Pedroia to Clean Up Kansas City

With Kevin Youkilis out that only means one thing, Dustin Pedroia gets to shine in the clean up spot and boy did he ever. Pedroia lead the Red Sox to a 4-3 win in Kansas City.

The offence has been struggling the past couple of game with the lose of Youkilis and David Ortiz and Pedroia was the needed spark as he went 3-for-4 with three RBI. He knocked in two runs in the top of third to put the Sox up 3-1 on a single. Pedroia's thrid RBI came in the top of fifth inning on a single to score Jed Lowrie, he attempted to get to second base and was picked off. Pedroia ended his batting with a double in the top of the eighth.

Pedroia has been electric in the clean up spot with a .491 (27-for-55)batting average as the clean up man. Not only is his batting average so high in the spot but he has five homers and 15 RBI.

The game was a Pedroia show but Josh Beckett was on the mound looking for his tenth win of the season and he finally got it. By no means was this the best start of the season but it was good enough for the win. Beckett only struck out four batters while giving up seven hits and three runs all earned and one home run.

Beckett went out of the game after pitching seven and handed the ball to his rear unstoppable duo of Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon. Both guys reached milestones as Daniel Bard after pitching a scoreless eighth got his 29th hold of the season. This is the most by any reliever to wear the Red Sox uniform in 123 games.

Papelbon came into the game in the ninth a was unstoppable with two strikeouts to get his 29th save of the season and his 24th consecutive. The 24 straight is a career high for Papelbon but it is also the second longest streak in the American League.

It was also the Major League Debut of Ryan Lavarnway who went 0-for-4 on the night.

BecKKKKKKKKKKett is back!!!!

Wow! That is all I have to say about Josh Beckett’s performance last night against the Yankees. That is the best pitching I have saw out of Beckett in at least the last two seasons to lead the Red Sox to a 4-0 win.

Coming into this game people was doubting him and wondering if he would ever be worth his $68 Million dollar contract. But Beckett come out mixing his pitches better than I have saw him do ever and was throwing the flame as he fanned 10 batters and only allowed two men on base and those only came in the first three innings of the game. His two strongest pitches of the night was his two-seamer that had great movement and he was throwing his curveball perfect as well as for strike. It was just amazing to witness.

The one thing that is different between this start and Beckett’s last? Jason Varitek. Varitek has a special bond with Beckett as he can call an amazing game for him. Varitek is the genius catcher that has caught four no-hitters he knows how to call a game. I believe after this start he will be Beckett’s full time catcher from here on out.

While Beckett was pitching amazing he had some help from Dustin Pedroia’s defense. Pedroia showed why he is one of the top defensive second basemen in the game. Throwing guys out on plays most couldn’t get to. He brought his bat to this series as well. Pedroia went 9-for-13 and 3-for-4 last night against the Yankees. It showed all Pedroia needed was to get back to Fenway in front of the home town crowd to get it going on the season.

The was some bad last night though for offense the bats was moving for singles but it was like no one could hit once men was on base. Last night the guys went 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position. There were only two guys to hit for double all game and that was David Ortiz and Marco Scutaro. Scutaro’s second double of the game come at the perfect time with bases loaded to give the Sox a 3-0 lead.

Another great was Jonathan Papelbon, though he came in the ninth it wasn’t for a save but he sure pitched like it was. Papelbon struck out a hot Brett Gardner and Mark Teixeira and forced Derek Jeter to ground out to Pedroia.

This was an important win for the Red Sox with a struggling Tampa Bay team coming in today and this could be the confidence they need to get this season off and running.

Yankees 0|2|0

Red Sox 4|12|0

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Home is Where the Red Sox Heart is: Red Sox Get First Win

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Today was opening day at Fenway Park and the Evil Empire New York Yankees are in town. With their rival in town what better time to pick up the first win of the year. Well it happened the Red Sox defeated the Yankees 9-6.

Coming into the game today fans was restless and some even starting to panic wondering when the first win would happen. I think the management even was thinking like that to because GM Theo Epstein held a closed-door meet with the team ready to play and it worked. Red Sox set up man Daniel Bard “On a scale of 1 to awesome, it was awesome. It was like Rudy, except there was no prayer at the end.” If it takes pep talks like this all season I say get in their everyday Theo and do work.

Today’s game was like a boxing match that was split up into nine rounds because both teams came out swinging early. The first inning the Yankees put up two runs in the first inning thanks to Robinson Cano knocking in a pair of runs in. The Red Sox could not allow them to steal the show at the home opener so Dustin Pedroia gets up to bat and starts his 2011 Laser Show by knocking a home run into the monster seats.

The top of the second Brett Gardner hit a double to score a run making it 3-1 at the middle of the second. This is when the Red Sox bats decided to go nuts as they would score 5 runs off of Yankee right hander Phil Hughes. All nine Red Sox batters saw action in this inning as Hughes gave up six hits, a fielder’s choice and a walk. After all that action it would be the end of Hughes day.

So with the offense being in full sync you would assume pitching would be as well. Well you know what happens when you assume it makes an ass out of you and me. Most people would think after Jon Lester went seven innings of shut-out ball Thursday that John Lackey would follow with a similar performance not at all. Lackey pitched so poorly that he gave up at least one run in all five innings of work. Lackey was charged with six runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out a pair and giving up a home run to A-Rod.

Following the Lackey disaster Jarrod Saltalamacchia gets an RBI to give the sox a 7-6 lead and gives Lackey the undeserved win. The seventh inning was another big one for the Sox as they put two more runs on the board. The Seventh started with Adrian Gonzalez hitting a leadoff single followed by Big Papi hitting a green monster double for his third hit of the day. J.D. Drew comes up to the plate and blast a base hit that would allow both Gonzalez and Ortiz to score.

The Red Sox bullpen looked amazing today with the newly addition Alfredo Aceves pitching the sixth, Bobby Jenks in the seventh, Daniel Bard in the eighth and Jonathon Papelbon getting the Save. The four of these guys combined for one hit and five strike outs and most important no runs.

The Red Sox are finally getting in gear for the season getting their bats going, now if pitching can get in gear the Sox are going to be a force to be recon with. Getting home was just what the doctors ordered.

Papelbon Fifth Anniversary as a Closer is Here

Can you believe that today is the fifth anniversary of Jonathan Papelbon becoming the closer of the Red Sox?

Coming into the 2006 season the Red Sox had put their faith in Keith Foulke who was a key player in the 2004 post season leading the Sox to their first World Series victory in 86 years. Foulke was coming off a 2005 injury plagued season and a poor spring training. Foulke is called into the game on Opening Day 2006 in Texas. He gave a run and two hits in what was a long inning of work. While the Sox did win the game they knew that they were in trouble and thus the Jonathan Papelbon era would begin.

On April 5, 2006 before the game Terry Francona if there was a chance for a save situation that the rookie Papelbon would get his chance as the closer of the Sox. Papelbon had just came off a 2005 season where he had a 2.65 ERA and issued at least one strike out an inning as a mid-season call up. Francona knew that Papelbon had what it had to take to be the closer as they used him primarily as a setup man, though in the minors he was used a starter.

“About 30 minutes before game time, Tito just called me into the office and said he thought long and hard about, starting the season off, who was going to close, and we decided on you,”Papelbon recalled. “We want to give you the chance to start shutting the door in the ninth. Just go out there and do the best you can.”

That was the conversation that started it all for the Sox. It’s Josh Beckett’s Red Sox debut on the third game of the season, the Rangers only scored one run in the game which come early in the first inning. Beckett is set for the win thanks to a couple of runs in the seventh. Mike Timlin comes in for a rocky eighth inning but survives not giving up any runs. The bottom of the ninth in Texas the bullpen doors open and there he is Mr. Papelbon himself. Papelbon comes running to the mound with adrenaline going wild.

"I remember it pretty vividly," Papelbon said. "I've gotten some good (adrenaline rushes)-Yankee Stadium, World Series, Fenway Park. But that first one is definitely, it was the same feel but yet different means. Same feel, same adrenaline, but different meaning."

"I remember thinking to myself, after it was said and done' Wow, for the first save opportunity in the big leagues, this was an intense as they come, pretty big one right out of the gate, day one' I remember thinking, 'Wow, pretty intense.' I enjoyed it."

Papelbon came out strong throwing high 90’s and got the save. Though he did get the save he was not named the permanent closer until later in the season while they thought about still trying to transition him into being the starter. Papelbon saved 35 games with 75 strike outs in 68 1/3 innings played in 2006.

In his fifth year of in this role of closer of the Red Sox, he has 188 saves hoping to get to 200 in this season. He has the most saves in Red Sox history and the most saves in the American League in a five year span.

This is Papelbon’s final year of his contract and how fitting is it that the start of another season as closer Josh Beckett is on the mound. If Beckett is able to keep the game close then Paplebon will be able to get a save the same way his first save was made.