So That's What Pitching & Defense Look Like

I had an image in my mind of Theo Esptein calling up Larry Lucchino last night to tell him that finally his pitching and defense idea is catching on. Low score games with phenomenal pitching, that's what we've all been counting on and for the last two nights the Red Sox have delivered.

After Clay's stellar outing yesterday, Jon Lester slightly one upped him by having an even better outing (hard to believe, but true). Lester had 11 strikeouts. That's right, 11! He was the ace we all know he is and effectively erased all memory of his previous bad starts.

Let's not forget to give props to both Bard and Papelbon who effectively held on to the 2 run lead and even made it look easy. It's always nice when Pap just does his job without trying to up the ante on excitement.

Darnell McDonald continues to amaze. Count me in the camp that viewed his debut as a fluke but he has more than proved me wrong and, for once, I am happy to say I was wrong. I'm also very happy to see Pedroia back in the 2nd spot in the lineup because for some reason it seems to be making a difference with his hitting. Watching Lowell pinch hit for Ortiz brought up usual mixed feeling for me. I would like to think Big Papi is not finished but it isn't looking so good for him, is it?

As an aside, I don't know if it is his ease at being back in Toronto (although how anyone could feel at ease in the cavernous Rogers Stadium is beyond me) but Marco Scutaro is beginning to show his personality. He exhibited a variety of different faces, tossed his bat and gloves, and even threw his batting helmet down in the dugout. Keep it up Marco!

Now that the Red Sox have swept the Blue Jays (A sweep! Finally!) they head down to Baltimore to show the Orioles that the one win they got on Sunday was an aberration and will not be happening again.

Josh Beckett is Pitching on Opening Night? I Never Would Have Guessed!

I was hesitant to write a blog post with yet another picture of Josh Beckett gracing it but given the news that Josh is going to be the Red Sox Opening Night pitcher I just had to.

Yes, Tito announced today that Josh would get the nod on Opening Night which was rather anticlimactic after he accidentally spilled the beans at a press conference yesterday. The real news today was the back end of the rotation and what was going to happen there. As expected, Lester will follow Beckett on April 6th and Lackey on April 7th against the Yankees. Then it gets interesting with Wakefield on April 9th against the Royals, back to Beckett again on the 10th, and finally Buchholz gets a turn on the 11th. Tito's reasoning is that Beckett would pitch his second game on 6 days rest instead of 7, which could be detrimental to him. I'm wondering about Buchholz though. He's going to go a long while without pitching in a real game. And of course, who knows what will happen when and if Dice-K finally is ready to enter the rotation.

Wakefield has already proven during Spring Training that he is up to the task despite what many thought over the winter. Buchholz on the other hand has been maddeningly inconsistent, showing shades of what got him sent down to the minors last year. I'm hoping that Clay can get back in a groove and show us that he can be the pitcher we always thought he was capable of.

In other Red Sox news today, Mike Lowell fouled a ball off his knee resulting in a contusion. Just another incident in a string of bad luck that seems to have been following Mikey around since last year.

The Red Sox beat the Blue Jays today 3-2 with Lester going 6 innings with 6 hits and 2 unearned runs. John Lackey pitches tomorrow against the Orioles and old timer Alan Embree is expected to pitch in relief.

And I promise my next post will not include a Beckett picture and perhaps I will even discuss hitting. Or fielding. Or something not to do with pitching.

Catching up on Red Sox News

It was a slow news week in Red Sox Spring Training for the most part and the Bruins appear to have been very busy during that time. Luckily though, after a week there is enough Red Sox news to fill a blog entry.

First up, we had the first televised NESN game this past Saturday (well we had one on Thursday too, but it was the Met's feed). Unfortunately, NESN had "technical difficulties" into the 7th inning leaving us with an bad audio feed and two commentators who are more suited to TV work than radio work. By all accounts, it was a good game though, with Clay pitching well and a spectacular triple play to end the whole thing.

I know I was not the only one who was looking forward to watching Josh Beckett pitch on Sunday against the Twins and hopes were high that NESN would have no technical difficulties for the game. NESN figured out their problems but Josh got the flu that has been going around the clubhouse and was scratched from his start. Gordon Edes says in his blog over at ESPN that Josh had consumed several hard boiled eggs that morning before becoming ill. I would hate to have eaten many hard boiled eggs and then gotten the flu. Nevertheless, the Red Sox won the game putting them one game away from winning the coveted Mayor's Cup.

In other Josh Beckett news this week we have heard more reports that he and the Red Sox are nearing a deal and hope to have it in place by Opening Day. As much as I am hoping for that, I can only think back to how often we heard a deal was almost in place for JayBay last year and we all know how that worked out. So until I see Josh on my TV screen assuring me that he will be playing for the Red Sox beyond this year, I'm remaining skeptical.

This week the Red Sox send a number of players off to the minor leagues, including Casey Kelly, Jose Iglesias, and Lars Anderson. It will be exciting to hear how they all do this year and I look forward to seeing them next year at Spring Training. Pete Abraham has a nice article about it here.

Mike Lowell is anticipated to play 1st base today against Baltimore. The whole Mike Lowell situation is so awkward. I wish it would just resolve itself but there is no logical way that could happen. Frankly, I would rather see Mike go to another team where he can get regular playing time and end his career in dignity rather than go through this farce. However, with Ortiz batting the way he has been in Spring Training maybe the Red Sox should keep Lowell around as DH insurance.

Finally, please keep Red Sox prospect Ryan Westmoreland in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow as he undergoes brain surgery for a “cavernous malformation."