Ted's Army: The Voice of Red Sox fans

Your Morning Dump...where Napoli & Pedroia blame themselves

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

“I didn’t make the play. I saw it up and overran it. … My first read was stay back and then I started running in and overran it,” said Napoli. “I’ve played here before (at first). It’s a white roof, but I saw the ball and like I said, I overran it.”

Pedroia countered that, given his experience playing indoors at Tropicana Field, he should have made the play.

“It was up there a while. I’ve played a lot of games at this field. I ran to it and took my eye off it and tried to find it again, and I couldn’t find it. It’s probably an easier play for me than Nap because a left-handed hitter and I had a better angle. I just took my eye off it. I know better than to do that. We lose it. It just drops,” said Pedroia. “I was kind of playing deep, and I just kind of ran up. I know better than to take my eye off it when you run here because then you can’t find it. He hasn’t played that many games in the field here, and I’ve played a lot. It’s my responsibility to help him out in those situations and catch the ball.”

Napoli, however, refused to accept the reprieve.

“That’s a long way for him to run. That’s a play I should’ve made and I didn’t,” said the first baseman. “Felt bad, because John’s out there, he got the guy to pop up, and if it’s a tie ball game, he probably would’ve pitched a little longer. Just overran the ball and didn’t make the play

WEEI: Napoli, Pedroia explain what went wrong

My God. This was just brutal to watch. With the Sox in free fall mode, this couldn't have happened at a worse time. 

Last night has been a summation of what the Sox have done this season: Coming out of the gate strong and then quietly falling back into the pack while the other teams start picking up the pace. The Yankees are suddenly in first place despite having their core group of guys on the disabled list and they just got Curtis Granderson back last night.

One can only hope that the Sox can get out of this awful stretch and show something that resembles the team we saw last month. Maybe they weren't as good of a team as they were showing us in April, but they're definitely not as bad as they have been thus far in May. 

Globe: Sox fall to Rays | Offensive woes continue | Ortiz says he has an oblique injury | Sox find new way to lose | Herald: Sox headed south | Lackey fades in stretch | Ortiz has sore oblique | Loney swings away with Tampa | CSNNE: It all unravels in the fourth | Fourth inning does Sox. Lackey in | Recovering Bailey may return to Sox on Friday | Ortiz: Sore oblique affecting swing a bit | Doubront works on mechanics; Lavarnway gets start | Victorino feels good after crash into Fenway wall | WEEI: Waiting for Ells | Ortiz dealing with tightness in oblique | Lackey, Sox offense fall flat in loss to Rays | Sox all in on Tazawa after bullpen shuffle

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

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

Arms: Tuesday: John Lackey, RHP (1-3, 2.82 ERA)  vs. Matt Moore, LHP (6-0, 2.14 ERA)

Wednesday: Jon Lester, LHP (5-0, 2.73 ERA) vs. David Price, LHP (1-3, 4.78 ERA)  

Thursday: Clay Buchholz, RHP (6-0, 1.69 ERA) vs. Alex Cobb, RHP (4-2, 3.02 ERA)

                                  Yard: Tropicana Field  Watch it: NESN   Hear it:  WEEI

The Matchup

Record: 22-16 (3rd AL East)	Record: 19-18 (4th AL East)
On road: 9-6	At home: 13-6
Streak: L2	Streak: W5
Leaders at the plate	Leaders at the plate
Average: Carp (.351)	Average: Loney (.376)
Homers: Napoli (7)	Homers: Longoria (9)
RBI: Napoli (33)	RBI: Longoria (26)
Leaders on the mound	Leaders on the mound
Wins: Buchholz (6)	Wins: Moore (6)
ERA: Buchholz (1.69) | Wilson (1.54)	ERA: Moore (2.14) | Lueke (0.00)
K's: Dempster (61)	K's: Price (48)

Last time

The Red Sox swept the Rays at Fenway one month ago. Game one consisted of a pitchers duel...sort of. Price and Lester each gave up only 1 run in their outings. The Sox ended up with the win in the 10th on a Victorino single to drive in Ellsbury.

Clay Buchholz was dominant in game 2, throwing 8 innings of shut-out, 2-hit ball. Pedey went 3-for-4 in the game, and Napoli contributed with a double that drove in a pair of runs that were more than enough.

The Sox got another walk-off victory in game 2, which consisted of another good pitching matchup in Hellickson and Dempster. Ryan Dempster gave up only 2 hits, one of them a solo homer, and struck out 10 Rays in his outing. Mike Napoli capped off his good-not-great series with a walk-off double that scored Pedroia in the 9th. A repeat would be nice.

 

This time

Laser Show: Dustin Pedroia

The first name that popped in my head. He had a good series against the Rays last month, so why not? Historic stats have meant nothing over the past few series. This offense needs a spark and Pedroia is certainly capable of doing just that.

Pitch Around: Evan Longoria

A .333 average with 9 homers, and 26 RBI, should be enough to pitch around every few at-bats. Longoria is locked in and could be huge trouble for Sox pitching.

Don't Fall Behind: Matt Moore

Moore is pitching out of his mind right now. The Red Sox will not get many opportunities to compile threats in the game and cannot miss any mistakes Moore throws at them. Going up against Lackey, the Sox need to knock him down quickly...but don't count on it.

How we see it goin' down

The Sox need to get back to their winning ways very soon, though this may not be the series. They will start the series with a serious pitching disadvantage, which evens out for games 2 and 3. Even though David Price's record and ERA are terrible, he is still a great pitcher and can shut the offense down very quickly. The Sox are definitely underdogs in the series and will drop 2 in Tampa. They'll get their revenge and start winning again in Minnesota...maybe.

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

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

First Pitch: Friday 7:10, Saturday 1:05, Sunday 1:35, Monday 11:05

Arms: Friday: Alex Cobb, RHP  (1-0, 0.00 ERA)  vs. Felix Doubront, LHP (0-0, 5.40 ERA)

Saturday: David Price, LHP (0-1, 8.18 ERA) vs. Jon Lester, LHP (2-0, 1.50 ERA)  

Sunday: Jeremy Hellickson, RHP (0-1, 6.35 ERA) vs. Clay Buchholz, RHP (2-0, 0.64 ERA)

Monday: Roberto Hernandez, RHP (0-2 6.08 ERA) vd. Ryan Dempster, RHP (0-1, 3.60 ERA)

                                  Yard: Fenway Park   Watch it: NESN   Hear it:  WEEI

The Matchup

Record: 4-5	Record: 5-4
On road: 1-2	At home: 1-2
Streak: W1	Streak: L2
Leaders at the plate	Leaders at the plate
Average: Zobrist (.364)	Average: Nava (.421)
Homers: 4 tied (1)	Homers: Middlebrooks (4)
RBI: Zobrist (9)	RBI: Ellsbury/Napoli (8)
Leaders on the mound	Leaders on the mound
Wins: Moore  (2)	Wins: Buchholz/Lester (2)
ERA: Cobb/Moore (0.00) | Wright (0.00)	ERA: Buchholz (0.64) | 3 tied (0.00)
K's: Moore (13)	K's: Dempster (15)

Last time

The Red Sox and Rays split their last series in mid-September at the Trop. Doubront and Aaron Cook got the wins for the Sox and Dice-K laid an egg, as he usually did, for the worst loss of the series,13-3. The Sox were outscored 20-7 in the two losses. At least they got two games out of it.

This time

Laser Show: Will Middlebrooks

Middlebrooks is only batting .222, but Rays pitching is struggling, which is unusual for that club as of late. Pitchers have learned not to pitch to Will in his wheel-house, but if Rays pitching doesn't improve in this series, you can count on Middlebrooks making them pay for mistakes. .

Pitch Around: Ben Zobrist

Ben Zobrist is killing opposing pitchers in this young season. Zobrist has come up big in key situations, batting .600 with 4 RBI in situations with 2 outs and RISP. His average is much better when he bats right, but his homer and 7 out of his 9 RBI have come from the left side. Translation: He is dangerous from both sides of the plate. It's still early, and a trip to cold Fenway could ice him.

Don't Fall Behind: Alex Cobb

Young, Boston born, Alex Cobb, was lights out in his first and only start of the young season. Cobb went 7 1/3, scattering 4 hits, 3 walks and stuck out 6. Compared to the rest of the staff's performance (with the exception of Moore), that's pretty damn good. Even when not compared to the rest of the staff, it's pretty good. The Sox need to act early against him, and not let him get into any rhythm. Try to work some walks and tire him out to get to the bullpen early.

How we see it goin' down

It is tough to win a 4-game series, especially against AL East teams. Given the poor performance of Rays starting pitching, the Sox' chances of coming away with 3 wins are pretty good. The definitely win the pitching matchups, which is good enough for me to predict a series win for the Red Sox. 

First Pitch: Friday 7:10, Saturday 1:05, Sunday 1:35, Monday 11:05

Arms: Friday: Alex Cobb, RHP  (1-0, 0.00 ERA)  vs. Felix Doubront, LHP (0-0, 5.40 ERA)

Saturday: David Price, LHP (0-1, 8.18 ERA) vs. Jon Lester, LHP (2-0, 1.50 ERA)  

Sunday: Jeremy Hellickson, RHP (0-1, 6.35 ERA) vs. Clay Buchholz, RHP (2-0, 0.64 ERA)

Monday: Roberto Hernandez, RHP (0-2 6.08 ERA) vd. Ryan Dempster, RHP (0-1, 3.60 ERA)

                                  Yard: Fenway Park   Watch it: NESN   Hear it:  WEEI

The Matchup

Record: 4-5	Record: 5-4
On road: 1-2	At home: 1-2
Streak: W1	Streak: L2
Leaders at the plate	Leaders at the plate
Average: Zobrist (.364)	Average: Nava (.421)
Homers: 4 tied (1)	Homers: Middlebrooks (4)
RBI: Zobrist (9)	RBI: Ellsbury/Napoli (8)
Leaders on the mound	Leaders on the mound
Wins: Moore  (2)	Wins: Buchholz/Lester (2)
ERA: Cobb/Moore (0.00) | Wright (0.00)	ERA: Buchholz (0.64) | 3 tied (0.00)
K's: Moore (13)	K's: Dempster (15)

Last time

The Red Sox and Rays split their last series in mid-September at the Trop. Doubront and Aaron Cook got the wins for the Sox and Dice-K laid an egg, as he usually did, for the worst loss of the series,13-3. The Sox were outscored 20-7 in the two losses. At least they got two games out of it.

This time

Laser Show: Will Middlebrooks

Middlebrooks is only batting .222, but Rays pitching is struggling, which is unusual for that club as of late. Pitchers have learned not to pitch to Will in his wheel-house, but if Rays pitching doesn't improve in this series, you can count on Middlebrooks making them pay for mistakes. .

Pitch Around: Ben Zobrist

Ben Zobrist is killing opposing pitchers in this young season. Zobrist has come up big in key situations, batting .600 with 4 RBI in situations with 2 outs and RISP. His average is much better when he bats right, but his homer and 7 out of his 9 RBI have come from the left side. Translation: He is dangerous from both sides of the plate. It's still early, and a trip to cold Fenway could ice him.

Don't Fall Behind: Alex Cobb

Young, Boston born, Alex Cobb, was lights out in his first and only start of the young season. Cobb went 7 1/3, scattering 4 hits, 3 walks and stuck out 6. Compared to the rest of the staff's performance (with the exception of Moore), that's pretty damn good. Even when not compared to the rest of the staff, it's pretty good. The Sox need to act early against him, and not let him get into any rhythm. Try to work some walks and tire him out to get to the bullpen early.

How we see it goin' down

It is tough to win a 4-game series, especially against AL East teams. Given the poor performance of Rays starting pitching, the Sox' chances of coming away with 3 wins are pretty good. The definitely win the pitching matchups, which is good enough for me to predict a series win for the Red Sox. 

Taking Stock: Red Sox Orioles series

After every series, we'll take stock of how each individual and group performance affects their overall value.

Lineup

Grouping everyone together continues to be the most efficient way to do this. I don't care about the homers from Ross, Salty, and Nava, because that was the extent of production from those guys. They were completely embarrassed in game 1, by getting held to just 1 hit. A better fight was put up in game 2, yet they struggled to get runners in scoring position and fell short as we expected. Game 3 was lost in the 1st inning and they marked themselves as the worst Sox team since '66.

Starting Pitching

Are you kidding me? I know the team is horrible, but 6 1st inning runs surrendered by Aaron Cook and 3 by Stewart is shameful. They combined for 3.2 innings, 12 hits, 11 runs (11 ER), 3 walks, and 1, just 1 strikeout. As we thought, Felix Doubront gave the Sox their best shot at a victory, but the offense sucks and can't produce more than 3 runs in a game.  I can't wait for Thursday.

Bullpen

I am completely ignoring what Aceves does and with that said, the bullpen was much better than the starters, but not great.

Managing

It's been out of Bobby's hands for a while now.

 

Overall

Another one of those "no explanation needed" moments.

Recap: Another loss

The Sox lost again, as expected. David Price went the distance to get his 19th win of the season as the Rays took this one 5-2.

I wonder how many people actually watched this game. The Rays came in on a 5, now 6 game winning streak and the Sox have been dead for months. The Sox honored the 2004 World Series Champion Red Sox before the game, and that was the most notable Red Sox highlight.

The Sox got their two runs by way of a Danny Valencia RBI single in the 2nd and a Price balk that scored Nava. Pedey was the top performer at the plate for the Sox, going 2-for-4, with a double and single. Pedey and Valencia were the only 2 Sox not to strikeout in this game.

As mentioned, David Price shut the Sox down, going the distance and striking out 13. The Rays figured Buchholz out this time, as he was tagged for all 5 runs (4 earned), on 8 hits in 6 innings of work. Clay is doing his best Tim Wakefield impression by going 7 straight starts without a win. The bullpen stopped the bleeding, but Price made another great case for the Cy Young Award.

Losses are fine with me, as long as the Sox can lock a top draft pick.

Box Score

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

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

Arms: Tuesday: David Price, LHP (18-5, 2.58 ERA) vs. Clay Buchholz, RHP (11-6, 4.16 ERA)

Wednesday: Alex Cobb, RHP (9-9, 4.27 ERA) vs. Jon Lester, LHP (9-13, 4.96 ERA)  

                                       Yard: Fenway Park   Watch it: NESN   Hear it:  WEEI

The Matchup

Record: 83-70 (3rd AL East)	Record: 69-85 (4th AL East)
On road: 39-36	At home: 34-45
Streak: Won 5	Streak: Won 1
Leaders at the plate	Leaders at the plate
Average: Keppinger (.329)	Average: Podsednik (.309)
Homers: Upton (26)	Homers: Saltalamacchia (24)
RBI: Upton (74)	RBI: Ross (77)
Leaders on the mound	Leaders on the mound
Wins: Price (18)	Wins: Buchholz/Doubront (11)
ERA: Price (2.58) | Rodney (0.64)	ERA: Buchholz (4.16) | Tazawa (1.54)
K's: Shields (202)	K's: Lester (160)

Last time

The Sox and Rays split a 4-game series last week in Tampa Bay. After winning the first two games the Sox were killed in game 3. Then, game 4 was a complete disaster. After going into the ninth with a 4-1 lead, Andrew Bailey and Vicente Padilla combined for 6 runs in the inning to blow it for another heart-breaker. Can we still call those heart-breakers? We are well beyond that.

 This time

Laser Show: Dustin Pedroia

i had a bunch of names on a dart board and I hit Pedroia. Pedey will likely play in every game so that's a good start. He had an absolutely awful series in Tampa Bay, but he has picked it up since then.

Pitch Around: B.J. Upton, Jeff Keppinger, & Ben Zobrist

This trio killed the Sox last week in Tampa. Upton was responsible for the walk-off homer in the final game, Keppinger was a big part in the 13-3 rout of the Red Sox, and Zobrist drove in a run in every game.  They combined for 15 hits, 2 homers, 11 RBI, and 8 runs scored.

Don't Fall Behind: David Price

Once again, we will see a Price/Buchholz match-up. Both walked away from the last meeting with a no-decision (game 4). Buchholz had the much better outing, but Price has the better numbers on the season. The Rays are just barely hanging on and you know Price will be reaching back for his extra best stuff.

How we see it goin' down

The Rays have won 5 straight and are 3 games out of the final wild card spot with 9 games remaining on their schedule. They are going all out in this final home series for the Sox and they will likely sweep the quick two-game series. I hope for that result so the Sox can be assured a protected top 10 pick in the draft. Yeah, that's what they are playing for...or not playing for.

Sox bullpen gets killed in ninth, lose another heart breaker, 7-4

It looked like it was going to be a nice victory for the Sox but the bullpen decided to act like a sucky magician. They turned a three run lead into a three run deficit in the ninth as the Sox lose 7-4.

The Rays tried to make a quick rally in the ninth on Andrew Bailey as he gave up back to back base hits before getting an out. Carlos Pena managed to get a base hit to make it 4-2. He then walked Stephen Vogt, who is 0-for-19 this season, to load the bases. Desmond Jennings then tied the game with an RBI double that secured the blown save for Bailey and ended his night.

Vicente Padilla came in and apparently didn't want to be out there or long because he gave BJ Upton a meatball over the plate and just like that the ballgame was over. Three run shot for Upton. 

Can the Sox get a mulligan for that ninth? Because it's such a damn shame to see Buchholz's effort go to waste. Especially going against David Price.

It was a pitcher's duel until the sixth inning when Cody Ross was able to get an RBI double off of Price to bring home Jose Iglesias. Ryan Lavarnway followed that wth a single to drive home Ross to make it 2-0. The Sox were able to add another run in the eighth as Mauro Gomez hit an RBI triple to bring in Lavarnway that ended Price's night.

Buchholz pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits and two walks. He had everything working tonight and the Rays couldn't figure him out all night. 

The young guys really had a good night as Lavarnway, Mauro Gomez, and Jose Iglesias combined for 7 of the 10 Sox hits. One of those hits was Jose Iglesias' first career home run. He finished 3-for-4 and got the silent treatment in the dugout before the Sox celebrated his homer. A nice moment that was quickly dismissed as the bullpen completely crapped all over themselves. This games summarizes the 2012 Red Sox: one small step forward, one giant leap back.

 

Recap: Red Sox are terrible, lose to the Rays

This just in: The Red Sox are not good at baseball.

After back-to-back wins, the Sox followed Daisuke's lead into a night of terrible pitching and below-average hitting to lose to the Rays 13-3. The loss was their 82nd of the season, guaranteeing a record below .500 for 2012.

Daisuke actually had the best control of any Sox pitcher, though that isn't saying much. He only lasted three innings, walking just one, but allowing nine hits and give earned runs. He was followed by certified insane person Alfredo Aceves, who pitched two lousy innings, giving up four runs on two walks.

Not to be outdone, Daniel Bard came in and faced five batters, walking three, giving up a hit, and retiring one. Bobby V had seen enough, and moved on to Andrew Miller...who walked both batters he saw. Scott Atchison provided a brief respite from the balls, pitching 1.2 uneventful innings, before letting Chris Carpenter continuing the wild ways with two walks.

I bother to point all this out because that's how excruciating this game was to watch. Ten walks, 15 hits, 13 runs...just terrible. 

And at the risk of repeating myself...why was Daisuke out there in the first place? What purpose does he serve the organization in starting a game? I know everybody else was just as terrible, but why not Clayton Mortensen? Maybe throw a start at one of the Pawtucket guys just for the fun of it? There is absolutely no purpose to Daisuke Matsuzaka starting a game for the Red Sox at this point.

Then again, you could probably argue that at this point there's not much purpose to their games, period.

Box score

Recap: Bullpen holds lead for Sox' second straight win over Tampa

After a shaky start from Felix Doubront and a shakier relief appearance from Clayton Mortensen, four Sox relievers combined to hold down the Rays and push them further out of the playoff picture. 

Andrew Bailey got his fifth save of the year while Craig Breslow got the hold. Breslow was perfect and Bailey allowed just one walk to keep the Rays off the board.

For the second straight game the Sox got to the Rays' starter early and ran him from the game. Jeremy Hellickson lasted just four innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks. He did strike out seven, and his curveball froze a number of batters (Jose Iglesias most memorably), but it would be a stretch to consider him as dominant as seven K's in four innings sounds. He did look better than Alex Cobb last night.

Felix Doubront did his usual "pitch decently for a couple innings or so and then walk everybody" routine, although he did manage to pitch six reasonable innings, only giving up one hit to go with his five walks. I still don't see him as a viable part of this rotation long-term. Some commentary has talked about Doubront pitching well except for the third inning, but I have trouble agreeing; when he's shaky like that, it's hard to trust that he'll throw strikes.

The offense spread the wealth, as everyone other than Dustin Pedroia and Jose Iglesias snagged at least one hit. Ryan Lavarnway's two-run double in the 7th proved decisive and will hopefully provide some confidence for the struggling youngster (provided Bobby V doesn't pinch-hit for him next time he's in a similar spot).

This was a brutal game to watch, and if you're reading this you likely managed to avoid it. Congratulations. It was horribly long, with 13 pitchers making appearances. Hellickson and Doubront each moved at a Beckettian pace. Meanwhile, the game was at Tropicana Field, so my eyes began to get itchy due to my allergy to terrible stadiums.

The picture above (from the Rays' Facebook page), by the way, includes an image of the horrendous t-shirts the 12 Rays fans were wearing in the crowd. Leave it to Tampa's AAA-like marketing team to come up with yet another way to make Tropicana the most odious place to play. That place needs to be blown up, along with every dumb t-shirt and cowbell and whatever else they come up with. Sure, we have to put up with Sweet Caroline, but at least we have a beautiful park to look at.

Box score