Red Sox Update: Pitchers and Dropkick Murphy’s
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Josh Beckett 2 IP 1 H 0 R 2 BB 0 K
Jon Lester 2 IP 1 H 0 R 0 BB 2 K
Clay Buchholz 2 IP 0 H 0 R 2 BB 2 K
Daniel Bard 2 IP 0 H 0 R 1 BB 2 K
Alfredo Aceves 2 IP 0 H 0 R 0 BB 2 K
All together, the five starters combined for 10 innings of 2-hit baseball. They did not allow a run, walked 5 and struck out 8. Of the five, only Lester did not face Major League hitters having pitched against Northeastern.
Again, it’s early and it’s only spring training but it’s about as good of a start as you could have hoped for for this rotation.
NOTES:
-Boston’s 5-4 win over the Orioles Tuesday lifted their Grapefruit League record to a perfect (3-0) this spring. If you include their wins over Northeastern and Boston College, they are a perfect (5-0). Jacoby Ellsbury led off the scoring Tuesday against Baltimore in the second with a lead-off double. He was singled to third by Dustin Pedroia and scored on Ryan Lavarnway’s sacrifice fly (it was actually a liner to left).
The Sox plated three more runs in the third when Mike Aviles singled to start the inning. Ellsbury followed by making an out on a bunt attempt. Pedroia reached first on a throwing error setting the stage for an RBI double by Adrian Gonzalez off the wall and a run-scoring single from Lavarnway. A Cody Ross double scored Gonzalez as well.
-Monday night, David Ortiz was the offensive star of the game in Boston’s 10-2 thrashing of the Minnesota Twins. Big Papi went 2 for 3 with a homerun and a double in the win.
-One of the lighter moments in Monday night’s win over the Twins came from Red Sox pitcher Vincente Padilla. Padilla threw an eephus pitch that was clocked at 53 mph. Manager Bobby Valentine quipped after the game, “it’s quit the contrast (from his fastball which is in the low to mid 90’s). He says it’s a little slower and a little faster on both ends.”
-Carl Crawford has had to shut it down for about a week due to inflammation in his surgically repaired wrist. Crawford has been working very hard to return to the line-up before opening day but this setback may prevent him from doing that. Crawford admitted that the setback was his fault for pushing too hard to return. He seems very anxious to right the wrong so-to-speak of his first year in Boston which was not very good for someone who signed a $142 million contract.
-When Papelbon was a rookie, he was a weekly guest of mine on Sportsradio 99.7 & 790 The Score here in Providence and, before he even had an entrance song, we discussed what he should use for music while entering the game. My suggestion was George Thorogood’s “Bad To The Bone” which Papelbon seemed to like. We shall see what he picks for his entrance song at Citizen’s Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia. If you have any suggestions, leave them as a comment at the end of this notes column.
-32-year old Carlos Silva will not be making his first start of the spring for Boston Wednesday against Toronto in Dunedin. Silva, who has had a history of shoulder problems, has inflammation in the shoulder. He signed a contract as a non-roster invitee with Boston this spring that guarantees a $1 million salary if he makes the big-league club. It also contains an opt-out for Silva if he doesn’t make the 25-man roster.
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