Ted's Army: The Voice of Red Sox fans

Recap: Home Run Derby at Fenway! Sox muscle past Yankees.

The Sox were determined to put runs on the board tonight. David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Jason Varitek each hit a two run home run as the Red Sox take the second game of the series, 9-5.

The Yankees were able to draw first blood in the third as Derek Jeter hit an RBI single off of Josh Beckett. (Jeter finished 2-3 while seeing only six pitches) The Sox responded immediately as Dustin Pedroia made a sacrifice to bring in Scutaro and Jed Lowrie made Phil Hughes pay for intentiontally walking Ortiz with an RBI single to make it 2-1.

Then Ortiz decided to have his own retribution against Hughes with his 28th homer to center to make it 4-1. The Yankees would then come back against Josh Beckett as Eric Chavez hit one down the right field line and it takes a funny bounce that crossed up Josh Reddick and the Yankees regained the lead.

It wouldn't take long for the Sox to retaliate as the Captain managed to hit a tough pitch with the hit and run on and managed to sneak down all the way to the Monster to bring home Reddick and tie it up. Then Ellsbury comes up and hits one that was JUST high enough to make it into the Monster seats to make it 7-5. He finished the night 2-5 and getting some loud chants of "MVP" at Fenway.  

Beckett then came out and threw a nine pitch seventh inning against the heart of the Yankees' order. He was done after that, allowing four earned runs and six hits. He struck out eight and walked three. It wasn't his best outing but the way he came back after giving up the 4-spot in the sixth was great. Also good to see him get a win after so many no decisions when he's been lights out.

From there the combination of Bard and Papelbon shut the door but the Captain decided to put a cherry on top of this win, hitting his 10th home run in the eighth. It's now his 11th season in which he has hit ten plus homers in a season. Not bad considering he's only played 58 games this season.  He's on a six game hitting streak (8-22 during the streak).

The Sox have a great opportunity to take the series as they face AJ Burnett in the finale.  

Box Score

Kalish's surgery and next year's right field conundrum

WEEI's Alex Speier posted moments ago on Sox prospect Ryan Kalish's season-ending surgery, which is slated for Thursday.

Red Sox outfielder Ryan Kalish will undergo season-ending surgery on Thursday to repair a bulging disk in the neck that is impinging a nerve, according to a team source. The outfielder was placed on the DL last week due to a recurrence of soreness in his upper trapezius/neck region. He flew to Los Angeles this week to consult with orthopedist Dr. Robert Watkins, when the decision was made to have surgery.

[..]

A three-month course of recovery and rehab is expected. Assuming that timetable holds true, Kalish would be able to be at full strength by spring training.

Obviously, the fact that his surgery is season-ending is relatively meaningless to Sox fans in 2011 (unless you're a diehard PawSox fan). Maybe he would get a call-up, but JD Drew's on his way back, and Kalish isn't leap-frogging Josh Reddick this late in the year, despite Josh's recent struggles.

My thoughts move to 2012. With JD Drew all but certainly leaving, and an outfield replacement not high on the Sox priority list for the offseason, right field could come down to Kalish vs. Reddick. While Kalish might be ready for spring training, is it realistic to expect him to have a shot at the big club?

It's a tricky situation. On the one hand, Reddick has proven that he can handle big-league pitching. Despite tailing off, his OPS on the year is a decent .799, with a significantly improved batting eye (.330 OBP compared to .206 and .210 in his previous cups of coffee), and more pop than expected with a .469 SLG. 

However, Kalish is the higher-ranked prospect. SoxProspects.com lists Kalish as the no. 2 prospect in the Red Sox depleted minor-league system, while Reddick was never that well loved. Kalish is widely thought of as a higher-caliber player, and you know what that means: more upside. In the past, Theo has moved on young players he deems not to have enough upside: Kason Gabbard, Justin Masterson (though some revisionist history is being done now), Brandon Moss, and David Murphy were among the prospects considered relatively expendable. Even consider the Bronson Arroyo for Wily Mo Pena trade: While Bronson was hardly a prospect, he was a known quantity as a back-of-the-rotation starter. Wily Mo was a swing for the fences (appropriately), on which Theo whiffed (also appropriately). The motivation for the move, clearly, was upside.

Meanwhile, Theo often stockpiles former "busts" who are of a certain pedigree. In recent years, Jeremy Hermida, Andrew Miller, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia have all found themselves go from supposed team savior to released or traded in a matter of years, only to catch on with the Red Sox for a chance to reclaim their once-promising futures.

I've liked what I've seen from Reddick, but based on Theo's behavior, I think Kalish will be given every chance to show what he has, even in 2012. Maybe Reddick stays the year and Kalish gets more seasoning -- Kalish is a year younger than Reddick (23 to 24), so an argument could be made to give him another year in the minors. But I can just as easily see Theo decide to move Reddick, or banish him to a Jed Lowrie role in the outfield, if Theo doesn't consider him an impact player going forward.

Youk, JD, Trot spend an evening in Rochester

Rochester loves the Red Sox [Jamie Germano/staff photographer]

While the Boston Red Sox were hanging out on the bases in Fenway, staring at CC's voluptuous back-end all night (it's quite mesmerizing.  I can see why they didn't want to come home), the Pawtucket Red Sox were in Rochester, NY taking on Twins' affiliate, Rochester Red Wings.

Suiting up for the Red Sox were Kevin Youkilis and JD Drew, both doing rehab stints. Also in attendance was Trot Nixon, who threw out the first pitch and signed autographs before the game. 

Oh, one other man was also at Frontier Field for the game.  His wife calls him Chris Mott, but you can call him RJ Sizzle (sadly he neither looks nor acts like that fabulous ambidextrous flute player.  It's just, how many times does a man get to reference the genius that is RJ Sizzle?  You gotta grab that bull by the horns).  Chris, a Rochester native and die-hard Sox fan was Ted's Army's man on the street last night.  He was hoping to get a word or two with Trot, but sadly the entire city of Rochester came out to get his autograph so that never materialized.

Here's what Chris, er, Señor Sizzle, saw last night:

I'm sure most of you Sox fans were focused on watching the big game between the Yankees and Sox last night, but some of us had the  opportunity of taking in a great triple A game in Rochester to watch Kevin Youklis and JD Drew take some swings, and get ready to make moves off the disabled list. The place was packed and there was a large number of Sox fans there to watch the game and get autographs from Mr. Trot Nixon. I don't think Nixon has ever seen that long of a line to get his autograph before. That guys cult following has no bounds.

It looks as though JD Drew is getting his swing back as he went 3 for 3.  He swung the bat well, and looked good ripping a couple of nice line drives, and made some nice throws from the outfield. I'm sure he'll wake up with a sore hammy, but I could honestly smell the hit the streak from the stands.  He looked good, and Sox fans should be happy to have him back healthy and ready for the post season. Youk was DH and went 1 for 3.  Dude got Youked in Rochester New York. He's good, no worries there.

And to back-up the positive vibes Chris got from Youk and JD, here are some post-game quotes from The Globe:

“It felt really good,’’ Drew said. “I tried to simplify things: just see the ball. All in all, it was a good night.’’

“It felt good to get back on a baseball field,’’ said Youkilis, who had not played since going on the disabled list Aug. 18 with a strained lower back. He is eligible to join the Sox Friday.

“I got my baseball legs under me. I was a little rusty at first, but it felt good. Passing the physical test [of playing in a game] was key.’’

I'm going to have to sneak this in while Nick is on vacation, and frankly I never thought I'd admit this myself, but I'm actually excited for the return of JD Drew.  I don't know that JD is the answer, but the Reddick-McDonald combo just isn't doing it for me.

Big thanks to Chris for reporting on the game.

Your Morning Dump... Where the Sox blew plenty of chances

Easy, CC.  I promise you that child didn't eat the last bag of M&Ms. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Maybe it was the two-day layoff, or maybe it was the fact that CC Sabathia finally was CC Sabathia in a start against the Red Sox [team stats] this season. Either way, the Sox bats fell silent when they were needed most in last night’s 5-2 loss to the New York Yankees at Fenway Park [map].

The Sox left 16 men on base, matching their season high (April 10 against the Yankees), and couldn’t come up with a big hit with runners in scoring position (2-for-13) as their lead in the AL East dwindled to a half-game.

“It happens,” said Carl Crawford, who bucked the offensive struggles by hitting a home run off Sabathia to get the Sox on the board in the fourth inning. “We can’t do it every time. You just have to take it for what it is. You don’t want to leave them out there, but it happens.”

“We worked (Sabathia) hard,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “We made him throw a lot of pitches, but when he needed to, he made pitches. We stranded, certainly, a ton of runners. We had our chances. We’ve done a really good job of making him work for everything he gets, but his stuff was tremendous tonight.”

Herald - Sox can't find home

It's hard to lob credit CC's way when the Sox tagged him for 10 hits and made him throw about eleventy-billion pitches over 6 innings.  But the man did everything he needed to, and just a little bit more, to get himself out of some jams and keep the Sox from crossing the plate.

The Sox batters found a formula that works against Sabathia - mainly, make him throw pitches until his arm falls off or he makes a mistake - and they executed it to near-perfection last night.  They got on base, they made him work, but CC wasn't throwing many mistake pitches.  And the Sox big bats (Ellsbury, Gonzo, Pedroia, Ortiz) couldn't come through when they needed to. 

And maybe it's time I stop getting pleasantly surprised every time John Lackey doesn't implode on the mound.  Facing the highest-scoring offense in the league, Lackey went 7 strong, getting tagged for 5 runs (4 earned).  That obviously doesn't even scrape the surface of a stellar outing.  And Lackey was far-from perfect on the mound.  When CC missed his pitches, it was by an inch and a half.  When Lackey missed?  The ball was about a foot off of the plate.  But unless Bedard starts to really shine, it'd be hard to argue against slotting Lackey in as the #3.

On Page 2, I tell you how I really feel about Francisco Cervelli.

Recap: Cervelli homers and Sox squander chances, lose 5-2.

 

Cervelli returned the favor tonight.

Yes that's right. Francisco Cervelli hits a homer out to Landsdowne Street as the Yankees to take the first game of the series, 5-2.

This was a game the Sox should've had. The lineup was taking their sweet old time against CC Sabathia. They were extremely patient and wore him down: He went six innings and threw a season high 128 pitches. They had no problem getting on base either, as Marco Scutaro and Jed Lowrie managed to get a couple hits and Carl Crawford took the bulky left hander deep. But the middle of the order could not figure him out. The trio of Ortiz, Pedroia, and Gonzalez went 2-11 with seven strikeouts. 

However, even with the middle of the lineup struggling, the Sox had their chances. They left the second and seventh innings with the bases loaded and finished the night going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. They also left a whopping 16 runners on base. Just couldn't get runs across the plate.

Lackey threw a typical Lackey outing: seven innings, seven hits, five earned runs. Not bad, not good but I'll take it. He gave up that bomb to Cervelli who may or may not have taunted Jarrod Saltalamacchia at the plate when he finished his home run jog. It may or may not have led to Lackey drilling him in the back next time he came up to the plate. Benches cleared but nothing else came out of it (sadly) except Sabathia wanting to Banzai drop Lackey. 

The ninth had a little more drama as Mariano Rivera hit Salty on the wrist and was able to check his swing. Joe Girardi thought otherwise and let the third base umpire have it, which led to his ejection. 

Sox still hold a half game lead in the AL East and Josh Beckett takes the mound tomorrow. Should be a good one.

Box Score

How we see it goin' down: Sox-Yankees series

First Pitch: Tuesday 7:10, Wednesday 7:00, Thursday 7:10

Arms: Tuesday: RHP John Lackey (12-9, 5.98) vs. LHP CC Sabathia (17-7, 2.99)

Wednesday: RHP Josh Beckett (11-5, 2.43) vs. RHP Philip Hughes (4-4, 6.46)

Thursday: LHP Jon Lester (14-6, 3.09) vs. RHP AJ Burnett (9-11, 5.31)

Yard: Fenway Park   Watch it:  NESN, ESPN (Wednesday)   Hear it:  WEEI

Get your tickets here

The Matchup

Record: 82-51 (1st in AL East)	Record: 80-52 (2nd in AL East)
At home: 40-25	On road: 39-26
Streak: Won 2	Streak: Won 2
Leaders at the plate	Leaders at the plate
Average: Gonzalez (.345)	Average: Cano (.304)
Homers: Ortiz (27)	Homers: Granderson (38)
RBI: Gonzalez (103)	RBI: Granderson (107)
Leaders on the mound	Leaders on the mound
Wins: Lester (14)	Wins: Sabathia (17)
ERA: Beckett (2.43) | Bard (2.07)	ERA: Sabathia (2.99) | D. Robertson (1.35)
K's: Lester (150)	K's: Sabathia (191)

Last time

Earlier this month, the Sox grabbed two of three from New York in a short series at Fenway. One takeaway from that series was that the better starting pitcher didn't always win. The game New York won was started by Bartolo Colon against Jon Lester. Meanwhile, one of the Sox wins was John Lackey vs. CC Sabathia (the other was Beckett vs. Freddy Garcia, which obviously tips in our favor). That series didn't go as expected based on starters, and given the lopsided matchups slated for this tilt, it's something to consider before you just assume we take the Lester and Beckett starts.  

It's also worth mentioning that given the evenness of these clubs in recent history, the fact that the Sox are up 10-2 on the year might suggest New York to get some lucky bounces and win a few close games this time out. 

This time

Laser Show: Jacoby Ellsbury

Ellsbury's got a .939 OPS at home vs. an .841 clip away. Meanwhile, his OPS against the Yanks is .979, and he has 13 RBI, his most against any team this year. If we're to keep up our success against CC, we need Jacoby to get on base early and often. He's gotta be in CC's head as a threat to steal, and hopefully keep his control out of whack so the middle of the order can wait for something easy to hit.

Pitch Around: Curtis Granderson 

Duh. The current leader in the AL MVP race has been crushing everything this year. With a month to go, he has eight more homers than his career high, as well as a jaw-dropping 33 more RBI. Of course, it helps to hit in the middle of the Yankees' lineup. And to tee off on a right field fence that is 40 feet from home plate. And to take lots and lots of steroids. 

Alright, fine, there's no proof that Granderson did anything untoward, and I'm sure he didn't. Just like I'm sure Jacoby Ellsbury is clean. But what is the deal with these beanpole guys suddenly driving the ball 400 feet like it's nothing?

Don't Fall Behind: CC Sabathia

Everyone's harping on CC's struggles against Boston this year, but I wouldn't be concerned if I were a Yankee fan. In 2010, he went 1-0 with a 3.96 ERA in four starts against the Sox. Not CC-level, but not AJ-level either. In 2009, he was 3-1 with a 2.22. That's more CC-level. Point is, it's not like he has some kind of mental hangup against the Red Sox, or that there's something about the makeup of the team that allows success against his repertoire. More likely, he just happened to have bad starts and our guys pounced on his mistakes this year. He's the best pitcher in baseball, as far as I'm concerned. He terrifies me.

How we see it goin' down

I hate to say it, but I think the Yanks take at least two out of three in this one, and perhaps a sweep. I don't really care about minor injuries to A-Rod and Jeter; these teams are always close and for whatever reason we have destroyed New York so far this year. I'd expect the season series to even out, unfortunately. Also, I don't expect Fenway to be rocking, because Fenway doesn't rock anymore. Our fans are embarrassingly bored by baseball, even with the Yankees. Other than a rousing rendition of Sweet Caroline, and a couple of perfect examples of the wave, I don't expect the crowd to be a factor in this series. I think CC sets the stage tonight, Beckett rights the ship tomorrow, and somehow, some way, the Yankees take the third behind AJ Burnett in a shootout Thursday.

Alec Baldwin torches Sox tickets, apartment

 

The newest New Era Krasinski - Baldwin commercial is out (that's that video right up there).

Like the rest of the commercials in the series, it's quite entertaining if not laugh-out-loud hilarious. Not sure where they're going with that ad -- Baldwin burned a bunch of tickets and in turn his apartment building, and is now going to be living with John Krasinski?  Are the next few videos going to be these two living together in some sort of odd-couple type situation? 

Perhaps the more appropriate question is why am I spending so much time thinking about it? 

Either way, keep it up New Era.  I'm thoroughly enjoying this.

Your Morning Dump...where Buchholz can start throwing

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump. Via a short report from Sean McAdam comes this encouraging tweet from Heidi Watney. 

Clay's performance in his first 82 innings of the year was good -- 3.48 ERA, 6-3, a higher K rate and lower BB rate than last year. Sure, his ERA is down, but most advanced metrics suggested that would happen. I'll take 3.48 from the no. 3 starter any day.

Of course, the question is: if he starts throwing today, how soon can he be ready to rejoin the rotation? Can he ramp up to be ready in time for the playoffs? Is there any way around John Lackey starting game 3 and filling up Mass. General with cardiac-event victims?

On page 2, something about a Yankees series coming up...

Taking Stock: Sox - Athletics Series

After each series, we'll be taking stock in each player's...and maybe manager's...performance. If we like what we see, we're buyin'. If we don't, we're sellin'. Or maybe we'll just hold onto our stock until we see more next series.

Fenway Grounds Crew: No one worked as hard as these guys did on Saturday (although Moscoso was laboring pretty hard on the mound for the A's).  I have no idea if these guys are the best in the business (surely there's a stat out there somewhere to gauge these things), but Sox Nation is lucky to have them.  Also, honorable mention to the thousands of fans that stuck around through all the delays during two less-than stellar games. 

Jon Lester: Another start, another 6 innings of 1 run 3 hit ball.  Yes, those starts came against KC and the A's, and yes, his strikeouts are down (only 7 over those 12 innings), but Lester's job is to put his team in a position to win.  He's doing that and more. 

David Ortiz: Big Papi swung a mighty bat against those Athletics.  8 hits in his 12 at-bats. 3 doubles, 2 home runs, 5 RBIs (at least one each game), with only one strike out.  Clearly this is a man that wants a new contract.  And, well, deserves one. 

Josh Reddick: And Reddick's decline at the plate continues.  1-7 in the series, with that one hit being a pinch-hit RBI double.  So, that's something.  He also drew a walk and scored a run during Saturday's day game. That's about all the nice things we can say about Josh right now.  That, and the fact that his competition in right, Darnell McDonald, has an 18 ERA on the year. 

Tim Wakefield: Poor Tim Wakefield.  He should've had win #200 about 17 times now by my count, but the Sox keep finding ways to snatch it away from him.  This time, the blame lies solely on Wake's shoulders.  4 IP pitched, tagged for 8 runs (although only 4 were earned), surrendered 8 hits, gave up 2 home runs, and just generally wasn't fooling anybody with the knuckler. 

 Erik Bedard: Thanks to the hour-long rain delay, we didn't get to get a complete look at Bedard.  But what we did see what promising: 4 IP, 0 Runs, 2 Hits and 5 K's.  And yes, 4 walks.  Earlier in the week Gammons said that Bedard was turning a corner.  Not that we'd ever dare doubt him, but he might be right. 

Gonzo: To say he cooled a bit from the Texas series would be quite the understatement. We didn't expect a repeat performance, but we also didn't expect him to go 3-13 with 1 extra-base hit (a wall-scraper double) and one RBI.  Probably just keeping a little bit in the tank for the Yankees series.  That must be it.

Scott Atchison: He was called up to help ease the burden of having to play 3 games in a day and a half, and he did that and more.  Relieving Wake in the 5th, he pitched 3 strong innings - allowing 1 run and 3 hits.  Atchison, who was one of the lone bright spots in last season's bullpen, has pretty much been shafted all season long with the Sox.  While I don't expect the Sox to 'hold' him at the majors much longer, I just wanted to give him a little recognition before he fades back to obscurity. 

Your Morning Dump...where we wait for the drama to return to Sox vs Yankees

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

The Yankees   pull into  Fenway Park  tomorrow night to begin a three-game series against the Red Sox. The two teams will meet for another three-game set next month in the Bronx.

That’s six games between the Athens and Sparta of big league baseball. Six games of menacing gestures leading to bench-clearing brawls . . . six games of catcher’s masks being smooshed into the faces of opposing players . . . six games of star pitchers tossing aging coaches into the grass.

It’ll be tense. It’ll be gripping. It’ll be controversial. It’ll be . . . well, OK, so far this season we have seen none of those things. And now, with the Sox and Yankees all but certain to make it to baseball’s postseason tournament, the remaining games between the two teams are being looked upon as the hardball equivalent of garbage time.

But it’s like one of those old movies when somebody says, “It’s quiet,” at which point the hero slowly turns his head from side to side and then replies, “Yeah . . . too quiet.”

It has been quiet this year between the Red Sox and Yankees. Yeah, too quiet.

True, the fight for first place in the AL East lacks drama. Everyone is whining that, “Both teams are going to the playoffs anyway,” so what’s the big deal?

Herald: Lack of explosiveness

Oh it's a big deal. It's part of the allure of Sox/Yankees. The history of these two franchises is well documented and means so much to both fan bases. Anyone that follows baseball knows this.

But some of the allure is gone from this series. It's no longer the best rivalry in sports, that belongs to Barcelona vs Real Madrid. Because it has the history, the elite caliber play, and the fact that the despise each other's existence. This scuffle happened during the end of the Spanish SuperCup. A cheap shot at the end of the match which ignited both benches.  That chippiness is something that is severely lacking between the Sox and Yankees.

Both teams have been showing each other respect a bit too much... right down to the time it takes to throw every pitch. I'm all for the four hour marathons that these teams play but it needs the emotion back into it. Something like the Varitek/ARod scuffle. Or Pedro demanding that someone would wake up the damn Bambino. Something... anything that shows some sort of hatred for their biggest rival. 

This rivalry is begging for someone to rattle the cage of these rabid fan bases. This series has the potential for that. The Yankees are already a bit peeved thanks to the Orioles, the Sox have two of their best pitchers going against them and it's only the biggest series of the season for both teams. Let's see who has in it them to do it.

Rest of the links: Globe:Perfect Storm for Sox as they prepare for Yankees| Varitek still able to geared up|Herald: Theo saved Ellsbury from Gonzalez trade|Bedard, Lackey bolstering Sox rotation|Streaky Crawford focusing on fine finish||CSNNE:Sox benefit from two day break before Yankees|The new Josh Beckett|WEEI: Rotation takes turn for better