Postgame, Blue Jays 11-8: We will simply leave you with a few numbers to illustrate how nutty this one was.
The teams combined for 32 hits and four errors but just four walks. There were two wild pitches, two hit batters (one in the head) and a catcher’s interference.
Boston left 11 men on, going 7-for-25 with runners in scoring position.
There were three stolen bases, three double plays and one man thrown out at home.
It all adds up to a 210-minute affair that drops the Red Sox to 12-17-1 this spring.
In reality, during its eight-game skid Boston has just been saving itself up for the decisive game of the Mayor’s Cup, which is scheduled for Saturday night when the Minnesota Twins make the quick trip to City of Palms Park.
We’ll carry you through all the action in that one, so be sure to check it out. Thanks for following along tonight.
Final, Blue Jays 11-8: The Sox threatened in the ninth (naturally, in a game that had a little bit of everything) but fail to get on the board and fall for the eighth straight time.
Back in a bit to wrap things up.
Mid 9th, Blue Jays 11-8: A little better outing for Jonathan Papelbon, who picks up a pair of strikeouts in a scoreless ninth. Three outs from an eighth straight loss for Boston.
End 8th, Blue Jays 11-8: Fittingly, with just two more games at City of Palms Park before the Red Sox move on, the scoreboard lights have been a mess. It started a few games ago and right now it’s nearly impossible to read the runs, hits and errors.
Games like this don’t help. The Red sox get three more on a double, an error, a triple and an RBI groundout.
The teams have combined for 29 hits and four errors.
Jonathan Papelbon, who has had two very bad outings in his last three in a big league game, is on to pitch the ninth.
Mid 8th, Blue Jays 11-5: If you saw it happen you had the same sickening feeling we did in the booth. Daniel Bard uncorks a fastball into the back of the head of Corey Patterson.
Patterson rolled around on the ground several times and took a few minutes with the trainings before getting to his feet.
Pretty remarkable to think that they once played this game without helmets. Not to get too dramatic, but Patterson’s may have just saved his life. You never know.
A triple by Eric Thames later scored the man running for Patterson. It was the 14th hit for Toronto.
End 7th, Blue Jays 10-5: In the bottom of the seventh we finally have our first 1-2-3 inning. I know you’re all pulling for your Red Sox, but those of us sweating it up in a stuffy booth are just fine with the development.
Daniel Bard is the new pitcher for the Red Sox.
Mid 7th, Blue Jays 10-5: If this was the regular season, Kenmore Square would be dismantled by looters. The Red Sox have played some ugly ball in what could be an eight-game losing streak by the end of the night.
A hit batter, a walk, an Oscar Tejeda error and a three-run shot by J.P. Arencibia opens things up in the seventh.
The Sox have been outscored 68-31 in the stretch.
This outing won’t help the cause for Dennys Reyes. He has an opt-out clause in his deal that allows him to move on if he is not with the team by tomorrow. We’ll see what the appearnce does for him, although his defense didn’t help him out very much.
The line on Josh Beckett is complete. He gave up seven runs on 11 hits in six-plus innings and will leave Florida with a 6.64 ERA in five starts. Beckett will throw a few innings at Houston on Wednesday in the exhibition finale.
9:28 p.m.: As expected, Josh Beckett gets to face just one man in the seventh. He threw an off-speed pitch that nearly hit Mike McCoy and then a fastball that did.
Two pitches, a hit batter and the hook. Dennys Reyes, one of four guys in competition for two bullpen spots, is on to clean it up.
End 6th, Blue Jays 6-5: Kevin Youkilis now has 12 strikeouts in 47 spring training at-bats. His latest strands a pair of runners to end the sixth.
Josh Beckett is on to start the seventh. He may only get one battter though. They just want him to have that seventh up-and-down.
9:19 p.m.: Marco Scutaro reached second on a leadoff walk and a wild pitch. When Carl Crawford singled to left, Scutaro was waved in by third base coach Ron Johnson (they move coaches around during the spring) but out on a nice throw by Corey Patterson, who has played a nice game.
Patterson had no throw when Adrian Gonzalez blooped one to left that scored Oscar Tejeda. Second RBI in a Red Sox uniform for Gonzalez.
That hit chased David Purcey. John Farrell out to make a pitching change.
Mid 6th, Blue Jays 6-4: Not to frighten all y’all, but just have to throw a number or two out at you.
The Red Sox are currently going through the rotation with each guy getting his spring maximum in terms of pitches. They are pretty important starts, with one remaining, that of Daisuke Matsuzaka tomorrow.
So far, the foursome of Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester have given up 26 runs — 20 earned — in 20 2/3 innings. There have been 32 hits by opponents in that span, seven of them home runs. Yikes.
End 5th, 4-4: Josh Beckett is out for the sixth inning having thrown 77 pitches. He should be able to work into the 90s if he wants before scaling it back in his last start, which is scheduled for Wednesday in Houston.
8:55 p.m.: Adrian Gonzalez recorded his first extra-base hit of the spring, a double down the line in right.
One out later, David Ortiz ripped a two-bagger of his own to give Gonzalez his first run in a Red Sox uniform.
A couple of firsts for Adrian.
Something we have seen plenty of in this one is hard hits. Everything seems to be a line drive and there are now 20 hits between the two teams. Jesse Litsch gave up 11 in 4 2/3 innings before getting the hook. David Purcey is now in.
Mid 5th, Blue Jays 4-3: When John Farrell was introduced to the media upon his acceptance of the managerial post in Toronto, he made a vow that the club would score runs in other ways.
Supposedly, that meant mixing in a little more small ball a year after the team set a franchise record in home runs but did little else.
As I typed those first two sentences Jerry chimed in with the same thought about what we are seeing from Farrell’s Jays tonight. Several bunt attempts, stolen base attempts, aggressive, strategic baseball.
With two on and no outs in the fifth, Mike McCoy showed bunt as both runners took off. The bunt drew Kevin Youkilis in at third and when Jason Varitek’s throw to third came, Youkilis had to find the runner and was too late with the tag.
That set up a sacrifice fly for McCoy. Moments later, Corey Patterson, now at third, broke aggressively for home on contact when Eric Thames hit a chopper to Adrian Gonzalez.
The Red Sox first baseman came home but threw the ball away. Patterson scored, Thames to second and then Thames to third on a stolen base with two outs. The Blue Jays, and Farrell, pulling out all the stops.
End 4th, Red Sox 3-2: Of the 16 hits we already have in this game, Dustin Pedroia’s single in the fourth may have been the weakest.
However, it’s good enough to drive in J.D. Drew with the go-ahead run.
Pedroia hit a little dribbler that the Jays hoped would go foul. It ended up hugging the line and stopping on the chalk right before the third-base bag.
Drew and Jason Varitek started the inning with singles and moved up on a wild pitch.
Mid 4th, 2-2: A nice 3-6-3 double play helps Josh Beckett work around a leadoff hit. Adrian Gonzalez will get much of the credit but Marco Scutaro deserves some for taking a throw that was a little low and to his left and not letting it disrupt his return throw.
You might recall that Josh Beckett has had a horrid history against the Blue Jays. He is 3-6 with a 7.03 ERA in his career vs. Toronto.
One thing working in Beckett’s favor is the fact that Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay have moved on. Wells is 12-for-38 (.316) with five homers off Beckett while Overbay is 13-for-38 (.342). Perhaps that will help Beckett have a few better results against his AL East nemesis.
End 3rd, 2-2: Moments after Jerry points out the play by Corey Patterson in left field that kept the double play in order on a single by Kevin Youkilis, the Jays get that double play.
There have been 12 hits in three innings in this one and not too many on the Red Sox side have been hit all that softly.
Mid 3rd, 2-2: After four of the first seven men reached with a hit off Josh Beckett, he has settled down a bit. There were two hits in the third, but one was a 22-foot dribbler by Mike McCoy, who was promptly picked off by Beckett.
Marco Scutaro made a nice running grab of a looper off the bat of David Cooper for the final out.
Kinda odd that the moment home plate umpire Brian O’Nora gets caught by a foul ball “in the cookies,” as Jerry said, the loud speaker begins to blare “Glory Days.”
A rather unglorious moment for O’Nora.
End 2nd, 2-2: So much attention will be on the new additions in the lineup (Crawford, Gonzalez) and those returning from injury (Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youkilis) to produce this year, but three guys that may be even more critical to the mission strung some hits together in the second.
David Ortiz and J.D. Drew, who may get split up against a lefty (or sat) but otherwise will bat back-to-back, started it off with consecutive one-out singles.
Jason Varitek, who does the bulk of his damage vs. lefties, then smoked an offering from right-hander Jesse Litsch for an RBI double.
Ellsbury then got into the act with a two-out hit to score Drew and tie it. Some very hard-hit balls in the second.
Mid 2nd, Blue Jays 2-0: For the second straight inning the Jays swing at the first pitch and it’s a double, this time by Adam Loewen.
Beckett slams the door shut this time with a srikeout, chopper to the mound and a foul pop.
End 1st, Blue Jays 2-0: We have our first catcher’s interference call of the spring. All those catcher’s interference drills must be paying off.
Jacoby Ellsbury is the beneficiary of the call but is eventually stranded at third.
Good point by Jerry on having a few of these guys get hot as spring starts to come to a close.
Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis, the potential 3-5 hitters this season, are now a combined 19-for-98 (.194) with no home runs this spring.
Mid 1st, Blue Jays 2-0: Josh Beckett has been finishing his spring starts with rocky innings. This time he begins a start with one.
The very first pitch of the night is hammered to the center field wall for a double by Corey Patterson. Mike McCoy then dunks a single into shallow right.
Beckett battled back with a soft grounder to third and a strikeout but a liner off the bat of David Cooper results in two runs.
Jerry mentioned that fastball command for Beckett, the two-seamer that moves in on the hands of lefties. Terry Francona discussed Beckett’s arsenal this afternoon and theorized that some of Beckett’s issues last year was that he went to his cutter too often, possibly as a result of watching Jon Lester have such amazing success with his.
Francona said Beckett would throw a good cutter and then want to throw two more, inevitably letting one get too much of the plate and paying the price.
6:41 p.m.: OK, about to go settle into the NESN booth and listen to Don and Jerry carry us through another night here in Fort Myers, where it’s about as pleasant as can be right now.
Throw some comments down below and we’ll see what issues we can get to with the guys.
5:36 p.m.: The hugs and hellos for John Farrell came fast and furious once he showed his face on the field here. Jason Varitek snuck up from behind and gave him a big bear hug before lifting Farrell off the ground.
Fittingly, on the day the former pitching coach comes back to Fort Myes, pitching is on our mind.
Rather than provide every single detail right here, let us link to the latest on the roster cuts and what it means to the bullpen.
Also, we have a quick piece on Andrew Miller’s move to the Pawtucket rotation.
That is the bulk of the pregame news, although there are a couple of other very tiny items.
Sunday, when Jon Lester goes to the minor league camp to pitch, he will be caught by Jason Varitek. On Monday, Kevin Youkilis will go to the camp and get between five and seven at-bats, something he requested. Youkilis is 9-for-43 (.209) with 10 strikeouts this spring, so he might want to get a bit more in the groove.
Adrian Gonzalez, meanwhile will be making the trip to Dunedin that day to take on the Blue Jays. It’s a trip many guys beg off (Terry Francona suspected that was the real motivation for Youkilis) due to the length and the fact that not everybody loves the neighborhood it’s in. But Gonzalez asked to take part. He has yet to go on a trip, so it’s part of the process.
Francona joked that once Gonzalez saw where Dunedin was on the map he would back out.
A reminder that I’m going to attempt to set up in the NESN booth with Don and Jerry tonight. We should hear plenty of good stuff from the fellas as they work their way into regular season form as well.
3:55 p.m.: OK, so here is the rundown of roster moves. Look for more reaction/analysis/commentary in a separate piece a little later on.
Optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket was Scott Atchison, Michael Bowden and Ryan Kalish. Reassigned to the minor league camp was Andrew Miller, Brandon Duckworth, Rich Hill and Randy Williams.
Nate Spears and Drew Sutton remain with the team and will head to Houston for the exhibition game there, after which they will be sent down, barring anything unforeseen.
A couple other notes. Miller will begin the season as a starter at Pawtucket and get stretched out there. It’s not a major surprise. The club has been debating how to handle him all spring but with starting pitching depth a bit lean, he could develop into something nice.
Duckworth will start Sunday in Sarasota against Baltimore. Jon Lester was scheduled for that one but will pitch at the minor league camp instead. Lester has made a ton of road starts and since he’s scaling back a bit anyway it makes sense to just leave him back.
More to come soon…just have to transcribe a few quotes for you.
3:23 p.m.: Here is your lineup for tonight’s contest:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Carl Crawford, LF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
J.D. Drew, RF
Jason Varitek, C
Marco Scutaro, SS
3:06 p.m.: The bullpen battle has become a bit leaner for the Red Sox. Although official word will come down in a few minutes when we hear from Terry Francona, six guys were seen cleaning out their lockers at City of Palms Park.
Scott Atchison, Rich Hill, Brandon Duckworth, Michael Bowden and Randy Williams were all hugging it out and moving on. Not many major surprises in the group. Hill and Atchison will be in the mix going forward, in all likelihood.
Ryan Kalish was also moving on, but we know he is not far off. Just needs to get a little more playing time and he’ll be back.
More on all of this in a bit.
9 a.m.: Former Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell returns to City of Palms Park on Friday when he leads his Toronto Blue Jays into a primetime matchup with Boston.
Farrell served in his role with the Sox for four seasons before being hired to succeed Cito Gaston as manager of the Blue Jays.
One of Farrell’s former pupils, Josh Beckett, pitches for Boston, which has lost seven games in a row. Jesse Litsch is slated to start for Toronto.
First pitch is 7:05 p.m.
