Ted's Army: The Voice of Red Sox fans

Your Morning Dump...where Lester doesn't care for Chicago

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.

When Jon Lester took the mound last night, he was trying to become the first Red Sox lefty starter since 1973 to go at least 7-0 to begin a season.

But he also was facing his personal kryptonite.

In his best and worst seasons, Lester struggles against the White Sox. He can’t explain it, but it has become as predictable as winter blizzards in Chicago. In nine previous starts against the White Sox entering the series opener here, the Red Sox ace lefty had a 5.20 ERA, by far his highest against any AL team.

And, true to form, Lester got roughed up again in a 6-4 loss that snapped the Red Sox’ five-game winning streak.

“For whatever reason, I’ve never pitched well here,” Lester said after allowing five runs, all with two outs, over the first two innings. “Talk to them. See what they’ve got on me. Maybe you can get some info for me. It’s just one of those gigs. If I knew (why), I’d stop giving up a bunch of runs to these guys.”

Herald: Not Jon Lester's kind of town

This isn't out of the norm for any pitcher. However, I've always wondered as to what makes a pitcher suck against one particular team. Have the batters figured him out? Do they have a solid strategy and approach? Does the ballpark not suit him? Is there an issue with the mound? Or does the pitcher flat out hate the city?

I'm curious as to what Lester thinks on the plane ride over to play the White Sox. He has to know his history against this team. The fact that he was attempting to continue his undefeated record most likely didn't help his mindset either.

Luckily, the Red Sox don't see the White Sox until late August for a three-game series. Until then, Lester can sit in a dark room and watch tape for hours to figure his struggles out versus this club. Seriously, that three-run bomb by Adam Dunn may still be in orbit.

Rest of the links:

Globe: White Sox get to Lester again | Globe: Victorino leaves with 'mild' hamstring injury | Globe: Ross cleared to start working out | Herald: Healthy issue in Bailey | Herald: Shane Victorino aching again | Herald: Salty, Middlebrooks go deep, but fall short | Herald: Jonny Gomes: 2-year deal with Red Sox has allowed him to emphasize the intangibles | CSNNE.com: Lester done in by White Sox once again |

Bats awaken, Lester cruises Sox past Rays 9-2

Two aces faced off tonight in Jon Lester and David Price. However, it was everything but the anticipated rubber match. Much to the relief of the Red Sox offense, the 2012 Cy Young Award winner struggled mightily tonight.

The third inning was the exact jolt this Red Sox offense lusted. Stephen Drew led things off with a walk, followed by a Jacoby Ellsbury single to center. Then, the Sox offense just continued to chip away at Price by working the count, building his pitch count, and being selective at the plate. It all paid off as Pedroia, Ortiz, Napoli, and Gomes all drove in runs, giving the Sox a 4-0 lead. Price eventually left the game due to what seemed like an injury to his pitching arm, as he continued to flex his fingers. Price may be in a bit of trouble, given his horrid season and this injury.

The third inning continued and the Sox weren't done. They batted around the line-up with Drew coming to the plate again. And what does he do? Clears the bases with a grand slam of course. He's a Drew, what did you expect? 8-0 Sox, just like that. Remarkable inning.

Even Lester had a hiccup in the third inning...just not nearly as big as Price. He allowed two earned runs in the bottom of the inning. Lester's "slip" has to be chalked up to waiting for the Sox offense to stop pounding the Rays, right? The rest of the night, Lester was stronger as the game went on. On 107 pitches, he threw seven innings, allowing eight hits, two earned runs, no walks, and struck out five Rays.

Lester is still undefeated, earning his sixth win of the young season and is tied for second place for wins in the American League. Oh by the way, Clay Buchholz has six wins too. Pretty nice having two aces (so far) atop the rotation, right?

This game could very well launch the Sox out of their slumping ways. It also never hurts your team's confidence to pound a top ace for eight runs on the road.

Felix Doubront takes the mound for the Sox and will counter Rays starter Alex Cobb tomorrow. First pitch is at 7:10pm.

BOXSCORE

Your Morning Dump... Where Lester changes the momentum

(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

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 one-hitter, the complete game, the shutout, the perfect game through 52⁄3 innings, the six-pitch first inning, the pinpoint command of his fastball, the ground balls and weak swings he got on his two-seam fastball and changeup, his exploitation of an all-jacked-up-on-Mountain-Dew Blue Jays lineup: There was a great deal to admire about Jon Lester’s performance at Fenway Park last night.

Above all else, however, was that Lester put a stop to a Red Sox three-game slide and 3-6 start to May that was beginning to feel like a premature June swoon.

Last night, Lester bent down, picked the team up, and for at least one shining moment, reminded us all in a 5-0 win that this team can look like (and just may be) a very good team — especially when it gets starting pitching like that.

In a season in which Lester has been very good but Clay Buchholz has been a bit better, Lester put out his best effort when the team needed it the most.

That’s what stoppers do.

Herald - John Lester’s gem just what staggering Red Sox needed

As I stated in my recap last night, the best part of Lester's performance is that it whitewashes all the other nonsense surrounding the team at this moment.  I know it's only temporary.  The Sox have another game to play today.  Guys are still hurt.  Shaughnessy isn't going to just let himself fade from the spotlight; he'll try to keep dragging this Ortiz-PED thing around for a while longer, despite the fact that NO ONE wants to have that conversation right now.   

Now it's up to everyone else to keep that momentum going.  The Sox have to feel pretty good heading into today's game.  Buchholz is taking the mound, having thrown 7 innings of 2 hit ball against the Jays just 10 days ago.  You can't expect those types of numbers every time you face a team, but his confidence has to be pretty high.

It's really up to the offense to start picking up their play.  Hits haven't been a problem for them, it's getting those men home.  A large chunk of that has to fall on Papi's shoulders.  After coming out of the gates blazing, he hasn't had a multi-hit game all month (or any hits over his past 13 at-bats).  Napoli, who was an RBI machine the first month of the season is struggling to drive in runs too.  He has 5 RBIs in May, but 4 of those came on May 1st.  Those two guys are the key to making this work.

Rest of the links:

Herald - David Nava stepping up to star role | Jon Lester 1-hitter puts punctuation on win | Globe - Jon Lester nearly perfect in Red Sox’ 5-0 win over Blue Jays | Hanrahan weighing decision on surgery | WEEI - Jon Lester’s nearly perfect game highlights pitching growth since 2008 | Source: Will Middlebrooks playing with separated rib | CSNNE - Stars nearly align for Lester in one-hitter | Game Day Notes: Salty will have changeup nightmares

Recap: Sox win 5-0; Lester throws near-perfect gem

AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

Jon Lester must watch Mad Men.  He took the mound tonight for a team that had lost 6 of 7.  Doubront is crumbling.  The closers are on the DL.  Fans are already losing faith. Clay Buchholz is being scrutinized for having a shiny arm.  CBH is single-handedly shining the PED spotlight on David Ortiz.  A clubhouse that a few days ago was surrounded in nothing but positivity is not battered with negative stories, angles, and doubt.

But as Don Draper once said (and Peggy Olson recently repeated), "If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation.”

9 IP 1 H 0 BB 5 K's That's all anybody will be talking about tomorrow.  Consider the conversation changed. The bullpen needed another day of rest.  The starters needed something to feel positive about.  The clubhouse needed a win.  It took Lester 118 pitches to accomplish all that. 

On the flip side of the field, the Sox offense continues to get on base (10 hits and 5 walks), but are struggling to bring men home.  Sure, they scored 5 runs, but they left men stranded in 7 innings, highlighted (lowlighted?) by Papi leaving 5 men on in his 3 hitless at-bats (he did draw a walk).  His average is nosediving towards .300.

Victorino, Pedroia, Salty and Middlebrooks all had 2 hits and all drove in a run except Victorino.  Nava had a 2 RBI double of his own.   

Buchholz takes the mound against Mark Buehrle tomorrow.  Clay 2 hit the Jays over 7 innings late time (and was so sharp they accused him of cheating), so let's hope he can keep build off of Lester's amazing night.

BOX SCORE

Your Morning Dump...where Salty's error wasn't really an error.

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. 

“It looked like he got tied up with [home plate umpire] Clint [Fagan] behind the plate,” said Red Sox manager John Farrell. “He goes to cock his arm, had his hand hits the mask. After conferring with the umpire, he felt like it was after the ball was released. Physically, I don’t know how that could have happened after he released the ball. But in that case, that should have been a dead ball in the situation that it was, but they kept it as it was.”

It was an entanglement Saltalamacchia confirmed after the Red Sox’ 9-7 loss at Rogers Centre.

“I got it, went to go through it, elbow hit the umpire’s mask,” the catcher explained. “Which I’ve done in the past but no one’s ever said anything. But I didn’t really make a stink about it because I didn’t know the ruling on it. But now I know once it hits his mask it’s got to be a dead ball. It definitely, definitely hit. Part of the game.”

As for any subsequent conversations, Saltalamacchia said, “I did talk to him because he had told John that I hit him on the follow thru, which is kind of impossible. But I did tell him that, and he said, ‘Well, I thought you did.’ I told him that ‘when my arm is going back is when I felt it hit you.’ At that point I was already getting ready to go forward so I couldn’t hold up.”

WEEI: Umpire's mask thwarts Salty's attempt at ruining a rally

That was a kick in the pants eh? I don't know what's more surprising: that Salty has never heard of umpire interference before or that home-plate umpire Chuck Fagan didn't acknowledge that the ball smacked his mask. 

But even though the team took a loss, despite the rally led by David Ortiz, the Sox took it in stride and didn't even think about using the umpire interference as an excuse. John Farrell said they lost due to lack of execution and Jon Lester admitted he was struggling from the first pitch on. If this were May 1st, 2012, the Morning Dump would be  about Bobby Valentine getting tossed and then blaming a Sox blowout loss on this call. 

So if anything, this is just a reminder that this year's team is already superior to last year's and it's more than just the record. (Even though having a 18-8 April record is pretty damn good.)

Globe: Sox lose slugfest | Less chirping on Farrell | Hanrahan activated, Bailey still closer | Some odd moments in a loss for the Sox | Herald: Lester loses way against Blue Jays | Bailey, Hanrahan show it's a new year | Salty claims up got in throw's way | Ortiz swinging a hot bat | CSNNE: Bats can't overcome bullpen | This start a different story for Lester | Victorino still out, but hopeful of avoiding DL | Salty's error looms large  WEEI:  Ortiz the difference maker in the AL East? | Victorino's health still up in the air

Recap: Lester struggles in 9-7 loss to Toronto

The Sox' early season success has been a result of -- more than anything -- starting pitching.

Yes, the bullpen is better. The chemistry is great. David Ortiz is hitting like Barry Bonds. And as far as management goes, John Farrell is a slightly better tactician and motivator than Bobby Valentine. Did I say slightly? I meant, the gulf is immeasurable.

But the starting pitching has been excellent. They had that early-season quality start streak, for one thing, but the biggest standout has been the dominance of Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. Tonight marks the first hiccup in an otherwise stellar season for either of the top two starters, as Lester gave up five earned runs in six innings. The underlying numbers weren't quite as bad -- he allowed six hits and walked two against five strikeouts -- but the mistakes were poorly timed, especially and inside fastball that Edwin Encarnacion hit to Greenland.

Should we be concerned about Lester? Probably not. As I said, most of the issue was timing -- while he wasn't sharp by any means, he still managed six innings and wasn't a total disaster. This wasn't Alfredo Aceves. Some scribes were fretting about his ERA jumping by a run, but let's be real, Lester's ERA is going to be in the 3s. Anything less is just sample size playing tricks on us. Don't sound the alarm just yet.

The Blue Jays won 9-7, but it shouldn't have even been that close. In the 7th, Toronto brought in some defensive replacements to put the game away. With Ellsbury on 1st and one out, Daniel Nava hit what should have been a picture-perfect double play, but shortstop Munenori Kawasaki threw it wide of second base, and Maicer Izturis didn't exactly put up a great effort to stop it. The ball sailed into right field and Ellsbury took 3rd. The Sox had a window open with the heart of the order and delivered. Pedroia walked, and Papi connected for a monster three-run double, complete with him flexing the guns while looking into the dugout, shades of the old double-point to Pedro and Manny.

And while that was quite fun, the Sox couldn't hold it together. Junichi Tazawa surrendered a two-run homer to Encarnacion -- also crushed to deep-center, although not as highlight-worthy as his first bomb. Joel Hanrahan came on for the bottom of the 8th and gave up a run of his own following two hard-hit singles. His last out was a loud fly ball to center field. Suffice it to say, it's good that Andrew Bailey remains closer.

Some assorted negative points: Will Middlebrooks continues to look completely lost at the plate. His OBP now hovers in the .220 mark, which even Carl Crawford managed to achieve. He went 0-for-4 in the 8 hole, striking out twice. Not to be outdone, Mike Napoli struck out four times. Ouch. And Jarrod Saltalamacchia deserves a few grumblings for his defensive work: With the bases loaded he threw a pick-off attempt to 1st that Mike Napoli was not expecting. The ball flew into right field and two Jays scored.

Let's end on a positive note: A tip of the cap to Farrell, who made a difficult substitution choice that paid off big time. Mike Carp had homered early in the game, but with a lefty on the mound in the 6th Farrell elected to pinch-hit Jonny Gomes in his place. Just as I was thinking to myself "John, you're overthinking things here with this whole platoon situation," Gomes deposited the ball over the fence and I was made to look foolish.

Box score

Red Sox Sneak by A's 6-5, Take the Series

It wasn't pretty, but the Red Sox snuck by 6-5 with a collaberative effort against the Oakland A's in a late afternoon match-up at Fenway Park.

Jon Lester had control issues for most of the game, but managed to hold the A's to three runs courtesy of a three-run homer by Chris Young. He finished the day throwing five and two-thirds innings, yielding six hits, three earned runs, and a whopping six walks. Lester also added five strikeouts to his 115-pitch effort.

The bullpen was pretty decent, with a few bumps here and there.Tazawa relieved Lester in the 6th and was overall effective until two-outs in the 7th, where he allowed a double to Jed Lowrie and a RBI single to Josh Donaldson, making it a tight 6-4 game.

A newly trimmed and no longer homeless looking Andrew Miller came in to relieve Tazawa and had a big strike out to Red Sox killer Brandon Moss.

Koji Uehara came in the 8th, and similar to the other night, let up yet another bomb over the Monster Seats. This time around, it was a lead-off homer to Chris Young (his 2nd HR of the game). The A's closed the gap even tighter at 6-5, but Uehara battled back and retired the rest of the side.

Andrew Bailey was outstanding yet again to close the game out in the 9th. The more Bailey has outings like this, the longer Joel Hanrahan will have to be activated from the DL.

At the plate, the Red Sox continued their upward trend this season of clutch hitting. Stephen Drew tied the game 3-3 with a two-RBI triple in the 5th inning. Daniel Nava also added a timely hit, pinch-hittting for Jonny Gomes during a bases loaded situation to face the righty pitcher Chris Resop. He had a grinding at-bat and came through with a big single to right to provide a three-run cushion. Quality, strong plate appearances have been the story of this Red Sox offense so far.

A couple of negatives: Shane Victorinio looked gimpy in his appearance in the 7th, resulting in Nava being shifted to right and Mike Carp taking over in left. One has to wonder if Victorino rushed himself back from his original injury. Just my opinion, but you have to figure Victorino may be heading to the DL.

Also, Will Middlebrooks is struggling...mightily. He had the bases loaded in the 5th and decided to swing at the first pitch, which was a weak grounder back to the mound. That's the sign of a batter who is trying too hard and letting his struggles get to his head. Middlebrooks needs to go back to the basics and turn his approach around.

The Red Sox host the Houston Astros tomorrow at 6:35pm. Philip Humber will take the mound for the Astros, as Buccholz will get the nod for the Sox.

BOXSCORE

 

Recap: Sox sweep second straight with 6-3 win in Cleveland

The $150 million scrappy underdogs improved to 12-4 with a 6-3 win against the Indians tonight. The win was the team's sixth straight, making it back-to-back sweeps against Tampa Bay and Cleveland.

The Sox get the win off yet another strong performance from a starting pitcher. De facto ace Jon Lester earned his third win off seven strong innings, scattering four hits and a walk against five strikeouts. Lester threw 115 pitches.

Offensively, Boston had a balanced attack, with six different players getting in the hit column and seven getting on base. Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Napoli each had two hits and also each provided an extra-base hit, including a triple from Napoli. You're not going to believe this, but the wind helped him out on that triple.

One dark spot on the game was that the bullpen was far from perfect. Andrew Miller struggled, giving up a walk and a hit while only retiring two batters, and KKKKKKKKoji Uehara allowed one of the inherited runs on a Carlos Santana double before retiring Nick Swisher.

Anecdotally, there was a surprising amount of discontent among batters on both sides of the plate and on both teams with the strike zone, particularly the left side of the plate (the outside corner for righties, inside corner for lefties). In the first few innings I noticed a lot of unhappiness about called strikes, and it also seemed like NESN's Amica pitch zone wasn't matching up with the plate well. There were a few times on replays where a ball looked questionable and then on the pitch zone it would either be well off the plate, or over it considerably. As you can tell by this meandering paragraph I don't have any screengrabs or what you might call "evidence". I was just expecting an ejection or two for arguing, but both teams held it together.

Up next: the return of David Ortiz, the return to Fenway, and the not-terrible Kansas City Royals.

Box score

Recap: Sox get the win in the 10th

(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

If you love pitching, the Sox and Rays put on a clinic this afternoon in Boston's 2-1 victory in the bottom of the 10th. 

11 pitchers took the mound and virtually all but one (we'll get to that in a minute) were on fire, lead by starters Lester and Price.  Lester threw 7 innings of 5 hit ball with 5 K's and only 1 walk.  Price, who had struggled a bit this season, had his usual dominant Fenway performance: 6 IP 4 hits 8 K 2 BB.  Both Lester and Price were tagged with 1 run. 

There wasn't a whole lot going on with the offense (see: paragraph above).  Price made one mistake pitch while he was on the mound, which Ross put into the Monster seats.  The Sox second (and walk-off) run came from the wheels of Jacoby Ellsbury.  He hit a single to center with one out in the bottom of the 10th.  He then took off for second in a steal attempt - Ray's catcher Lobaton threw the ball into center field - and Jacoby took third.  The Rays put 5 men in the infield with Victorino at the plate.  He hit a solid grounder to second, but the Rays never even tried to throw Jacoby out at home.  Ballgame.

Relieving Lester, Baily had a 1-2-3 inning.  Then Hanrahan showed up.  New flash: Hanrahan is awful.  He walked Longoria on 4 straight balls.  He walked Zobrist , but actually managed to get a few balls over the plate if that matters.  Farrell had seen enough (so much for that confidence in his closer), and called in Superman Uehara.  Koji struck out Loney, and got the next two batters to pop-up.  Threat level: Over.

Tazawa pitched the 10th and got the 'W'.  He started the inning by giving up a double, but had no trouble the rest of the way. 

Nice to see this team battle for 10 innings.  Such a different vibe this season.

BOX SCORE

Your Morning Dump...where Farrell creates a 1-2 punch in Lester and Buchholz

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 Boston Red Sox, now winners of five of their first seven games, are cruising on the shoulders of their top two pitchers: Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz.

Is it too early for the Red Sox to give manager John Farrell a raise? Whatever the Sox are paying Farrell, they should double it considering the performances he’s been able to coax out of once-wayward starters Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz this season.

Everyone knew that the redemptive duo of Lester and Buchholz would be the compass for the Red Sox season. Seven games into the season the Sox and their reinvigorated aces are pointing due north.

Buchholz matched Lester’s seven shutout innings on Sunday against Toronto with seven shutout innings of his own, as the resurgent Sox sent the Fenway Faithful home happy with a 3-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the home opener Monday.

Lester and Buchholz have combined to go 4-0, while allowing just three runs in 26 innings. They’ve struck out 25. Their efforts are beyond the best-case scenario for the Sox, who have put the malodorous and odious 2012 season in the rearview mirror with a 5-2 start.

They’re stud pitchers. They’ve always been really good,” said Sox catcher David Ross. “I was excited when I signed here just to be able to catch those guys. They’re front-end starters in the rotation in anybody’s team in the major leagues. It’s nothing that is a shocker to me. They know they’re good. We know they’re good, and I enjoy catching them.”

Globe: Red Sox aces off to a strong start this season

Is the Red Sox dream pitching rotation finally developing in front of our eyes? Is John Farrell the savior? So far in this young season, it looks as if the Red Sox have not one, but TWO aces.

I know it's only been seven games, but Buchholz and Lester look like they've progressed and returned to form. Their pitching lines thus far speak for themselves:

Lester :        (2-0) 12.0 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, 13 K's, 1.50 ERA

Buchholz :   (2-0) 14.0 IP, 9 H, 1 ER, 12 K's, 0.64 ERA

When Farrell was on the opposing bench managing the Blue Jays, he must have been so giddy to get to Boston to fix these two. Little tweak here, little tweak there and all of a sudden, these two seem to be completely turned around.

From a fan's standpoint, there's nothing more exciting than checking out the pitching matchup for a game and realizing the ace is taking the mound. The Red Sox haven't had that in quite some time.

Now, do they potentially have two? Ask me again in September, but so far so good.

Rest of the links- Globe: No matter what, Red Sox fans always come back | Globe: In pregame ceremony, Red Sox and Jimmy Fund celebrate 60 years together | Globe: The Iglesias dilemmea approaches | Herald: Daniel Nava pulls another surprise with big home run | Herald: John Farrell’s golden touch may be his best hunch | CSNNE.com: Nava steps up in surprising Opening Day start | CSNNE.com: MRI shows no biceps tear for Lackey