Postgame, Red Sox 8-1: It speaks to the confidence of this team that after winning for just the fourth time in 14 games to start the year and doing so with their largest margin of victory, the Red Sox made sure they mentioned some of their issues.
Terry Francona pointed out some of the defensive lapses today, as well as some at-bats in which guys didn’t work too hard. Jon Lester admitted he wasn’t showcasing his best stuff. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, coming off his best game of the year, discussed how much he wants to improve.
And two wins in a row? Doesn’t even count as a winning streak.
“Tomorrow would be a winning streak,” Adrian Gonzalez said. “Then we can get some momentum going into the road trip.”
The Red Sox are making sure they don’t count their chickens before they hatch. If Daisuke Matsuzaka can shut down the Blue Jays on Marathon Monday, that might alter their view, but for now they are taking a very business-like approach to a solid win. When you’re 4-10, that’s all you can do.
For those of you not watching the race, or even those who are who want to follow the Sox, check in with the live blog tomorrow morning. We should be here around 8 a.m. to bring you all the news and notes leading up to Matsuzaka’s first pitch at 11:05 a.m.
Final, Red Sox 8-1: That’ll do it, folks. Jon Lester goes six-plus, Jacoby Ellsbury rips a three-run homer and the Red Sox take advantage of some sloppy play by the Blue Jays to win their second in a row.
Heading to the clubhouse for some words with the fellas. See you soon.
End 8th, Red Sox 8-1: For those of you keeping score at home, Jed Lowrie is 1-for-4 with an RBI. He got credit for the run batted in on the chopper in the eighth.
Also, he turns 27 today. Strange birthday for him, but one he’ll take once Dan Wheeler closes this one out.
4:31 p.m.: Jed Lowrie has been an official scorer’s dream today. Moments after the scorer reversed one of his hits from earlier, Lowrie bounds one off the glove of first baseman Adam Lind.
After some consideration, it goes in the books as an error, but two runs do come in on the play (the Red Sox loaded the bases with no outs) and Boston leads 8-1. Toronto is currently making a pitching change.
Lowrie has also had one legit error in the field and another misplay that could’ve gone in the books as an E-6, but didn’t. Still, good things just keep happening when he’s at the plate, whether through good fortune or what.
Adrian Gonzalez led off the inning with a double. Kevin Youkilis was hit by a pitch, the 70th time in his career, one shy of Mo Vaughn’s team record. After a David Ortiz walk, Lowrie’s latest odd play took place.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 6-1: Both teams have seven hits, but for once it’s the Red Sox getting the big ones.
Toronto is now 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and has stranded eight runners after Bobby Jenks came on to strike out J.P. Arencibia with two on.
4:11 p.m.: Not really sure what the Red Sox are doing with Felix Doubront. He is talked about as a future starter in the middle of the rotation, or as a key member of the bullpen.
Yet, instead of allowing him to work up to those levels at Pawtucket and using someone like Hideki Okajima, they have Doubront pitching on a sporadic basis in less-than-critical situations. Just doesn’t seem to be helping him out much, even if he is just building arm strength after a wasted spring. Could be doing that in the minors, too.
Anyway, two walks and a single have chased Doubront in the eighth. Bobby Jenks is on with two on (one was picked off…..John Farrell getting TOO aggressive there) and two outs.
End 7th, Red Sox 6-1: Carl Crawford now hitless in his last 12 at-bats, 3-for-32 as the leadoff hitter (overall, not leading off innings) and batting .127.
Being around the clubhouse and the cages and everything, we do see the work ethic that the Red Sox rave about, so this is not through lack of effort. If anything, it is too much.
Crawford might have to just go up and say to himself that he doesn’t give a crap. Take a “who cares?” attitude and see what happens.
Felix Doubront is going to pitch the eighth, and perhaps the ninth if all goes well. Jonathan Papelbon has pitched two straight days, so the Red Sox would like to stay away from him. With Bard already spent, would we see Bobby Jenks in a save opportunity? Possible.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 6-1: It took Daniel Bard two pitches to get two outs. He needed 17 more to get the final one.
Almost immediately, Bard got Juan Rivera to line to Dustin Pedroia, who threw to first to double off Travis Snider. With a man on the base in front of him and down five runs, not sure where Snider was going.
Bard and Jayson Nix, who has been a thorn in the side of the Red Sox, engaged in a long battle before Nix won with a walk. Yunel Escobar then struck out on a beautiful slider.
3:41 p.m.: A single and an error on Jed Lowrie, and that’ll do it for Jon Lester.
He goes six-plus, allowing a run on six hits and three walks. He is responsible for the two runners, so the book is not yet closed.
Daniel Bard is your new pitcher.
End 6th, Red Sox 6-1: Jesse Litsch had set down 13 in a row. Suddenly, four straight reached.
David Ortiz had a single and Jed Lowrie (of course) had another, even though it could’ve been ruled an error. J.D. Drew walked to load the bases and Jarrod Saltalamacchia ripped a two-run single to right.
Drew was waved in when the throw in went to second, but was an easy out at home. He appeared to come up limping, but is back out there in right field.
This is Saltalamacchia’s second multi-hit game of the year.
Jon Lester is back out to begin the seventh. Daniel Bard warming.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 4-1: Jon Lester’s 100th pitch gets him through six. Nobody warming in the Red Sox bullpen, but there is stirring and stretching and probably some really swell chit-chat.
End 5th, Red Sox 4-1: Carl Crawford is now 3-for-31 (.097) as the leadoff hitter. He tried to break out of it with a bunt attempt in the fifth, but Jesse Litsch got him.
Litsch has set down 11 in a row since Jacoby Ellsbury’s homer.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 4-1: Jon Lester has finished each of the last three innings with a strikeout and has five overall. However, his pitch count has soared to 85.
Also, the Blue Jays took another bag on the Sox in the fifth. This time it was Jayson Nix stealing second, although the throw from Jarrod Saltalamacchia was not a bad one.
The Jays have swiped eight bases in the series. The one time they were caught (technically) came on the first-and-third decoy in the second that got them their only run.
End 4th, Red Sox 4-1: Remember Jon Lester’s last start? He gave up three runs in seven innings and they all came on five straight hits in one inning.
Jesse Litsch has a similar thing going on here. The Red Sox got all four of their runs on three straight singles and Jacoby Ellsbury’s three-run homer.
Since then, Litsch has retired eight straight, including the first two in the fourth on strikeouts.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 4-1: Jon Lester’s third strikeout of the game comes on a 94 mph fastball that ends the fourth.
Jed Lowrie will start the Sox’ half of the frame batting .522 (12-for-23).
End 3rd, Red Sox 4-1: A bit of a better inning for Jesse Litsch, who gets Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz on consecutive grounders.
You wonder when one of these shattered bats does even more damage than they have already done. I think to Tyler Colvin’s incident last year, to David Price’s in spring training before that, and many others.
Jon Lester was nearly added to that list when that sharp shard flew past his head last inning. Scary stuff.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 4-1: A little bit of everything in the top of the third, but no scoring for the Blue Jays.
Jon Lester walked the leadoff man, Jayson Nix. He shouldn’t be too happy about that. Yunel Escobar then shatters his bat in 46 different pieces (I counted). The biggest piece floats dangerously towards Lester’s head.
The lefty avoids it and sees his boys behind him turn a 6-4-3 double play.
Corey Patterson followed with a line shot to left that Carl Crawford misplayed. He was slow going back on it and didn’t start sprinting until it was too late. A struggle all around for Crawford right now.
Lester got out of it by striking out Jose Bautista.
End 2nd, Red Sox 4-1: Who’s putting money on Jacoby Ellsbury batting leadoff tomorrow?
Sure, Ellsbury’s job in that role isn’t to just crush weak fastballs for three-run homers, as he just did, but he is still having good at-bats from time to time. Carl Crawford? Not so much.
Ellsbury followed three straight singles (an RBI base hit by the long-named catcher gave the Red Sox their first run) by unloading on a Jesse Litsch offering. The shot to right was Ellsbury’s third of the year and was a good 20-25 rows deep.
Jed Lowrie, who started things off with a bloop single, is having a hard time doing anything negative. The ball he hit was ticketed for the stands in left, but a stiff wind blew it back into play and it fell fair on the dirt. Lowrie didn’t hustle and only got a single out of what should’ve been two bases. It makes no difference at all after the ensuing singles and the homer.
Everything going right for Lowrie right now. That could’ve been a glaring mistake not to run out of the box if the inning went differently.
Mid 2nd, Blue Jays 1-0: The Blue Jays continue to run wild, and teams in general continue to take advantage of Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
With Juan Rivera on first and Aaron Hill on third, Rivera, who has 11 career steals, broke for second. Saltalamacchia must’ve figured a guy as slow-footed as that would have no shot, so he threw down as Hill broke home.
However, Rivera had put on the brakes. Saltalamacchia should’ve eaten the ball. Worst that could happen if he does is the runners just retreat to their respective bags. As it is, Hill slid home long before Rivera was tagged out for the final out.
Had Salty made a good throw and Rivera kept running, chances are the run scores before the tag anyway. It was a bad throw anyway. Also, the No. 9 hitter is up and Jon Lester is on the mound. Give them second and third and let Lester go to work.
End 1st, 0-0: Very quietly, Adrian Gonzalez had gone 3-for-20 over his last six games. Not an incredible slump, but we are still waiting for him to truly break out.
A good sign in the bottom of the first as he rips a single to center off Jesse Litsch, the one right-hander the Red Sox are facing during a six-game stretch.
Gonzalez moves to second on a wild pitch but is left there when Kevin Youkilis strikes out.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Jon Lester has put a zero on the board in 15 of the last 16 innings he has completed after a scoreless top of the first.
Lester recorded his first strikeout on a 94-mph heater, and topped out at 95. His curve buckled a knee or two. The Jose Bautista double was a ball he fought off down the right-field line and squibbed into the stands.
1:24 p.m.: Great moment on the field as members of the Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Vets is given a well-deserved applause.
Fortunately, the rain went away for the most part before they were introduced. It has brightened up just a tad, and we should have no interruptions in this one.
1:10 p.m.: There remains a few raindrops in the area. The lights are on here and the grounds crew is flirting heavily with the tarp, just in case.
Shouldn’t impact the game to a great degree, but we could get a delay at one time or another.
As I say that, it begins to rain a bit. We’ll update you with any weather-related changes.
12:35 p.m.: Saw John Lackey this morning. Some solid growth to his beard, shirt untucked. It’s been a bit since he’s had to get spruced up, hasn’t it?
Lackey, as you will recall, was skipped in the rotation when the Red Sox were rained out Wednesday, and will not go again until Tuesday night (10:07 p.m.) in Oakland.
Basically, Lackey has had to take one for the team with this long layoff.
“This is not easy for Lack right now. We understand that,” Terry Francona said. “But I think we felt as a staff it’s better to take one guy, try to make him adjust, than take all five guys. Then you’re really doing a disservice to the staff. So we told Lack to do whatever he wants, whether to take one side or two sides, extended side, a small side, a long toss. Whatever he needs to get ready, that’s up to him. Lack doesn’t do a lot of moaning and groaning. I think he was mad he wasn’t pitching. I would’ve been to. He’ll take it and go with it.”
Lackey threw a side on Friday and was scheduled to have some work today, too. It will be 10 days between starts for him.
11:28 a.m.: Quick aside for you. Terry Francona said that when Josh Beckett is starting to act like a smart aleck, he knows his right-hander has his swagger back.
Well, Beckett was strolling through the clubhouse just minutes later wearing a T-shirt that read “I Don’t Give a….” and then had a picture at the bottom of a rat holding a leash attached to a donkey. I think you can fill in the rest based on that image.
Nice to see Beckett “feeling good about himself,” to put it in Franconaese.
In other news, Francona discussed his decision to put Carl Crawford back in that leadoff spot after a day off.
“I just thought a day to just be in the cage and not have to take it right ot the game, sometimes can help,” he said. “I know he really wanted to play yesterday, which I’m really glad. Once he gets going, we all know it, he’s gonna get real hot. Hope it starts today.
“Certainly not a guy that when he doesn’t hit, you run from. He’s going to be a huge part of our offense.”
As for the decision to play Lowrie at shortstop and to bat him where he did, Francona had two reasons. One was simple.
“Jed’s so hot right now I don’t know how you can keep a guy like that out of the lineup,” the manager said.
The second reason is Lowrie’s switch-hitting capabilities. By placing Lowrie between lefties David Ortiz and J.D. Drew, it will force the Blue Jays to think twice about bringing a southpaw out of the bullpen to face those guys. If they do, Lowrie can swap to his stronger side and present an even greater threat.
Lowrie’s versatility is known, and he may be the best example of a team that has more options than in years past. The daily lineup changes are made in part to find the right fix, but will be rather common the rest of the season with so much diversity.
“We talked to our team the very first day. We don’t feel like we have just nine players, we feel like we have a ballclub full of guys that can help us win, so I would be wrong to not use them,” Francona said.
Back in a bit with a few more notes.
11:02 a.m.: Just heard from Terry Francona, who discussed his lineup decisions for Sunday’s game.
Francona said he had a good talk with Carl Crawford, basically for two reasons. He wanted to reassure Crawford how he felt about him as a player, and also see if there was anything that the coaching staff could do to help.
Crawford’s response was to keep playing. He will be back in there, and according to Francona was the first guy to arrive today and get in some extra work in the cage. Nobody has doubted Crawford’s work ethic, which is off the charts.
We will have more on the manager’s morning briefing in a bit. Here is the Toronto lineup for today:
Yunel Escobar, SS
Corey Patterson, CF
Jose Bautista, RF
Adam Lind, 1B
Aaron Hill, 2B
J.P. Arencibia, C
Travis Snider, DH
Juan Rivera, LF
Jayson Nix, 3B
9:50 a.m.: Greetings from Fenway Park, where the sun has taken over after the rainy night. Should be a great day for a game. Solid breeze blowing out to right, but that’s about it.
Here is your lineup. Note the return of Carl Crawford and who is playing shortstop:
Carl Crawford, LF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Jed Lowrie, SS
J.D. Drew, RF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
7 a.m.: The Red Sox will try once again to put together their first winning streak of the season Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays, and they’ll have a pretty good guy on the mound to lead that mission.
Coming off a 4-1 win Saturday, Boston throws Jon Lester in the third of four straight meetings with the Blue Jays at Fenway Park. The Opening Day starter is winless in three starts, but has allowed only three runs in 14 innings over his last two.
Not that he needs it, but Lester can take some inspiration from what Josh Beckett did Saturday. In winning his second straight start, Beckett gave up just a run in seven innings. He struck out nine and was bolstered by Jed Lowrie, who was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer batting from the leadoff spot.
First pitch for this one is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. The storm that is expected to hit the area overnight should be cleared out by then.
Following the game, kids will have a chance to run the bases. Those interested will be asked to line up in the Big Concourse behind the bleachers.
