View post on imgur.com

I’ve been itching to cover an Eduardo Rodriguez start since he got the call from Pawtucket. All season, every time a starter turned in a bad performance I’d tell my friends they should give Rodriguez a turn. It got to the point where it was a little irrational. “Well, yeah, Buchholz went 8 and struck out 11 and didn’t walk anyone. But I’d still like to see what Rodriguez can do.” My friends now refer to him as “your boy” when they’re talking to me, which I take as a huge compliment.

Anyway. Eddie (he needs a nickname. Any suggestions?) was once again impressive, but in a different way than his first two dominant starts. He didn’t have great command of his slider or changeup, but battled through and turned in 6 shutout innings, essentially with one pitch – six of his seven strikeouts came on his fastball.  It helps when your one pitch is a lively 95 MPH hairy heater, but still superb work by the rookie.

His crucial sequence came in the bottom of the 5th. After surrendering a leadoff single to J.J. Hardy, Rodriguez hit Ryan Flaherty when he was trying to bunt, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. The next batter was Manny Machado, who he coerced into a fielder’s choice on a 1-1 changeup, one of only two outs he’d record with that pitch all night. Rodriguez followed that with big back-to-back strikeouts of Delmon Young and Adam Jones. After the strikeout of Jones, Eduardo was FIRED UP. Jones didn’t like Rodriguez’s reaction too much, and kind of sarcastically grinned in his direction as he was walking towards the dugout.

When the Red Sox acquired him, the Orioles scouts were sad to see Eduardo go and said he had another level, another gear that facing major league competition would bring out of him. I don’t know how they could possibly know such a thing, but a 0.44 ERA over his first three starts suggests that they knew what they were talking about. This one must’ve been hard for them to watch.

The lone run in this game came in the bottom of the 7th on a wild pitch from Matt Barnes. With runners on first and third with no one out, Barnes shook off Swihart, who I assume called for something hard, and threw a first pitch changeup that went about 55 feet. It’s a pitch that Swihart might block 8/10 times, but he lifted up on it slightly and it got away. Definitely a wild pitch, but still blockable. That was enough for the O’s to win the game 1-0.

Notes:

-The Red Sox lineup looked like it was filled with graduates from the Milford Academy.

-0-8 with RISP.

-Not helping: Hanley fouled a ball off of his knee and had to leave the game. Let’s hope it’s just a bruise.

–Mookie has hit a rough patch. He’s batting just .156 since May 30.

-Don and Jerry have been comically bad at predicting the outcome of reviewed plays this season. Their chuckles and self-deprecating humor after the call is made almost makes the multi-minute delays palatable.

-If anyone suggests “E-Rod” for Rodriguez’s nickname you will be tarred and feathered and publicly shamed for lack of originality.

-The Red Sox had the #7 overall pick in this year’s draft and selected Arkansas outfielder Andrew Benintendi. I was somewhat surprised that they didn’t take Carson Fulmer (RHP, Vanderbilt), who was taken by the White Sox with the next pick, and who the Red Sox were very high on leading up to the draft. Fulmer was considered to be the best pitcher in the draft, but two others were taken ahead of him, including the Twins taking a college reliever with the 6th pick – I can’t quite figure that one.

Benintendi (is that Italian for “good Nintendo”?) shot up the boards after hitting .380/.489/.715 with 19 homers in 221 ABs this season. He’s got a sweet, compact lefty stroke and the potential to be a gold glove outfielder. With such a high ceiling, he was probably too tantalizing for the Red Sox brass to pass on. Definitely no reason to be upset if you’re a Sox fan.*

*Obviously I reserve the right to backtrack on this statement if Fulmer is the next Pedro and Benintendi is the next Billy Beane.