Game 5: The Red Sox ... won? Really?

by Randy Booth on Apr 11, 2009 7:22 PM EDT in Game Stories Comment 27 comments

This guy hits bombs.

Mark it down: the Red Sox now have two wins on the season.

After a couple of bombs by Jason Bay and six solid innings from starter Brad Penny, the Red Sox took home the 5-4 victory over the Angels on Saturday.

Bay hit his bombs in the 7th and 9th innings while Mike Lowell, slotted right behind him in the lineup, hit his first home run of the season in the fifth inning. While the Angels made it close (bases loaded in the 9th), Jonathan Papelbon closed out the game with a very long at-bat against Howie Kendrick.

The bottom of the order was really where the Sox won today's game. Rocco Baldelli went 2 for 4 and Jason Varitek went 2 for 3. The one through four hitters went a combined 1 for 15 with a walk (Kevin Youkilis). Jacoby Ellsbury led off the game with a hit.

But hey, let's not forget that Penny wasn't bad. He helped the bullpen a bit by going six innings and allowing five hits, three runs, two walks and struck out two. He did give up two home runs to Mike Napoli, though.

Ramon Ramirez was the gap between Penny and Papelbon. Ramirez has been spectacular so far this season as he added 1.2 innings of work to his season total. He gave up just one hit and one walk.

While the Sox won this game, they also got very lucky. The top of the order has to start producing if they want to consistently win games. Penny was better than I think some would have thought, but if he was any worse this game would have been the Angels'. Papelbon got touched up quite a bit, too, which is not a good sign.

It's a win though so let's be happy with it. The rubber game is Sunday, with Josh Beckett taking on Dustin Moseley at 3:35 p.m. EST.

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Big Papi

hasn’t looked good at all this season. I really hope this is temporary, or else the Sox are in trouble.

by Tippecanoe on Apr 11, 2009 7:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

well i wouldnt be so sure. Everyone wants to see papi do well, but if pedroia/ellsbury/youk/bay/drew all get on fire, we’ll be ok with or without 100% papi….especially if tek hits well this season.

by spinz on Apr 11, 2009 10:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

um

Without Papi, the Sox are dead in terms of winning any postseason series.

Look carefully at how many people you’re asking to “all get on fire”. That’s just not going to happen. I think we can count on Youk, Pedroia, and Bay, at least for most of the season, but Drew is too erratic and Ellsbury has yet to prove he can consistently hit big league hitting.

by RickD on Apr 12, 2009 12:32 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Papi started slow last year too

He didn’t get hot until the first week of May

Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings.

by sox-inda-south on Apr 12, 2009 2:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

TEK !!

by matzushocka45 on Apr 11, 2009 7:41 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

just leaving the stadium..

game was a gem. I now worship bay due to that catch and two HRs. Also, penny looked very very good today. Aside from Napoli, he was pretty lights out. I expect him to work more k’s in as the season goes on and show himself to be an asset to our rotation.

Paps though, was making me ridiculously nervous. After chone walked, I was about to sock the guy behind me for screaming “HE ONLY THROWS TWO FUCKING PITCHES” over and over and over. Was beautiful to watch him cry when rocco made the final out.

Go Sox! Take tomorrow and get to .500!

by Charged on Apr 11, 2009 7:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Haha that the funniest thing I've heard all day!

On Da Hop!

Fastball and Slider right? Doesn’t he have another pitch he used to use when he started?

Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings.

by sox-inda-south on Apr 12, 2009 2:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Paps' three main pitches

are fastball, splitter and slider. Sometimes he’ll start a batter with a curveball, but that’s very rare. See Fangraphs for his pitch breakdown.

"It's just a tiny little nick, but it hurts when I get champagne in there."
- Jason Bay, on getting spiked scoring the winning run in ALDS Game Four.

by 0157H7 on Apr 12, 2009 10:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Mariano has thrown 1 pitch for 14 years

How has that worked out?

I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.

by Drugs Delaney on Apr 12, 2009 11:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't watch Mo much, so I can't say much as to his effectiveness.

With Papelbon, there are times, like last night, when his fastball isn’t moving as much and he can’t command it as well. Then it gets hit hard (home-run, double). Paps was well served by using his sliders against Howie Kendrick to get 0-2 on him, and by throwing the splitter to strike out Aybar.

Fangraphs seems to think that Mariano Rivera has more than one pitch. See here. Specifically, they have his arsenal as fastball and cut fastball.

"It's just a tiny little nick, but it hurts when I get champagne in there."
- Jason Bay, on getting spiked scoring the winning run in ALDS Game Four.

by 0157H7 on Apr 12, 2009 3:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

With Mo its all about the cutter. The chart on FG’s for pitchtype is a little bizarre as they have him going from 98% FB in 2002 to throwing more and more cutters throughout the years and 86% cutters last year. What I suspect is that they have trouble differentiating the two. He has always thrown a cutter (at least since hes been the closer) and theres no way he didn’t throw it at all in 2002. So basically think those numbers are pretty muddled.

by BTLove on Apr 12, 2009 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh and a small ps:

Does paps normally start warming up in the sixth? He was running and jumping and dancing and winding up over and over. Just curious if its routine for him because I had never seen him do it but it made me laugh a bit

by Charged on Apr 11, 2009 7:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yep.

Picked it up from watching Mo, I think, who has always begun stretching in games he’s likely to be used in well before the 8th or 9th innings.

Whatever else about the MFYs, there’s no doubt that there’s a lot about Mo’s overall approach to the game and life that is worth imitating.

"Are you a real doctor, or a doctor like Dr. Pepper is a doctor?"

by Allen Chace on Apr 12, 2009 3:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Obviously, beyond that, there's little about the MFYs that's worth imitating.

"Are you a real doctor, or a doctor like Dr. Pepper is a doctor?"

by Allen Chace on Apr 12, 2009 3:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Big Papi shouldn’t be batting at 3. He is almost done. He would be more effective at 5 or 6.

by GreenGrizz on Apr 11, 2009 10:01 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Why are we all sold that Papi is done?

The guy had the best year of his career in 2007. He had a terrible April last year, a great May got hurt and was not too bad the rest of the year. His OPS last year was .877. Thats almost exactly the same as our terrible 35 year old #4 hitter in 2007. We finished pretty well that year if everyone remembers. Would a .900 OPS be terrible? I’m pretty sure he’ll do at least that, probably better. A slow start is not the end of the world. We are 5 games in.

by BTLove on Apr 11, 2009 10:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreed.

Manny ain't the only bad man.

by tommy.otm on Apr 11, 2009 11:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

+1

Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings.

by sox-inda-south on Apr 12, 2009 2:03 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Baldelli and Tek

Just was glad they’re doing well— I can’t seem to stop rooting for Tek.

by whereisnomar on Apr 11, 2009 11:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

me too, it would be absolutely thrilling to see tek have a big year….will be quite a while before we really know for sure.

by spinz on Apr 12, 2009 12:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed, but if any Sox player deserves an awesome season, it’s him. I’ve always loved him, and he seems to have trailed off a bit in the last seasons offensively. Sure he would have his great moments, but a great season would be amazing!

by whereisnomar on Apr 12, 2009 12:27 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs