Month: June 2015

Sox Win First Game of Doubleheader; Everyone Too Tired to Really Try in Second Game

Posted on June 4, 2015 in Game Recap

Don Orsillo might love lamp more than Brick.

The First Game

Eduardo Rodriguez was on the mound in the the first game yesterday, and he continued to deal, going 7 innings with 7 strikeouts, 2 hits, and 2 walks. The only run he’s surrendered so far in the big leagues came on a 3rd inning Brian Dozier solo home run over the Green Monster, a line drive just a foot right of the foul pole. It came with two outs, and Rodriguez missed his spot, taking a would-be outside fastball inside, and Dozier cleaned it out.

But why focus on the negative? Now that that’s out of the way, I can tell you that the Sox were a healthy 3 for 10 with runners in scoring position in this one, getting four runs out of those three hits. What a difference mild competence makes, huh?

In the 3rd, and with the score knotted at 1 after Dozier’s blast, Pedroia singled and stole second, but was sent back to first after Mookie Betts was ruled to have interfered with the catcher’s throw. Ortiz came up to the plate and hit his second double of the night, but Pedroia was unable to score from first this time (as he had in the 1st inning), and so the runners were at 2nd and 3rd for Hanley Ramirez. He went with an outside fastball to right field, scoring Pedroia to give the Sox a one-run lead. And if Napoli couldn’t get Ortiz home from third with one out, well, let’s not get greedy here.

With two outs in the 4th, Pedroia continued to torch Phil Hughes (.390 career batting average against Hughes) with his third single of the game, this one scoring Xander Bogaerts from 2nd to add an insurance run. Bogaerts had gotten there after a single of his own and an iffy (airborne) but ultimately effective sacrifice bunt from Sandy Leon.

Like Pedroia, Bogaerts also had three singles against Hughes in this one. His third hit came after Hanley and Brock Holt had each singled and then executed a double steal, setting up 2 RBIs for Xander. This was enough to get Hughes yanked.

Meanwhile, while the strikeout pace slowed for Rodriguez as the game went on, he continued to flat get batters out, inducing fielder’s choices when runners were on base in the 6th and getting the Twins to go in order in four of his seven innings pitched.

Napoli hit a solo bomb:

And Ogando gave up a two-run shot with two outs in the 9th, but induced a groundout moments later to finish things up. Yaaayyy. Okay, done celebrating? Good. On to the nightcap.

The Second Game

There’s really not much to say. And I’m not just being lazy! Okay, I’m being a little bit lazy.

Trevor May, in by a solid margin his best start of the year, held Boston to two hits and that’s it. He also had 9 strikeouts, matching his season high. The hits were consecutive, and they both came with two outs in the 3rd inning: a single by Carlos Peguero and a double by Dustin Pedroia. Peguero didn’t quite have the legs to get all the way around, so when Brock Holt, batting in the two-hole, grounded out to end the inning, it marked the last time a Red Sox batter would come to the plate with the chance to drive anyone in.

That’s right: 8 up, 8 down. Two on! 19 up, 19 down. No walks. I honestly think that everyone was too impatient to try to draw a walk. May, like Hughes, certainly throws strikes (they’re 5th and 2nd, respectively, in walks allowed this year), and it must’ve been tempting to swing early and often at balls in the strike zone, especially after the Sox’ success earlier in the day against Hughes. For whatever reason though, May (who has been a little sharper than Hughes in 2015) frustrated Boston’s hitters through seven nearly untouchable innings. Boyer and Perkins took over, with similar results, in the final two frames.

Rick Porcello was on the mound for Boston and, like May, he got his mistakes out of the way early. Unfortunately, he just made a few more than May did. He stranded a double in the first, but the second inning – single, double (run), single, safety squeeze (run) – ended up being the difference in this one. He also gave up a single in the 6th, but the runner was erased in a double play to end the inning. After giving up those two runs in the 2nd, though, Porcello saw similar results to May’s: 10 up, 10 down. One on. 8 up, 8 down. But it was all, eventually, for naught. Listen, Porcello was perfectly excellent today. I can’t be upset with him today. So I’m just gonna move on.

For all that the Sox’ offensive EXPLOSION in the afternoon game was great, they’re averaging 2.33 runs per game in the series. Same old, same old.

Notes:

Remy buying Orsillo a lamp is the must-see event of Boston’s season so far. Best entertainment of the year. “So I can’t see the pitcher, which is a slight problem…”:

Righty Visits the State Street Pavilion, Buchholz Dominant

Posted on June 3, 2015 in Game Recap, Random Stuff

One of my favorite parts about living in Boston is going to Fenway Park on a regular basis, especially when a friend has extra tickets through work and I get to go for free. And especially when those tickets are ridiculously good – seats I would never or could never pay for on my own.

That was the case for me last night. My buddy Eddie got tickets through work, and our seats were in the front row of the State Street Pavilion.

View from the State Street Pavilion

View from the State Street Pavilion

Not only that, but our tickets included admission to the EMC club, which is what I imagine Jay Gatsby’s dining room would look like if it overlooked Fenway Park.

The EMC Club at Fenway

The EMC Club at Fenway

The picture is blurry because I tried to take a stealthy picture. I felt out of place enough without holding up my camera in the middle of the room.

Needless to say, on a night when I would’ve been happy with a 5 and a half hour long 16 inning battle, I instead got a 1-0 pitchers duel that was over in a cool two hours and twenty-one minutes. I’m sure that if I was in the right field grandstand with my knees up by my ears, my neck sore from turning towards the plate, and freezing cold because there were no waitresses bringing me hot chocolate and Baileys (it was 46 degrees on June 2nd), the game would’ve lasted 4:30.  But I can’t complain, since it was a fantastic game. Well pitched and well defended on both sides, and the Red Sox won.

The story of the game was Clay Buchholz, who was again masterful for the Red Sox. He pitched 8 innings of shutout ball by necessity, as his team only managed one run in support of their starter, and that run didn’t come until the 7th inning (more on that later). Clay needed just 92 pitches to get through those eight innings, and under different circumstances, I’m sure Farrell would’ve let him come back out to pitch the 9th. However, given the Sox’ lack of offense, and the fact that the Twins squared up a couple balls in their half of the 8th, John didn’t take any chances and brought out Koji to close the door in the 9th.

Clay’s line:

Pitchers IP  H  R ER BB SO HR ERA
Buchholz (W, 3-6) 8.0 3 0 0 2 8 0 3.82

Clay’s start:

Over his last four games Buchholz has a 1.47 ERA, and a 27/5 K/BB ratio. As you can see from the line score above, his ERA is now under 4 on the season.

The Red Sox’ lone run came with two outs in the bottom of the 7th, and in fact, the entire rally came with two outs. Xander got things going with a heat-seeker to center that went for a double. Sandy Leon followed with a good at-bat that ended in a walk, bringing up Rusney Castillo. After fouling off two tough two-strike pitches, Castillo singled up the middle, bringing home Bogaerts for what would be the game-winning run.

Rusney helped make sure that it remained the game-winning run by making a catch on the warning track in the bottom of the 8th inning on a ball that looked gone off of the bat of Aaron Hicks.

Notes:

-As I’ve written before, Xander looks like a different guy on the defensive side of the ball thus far in 2015. Last night he made a couple of rangy, tough plays look routine on hard-hit grounders. That being said I’ve noticed that he seems reluctant to lay out for balls just outside of his grasp, instead choosing to lunge for them. Maybe that’s the next step in his progression as a fielder.

-Watch this superman-style stop by Brian Dozier on a Sandoval grounder. Watch him turn two while you’re at it. He’s something else.

-I saw Don Orsillo leaving the game. We were walking in the same direction through the Pavilion and Club levels (nbd) for a solid minute. I’m a huge fan and normally I would’ve asked him for a picture, but he was booking it out of there with a rolling suitcase. The only time he even paused was to give a little girl with a glove a game ball that he had on him. Good looks Don.

-I really could write an entire blog about all the cool stuff I got to see on my night as one of the Fancy Fenway people. Instead here’s a photo gallery:

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-Almost forgot, it was also Mike Napoli bobblehead night. Today was a good day.