And then there were five. Someone get Chris Sale and reigning AL Cy Young Winner Rick Porcello to a secure location, and soon. With starters dropping like flies, the Sox can’t afford another injury.
Another one bites the dust
Drew Pomeranz left today’s game after two inning with what’s being reported as triceps tightness in his throwing arm. Rats. The Sox called it a “precautionary measure,” but with David Price already on the Disabled List to start the season and Pomeranz’s injury history being a major bugaboo, this isn’t great news. On top of that, he wasn’t great in the time he did pitch, giving up three runs, one on a solo homer, walking three and striking out none. While the good people of Twitter would like to remind you that the Sox had the opportunity to rescind the Pomeranz-for-Anderson Espinoza deal after the Padres’ withheld the former’s injury history, your author would like to remind you that it doesn’t freaking matter anymore, and the Sox weren’t really looking down the barrel of a rotation shortfall until just now. Right now it looks like Kyle Kendrick will likely start the season as the fifth starter, which doesn’t sound as crazy today as it would have three weeks earlier, and which, frankly, will have to do.
Mitch Moreland, Hanley Ramirez and Marco Hernandez lead the way
Holy crap! Moreland went 3-3 today to raise his spring average to .375. Not bad for our Gold Glove option at first base. Ramirez homered for the third time in the preseason, a solo shot in the first inning. But the real offensive hero of the day was Marco Hernandez, who hit two triples and freaking stole home in this one. His spring average is up to .405. Save some of that for the regular season, buddy! Chances are if our rotation keeps falling apart we’re going to sorely need all the runs we can get. Sigh.
We lost the Mayor’s Cup, but not really
We are now the laughingstocks of Fort Myers, having lost a crosstown contest that no longer exists. On the bright side, it was sunny enough in the northeast to melt a little bit of the snow we have out here, so we’ve got that going for us, which is nice. Not Florida-weather nice, but beggars can’t be choosers. Speaking of which, complain about Dave Dombrowski in the comments. Be creative.