April 15, 2012

G9: Red Sox 6, Rays 4

Rays    - 000 031 000 - 4 13  0
Red Sox - 030 101 10x - 6  8  0
Cody Ross crushed a three-run home run, David Ortiz got three hits and drove in the go-ahead run, and Vicente Padilla and Franklin Morales each pitched out of a tight jam as the Red Sox won their third straight game over the Rays.

Doubront (5-9-4-1-7, 96) couldn't kept his pitches down in the fifth and was hit for three runs; he surrendered a leadoff homer in the sixth and was pulled. Scott Atchison allowed a single and a walk before getting a strikeout. Padilla then fanned Desmond Jennings and retired Carlos Pena on a fly to right. In the eighth, Morales allowed two one-out singles, but got Jennings to fly to left and Pena to ground to shortstop. Alfredo Aceves pitched a perfect ninth, and was helped out by a diving catch in right-center by Jason Repko.

In the Boston second, Kevin Youkilis singled, Ortiz doubled, and Ross cleared everything in left. Kelly Shoppach drove in Ortiz in the fifth, and Flo's second double of the afternoon scored Yook in the sixth. Mike Aviles added an insurance homer to dead center in the seventh.

Ortiz is 9-for-13 in this series (with 8 RBI) and has five multi-hit games this season. He's hitting .444 through nine games.

Boston goes for the sweep at 11 AM tomorrow with Daniel Bard on the hill.
Example
Matt Moore / Felix Doubront

After totaling only 22 runs in their first six games, the Red Sox have scored 21 times in their last 9 innings! Despite a 3-5 record, the two blowouts against the Rays have given them a positive run differential (+2) for the first time this season.

Moore makes the third start of his young career, while Doubront starts for the fifth time. Doubront lasted only five innings in Toronto last Monday, running up a high pitch count (5-4-2-3-6, 101). Moore faced the Tigers in his first start of the season (6.2-4-2-5-4, 106).

Che-Hsuan Lin was in center field for the top of the ninth inning yesterday, but did not touch the ball. After the game, he was optioned back to Pawtucket. For now, call him "Moonlight". ... Another PawSox outfielder, Jason Repko, 31 years old and a career .226/.297/.350 hitter, is expected to be called up for today's game. In four games for the PawSox, Repko is 7-for-13.

14 comments:

allan said...

Gammons tweet from yesterday:

"Hopefully the Rays can find a gated, ethnic-restricted community with a batting cage for Luke Scott to prepare for this afternoon's game"

allan said...

Aviles, SS
Pedroia, 2B
Gonzalez, 1B
Youkilis, 3B
Ortiz, DH
Ross, RF
McDonald, LF
Shoppach, C
Repko, CF

allan said...

Gammons sez: "With Lester, Beckett, Bucholz going 8-8-7, 1st time Boston starters have gone 7 IP in 3 consecutive starts since last June."

allan said...

Transactions:

Called Up: Spears and Repko

DFA'd: Bowden and Exposito

Mark said...

Closers continue to drop like flies, The Beard goes down for the year; http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/04/14/giants.wilson.surgery.ap/index.html#?xid=tbsmlb

Mark said...

Who is in the booth for TBS today?

Jere said...

"Gammons sez: "With Lester, Beckett, Bucholz""

Ooh a new one to add to my list of ways to spell Buchholz!

allan said...

When Buchholz was first called up, many people at SoSH could not spell his last name. So the dopes created a filter that changes a misspelling to "I Am An Idiot".

(I also have seen fans continually refer to our former catcher as "Veritek". ... How is this possible?)

Jere said...

George Kottaras was regularly referred to as Kotteras in the Providence Journal.

laura k said...

How is this possible?

Some people have a really hard time spelling. Their eyes/minds don't pick up the difference. It's like not having a sense of direction or being tone-deaf.

But media - no excuse. NO excuse!

laura k said...

Thought for the day: winning is funner than losing.

9casey said...

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine was on WHDH's Sports Xtra show Sunday night and said this about Kevin Youkilis:

"I don't think he's as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past for some reason. But [on Saturday] it seemed, you know, he's seeing the ball well, got those two walks, got his on-base percentage up higher than his batting average, which is always a good thing, and he'll move on from there."



How would Bobby know about the past?
Yook seems to have a disconnect with his teamates, I maybe wrong ,I have just always felt that way after his run in with Manny and calling out Ellsbury. I think they think he was the mole.....Clear speculation on my part , but I wouldn't be suprised to see him traded this year.

Jere said...

"But media - no excuse. NO excuse!"

Exactly. The latest one was Vicente Padilla, which NESN spelled Vincente on the screen after the game today. It's a really easy thing to get wrong, and if some fan said it wrong just a few appearances into the guy's Red Sox career, well, fine, totally understandable. But I can't believe a network would ever not know the spelling of the name of a player on the team it broadcasts (and is partially owned by!). But it happened today. With the game's winning pitcher.

allan said...

I wouldn't be suprised to see him traded this year.

Neither would I, if he keeps getting dinged up, doesn't produce as well as previously, and/or Middlebrooks keeps hitting in Pawtucket. If they don't move him, they have an option for 2013: $13 million or a $1 million buyout. If they are trying to get under the cap and lower/re-set their luxury tax rate, this would help.

They may take a page out of Branch Rickey's book: better to get rid of a player a year too early than a year too late.

No idea about the mole thing, though. I suspected it was people on the training staff.