Papi goes deep (Photo Credit: O’MEARA/AP)
I heard about this one in fits and starts. I missed the first few innings because I was at an event where the speakers were John Henry and Jack Welch (more on this later). I missed the bottom of the 6th through the 8th because I was playing in a basketball game. What a difference a few hours makes. When I turned on the radio on the way from the event to my game, the Sox were up 5-1 and Castiglione said that Joe Kelly had been dominant. Good stuff. I turned off the radio and went to my game.
By the time I got back to my car, I had suffered a brutal defeat (we blew a 6 point lead with less than 2 minutes to play, and had a shot go just long as time expired), could barely walk due to the physical nature of a game where only one referee shows up, and Kelly and the Sox had managed to blow that 5-1 lead and now trailed 7-5.
Pumpsie cruised through the first five innings, striking out 7, walking no one, and allowing only one run on a big fly by Steven Souza. Then in the 6th he went belly up, giving up four consecutive singles, then walking in a run before getting the hook. He was relieved by Craig Breslow, who promptly gave up another single that scored two more runs, tying the game at five a side.
After such a great start, Kelly wouldn’t record an out in the sixth, giving him a line that looked like this:
| Boston | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelly, J | 5.0+ | 8 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 4.08 |
In the top of the 7th, Rays’ manager Kevin Cash decided to go with his closer, Brad Boxberger (what a name), to face Ortiz, Ramirez, and Napoli, which worked perfectly. Boxberger struck out the side, and the Rays scored two on Mujica in the bottom of the frame. They would go on to win by that 7-5 score.
Offensive highlights:
Big Papi went very yard, and had that classic high follow through and beautiful little bat toss. Behold:
The homer was number 469 on his career, passing Chipper Jones for 32nd on the all-time list. The RBI was number 1,538, passing Joe DiMaggio for 46th all-time. That’s pretty good for a late-bloomer.
Pedey also left the building, giving him 4 taters already this season. He had 7 all of last year. More evidence that his wrist is fully healed, and his trash talk during the spring was more than just hot air. Sort of unrelated, but I don’t know why MLB is cutting off the homer highlights virtually the second the player touches the plate. No replay of the swing, pitch location, player reaction, etc. #Annoying
Mookie drove in a run on a really tough two-strike pitch, down and out of the zone.
Nap was 2 for 3 with a double and a RBI.
Highlights from John Henry at the event I attended:
-It wasn’t really a speech, more of an extended Q&A, but Henry had a couple of interesting tidbits. A lot of the questions were about business, but I was surprised by some of the (relatively) hard-hitting baseball questions and the candid answers he gave, especially since the event was moderated by the editor of the Globe (which John Henry owns).
-On not having an ace: Henry said that he thinks that depth is crucial for a baseball team, and that often the difference between a good season and a bad season is depth. Plus, the 2012 team arguably had 5 aces and they finished last. (I think these things are true, but you also need an ace to win the World Series). He then commented on Lester specifically saying that he “was” an ace, essentially saying they didn’t want to pay for past performance (which also subtly justified their thinking for the Porcello deal even though that wasn’t brought up. Savvy move).
-At this point the yips got brought up and he said something to effect of “he [Lester] has the yippiest yips I’ve ever seen” when throwing to first base (more positive Sox spin from the owner). Then he seemed to remember that this was being recorded and will air on NESN because he said he’s probably going to get in trouble for this, and nothing he said “meant anything.”
-Henry said they didn’t believe in the value of team chemistry until after 2012. It’s no secret that Henry is a big fan of Sabermetrics – he hired Bill James right after he bought the team – but it was surprising to hear that they completely discounted chemistry, assumedly because it couldn’t be accurately quantified.
-He wants a pitch clock added to the Major League game. I took this as John Henry the team owner/businessman voicing an opinion, rather than the baseball fan, since faster games would appeal to more people (especially kids these days with their XStations and MyFace. Am I Right?).
-He wants everyone to be able to watch every game on their laptop, tablet, or cellphone, regardless of local broadcasts and the existing blackout rules. Said he’s been fighting with MLB on that one for almost ten years.
Notes:
-You know when something seemingly unexpected happens and then you look back and realize that you probably should’ve seen it coming? When the Sox were up 5-1, Castiglione and O’Brien were saying that it felt like the Red Sox should be up more. Leaving 8 guys on base and going 1-7 with RISP will usually come back to haunt you.
–Victorino had to leave the game due to tightness in his hamstring. Hopefully this is just an isolated issue and has nothing to do with his back injury or the hamstring injury that hampered him last year.
