Weekend Recap
TBR – 000 001 200 - 3 - 8 - 1
BOS – 102 100 12x - 7 - 11 - 1
The Sox had a nice weekend for themselves as the bats woke up Friday night picking up the sweep on the weekend. Some notes and thoughts;
- After a wait I was impressed with Clay Buchholz on Friday night. For the first time I found myself very impressed with his slider. It seemed that pitch in particular was very good. One thing he did was get lots of swings and misses with 11 on 40 swings which is an exceptional percentage.
- Nice to see the bats wake up. The bottom of the order was especially instrumental on Friday night with six hits from Moss, ‘tek and Lugo. Anytime the bottom of this order clicks good things will happen.
- Slightly disconcerting to see Manny Delcarmen not have a strong effort. He escaped trouble but two baserunners in a third of an inning on Friday but on Sunday it cost the Sox. Right now there may not be a more concerning player on the team. He is being counted on and if he cannot do the job the Sox are going to have to look for some help.
- Beckett wasn’t pretty but he was efficient and good enough on Saturday night. I didn’t get to see a lot of it but I liked that he was so pitch-efficient and didn’t like that he was getting so many fly ball outs. When Beckett is really on his game he’s getting the ground balls.
- David Aardsma’s strike throwing problems continued. He has certainly looked good at times but if he can’t throw strikes in blowout situations it will be tough for the Sox to rely on him in key spots.
- The Sox did some nice work getting at Scott Kazmir on Sunday. As Don Orsillo pointed out this was somewhat to be expected as Kazmir was making just his first start of the season but the Sox did a good job and get at him a bit.
- I loved loved loved the double steal in the first inning. Go after a pitcher who hasn’t been out there and force something to happen with the makeshift lineup. It led to a run and that’s all you can ask.
- According to Baseball Reference the last time the Sox stole five bases in a game was July 3, 2002 versus Toronto. The base stealers that day; Nomar, Damon (2), Rickey Henderson and Lou Merloni.
- I thought Lester was solid on Sunday though I would like to see him be more diligent about working quickly. On the whole I felt his performance was very good though and you can’t argue with the six inning, one run performance too much.
- With Brandon Moss headed to the DL after his appendectomy it will be interesting to see what the roster move is for the week. Casey is due back Friday I believe so the Sox will need some help during the week. My guess would be Chris Carter will get a chance to join the big club for a few days.
May 5, 1988: The Red Sox erupted against the White Sox on this day 20 years ago pounding Chicago 16-3 at Fenway. Bruce Hurst was the beneficiary of this explosion going seven innings for his fifth victory.
The offensive heroes were plentiful. Dwight Evans and todd Benzinger each had four hits and four RBI while Marty Barrett added four hits and Barrett, Benzinger and Jody Reed each scored three runs apiece. Every member of the lineup had a hit and scored a run in this pounding.
New York - 20-8 -
4th Boston - 15-10 3 1/2
BOS – 102 100 12x - 7 - 11 - 1
The Sox had a nice weekend for themselves as the bats woke up Friday night picking up the sweep on the weekend. Some notes and thoughts;
- After a wait I was impressed with Clay Buchholz on Friday night. For the first time I found myself very impressed with his slider. It seemed that pitch in particular was very good. One thing he did was get lots of swings and misses with 11 on 40 swings which is an exceptional percentage.
- Nice to see the bats wake up. The bottom of the order was especially instrumental on Friday night with six hits from Moss, ‘tek and Lugo. Anytime the bottom of this order clicks good things will happen.
- Slightly disconcerting to see Manny Delcarmen not have a strong effort. He escaped trouble but two baserunners in a third of an inning on Friday but on Sunday it cost the Sox. Right now there may not be a more concerning player on the team. He is being counted on and if he cannot do the job the Sox are going to have to look for some help.
- Beckett wasn’t pretty but he was efficient and good enough on Saturday night. I didn’t get to see a lot of it but I liked that he was so pitch-efficient and didn’t like that he was getting so many fly ball outs. When Beckett is really on his game he’s getting the ground balls.
- David Aardsma’s strike throwing problems continued. He has certainly looked good at times but if he can’t throw strikes in blowout situations it will be tough for the Sox to rely on him in key spots.
- The Sox did some nice work getting at Scott Kazmir on Sunday. As Don Orsillo pointed out this was somewhat to be expected as Kazmir was making just his first start of the season but the Sox did a good job and get at him a bit.
- I loved loved loved the double steal in the first inning. Go after a pitcher who hasn’t been out there and force something to happen with the makeshift lineup. It led to a run and that’s all you can ask.
- According to Baseball Reference the last time the Sox stole five bases in a game was July 3, 2002 versus Toronto. The base stealers that day; Nomar, Damon (2), Rickey Henderson and Lou Merloni.
- I thought Lester was solid on Sunday though I would like to see him be more diligent about working quickly. On the whole I felt his performance was very good though and you can’t argue with the six inning, one run performance too much.
- With Brandon Moss headed to the DL after his appendectomy it will be interesting to see what the roster move is for the week. Casey is due back Friday I believe so the Sox will need some help during the week. My guess would be Chris Carter will get a chance to join the big club for a few days.
May 5, 1988: The Red Sox erupted against the White Sox on this day 20 years ago pounding Chicago 16-3 at Fenway. Bruce Hurst was the beneficiary of this explosion going seven innings for his fifth victory.
The offensive heroes were plentiful. Dwight Evans and todd Benzinger each had four hits and four RBI while Marty Barrett added four hits and Barrett, Benzinger and Jody Reed each scored three runs apiece. Every member of the lineup had a hit and scored a run in this pounding.
New York - 20-8 -
4th Boston - 15-10 3 1/2
4 Comments:
At 8:52 PM,
Anonymous said…
I see that Hansen has been called up to take Moss's spot. Its probably temporary, since Casey will be back by the end of the week, but I too am getting quite worried about the bullpen and especially MDC. I would love to see Hansen stay, and sooner rather than later, take over the high-lev innings that Delcarmen was supposed to work.
On a side note, the fact that Hansen got called up suggests to me that the leg problems that have plagued Coco, Drew, and to a lesser extent, Jacoby.
If Craig looks good, I'd love to see them DFA Aardsma and keep Hansen when Casey comes off the DL.
At 8:56 PM,
Anonymous said…
I meant to say that the leg problems plaguing the outfielders appear to be a thing of the past.
That is, unless they are comfortable with Lugo as the fourth outfielder.
At 9:34 PM,
Lenny Harris said…
Casey's eligible to come off the DL on Sunday. I like Anonymous's thinking re: Hansen vs. Aardsma. Now he has to go out and produce.
At 9:55 PM,
mike_b1 said…
Strange to see "offensive hero" and
"Todd Benzinger" in the same sentence.
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