Sox Bats and Mets Defense Sink New York
by Ben Buchanan on Mar 11, 2010 5:31 PM EST
in News
Email
PrintThe Red Sox spent the offseason improving their defense and aiming to prevent runs. Maybe the Mets should have as well. While the box score only reads 3 errors, the whole day was an adventure for the Mets infield that, combined with a strong day for the Sox at the plate, left 8 runs on the board.
The defense came through behind Red Sox pitchers, though. Despite only recording 3 strikeouts on the day, the Sox held the Mets to only 2 runs, and those came on Home Runs, which obviously the defense can do nothing about. Those bombs came from back-to-back lefties off of LHP Fabio Castro, whose chances to make the pen out of spring training just took a big hit. John Lackey pitched 3 scoreless, allowing 3 hits and no walks. His fastball was a little slow, but he didn't get in trouble and was inducing plenty of ground balls. Felix Doubront had 2 strong innings, as did Junichi Tazawa who had his off-speed pitches working today and recorded two of the Sox' strikeouts.
At the plate, the Sox recorded 15 hits, scoring 8 runs. They scored 3 in the first inning off Mets starter Mike Pelfrey as Scutaro, Pedroia, and Martinez loaded the bases with 0 outs in the first allowing Drew, Cameron, and Hermida to drive in a run a piece. Otherwise, the day was carried by a few veteran AAAA players, and once again, the young Red Sox prospects. Darnell McDonald and Yamaico Navarro had particularly good days, going 3-3 and 2-3 respectively.
Some notes:
- The two guys on bounceback watch in Lars and Ortiz continued to struggle, and posted a combined 0-7 with 5 strikeouts.
- The Sox reunited with Jason Bay for the first time today. The outfielder received a smattering of boos from the Sox contingency in the crowd, and went 0-2 on the day. In this blogger's opinion, there's no call for booing a guy who did nothing but rake for us. I was as against signing him as anyone this offseason, but there's no call for boos.
- The Sox also reunited with Chris Carter, who went over to the Mets in the Billy Wagner trade last year. Tazawa made him look bad swinging at breaking balls.
- There was a pretty lengthy rain delay after the 4th. Wholesale substitutions followed as could be expected.
34 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
nothing wrong with boos
Trade Beckett before the deadline
JD Drew the stud who is.
I'm taking suggestions from myself on the 2010 rally song.
Re-sign Victor Martinez, the future DH of the Boston Red Sox
Am I supposed to like John Lackey ?
Agreed..
When Manny steps to that plate. But booing Bay is just ignorant. What has he done to deserve the boos?
Why buy the cow, when you get the sex for free?
by return2greatness on Mar 11, 2010 7:30 PM EST up reply actions
anyone on the other team can be booed
Trade Beckett before the deadline
JD Drew the stud who is.
I'm taking suggestions from myself on the 2010 rally song.
Re-sign Victor Martinez, the future DH of the Boston Red Sox
Am I supposed to like John Lackey ?
he left our team who made a substantial offer to him for more $$ and that team resides in NYC
he deserves to be booed. it is what it is.
Trade Beckett before the deadline
JD Drew the stud who is.
I'm taking suggestions from myself on the 2010 rally song.
Re-sign Victor Martinez, the future DH of the Boston Red Sox
Am I supposed to like John Lackey ?
We didn't give him a very substantial offer.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Mar 11, 2010 9:00 PM EST up reply actions
O yeah?
the economy must have got better and I missed it.
I’d love to know in what world offering a guy who can’t play D and K’s a ton a nice contract with medical allowances is not substantial. Expecting anyone to have sympathy for athletes in the time we are living is not going to happen. He could have stayed in Boston for a nice salary but he chased the last dollar.
boo away.
Trade Beckett before the deadline
JD Drew the stud who is.
I'm taking suggestions from myself on the 2010 rally song.
Re-sign Victor Martinez, the future DH of the Boston Red Sox
Am I supposed to like John Lackey ?
Bull
A 2-year offer with 3rd and 4th years contingent on health is not a substantial offer. Especially not when it forces an unwanted surgery on a player. That’s what long term contracts are all about. A team has to guarantee job security. They are a risk, and that’s why 1-year or 2-year deals always cost more money per annum.
Nobody’s asking you to have sympathy for him, just not to single him out as a target of derision because he and the team couldn’t agree on his relative worth. He was willing to sign the 4 year/$60 million contract offered him halfway through the season—certainly not chasing ever last dollar—but the team took the deal off the table. When we were willing to give him even close to fair market value he was willing to sign, and when we took that deal away, he was not. Nothing unreasonable about that.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Mar 11, 2010 9:49 PM EST up reply actions
If you pay $ to see a live event you have every right to boo anyone you want.
Clearly, some idiots take that over the line. This was probably not the case here. These fans clearly did not like the fact he left, so they decided to boo him. Everything is so PC now it’s sickening.
Trade Beckett before the deadline
JD Drew the stud who is.
I'm taking suggestions from myself on the 2010 rally song.
Re-sign Victor Martinez, the future DH of the Boston Red Sox
Am I supposed to like John Lackey ?
This isn't PCness at all.
It’s just recognizing the difference between being an ass and not being an ass.
I’m not saying they had no right. Just saying that it was unjustified.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Mar 12, 2010 11:03 AM EST up reply actions
+1 to the general concept
recognizing the difference between being an ass and not being an ass
And yeah, no realistic reason to boo Jason Bay
Rock me, sexy Jesus...
by nuthinboutnuthin on Mar 12, 2010 1:29 PM EST up reply actions
Devil's Advocate
Well, maybe its something we don’t know about, like the few people who booed were Bay’s neighbors and he went around terrorizing their children, putting sand in their gas tanks, eating their pets and crapping on their lawns.
Just consider it, because it’s a completely realistic reason to boo him. I mean, duh.
In that case...
… Ef ‘em if they can’t come up with anything more creative than “booooo.”
However, it is possible that they though he was J.D. Drew and were saying “Dreeeeeewwwww.” Or Daryl Johnston and they were saying “Mooooooose.” Or possibly Maverick’s dead co-pilot: “Gooooooose…”
Yeah, I guess you’re right…
Rock me, sexy Jesus...
by nuthinboutnuthin on Mar 12, 2010 6:46 PM EST up reply actions
he plays for the other team-there is the justification
end of story
Trade Beckett before the deadline
JD Drew the stud who is.
I'm taking suggestions from myself on the 2010 rally song.
Re-sign Victor Martinez, the future DH of the Boston Red Sox
Am I supposed to like John Lackey ?
Again, it was targeted.
It would be fine if they were booing everyone. They weren’t. They were just being asses to Bay.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Mar 12, 2010 8:18 PM EST up reply actions
Well he is on the other team
with a connection to our team. It makes perfect sense.
I will get the last word in this.
Trade Beckett before the deadline
JD Drew the stud who is.
I'm taking suggestions from myself on the 2010 rally song.
Re-sign Victor Martinez, the future DH of the Boston Red Sox
Am I supposed to like John Lackey ?
You may have the last word, but you won't have the last valid point.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Mar 12, 2010 10:04 PM EST up reply actions
I'm ok with that
Trade Beckett before the deadline
JD Drew the stud who is.
I'm taking suggestions from myself on the 2010 rally song.
Re-sign Victor Martinez, the future DH of the Boston Red Sox
Am I supposed to like John Lackey ?
I like chocolate ice cream
but not as much as, say, Rocky Road.
Rock me, sexy Jesus...
by nuthinboutnuthin on Mar 13, 2010 6:43 PM EST up reply actions
Well, I agree with you that he doesn't really deserve any boos
(compared to say, his teammates).
But whether his offer was ‘substantial’ is subjective. Relative to his perceived value, the Red Sox thought it was ‘substantial’. Bay did not. The Mets did not. Of course, the RS think the Mets offer was ‘excessive’. So do I.
Fans can all have their own opinions on that.
I personally would not Boo Jason Bay. ’Did not want to resign him – but I do like him.
Allow me to be the first person to lose his mind vis-a-vis The Viking:
Could we please give Lars some PEDs of some sort, please? Andro, HGH, green M&Ms? It’s just ignorant to turn your back on scientific advances, in my opinion.
Rock me, sexy Jesus...
by nuthinboutnuthin on Mar 11, 2010 6:53 PM EST reply actions
I think Lars is still putting way too much pressure on himself
The best thing we can do is just take away that pressure.
So take him completely off any Top Prospects lists, strip his name from the archives, anytime a fan from another team asks about him we answer “Lars who?”, and just hope that he can succeed again in complete anonymity.
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Mar 11, 2010 7:11 PM EST up reply actions
Beane
I see this as just part of the elimination process that is minor league baseball. I believe Billy Beane, now GM of the A’s, was highlighted in “Moneyball” as an extremely talented player who couldn’t make the leap to the big leagues because of the pressure.
I hope and pray that Lars can get over it, but some players never do.
Word
I watched the entire game and everytime Lars struck out I cringed. I REALLY hope he can turn this arounf, maybe another year in AA will do him good. Also, I might be wrong but wasn’t he supposed to have great plate discipline? I haven’t seen anything of the sort this spring.
Why buy the cow, when you get the sex for free?
by return2greatness on Mar 11, 2010 7:31 PM EST up reply actions
He always had good patience.
He wasn’t a 1:1 BB:K guy, but he was well over 1:2.
He and Papi both look like they’re making pitch-by-pitch adjustments, trying to correct problems that aren’t there when the only problem is their attempts to adjust/overthinking everything.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Mar 11, 2010 8:00 PM EST up reply actions
I vote...
For a giant beard. There’s no athletic performance problem which cannot be cured by a giant beard.
Rock me, sexy Jesus...
by nuthinboutnuthin on Mar 11, 2010 7:30 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
That's a good point
Beards do give one confidence. I noticed he had a bit of a 5 o’clock shadow going on, but if he can grow that thing out he can definitely take some pressure off of himself. Can you imagine if we brought in Jayson Werth next offseason? He could really show the rookies how to grow a beard.
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Mar 11, 2010 8:05 PM EST up reply actions
Also
I think this is an interesting problem for us fans to have – after all, most of us aren’t exactly used to having top prospects fail because our system hasn’t exactly had many of those in recent years. Attrition in the minors is high for all players, and I’m sure that the law of averages means that a high number of those top 20 prospects outlined on this site (and others) won’t be overly successful in the majors.
On the bright side, since the farm system is so improved, the successes will be a joy to watch and will hopefully help soothe the pains from the more noticeable failures.
It’s pretty much some new territory for us, in a good way.
Photo caption
I love it when Vic beats a throwl. He can do that every game, in my book.
LOL
Those throwls can be quite pesky.
Why buy the cow, when you get the sex for free?
by return2greatness on Mar 11, 2010 7:32 PM EST up reply actions
I assumed that "Throwl"
was the name of the catcher, and VMart was giving him a beating – as evidenced by the flying WWE-style dropkick and the war grimace…
Rock me, sexy Jesus...
by nuthinboutnuthin on Mar 12, 2010 1:31 AM EST up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- Josh Hamilton on public relapse: ‘It was just wrong. That’s all it comes down to.’
- Photo: The Marlins’ ridiculous-looking home run sculpture is almost complete
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman lures alleged stalker into police dragnet
- Report: Josh Hamilton had a relapse with alcohol
- Happy Birthday Boy! Wes Ferrell, the best-hitting pitcher of all-time, would be 104
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
