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Your Morning Dump... Where Punto says Wallach is like Tito

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 was just a 36-game get-to-know-you session for Nick Punto and Tim Wallach, but the Dodgers’ third base coach evidently left quite an impression on the former Red Sox infielder.

“He’s just an awesome baseball guy,” Punto said. “He knows a lot about the game. He’s very personable. He’s a great personality. He relates to all the guys. He’s just a solid baseball man. I think he could do a good job in that role. And I know he wants to be a manager.

“He never got too high or too low. He was an aggressive third base coach, not afraid to make mistakes. I enjoyed his personality on the baseball field as far as his intent to win the game. But he never did get too high or too low.”

“He could handle it,” said Punto of Wallach. “He has almost like a Tito [Terry Francona] type personality, where guys are going to get along with him. He could handle the media, for sure. He could handle that whole atmosphere, in my opinion.”

WEEI - Nick Punto on Tim Wallach: ‘He has almost like a Tito-type personality’

You know it's a slow news day when we kick the morning off with quotes from Nick Punto.

Heading into this managerial search, I have virtually the same sentiments I had last year.  There's not a single person out there that I'm pining for to take over the Sox bench.  I don't even really have a preference between established baseball coaches or recently retired catchers.  No name has been mentioned as a  candidate, yet, that's gotten me excited. If I had to pick someone, I'd go with Farrell, simply because he's the guy I'm most familiar with, and causes me to have visions of Jon Lester winning a Cy Young dancing in my head.

Nick Punto calling Walach Tito-like, and saying he would have no problem handling the Boston media is great to hear.  And it all very well may be true, but it won't make me pull for Wallach to get the job. 

The Sox need to get a manager in place quickly.  They can't let this drag into winter again.  But, we don't really know what type of team we're going to be fielding next year.  It could be a team filled with Pawtucket call-ups, or the Sox could go out and sign a handful of veterans this offseason.  Either of those are entirely plausible, but each requires a different type of manager, or at least managerial tactics, to be successful.

Whoever they settle on, they have to get this right.  We've had a revolving door of shortstops ever since we got rid of Nomar, the best shortstop in a generation.  We can't handle the managerial gig the same way.

Rest of the links:

Globe - Red Sox GM Ben Cherington feels front office strayed from team-building model | Herald - Tim Wallach gets Red Sox’ first call | A-Rod’s October brings Snub Seen ’Round the World | WEEI - Why John Farrell still might be right man at right time for Red Sox | Source: Ross, Sox talks gain 'momentum' | Sox meet Japanese phenom Otani | CSNNE - Free Agency 101: Who's best for the Red Sox? 

Your Morning Dump...where Doubront is falling apart

[Image credit: Tim Heintzelman via the Red Sox Twitter account]

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.

Doubront threw 27 pitches, 16 for strikes, in the first inning, allowing the first four batters to reach. He opened the game giving up a single to Brett Lawrie before Colby Rasmus’ 14th home run of the season, on a curveball. Jose Bautista reached on a Will Middlebrooks error, scoring on Edwin Encarnacion’s double. He retired Kelly Johnson on a flyout to Daniel Nava in left field before Yunel Escobar’s single to right, scoring Encarnacion. Rajai Davis reached on a fielder’s choice, erasing Escobar. With Ben Francisco batting, Davis was caught stealing to end the inning. 
 
In all Doubront went six innings, giving up a seven runs, five earned, on 11 hits, a walk, and two home runs, with two strikeouts.  In 18 career starts, it was a career high in runs allowed, and the first time he has allowed double-digit hits. The two strikeouts match a career low in a start.
 
Doubront threw 83 pitches, 61 strikes. His record falls to 8-4 with a 4.54 ERA. 
 
“I think he was trying to throw a lot of strikes and didn’t want to waste a lot of pitches and it seems like a lot of them got hit,” said manager Bobby Valentine. Not that they were all hit hard that’s for sure. I'd say he gave up six or seven hits that were off the end of the bat or jammed, about four of them were hit hard. It wasn’t his best outing but he’ll improve on that.”

CSNNE | Doubront looks to move forward after disappointing start

Not that I want to say Felix Doubront has turned into Daniel Bard or anything, but the rookie pitcher is struggling. His last four starts have been awful: Over 23 innings, he's given up 17 earned runs, bumping his ERA from 3.75 to 4.54. The strikeouts are still there -- 21 -- and the walks are curiously down -- just four -- but batters are making contact, as they've registered 31 hits. Oof.

Maybe Felix isn't getting the same movement on his pitches. Mabye he's just in a slump. Or maybe, and this would be bad, the league is just adjusting to him now that they've seen a few starts. This happens all the time -- a new pitcher shows up and hitters aren't prepared to face him because they don't know him. Look at Matt Moore of the Rays last year -- he came on the scene last September and the Rays trusted him to make playoff appearances. He went seven strong, giving up just two hits, against the eventual AL champion Texas Rangers. 

This year, Moore is having some growing pains, with an ERA over 4.00 and a hilarious 40 walks in 80+ innings. Sometimes the league catches up to you.

If that's the case for Felix, hopefully Salty and Bob McClure and the other starters can help Felix make the adjustment. We can't afford to have another starter lose it for us.

On page 2, the Sox' new utility guy is a lefty masher.

Recap: Offense explodes in 8th to give Sox 2nd straight win

It looked like the same formula as every game recently for the Red Sox. 4-2 going into the 8th...let's just try to hang on to this thing.

And then the offense showed up.

Nick Punto pinch-hit for Felix Doubront and doubled, and the Sox never looked back. The next four Sox batters got hits, and the fifth was hit by a pitch. When all was said and done, six runs were in and the Sox were on their way to a 10-2 win.

Doubront was strong yet again, striking out nine over seven innings. His two runs came off just three hits and a walk. No complaints here.

The big story was of course the offense, which had only scored more than four runs once in the last six games. Scott Podsednik, Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz, Mike Aviles, and Punto (who came up again later in the 8th) all had multi-hit games, with the Sox collecting 14 total.

They pulled even with the Blue Jays for a tie for 4th place in the division, and are 4.5 games out of 3rd. 

Box score

Your Morning Dump...Where hard work is to credit for Punto's performance

(Photo by Abelimages/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.

“You can practice all you want but until you step in that box and see 95-mph pitches coming at you, it’s going to be tough,” he said.

So he texted Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan around midnight on Wednesday with a request.
 
“I said can we get on the field, try to get some time, and crank that [pitching] machine up, try to get it to where it’s throwing 95 miles an hour,” Punto said. “I felt really good coming out of that. Since then I’ve been seeing the ball a lot better.”
 
Punto wanted to see some velocity in BP, which isn’t always easy off the regular BP pitchers, whose offerings are a good 30 or so miles less than what he wanted. He and Magadan got the machine onto the field before the series finale against the Tigers on Wednesday.
 
Punto knew something clicked.
 
“Timing is everything and when you get that machine cranked up you can’t be long [in your swing],” he said. “And my swing was a little bit long. We shortened it up.”

CSNNE: Extra work pays off for Punto

I was pleasantly surprised with Nick Punto's performance is yesterday's game, especially the home run. I had the highest expectations for Punto before the season began and my feelings quickly turned as the season began and progressed. I still don't like seeing Nick Punto in the lineup, but he did show us he can hit it anywhere. The home run was just a bomb that would make you think Ortiz hit it if you just saw the clip of the ball leaving the yard.

Nick Punto's 3-for-4 is just a flash and we probably won't see that again in the near future. It is fun to see the number 9 man, a .132 hitter to enter the game, put on a show like that. 

On Page 2, Pedroia should be ready to play by Tuesday

2012 season preview: The infield

The Ted's Army crew has created a series of collectors items to write home about. To preview the 2012 Red Sox season, we have created player cards that you can collect and trade with your friends over a nice tall glass of iced tea. Sit back and enjoy part 3 of 4 of our season preview, the infield.

It is pretty clear what we think Adrian Gonzalez is going to do this season. We have already started our chants of "MVP" and have a Triple Crown party planned.