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The actual Boston Royal Giants and Seattle Steelheads never faced each other but the present-day Red Sox and Mariners recreated a tableau of Negro League glory Saturday evening. Pablo Sandoval and David Ortiz represented the sluggers of the bygone era well with solo circuit clouts in the second and third innings respectively. Even more amazing is that they hit their homers off Felix Hernandez, who went into this game with a 1.85 ERA and ended at 2.30. I liked that the teams went the extra mile and had Negro League-specific batting helmets. Dustin Pedroia went 2-for-5 with two runners in scoring position left on base. But he and the rest of the infielders played solidly behind ground ball pitcher Rick Porcello. The only way the Red Sox starter was in the same league as Hernandez was their lucrative contracts. Hernandez lasted six innings with seven hits, four earned runs, four walks, and five strikeouts. At the beginning of his final frame he seemed to tweak his left ankle. The visitors took advantage of Hernandez’s injury and tacked on two insurance runs. Brad Miller was responsible for both of the Mariners’ runs with his solo homers in the first and fifth...
Seattle is 11th in the American League in runs scored but you couldn’t tell that last from last night’s offensive outburst. In Felix Hernandez’s previous two starts he lost because his team could only score a single run. All Hernandez needed was Logan Morrison’s bat; the first baseman singled in Kyle Seager and jolted two home runs, a solo shot and a two-run homer. But the Cy Young starter enjoyed a cavalcade of runs while limiting the Red Sox to two runs. These fans are holding up cards to represent Hernandez’s 1,831 career strikeouts. Mike Napoli homered off Hernandez in the fourth inning. Yet another MLB player, Dustin Ackley, attempted to replicate Napoli’s beard. A pale imitation at best. Game 77: June 23, 2014 Boston Red Sox35-42 3 L: John Lackey (8-5) 2B: Mike Napoli (11)HR: Napoli (9) Seattle Mariners41-36 12 W: Felix Hernandez (9-2) 2B: Robinson Cano (17), Kyle Seager (18), James Jones (6), Mike Zunino (13)3B: Endy Chavez (1)HR: Logan Morrison – 2 (4)...
Tonight the first 5,000 fans at Safeco will get this nifty t-shirt designed by Eric Wahlquist. All hail the King in the Northwest! Felix Hernandez deserved the plaudits of the crowd last night. The King’s Court tallied six strikeouts, but the Red Sox managed six hits as well. The visiting batters just couldn’t string together the hits to get a runner across home plate. Jon Lester seemed to be back on track after winning two of his last three starts but he allowed one of the weaker offenses get the best of him in the fourth and fifth innings. Daniel Nava is many things but a center fielder he is not. He played the position slightly better than J.B. Shuck plays left. The Red Sox made quick moves to shore up the outfield and bullpen: Jackie Bradley, Jr. and Brandon Workman were summoned to Seattle. To make room for the pair Alex Wilson was placed on the disabled list with a sprained thumb and Jose De La Torre was optioned to Pawtucket. The Mariners should better observe the sacred laws of hospitality. Another rout like that and they will join the late Walder Frey in the annals of infamy. Game...
Felix Hernandez didn’t need to imbibe a lucky potion, don the gear of his alter ego, or proffer his ventriloquist act; he just did his thing on the mound. Some potential longballs may have been deadened by the roof being shut and Hernandez might have benefited from home plate Adrian Johnson’s rather generous judgment. But regardless of those advantages the ace pitcher still had his entire repertoire at his command. This Red Sox fan must have know chances were slim that he’d see David Ortiz’s 400th home run with Hernandez toeing the rubber, but he made a sign anyway. His wife’s sign must have distracted Dustin Pedroia, who went 0-4 with two strikeouts. Franklin Morales’s scoreless seven innings were as impressive as Hernandez’s complete game shutout given that the former was a reliever up until a few weeks ago. Morales didn’t factor into the decision but he can wear this outing like a badge of honor. Not many pitchers match Hernandez pitch for pitch and Morales nearly did. Scott Atchison pitched without his usual competence and the Mariners hit without their typical incompetence in the bottom of the ninth. Casper Wells laced a double to to center with one down...
Felix Hernandez’s alter ego Larry Bernandez took over in the sixth inning. The Red Sox touched up Bernandez for four runs in that inning when Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia both homered with a runner on base. The quartet of runs were not enough to overcome the lead that Josh Beckett’s doppelganger Henry Reckett gave up in the first inning. The local nine scored five runs in the first, led by Ichiro Suzuki’s first-pitch four-bagger. Franklin Gutierrez and Dustin Ackley singled and doubled respectively and both scored on Mike Carp’s single up the middle. Reckett didn’t notch an out until he faced former Red Sox outfielder Wily Mo Pena. Casper Wells homered to plate the fourth and fifth runs of the inning and game. Besides the two innings of offense the only other highlight was Terry Francona’s ejection in the fourth. Home plate umpire, fill-in official, and teacher at the Wendelstedt Umpire School Mark Ripperger initially ruled Ellsbury safe at home but he was overruled by first base umpire and crew chief Brian O’Nora. Ellsbury did say the crew did make the correct call after the game but that didn’t undo Francona’s tossing and classic “you’re throwing me out, I’ll...
Homeowners foreclose on bank. John Lackey beats Felix Hernandez. Our long national nightmare is over: Terry Francona finally pulled J.D. Drew from the lineup and replaced him with Josh Reddick. The diminishment of Drew’s production has played out much like Mike Lowell’s, who visited the booth in the fourth and fifth innings. According to Baseball Reference’s calculations Drew holds -0.1 Wins Above Replacement (WAR), so he actually lessens the Red Sox’s chances of winning when he plays. Reddick has a WAR of 1.9. Reddick’s uniform number has generally decreased as his contributions to the big league team have increased. In 2009 he was given 68, he wore 39 and 46 in 2010, and this season he has earned his “real” number — 16. Jacoby Ellsbury likely won’t repeat his franchise stolen base record year of 2009, but only because he has hit twice as many home runs this season as he did the entirety of that record-breaking year. He hit his 16th four-bagger of the season off Seattle ace Felix Hernandez to leadoff the third inning. Theo Epstein has been itching to extend Ellsbury as was done with Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, and Jon Lester, but the center fielder is...
Even they find nuts. But who knew they officiated MLB games? The Ameeker Pitch zone showed that all three of Felix Hernandez’s pitches to Adrian Beltre in the second inning were strikes, but Beltre stood in the box in disbelief. Rookie umpire Dan Bellino, who was filling in for Rob Drake, probably didn’t take kindly to Beltre’s display. Beltre and Hernandez, friends since they played together in Seattle, engaged in some between innings smack talk. The pitcher bet that he would strike Beltre out three times and the hitter bet that he would take Hernandez deep. Bellino ejected the Red Sox third baseman because of the conversation. Beltre tried to get Bellino to explain why he was ejected but the official wouldn’t tell him. Terry Francona joined in the conversation but didn’t get Bellino’s reasoning, either. Veteran umpire Angel Hernandez went so far as to protect Bellino, inserting himself between the seething skipper and the inexperienced arbitrator. Francona was ejected but it didn’t fire up the bats. There’s 16 Dan Bellinos on Facebook. The first one I found had the profile picture you see to the right. I can’t tell if the same man who ejected Beltre is in the...
Game 64: June 6, 2008 Mariners 8 W: Felix Hernandez (4-5) 22-39, 1 game winning streak Red Sox 0 L: Bartolo Colon (3-1) 38-26, 1 game losing streak Highlights: When Don Orsillo utters the phrase, “I think I’m going to put Rogaine on my chest” you know it’s been a terrible game. In Mariners-related trivia, Ryan Rowland-Smith is the first player in the major leagues with a hyphenated surname. So much for a brawl firing up the team. The Red Sox batters came up flat against Felix Hernandez, but that is to be expected because, well, he’s Felix Hernandez. The pre-game show stated that Hernandez is third behind Dwight Gooden (892) and Fernando Valenzuela (584) in strikeouts before reaching the age of 23 since 1980. The 22-year old added five whiffs to bring his career total to 492.Eight Mariner runs, eight suspensions doled out for Thursday’s fracas: an odd and sobering symmetry. Coco Crisp: 7 games (appealed) Jon Lester: 5 games (accepted) Sean Casey: 3 games (pending) James Shields: 6 games Jonny Gomes: 5 games Edwin Jackson: 5 games Carl Crawford: 4 games Akinori Iwamura: 3 games Don’t ask me why Lester’s name is there, ask Bob Watson. Bartolo...
Wednesday wasn’t just Daisuke Matsuzaka’s Fenway debut but also Felix Hernandez’s. I’m trying to find some way to deduct the electricity generated that evening from my federal income tax as alternative fuel credit. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version. Peter Gammons casted his knowledgeable eye over the proceedings. Ichiro Suzuki during batting practice. Two Fukuoka Softbank Hawk fans, one American, one Japanese, bond over their favorite NPB team. Kenji Johjima used to play for them and the great Sadaharu Oh is the team’s manager. Jere of A Red Sox Fan in Pinstripe Territory in a meta moment. The new Third Base Deck. To me, it seems a dreadful indignity to have a soul controlled by geography. — George Santayana Photo assignments taped to a column near grandstand section 24. Carl Beane spoke in both Japanese and English when introducing Daisuke Matsuzaka. Due to ESPN’s 7:10 start time, Matsuzaka tossed to Kevin Youkilis along the first base line after having warmed up in the bullpen. The signature windup. My goal was to get photos of each Red Sox players’ first at bat. Hernandez’s quick work made this a challenge. Captions below state the ultimate outcome, not necessarily what is...
Game 8: April 11, 2007 Mariners 3 W: Felix Hernandez (2-0) 3-2, 1 game winning streak1-0-0 series record Red Sox 0 L: Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-1) 4-4, 1 game losing streak1-1-0 series record Highlights: Not only did Matsuzaka make his Fenway Park debut, but so did phenomenon Felix Hernandez. In his two-season career, the Mariners’ right-handed pitcher has allowed just seven more home runs than his age (he turned 21 on April 8). For Jason Varitek’s birthday all he got was a $52M pitcher that weathered seven innings while surrendering 8 hits, 3 earned runs, a walk, and 4 strikeouts. “Make” (pronounced mah-kay) means “loss” in Japanese. The light of the flashbulbs used during Matsuzaka’s first at-home mound appearance must have disrupted optical telescopes as far away as Mauna Kea. The last time a pitching outing at Fenway was a true spectacle was June 28, 2006, when Pedro Martinez returned as a Met. As much as Schilling begs for adoration and Beckett attempts to recreate Clemens, there hasn’t yet been a starting pitcher that generates the idolization and excitement that Pedro did. Until Daisuke Matsuzaka, that is. (Jonathan Papelbon comes extremely close, but he has gone the way of the...
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Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library’s Sports Temples of Boston.