Five Straight--Eight of Nine--Papi Passes Yaz

Well, if there's any question as to whether the Sox are acting like it's 2013 all over again, tonight's latest addition to the latest streaks should hopefully put the issue to rest.  Piling up both their highest total in runs and hits for the season, the Sox put the Jays away early.  When the smoke cleared away, they'd amassed 14 runs and 18 hits, 17 of them by six guys in the lineup.  Included in the hit total were four shots to the cheaps, two by Papi (more on that in a little bit), and four doubles. This offensive onslaught gave Lack his eleventh W on the year, although the way he pitched tonight, he likely could have won even in most close situations. He allowed two hits over seven innings, and handed out no freebies--not a single one.  That leaves his game WHIP at a minuscule 0.29.

The Sox hitters with round trippers were Papi, Nap and Drew, Papi's second and Nap's coming back to back, the fourth time the Sox have gone back to back this season. Both of Papi's were two-run blasts, and with the second one, he passed Yaz on the all-time list, taking over sole possession of 36th place at 453.  In strictly Red Sox history, however, he still trails Yaz, as Yaz had all of his 452 in a Boston uni, while only the last 395 by Papi have come wearing the Red Sox colors. First place in Sox history, of course, is the guy many baseball historians consider the greatest natural hitter in history, Teddy Ballgame. Yaz is second and Papi is third.  One other honor Ted and Yaz have that Papi doesn't have yet, but will most certainly receive once he's five years retired is membership in a small private club in Cooperstown.  Its initials are HOF. It's also worth noting that Papi trails only ARoid in career homers at Toronto's Rogers Center.  He's got 35 and only needs one more to catch ARoid. Thank you, Theo.

Other Sox players getting multiple hits tonight were Holt, Drew and Bradley, with a pair apiece; and Nap, Nava and Bogaerts, each having a trey.  As I've noted a number of times in recent weeks, Nava's been returning to his reliability with the stick, continuously raising his average. Tonight's three hits gets him to his highest this season so far, at .255.  Likewise, Bradley is bringing his average up from its early season meanderings, and he's now at .234. Bogaerts is at .239.  Now neither of these sounds terribly impressive, but when you consider where they've been most of the season, including Jackie spending the early months under the Mendoza line, they're beginning to look pretty good.

The Streaks Continue--Sox Now Seven of Eight & Four Straight!

Well, today the team as a whole, supporting the stellar pitching by Jon Lester, took charge almost from the start and never let up.  Beginning with a fielder's choice ribbie by The Dustman in the first, and continuing with a ground rule two bagger by Danny Nava a couple of innings later that plated a pair, the Sox jumped on KC early and just kept on going as the game rolled on. The 3d inning pair by Nava were the first two of his three for today, the third coming as a sacfly for the Sox final run of the afternoon. Sox catcher Ross had set up this finish with a two run shot into the second row of the Monster Seats.  Together these runs accounted for what became the final six zip score. Four Sox batters each picked up a pair of hits, spreading the wealth nicely.  Included in the Sox total were doubles by Nava and Vic, as well as the aforementioned homer by Ross. Vic, by the way, in his second game back from the DL, was one of those with a pair of knocks, and Nava has now raised his BA to .246 while Vic's return has raised his to .255.  Now, all we need is Papi to get going again.

Meanwhile, there's Lester.  His work today, aside from his 10th W, also accounted for eight more K's, balanced against a rare (for him) pair of freebies.  Even taking these passes into account, his WHIP for the game was a sparkling 0.75! His ERA dropped to a solid 2.50, an excellent level at any time. Lester may still have a new contract to get worked out to avoid free agency after the season, but the way he's pitching now should make that easy for all parties involved--he and the Sox brain trust.  He's indicated a number of times he wants to finish his career in Boston, and efforts like today's should only lend further support to the idea!

Three Straight--Six of Seven!

With the return from the DL of Vic, the Sox, on a limited number of hits, 6, and some great pitching from starter Rubby de la Rosa, setup man Miller and closer Koji, the Sox extended their current run toward a hoped for repeat of last season's position.  The Sox, after trailing early, one zip, came back on the strength of a run by Nap on a fielder's choice grounder after he'd singled, and a 6th inning shot to the cheaps atop the Monster (actually the Monster Seats are not so cheap).  Although Nap was the only Hose player with a pair of hits today, the rest of the Sox knocks were spread between four players, Holt, Gomes, Vic and Bradley. So there is some team-wide sharing of the offense, even in a day when the overall total was somewhat limited.

The hurling was stellar. After allowing a leadoff trip by KC's Dyson, Rubby pretty much scattered the rest of KC's attack, limiting the to just five other hits over seven innings. He did allow four freebies as well, so he had to pitch on occasion, but did well at it, and now has cut his ERA to an impressive 2.64.  The support from the pen was excellent, as the two Sox relievers matched each other. Each pitcher produced a full inning of perfection on eleven pitches, each one including a single K, and nothing to worry about. Miller got his eleventh H, and Koji picked up his twentieth Save.

Tomorrow's game is an afternoon start, mid-morning out here on the Left Coast, and is a live pickup on TBS.

Sox Now Five of Six with W Over KC

Well, for the second game in a row, the current edition of the Sox played as if this were 2013 all over again. Trailing one zip and then a few innings later four one, the Hose relied on all of their lineup to pick up a 5-4 victory over the always pesky Royals.  In their half of the 2d, the Sox used a flurry of hits to knot the score at one. With Bogaerts on third, Drew on first and two gone, Holt lined a single that got the tying run home.  A few innings later, the Hose having fallen back behind, 4-1, they assembled a rally that looked for all the world like it came from last year. With one gone, Danny Nava singled, followed by a Bogaerts blast deep into the center field cheaps to make it 4-3, KC. But the Sox were far from done.  Drew followed with a solid two bagger. After Ross K'd, Johnny Gomes pinch hit for Jackie Bradley and pretty much duplicated Bogaerts' cheap shot into the center field seats and suddenly, the So had the lead, 5-4.  As it turned out, this was the final tally.
The Sox pen took over from there and was sparkling.  Bucky departed, a chance at evening his record for the year, and was followed by Badenhop came on. He only got credit for a third of an inning as the second batter he faced reached on one of two Sox errors. Enter Miller. He made it look simple--two batters up; two batters K'd; end of inning.
In the 8th, Taz came on and initially made things a bit more exciting than necessary. His first batter got a hit and advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw to first. With no-one out and the tying run on second, he buckled down and a few minutes later had set down the next three batters in order, two on harmless groundouts. That brought the game to the 9th and, as expected, the Sox' newest All-Star, Koji.
With two outs, he surrendered a double to Infante and found himself facing one of KC's more dangerous batsmen, Hosmer, already 3-4 on the day. Tying run on second, he got Hosmer to ground out harmlessly to Pedey and the game was over.
Sox starter Bucky wasn't as sparkling as in his prior start just before the break, but he p itched when he had to and was able to limit the damage to the four early runs KC picked up. Although he only collected three K's, he allowed no freebies and allowed the team a chance to fight its way back for the win.
Besides Bogy and Gomes, the big offensive producers tonight were Drew and Nap, each with a pair of hits, including Drew's double.  This performance is a further throwback to the type of play demonstrated last year by the team, and is what is needed to get them back into post-season contention again.  This appears to be something that they have brought themselves back to in recent weeks, and, hopefully, a habit that will continue.

Sox Take Series--Now Three of Four

Well, with today's win, the Sox head to the All-Star break with three of four, including the series victory over Houston. Credit goes everywhere except the pen, but the pen being left out isn't their fault--they weren't needed. Bucky threw a three hit shutout! Better yet--he also had no freebies and picked up a dozen K's.
The offense began with the first batter. Holt, hitting leadoff drove a shot into the cheaps on a full count and just like that the Sox had a lead that they weren't to relinquish.
Papi added a pair of ribbies although he had no hits today. The hits were scattered, all sixteen of them, all along the lineup. Even better, led by Danny Nava, who I've recently noted is showing signs of getting his batting eye back, the bottom half of the lineup had seven of the sixteen hits, led by a pair apiece from Nava, Drew and the Sox newest rookie, their catcher, Vasquez. The last of these is hitting like he was born with a bat in his hands, and is at .455 with a slugging average of .727. Of all the hits, all were by the Sox, but only a trey--a double by Vasquez, a triple by Carp and the aforementioned tater by Holt. But what is more important, the hits were constantly coming in clusters.  Someone got on and the Sox moved him around and got him home--whatever the situation. THIS is how they played last year! It may bot be too late.  Keep your fingers crossed and look forward to the rest of the season after the break.

Bosox In Second Straight Walk-off Win

Although the method isn't what Hub Hose fans would like to become the norm, the spirit and form that the Sox used last night to beat the Chisox was followed again tonight. After staking themselves to a 3-1 lead by picking up three runs in the 6th, the last pair coming on Papi's solid double, the Sox rolled along into the top of the 9th looking for all the world that they'd get Lester his tenth W of the year. Lester was spectacular, allowing a single run in the 1st and scattering seven hits over seven innings. He gave not a single freebie and struck out an even dozen, two per inning in the first five frames. His game WHIP was an even 1.00, pretty good. But this performance, when added to his numbers over his prior five starts are little short of amazing! Over these six starts, the portsider is 3-0, has a 1.01 ERA , 39 K's against a mere six walks and 33 hits in 44 2/3 innings. If that's not enough for you, he extended his streak of homerless innings to 45 in a row. His WHIP for these six games is a meager 0.87! That's pitching!
Continuing in the hurling vein, he left to Tazawa and the quality continued. Taz went an inning perfectly--nothing and no-one got anywhere, and he picked up a pair of K's while he was at it. Cue Koji for the 9th and we should be home free. Unfortunately, not tonight. For only the second time this year, he blew a save.
Ramirez led off with an infield hit, after which Koji looked normal. Translation, he quickly K'd the next batter. Unfortunately, the batter after that, a pinch hitter named Gillaspie, hooked one of Koji's offerings just inside the Pesky pole for a two-run shot and the game was tied. After that was over, Koji quickly closed out the inning with a K and a grounder. But the damage was done, and that meant the Sox would go into the 9th (and, as it turned out, extra innings) with only two hits to that point. It was again looking like a situation of the Sox potentially dropping a game due to no hitting to speak of.
Not to worry. They did fail to get anything going in their half of the 9th, but Miller came on and, in spite of giving up a single and a free pass, got out of there in eighteen pitches with a zero on the board next to Chicago's name.
Then, the Sox again acted like it was 2013 all over again in their half of the 10th.  Danny Nava worked a walk, and was sacrificed to second by the new rookie, Mookie. Drew, even though in the clutches of his latest slump, this one 0-15, was intentionally walked. Guess the Chicago mob was worrying about his genes. That brought Carp to the dish as a pinch hitter for Ross. He wasted little time driving a ball between third and short, allowing Nava to score the winning run for the second consecutive evening. This is a habit I could get used to, although I'd rather have things locked away a little earlier. But, hey! Beggars can't be choosers. I'll take the W any way I can get it.
Sox are off to Houston for their final three before the All-Star game, where two Sox hurlers--Lester and Koji--will be the Beantown contingent.

A Win--2013 Style!

Finally, after four straight losses, and only two W's in nine games, the Sox won one--2013 style.  Facing one of the best starters in the AL for the Chisox, Sale, a guy who's been on the All-Star squad the past two years and came in at 8-1, the Sox limited their opponent's offense to four runs on just six hits and no freebies. The problem was that while doing so, the hits were all extra bases, including a pair of round trippers. Mujica gave up the fourth Chisox run in relief.  Nevertheless, the Hose were starting five rookies for the first time since 1952 as a way to try to get some life into the lineup.  Featured among these were Betts, playing in only his sixth MLB game and Christian Vasquez at catcher, just called up to replace Pierzynski. Pierz was designated for assignment earlier in the day, his time with the Sox clearly not working anywhere close to what the team had hoped for in the pre-season when they picked him up in the absence of last year's lead catcher, Salty, when he went to the Maarlins as a free agent.

The five rooks went only 3-18, but included a pair of ripping two baggers by Betts, playing as noted in just his sixth game.  Jackie Bradley, Jr. made a diving catch in center in the 2d to snare a hard liner for an out, while in the 7th, Bogaerts took a hard throw from Gomes and made a perfect relay to cut down a Chicago runner at the plate on a perfect reception and tag by the new catcher, Vasquez.

Then came the winning heroics, a la last year. Trailing four zip entering the 8th, the Sox put a trey on the board taking full advantage of the Chisox reliever who came in--and got only the final out in the 8th and one in the 9th. Then, in the last of the 9th, the Sox finished business.  They scored the tying and winning runs when with one gone, Betts was hit by a pitch and then scored the tying run on Danny Nava's double.  Holt then finished things off with a walk-off single scoring Nava. As I'd noted a few weeks ago, Nava gradually seems to be regaining his hitting eye, his BA rising to .226, a good distance above his sub-Mendoza numbers of the first couple of months.

On the pitching side of things, while de la Rosa, also just recalled today, gave up the first three Chi runs, he allowed just six hits and no freebies. Meanwhile as the Hub Hose moved back in breathing room in the 8th, Koji, showing exactly why he was added to the All Star squad today, struck out the entire Chicago side in the 9th to get the win.  Typical Koji: he needed just a total of thirteen pitches to get the job done.

Now, does this mean things have turned around? The Sox are still mired in the Division cellar, a half game south of the Rays, and they still have a bit of a distance to catch the first place O's, but if tonight is a sign of the team returning to its ways of last year, it could be a signal and a turning place for the season. Only time will tell. Papi and Gomes each had a pair of hits, each including a double, and the ribbies ran from top to bottom of the order. There is hope.

Swept--By the Cubs!?

Well, as if losing the first two games of the series to the Cubbies--the only team going longer than the Sox 86 year famine between WS titles (now 106 years and counting)--weren't bad enough--the Hose getting a single run in those two games and consequently wasting some excellent pitching from the entire staff, tonight they were blown out from the start of the game, finally losing 16-9. How else can you explain how a team that collects 16 hits in a game and includes a few extra base hits among those could lose?  Hell, it was so putrid the Sox were in the hole three zip before the Cubs even made their first out! As good as the hurling was the first two games, it was worse than that terrible tonight! Badenhop was the only Sox hurler to get out unscathed, going an inning and two thirds scoreless.
Tonight's abortion also witnessed the end of the Sox streak of allowing three runs or less in fourteen straight home games. You can say so what to that, but it's the longest such streak in MLB history since the White Sox did it in 1917. In case your math isn't too good, that's 97 years! I'm not going to dwell on the rest of the game here. It's so bad you can pick it up in the morning paper's boxes.
The only good thing, other than the fact that Sox bats did get those sixteen hits, was another Papi stat. He had a ground rule double, which was his one thousandth extra base hit of his career.  Besides making him the only active left handed batter with such a total in all of MLB, he also becomes the 36th player in MLB history to reach that exalted plane.  Congrats to Papi! Too bad it had to come in such a miserable thrashing such as this.