a walk.  He got another strikeout but gave up another single to load the bases.  And then he did the one thing that we love to see opposing pitchers do.  He allowed the winning run in extra innings in the worst and most embarrassing possible way.  He walked it in.  Four pitches.  It was a completely and therefore appropriately disappointing to the end of a sweepingly awful day.  Pun most definitely intended.

In other news, the Bruins shut out the Panthers, three-zip.

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