Game 58/162, It Takes the Red Sox 14 Innings and a Walk-Off But a Win is a Win

From a four-run lead in the top of the ninth, the Red Sox made the game much harder to win that expected. Pedroia could have ended the game with a double play but slipped up, adding 5 innings of free baseball to the game. With a four-lead, Papelbon gave it all up. Varitek was frustrated and was quickly ejected. After Conor Jackson's two-run single of of Youk's glove to tie the game, Papelbon's frustration got to him after a few inconsistencies by the ump calling balls and strikes and was ejected. Pap claims that he was talking to Salty but the Ump thought he has talking to him.

"I more or less was just trying to get Salty out here and say, 'Hey, you know, come talk to me, let's figure out this zone so I know how to go about this,'" Papelbon said. "Cause I had no idea what his zone was. I don't know, I guess he may have jumped to the conclusion that I was talking to him, and then I felt like he threw his arms up in the air, for no reason, towards me."

In the bottom of the 11th after the Athletics scored in the top half, Jacoby Ellsbury had a crucial, game changing double to score Salty and tie the game.

The Sox went on to walk-off on JD Drew's RBI single to right center. They won but it became a much harder victory due to the overuse of the bullpen which is now tired. Beckett gave up three runs in 6 IP. Hottovy, a new addition to the roster pitched 2/3 of an inning in his debut. Pap was charged with 3 ER in 1/3 IP. Alfredo Aceves got the W pitching 4 late innings and giving up the one run in the 11th.

Notable Players:

Jacoby Ellsbury, 4 for 7 with a double and an RBI

Carl Crawford, 4 for 7 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI

Adrian Gonzalez, 3 for 5 with a homer and 1 RBI

JD Drew, 2 for 7 with a walk-off single and 2 RBI 

Game 53/162, Red Sox Can't Pull off Sweep of the Tigers

Game two:


After winnings game one, 4-3, the Red Sox were 1.5 games ahead of the Yankees. Last night, the Red Sox offense was not able to get going off Justin Verlander from the start. In the first inning, the Tigers had a runner on first who scored on an RBI double by Brennan Boesch to make it 1-0. Soon after, Miguel Cabrera singled, bringing in Boesch to score and making the score 2-0. Neither team scored again until the 8th inning, Don Kelly singled right back up the middle to make it 3-0. Josh Beckett gave up 2 runs in 6 innings (not bad) but was handed the loss. He is now 4-2 with a 1.60 ERA. Now, the Red Sox will travel back to Fenway for Jon Lester (7-1/3.36/70) to challenge Jake Peavy (1-0/3.00/14).

Notable Players:

Josh Beckett- Beckett gave up 2 runs in 6 innings, but he had no run support

Rich Hill- a scoreless inning of relief

Jacoby Ellsbury- 1-3 with a walk

J.D. Drew- 2-3

Jason Varitek- 1-3 with a double

Red Sox Catching the Catcher Blues: Here Are Some Possible Catching Acquisitions This Season

The Red Sox don't have a very good offensive or defensive catching situation. Lets face it, Boston catchers have never been good at throwing out base runners. They have usually hit for an okay average or for a little power. But, this season, the Sox's catchers haven't been doing anything productive. Jason Varitek is batting .190 and Salty is batting .236 which is an improvement. The two have combined for 52 stolen bases allowed and only 13 caught stealing. Varitek has only caught 13% of runners while Salty has caught 24%. If they continue to play poorly, the Red Sox will have to look for a replacement. Here are some options:

• The first option is Jonathan Lucroy, he has a .320 average in 28 games this season and he is only 25. He has great potential but he has only caught 10% of basestealers (better than Tek)
• Nick Hundley has a .263 batting average which is average for a catcher but he has thrown out a whopping 34% of basestealers. He also is only 27.
• The next solution is Lou Marson who has a good .278 average and has thrown out 33% of basestealers this season. He has caught a high, 40% of basestealers in his career. He is also only 25. ( I hope you've noticed the young theme)
• Wilson Ramos, who will always be a Red Wing to me, is another great option. He has a .289 average with 3 homers and has thrown out 50% of basestealers this season. He is only 23.
• Although he is a little older, Jose Molina would be a good season rental for the Sox. He is 36 but he has a .292 average and has caught 40% or basestealers in his 12 season career.
• Alex Avila has been good, hitting .283 with 6 homers and 24 RBIs. He is 24 and has caught 38% of basestealers.

Besides these options, the Red Sox have other solutions like Luis Exposito and other outside the organization options like Ryan Hanigan, Brett Hayes, JR Towles, Landon Powell, Chris Gimenez, and JP Arencibia.

Please feel free to comment!

Starting Jobs

With Spring Training under way, the Red Sox have great starters at all positions after a great off-season where they acquired Adrian Gonzalez and sign Carl Crawford along with other moves. The only two uncertain positions  for the Red Sox are shortstop and catcher. At shortstop they will most likely have Marco Scutaro starting. He came to Boston last off season on a two year deal. In his first year of the deal, he hit decently with reasonable average and good defense. Another option at short is Jed Lowrie. He has had a lot of injuries over the last couple of seasons preventing him from getting a starting job but at the end of last season, he showed great power, and good average. If he does well enough this Spring, he might win the starting job. Catching, the Red Sox have Jarrod Saltalamachia as well as long time veteran, Jason Varitek. The Red Sox acquired Jarrod in a mid-season trade. He has always had great offense, but his defense and injury history has kept him in the minors. He will most likely start the season as the catcher with Varitek as the backup. So what do you think?