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Have B.J. Upton’s ways rubbed off on his brother Justin since they have been together on the Braves? Justin, the “little” brother, played Fenway’s left field too deep. Even Steve Lyons noticed that anything over his head would hit the wall anyway so Justin should have moved in a bit. This was proven in the eighth inning when Brock Holt’s single dropped in front of the left fielder. Not only did Justin come up short he let the ball get by him, allowing Holt to take second base. Xander Bogaerts drove in Holt with a soft liner to right-center, bringing the score to 3-2 in favor of the visitors. Dustin Pedroia reached base when his rookie counterpart Tommy La Stella miscommunicated with Andrelton Simmons. Pedroia’s slow bounder came up the middle and La Stella thought Simmons was going to field it. Instead it got through to La Stella behind the keystone sack. An experienced middle infielder pair would have turned a double play but instead the Red Sox had runners at first and second with none out. A.J. Pierzynski’s then dropped a single into shallow center. B.J. ran up to field it but it clanked off his glove. Brian Butterfield...
In the final game of this series the Red Sox lost in stunning fashion, blowing a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth. The 12,963 fans looked up from the Rays Touch Tank or mobile phones to jangle their cowbells as B.J. Upton’s three-run homer receded into the batter’s eye to break the 4-4 tie. Upton pointed to the stands before the ball landed. Now that I think about it more, this loss wasn’t so surprising. This team had moments where the pitching staff could stifle opponents occasionally but not consistently. They were as constant as Pedro Ciriaco’s defensive positions. Bobby Valentine started Ciriaco in center and the results were poor. He lost two routine fly balls, turning outs into doubles. Clay Buchholz offered Ciriaco reassurance after the fielding miscues. I think that is John Lackey in the background wondering why the pitcher isn’t chewing out the defender. Valentine, Alex Ochoa, and Ciriaco shared a laugh about the escapades in center. Nice inning, kid! In the top of the ninth Jose Iglesias yanked his first major league home run into the left field stands where it was pursued down a ramp. While the Red Sox have played losing ball...
The Red Sox failed to win a single game against the visiting Rays in their four-game series. A glance over their team statistics compared to the rest of the American League reveals the squad’s flaws. Boston batters found themselves in the middle to bottom in several key metrics:The Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians are tied for ninth with a paltry .313 on-base percentage.They fare better in the power department, taking the sixth slot between the Rays and Angels with a .426 slugging percentage.With 50 runs scored, the Red Sox are tenth, only bettering the Rangers, Mariners, Indians, and Orioles. The front office’s stated goal was to emphasize run prevention over run production. Thus far the team’s pitching staff not successfully carried out this strategy: 12th in WHIP: 1.4411th in slugging percentage against: .4459th in on-base percentage against: .337 (just a sliver worse than the Orioles’ .336)12th in strikeout to walk ratio: 1.47Next to last in strikeouts per nine innings: 5.72 Unlike past teams that had a balance between hitting and pitching, the 2010’s languid offense cannot chip away at the leads the starters have been spotting the opposition. As my friend and baseball sage noted, pitching and defense can’t...
Matt Garza’s pitching evoked Pedro Martinez circa 2000. Although Ubaldo Jimenez has been the young right-handed pitcher of note because of his recent no-hitter, Garza has made himself an early candidate to win the American League Cy Young. The Rays ace’s accomplishments have flown under the radar even though his heater lights up the gun in the mid-90s as he paints the black like a latter-day Velazquez (the painter, not the Red Sox infielder). Perhaps because his first two eight-inning performances were against the lowly Orioles Garza’s dominance has been ignored. Baltimore’s hitters only managed 10 hits, 2 earned runs, and 5 bases on balls over the 16 innings they faced Garza. The Charm City squad currently sports a record of 2-11, so it is expected that they would have difficulties against mediocre pitchers let alone a hurler of Garza’s caliber. Therefore taking the mound in Fenway would be a true test for Garza despite the Red Sox’s failure to play up to expectations. The fireballer carried a perfect game into the fourth. Garza was none too pleased that Dioner Navarro wasn’t in place behind the plate when he was ready, but the backstop was the last out of the...
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Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library’s Sports Temples of Boston.