Angels - Red Sox -JC Ramirez / David Price
June 24, 2017
June 23, 2017
Red Sox Acquire Doug Fister, Jhonny Peralta
The Red Sox have acquired pitcher Doug Fister - and he will start against the Angels this Sunday.
Boston tried to get the 33-year-old right-hander earlier this year, but were edged out by the Angels. However, Fister exercised an opt-out clause (because he was not on the Angels' major league roster on June 21) and became available, and was claimed off release waivers. Fister made three starts for Salt Lake City this year, with a 4.02 ERA (15.2 innings, 16 hits, 5 walks, 10 strikeouts).
Dave Dombrowski, president of baseball operations:
Boston tried to get the 33-year-old right-hander earlier this year, but were edged out by the Angels. However, Fister exercised an opt-out clause (because he was not on the Angels' major league roster on June 21) and became available, and was claimed off release waivers. Fister made three starts for Salt Lake City this year, with a 4.02 ERA (15.2 innings, 16 hits, 5 walks, 10 strikeouts).
Dave Dombrowski, president of baseball operations:
He's never been a big velocity guy, he's an average velocity, he even ticked a little bit below that the last couple years. But when we saw him, he was 89-90, good cutter, good curveball, knows how to pitch, good sink, holds runners well, he's a championship caliber makeup player. He's a quality individual, hard worker, great shape and we think he can help us.The team also signed third baseman Jhonny Peralta to a minor league contract. Peralta, 35, was released by the Cardinals on June 13. He will report to Pawtucket on Monday. Dombrowski:
We thought it was a nice fit for us. He had other opportunities to go out in places, but I talked to Jhonny - and also, we go back - and I thought that in our situation on Jhonny, he had a real good spring. Really didn't play very much in the beginning of the year, had some injuries. We had some mixed reports on him during the season, regular season. ... Really, we're open to improve our club however we possibly can ...Brak! Brak!
G73: Red Sox 9, Angels 4
Angels - 000 100 300 - 4 10 0 Red Sox - 300 202 02x - 9 10 1The Red Sox wasted little time in grabbing a lead. In the bottom of the first, Mookie Betts walked and stole second base. Dustin Pedroia walked. Xander Bogaerts (2-for-4) doubled for one run. Then two wild pitches by Alex Meyer scored Pedroia and Bogaerts.
Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run homer down the right-field line in the fourth inning (Meyer tossed another wild pitch during Hanley's at-bat.) With two outs in the sixth, Jackie Bradley (2-for-3) walked and Sandy Leon (3-for-4) homered to right-center. Leon added a two-run double in the eighth.
Rick Porcello (6.1-8-4-1-8, 102) looked much more like the guy we remember from last season, allowing only five hits, one walk, and one run through six innings. The Angels went double-triple-double against him with one out in the seventh and it was time for the bullpen.
Betts, RFDavid Ortiz will have his #34 retired before tonight's game. It is Big Papi's first time back at Fenway Park since he retired last season.
Benintendi, LF
Bogaerts, SS
Moreland, 1B
Ramirez, DH
Bradley, CF
Leon, C
Rutledge, 2B
Marrero, 3B
The ceremony will be streamed on MLB.com and redsox.com. Or click here.
Yesterday afternoon, David Ortiz Drive was unveiled outside Fenway Park. The street was formerly known as Yawkey Way Extension and is located directly across from Yawkey Way, off Brookline Avenue.
Porcello has given up 124 hits this season, the most of any major league pitcher. Opponents are hitting .358 against him in his last eight starts, during which he has had a 6.02 ERA.
David Ortiz In Walkoff Situations IV (Career)
During his fourteen seasons with the Red Sox, David Ortiz built a reputation as the one player the team absolutely wanted at the plate with a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth or in extra innings.
That was first evident during the 2004 American League Championship Series against the Yankees, when Ortiz had two game-winning hits in less than 24 hours in two must-win games for the Red Sox. A few days earlier, Ortiz had sent the Angels home for the winter with an American League Division Series-clinching home run. In the 2004 post-season, Ortiz bagged three walkoff hits in a span of four home games.
Back in 2005 and 2006, when Ortiz came to the plate at Fenway Park with a chance to win the game, he never made an out. That is barely an exaggeration. When I compiled the data for the first version of this post (August 1, 2006), I noted that from the end of the 2004 regular season through July 2006, Ortiz came to the plate 19 times in a walkoff situation - and made only three outs. He had a .786 batting average (11-for-14) with seven home runs and 20 RBI!
His July 31, 2006 home run off Cleveland rookie Fausto Carmona (later known as Roberto Hernandez) may be my favourite non-playoff Ortiz walkoff hit. Big Papi was on an amazing streak of winning games and had hit an extra-inning game-winner only two days earlier. With Boston down by two runs and two men on in the ninth, I probably would have bet my year's salary on Ortiz winning the game if someone had asked. It felt like everyone in Fenway Park knew it would happen, including Carmona. Maybe especially Carmona. The Cleveland pitcher threw two balls to build a little tension and then - BAM! - Ortiz crushed a three-run homer to center. All I could do is stare at the TV and laugh.
Ortiz - being human - couldn't keep batting almost .800 in walkoff situations. And at times, he was (admittedly) no longer that guy, the slugger who made pitchers quake in their cleats, but his past heroics remained in the back of everyone's mind when he spat in his batting gloves, clapped those big mitts together, and dug in. For years, a game-winning hit always seemed (to me, anyway) extremely likely.
Of course, the walkoff opportunities listed below tell only a small part of Ortiz's story. But it is a huge part of Big Papi's legend, one that led to Ortiz being dubbed, officially, by the team, as The Greatest Clutch Hitter In Red Sox History.
2003-2016
PA AB H HR RBI BB Walkoffs
2003 7 6 2 1 2 1 2
2004 14 13 5 3 8 1 5
2005 5 3 3 2 5 2 3
2006 10 7 5 3 10 3 5
2007 7 5 1 1 2 1 1
2008 9 5 1 0 0 3 0
2009 3 3 1 1 1 0 1
2010 6 5 1 0 3 1 1
2011 7 5 3 0 0 2 0
2012 3 2 0 0 0 1 0
2013 8 7 1 1 3 1 1
2014 14 8 1 0 0 6 0
2015 6 3 0 0 0 3 0
2016 7 7 3 0 2 0 1
TOTALS 106 79 27 12 36 25 20 (.342 batting average)
Ortiz's Walkoff Opportunities With Boston (Game-Winning Hits in Red)
2003 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0615 Hou 10 -2- 1 2-2 Dotel BBI 12 --- 0 2-2 Bland 3U 0719 Tor 9 -2- 2 4-4 Acevado 4-3 0726 NYY 9 12- 2 4-4 Benitez Single 0823 Sea 10 1-- 1 6-6 Rhodes P6 0923 Bal 10 --- 0 5-5 Ainsworth Home Run ALDS Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 1004 Oak 10 12- 2 1-1 Mecir L6 2004 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0411 Tor 9 -2- 2 4-4 Kershner F8 12 1-- 0 4-4 Lopez Home Run 0415 Bal 9 --- 1 7-7 Ryan F8 0507 KC 9 --- 0 6-6 MacDougal K 0529 Sea 9 1-- 2 4-5 Guardado F8 0530 Sea 11 --- 1 7-7 Putz K 0611 LAD 9 -23 0 1-1 Martin Single 0923 Bal 9 12- 2 7-9 Ryan F9 ALDS Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 1008 Ana 10 1-- 2 6-6 Washburn Home Run ALCS Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 1017 NYY 9 123 2 4-4 Rivera P4 12 1-- 0 4-4 Quantrill Home Run 1018 NYY 10 --- 0 4-4 Heredia K 12 --- 1 4-4 Loaiza BB 14 12- 2 4-4 Loaiza Single 2005 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0602 Bal 9 12- 2 3-4 Ryan Home Run 0830 TB 9 --- 1 6-6 Borowski BB 0906 LAA 9 --- 1 2-2 Shields Home Run 0916 Oak 10 1-3 1 2-2 Cruz BBI 0929 Tor 9 12- 1 4-4 Batista Single 2006 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0611 Tex 9 12- 2 2-4 Otsuka Home Run 0624 Phi 10 1-- 1 3-3 Gordon Home Run 0626 Phi 9 --- 0 6-6 Cormier 4-1 11 -2- 1 6-6 Gordon BBI 12 12- 2 7-7 Condrey Single 0729 LAA 9 -2- 1 6-6 Rodriguez BBI 11 12- 1 6-6 Romero Single 0731 Cle 9 12- 1 6-8 Carmona Home Run 0812 Bal 10 1-- 0 7-7 Chen BB 0909 KC 10 -2- 1 4-4 Sisco 6-3 2007 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0701 Tex 9 1-- 2 1-2 Gagne P3 0713 Tor 9 12- 1 5-6 Accardo F8 0815 TB 9 -2- 2 5-6 Reyes BB 0912 TB 9 1-- 1 3-4 Reyes Home Run 0916 NYY 9 123 2 3-4 Rivera P6 ALDS Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 1005 LAA 9 -2- 2 3-3 Rodriguez BBI ALCS Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 1013 Cle 10 --- 0 3-3 Mastny 6-3 2008 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0429 Tor 9 --- 2 0-0 Halladay BB 0430 Tor 9 --- 0 1-1 Downs Single 0801 Oak 10 --- 1 1-1 Street P5 12 --- 0 1-1 Embree K looking 0909 TB 9 1-- 1 4-5 Percival F9 0910 TB 10 -2- 0 1-1 Bradford BBI 12 1-- 0 1-1 Howell 1-3 SAC ALDS Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 1005 LAA 10 --- 1 4-4 Rodriguez BB ALCS Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 1016 TBR 9 --- 1 7-7 Howell K 2009 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0424 NYY 11 --- 0 4-4 Marte K 0703 Sea 10 --- 0 5-5 Jakubauskas 6-3 0826 CWS 9 --- 1 2-2 Pena Home Run 2010 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0416 TB 9 --- 0 1-1 Cormier 3-1 11 123 0 1-1 Cormier FC/3-2 0717 Tex 9 -2- 1 1-2 Lee 4-3 11 -23 0 2-2 Ogando BBI 0731 Det 9 123 1 2-4 Coke Double * 0821 Tor 9 1-- 1 4-4 Carlson 361 DP 2011 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0504 LAA 10 --- 2 3-3 Bell Walk 0519 Det 9 1-- 0 3-3 AlbuequerqueSingle 0621 SDP 9 1-- 0 4-5 Bell 563 DP 0725 KCR 9 1-- 1 1-1 Crow Single 11 -2- 2 1-1 Holland BBI 13 1-3 2 1-1 Coleman 4-3 0807 NYY 10 --- 1 2-2 Hughes Ground Rule Double 2012 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0416 TB 9 -2- 2 0-1 Rodney BBI 0504 Bal 10 1-- 1 4-4 Ayala 3-1 12 1-- 2 4-4 Patton 3U 2013 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0606 Tex 9 12- 0 3-3 Kirkman Home Run 0721 NYY 11 --- 1 7-7 Warren 4-3 0729 TB 9 -2- 2 1-2 Rodney BBI 0731 Sea 9 1-- 2 4-4 Furbush P5 12 --- 2 4-4 Farquhar F9 15 1-- 0 4-4 Luetge 3U 0801 Sea 9 12- 0 6-7 Perez K 0918 Bal 10 1-- 0 3-3 Hunter 653 DP 2014 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0405 Mil 9 --- 2 6-6 Smith 6-3 0420 Bal 9 --3 1 5-5 Matusz BBI 0421 Bal 9 -23 1 5-7 Hunter BBI 0501 TB 9 -2- 2 1-2 Balfour 1-3 (G1 of DH) 0501 TB 9 -2- 0 5-6 Balfour 3U (G2 of DH) 0506 Cin 9 1-- 2 3-3 LeCure BB 12 --- 0 3-3 Andrusek Single 0530 TB 10 --- 0 2-2 Oviedo 4-3 0615 Cle 10 --- 1 2-2 Allen K 0706 Bal 9 --- 2 6-6 Brach BB 0710 CWS 9 --- 1 3-3 Surkamp 3U 0819 LAA 9 -2- 2 3-4 Street BBI 0905 Tor 9 -2- 0 6-6 McGowan BBI 10 12- 1 8-8 Janssen E4 2015 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0503 NYY 9 123 2 5-8 Miller L8 0520 Tex 9 -2- 2 1-2 Tolleson BBI 0613 Tor 10 --- 1 4-4 Loup K 0816 Sea 9 -2- 2 7-8 CSmith BBI 11 1-- 1 8-8 Rasmussen K 0908 Tor 9 --- 1 1-1 Sanchez BB 2016 Date Opp Inn MOB Out Score Pitcher Result 0411 Bal 9 12- 0 7-9 Britton 463 DP 0418 Tor 9 1-- 2 3-4 Storen K looking 0514 Hou 9 1-- 2 4-5 Gregerson Triple 11 -2- 2 5-5 Feliz Double 0623 CWS 9 --- 0 7-7 Robertson Double 0722 MIN 9 123 0 1-2 Kintzler 423 DP 0726 DET 9 1-- 1 8-9 FRodriguez 463 DP
* Ortiz hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth the day before, but the Tigers led 6-1, so the Red Sox still trailed by one run. They lost the game 6-5.
June 21, 2017
Pedro Martinez: "For My Compadre, Big Papi"
Pedro Martinez, The Players Tribune, June 21, 2017
I'm gonna tell you something that should be no surprise.
The legend of David Ortiz starts with food.
I know David has told this story before, but he's an old man now, and I have a much better memory than he does, so I want to tell it from my side.
In December 2002, I was back in the Dominican Republic. We had finished the season 10½ games back of the Yankees, and let me tell you something — nobody hated to lose to the Yankees more than me. Nobody. It made me sick to finish behind them.
Our team was pretty good, but we were missing something. So one night, I was out with some friends on the Malecón in Santo Domingo, and we were hungry. Now, there are hundreds of restaurants we could have gone to.
My one compadre wanted steak. Somebody else wanted mangú. It was a debate. But this restaurant called Vesuvio made a lobster stew that was just calling out to me.
I swear it was God whispering to me, "Lobster, Pedro. Go to the lobster."
So I told my boys, "We're going to Vesuvio."
When we walked in the place, David Ortiz was sitting at a back table, talking to somebody on the phone. David was my boy. When the Twins would come to town, I'd have him over my house for dinner and I kind of took him under my wing.
I hadn't seen David in a while, so I snuck up behind him and gave him a big hug. But he wasn't smiling. He just kept on listening to the person on the phone. I don't think I had ever seen David not smiling.
So I left him alone to finish his call and I sat down and had my stew.
When I came back to David's table later, he still looked depressed.
I said, "Compadre, what happened?"
He said, "Can you believe this s***?"
"Believe what?"
"I just got released by Minnesota." ...
I remember Mike Mussina getting David over and over again with his curveball. I kept telling David, "If you swing at the first one he shows you, you're grounding out. Just let it go! If he falls behind in the count, he's going to go back to the curveball, but this time it'll be over the plate. Then you can get him."Ortiz vs Mussina:
It seemed like every time he faced Mussina after that, he'd wait on the curveball and hit a bomb.
Ortiz started off his career against Mussina 0-for-20, with 13 strikeouts. From 1998-2004: 2-for-29 (.069) in the regular season and 5-for-41 (.122) overall, including the postseason.
And then ... over the next three seasons (2005-07), Ortiz batted .480 against Mussina (12-for-25). However, he hit only three bombs, and two of them came in the same game (May 29, 2005).
G72: Royals 6, Red Sox 4
Red Sox - 000 220 000 - 4 5 0 Royals - 011 000 04x - 6 8 2Despite recent strong performances from just about everyone in the bullpen, I doubt I was the only Red Sox fan who began experiencing a growing sense of doom as Matt Barnes walked the first two Royals in the bottom of the eighth. Several of Barnes's pitches to Jorge Bonifacio were high, and he walked him on a full count. All four of his pitches to Lorenzo Cain were up, out of the strike zone. Boston held a 4-2 lead.
Lefty Robbie Scott came in to face lefty Eric Hosmer, who had doubled and scored the Royals' first run. Scott's pitches: outside, low/outside, well outside, well outside. Kansas City had the bases loaded with no one out. Manager John Farrell has stated he would rather avoid using Craig Kimbrel before the ninth inning, and I don't think Kimbrel ever got off the bench in the bullpen. But Farrell was slow to have Heath Hembree warm up, given the assumption that Hembree (a righty) would pitch to Salvador Perez. But Hembree began warming up only after the walk to Hosmer and a mound visit by pitching coach Carl Willis. So it would be up to Scott.
Scott's first five pitches to Perez were outside, making it 15 straight pitches out of the strike zone by Boston relievers. However, Perez swung and missed at two of those pitches, so the count was actually 3-2. Perez then fouled off three pitches, two of which were right over the heart of the plate. Scott's ninth pitch of the at-bat was a bit inside and that's what Perez was looking for. He crushed the ball to deep left for his 102nd career home run - and his first grand slam.
Mike Moustakas then bunted against the shift, towards third, and reached with a single. Now it was time for Farrell to call on Hembree, who retired Alex Gordon on a pop up and got a double play from Alcides Escobar.
Jackie Bradley doubled to lead off the top of the ninth, but Kelvin Herrera set down the next three batters: Josh Rutledge grounded to short, Christian Vazquez struck out looking, and pinch-hitter Hanley Ramirez flied to center.
If the Red Sox had won the game, Drew Pomeranz (6.1-6-2-1-5, 93) would have received deserved attention for his solid start. He allowed two early runs. Hosmer doubled in the second and scored on a double play. Escobar doubled to start the third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Whit Merrifield.
Boston tied the game in the fourth when Andrew Benintendi and Xander Bogaerts hit back-to-back home runs. (NESN missed the second pitch of Bogaerts's at-bat because it was showing yet another replay; it was nice of Xander to wait and hit his homer on the fifth pitch, so we could see it live.)
Vazuqez singled to open the fifth. Deven Marrero bunted towards first base. Pitcher Ian Kennedy fielded the ball as second baseman Ramon Torres rushed over to cover the bag. Kennedy's throw sailed over Torres's head - and Boston had runners at second and third. Mookie Betts brought Vazquez home on a fly to left. Marrero took third on Benintendi's fly out to Cain on the warning track in right-center. After Bogaerts was intentionally walked, Kennedy (4.2-3-4-3-4, 89) was pulled for Mike Minor. With a 1-2 count on Mitch Moreland, Minor threw over to first. The ball went past the first baseman and struck Red Sox first base coach Ruben Amaro in the right chest or shoulder. Marrero alertly scored, Amaro appeared to be okay (he apparently never saw the ball coming), and Moreland flied to short center.
Betts, RF
Benintendi, LF
Bogaerts, SS
Moreland, 1B
Young, DH
Bradley, CF
Rutledge, 2B
Vazquez, C
Marrero, 3B
June 20, 2017
G71: Red Sox 8, Royals 3
Red Sox - 001 403 000 - 8 13 0 Royals - 010 000 002 - 3 4 1From the third inning into the ninth, Chris Sale retired 19 straight batters before a momentary loss of dominance prevented him from pitching his second complete game in a week. While Sale (8.1-4-3-1-10, 110) was mowing down the Royals, his teammates busted the game open in the middle innings. The easy victory, coupled with the Yankees' seventh consecutive loss, put the Red Sox in sole possession of first place for the first time this season.
Sale actually trailed in this game for a few minutes. Mike Moustakas crushed a home run to deep right in the second inning. But the Red Sox tied the game in their next time at-bat, when Deven Marrero doubled and scored on Mookie Betts's single. Alcides Escobar singled to start the Royals third inning. The next Kansas City baserunner would come with one out in the ninth.
Sale struck out 10 Royals, the 10th time in 15 starts that he has fanned 10 or more batters. The only other Red Sox pitcher to have at least 10 starts with 10+ strikeouts before the All-Star break is Pedro Martinez - of course - who had 11 in 1999.
Matt Strahm (3-7-5-1-4, 75) was doing fine until the fourth, when the first four Boston batters reached base. Jackie Bradley singled to right. Sam Travis's fly to deep left landed at the base of the wall for a double - and the Red Sox led 2-1. Josh Rutledge lined a pitch to Moustakas at third. He dropped the ball and glanced at second base as he picked it up. That brief hesitation before throwing to first allowed Rutledge to reach safely. Strahm's wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third, and they both scored on Sandy Leon's double to right-center. Scott Alexander came out of the bullpen and, after throwing a wild pitch of his own, allowed Leon to score on a sac fly by Marrero.
The bottom of the Red Sox order set the table off Kevin McCarthy in the sixth. With one out, Leon singled and Marrero walked. Betts flied out, but Chris Young doubled down the right field line, scoring one run. Xander Bogaerts brought in two more with a broken-bat single to center.
Sale went to a three-ball count only once in his first 27 batters. (To retire the side in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, Sale needed a total of only 28 pitches (11-9-8).) With one out in the bottom of the ninth, a blown call by home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom led to a full count, and Sale walked Whit Merrifield. Then Jorge Bonifacio homered to left-center. Brandon Moss dropped a single into right-center and as John Farrell walked out to the mound, Sale was livid at himself for not finishing the game. Fernando Abad faced reliever Travis Wood, who was batting in the cleanup spot because DH Cheslor Cuthbert went in to play first in the previous inning. Wood grounded a 2-2 pitch back to Abad, who started a game-ending 1-6-3 double play.
I listened to the WEEI broadcast while watching the game. If I had taken a drink every time Joe Castiglione mentioned a college by name, I would have died of alcohol poisoning well before the seventh-inning stretch. ... In the bottom of the fifth, Tim Neverett said Sale was leading the major leagues in strikeouts, but that Washington's Max Scherzer was close behind. Then Neverett seemed to go out of his way to add that Sale was also the American League leader in strikeouts.
Betts, RFUpdate: Pablo Sandoval has been placed on 10-day DL with an ear infection. Also, Austin Maddox was optioned to Pawtucket, and Deven Marrero and Sam Travis were recalled.
Young, LF
Bogaerts, SS
Ramirez, DH
Bradley, CF
Travis, 1B
Rutledge, 2B
Leon, C
Marrero, 3B
After making 41 relief appearances over the last two seasons, Strahm was given his first career start on June 15. In five innings, he allowed three hits, one walk, and one unearned run to the Angels.
ESPN's Scott Lauber says the panda in the clubhouse is the elephant in the room:
[Last night] Farrell sent a clear message. In the late innings of a close game, he would prefer to have catcher Christian Vazquez move to third base - a position he hadn't played since 2009 in the lower minors - than let Sandoval bat from the right side of the plate. ...Josh Rutledge is certainly not the answer. Since May 31 (16 games), he's hitting .178 with a .504 OPS. And He's 2-for-21 (.095) with 10 strikeouts in his last seven games.
The Red Sox gambled last winter that Sandoval could have a bounce-back season. Instead, he's batting .212 with four home runs and a .623 OPS in 32 games. Since his return from a month-long absence because of a knee sprain, he's 7-for-35 [.200] with 2 extra-base hits, 3 walks and 11 strikeouts. And he continues to exhibit limited range at third base.
Red Sox third basemen are batting .200 this season (28th out of 30 teams). They are dead last in both OBP (.253) and slugging (.312). Their MLB-worst OPS (.565) is a whopping 56 points below the #29 team, (Philadelphia, .621).
June 19, 2017
G70: Royals 4, Red Sox 2
Red Sox - 000 200 000 - 2 10 0 Royals - 002 000 20x - 4 10 0After the Royals scored two runs off Blaine Boyer in the seventh, the Red Sox tried to come back, but left the bases loaded in the top of the eighth. Andrew Benintendi tripled with one out in the ninth, but nothing came of it.
Hector Velazquez (5.1-5-2-0-3, 77) did his job, but the bullpen failed. With one out in the seventh, Drew Butera lined the ball to center. Jackie Bradley dove to his right, but the ball skipped past him and rolled to the wall for a triple. Whit Merrifield fell behind in the count, but chopped a single into left, snapping a 1-1 tie. After a groundout moved Merrifield to second, Lorenzo Cain sliced a single to right to make it 4-2.
Mike Minor relieved Jason Hammel (7-7-2-0-4, 91) in the top of the eighth. Hanley Ramirez and Bradley both singled with one out. Josh Rutledge struck out, but Chris Young, pinch-hitting for Pablo Sandoval, walked on four inside pitches. Christian Vazquez grounded slowly to third, but Cheslor Cuthbert's throw just nipped the runner, and the Red Sox declined to challenge the call.
Eric Hosmer hit a long two-run home run to deep left-center in the third. The Red Sox answered that in the fourth when Ramirez singled and Bradley homered to right.
Bradley had his first three-hit game of the season. ... After Young batted for Sandoval, Vazquez moved to third for the eighth inning, with Sandy Leon going behind the plate. (Vazquez played nine games at third back in 2009, when he was 18 years old and in the Gulf Coast League and at Lowell (A).)
Betts, RFIn his first ten starts this season, Jason Hammel had a 6.18 ERA and an opponents batting average of .306. He changed his motion a bit - squaring his shoulders to the plate from the stretch - and has had a 2.21 ERA in his last three starts.
Benintendi, LF
Bogaerts, SS
Moreland, 1B
Ramirez, DH
Bradley, CF
Rutledge, 2B
Sandoval, 3B
Vazquez, C
Hector Velazquez threw 3.1 shutout innings against the Phillies on June 14. Let's see more of that guy.
MFY News: The Yankees are off tonight, but begin a series at home against the Angels tomorrow. Infielder Gleyber Torres (the #2 prospect in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline) will have season-ending Tommy John surgery.
Schadenfreude 202 (A Continuing Series)
End of day June 11 End of day June 18
W L GB W L GB
NYY 38 23 --- NYY 38 29 ---
BOS 35 28 4.0 BOS 39 30 ---
TBR 34 32 6.5 TBR 37 35 3.5
BAL 31 31 7.5 BAL 34 34 4.5
TOR 31 32 8.0 TOR 33 35 5.5June 17
June 18
June 19
Ken Davidoff, Post:
Who would have pegged the lovely state of California, where Lana Turner once got her big break at a soda counter, as the locale of shattered dreams for these 2017 Yankees? ...
The Yankees flew out here a week ago on top of the world, metaphorically. They return home more beat up than Willis from "Diff'rent Strokes" when bullies sent him to the hospital. ...
[Y]ou're not being an irrational pessimist to wonder whether this team has already hit its high point for 2017 ...
June 18, 2017
G69: Red Sox 6, Astros 5
Red Sox - 100 004 100 - 6 8 0 Astros - 100 012 010 - 5 14 0Xander Bogaerts hit two home runs and drove in four runs, Andrew Benintendi threw out a runner at home in the bottom of the eighth inning to preserve Boston's one-run lead, and Christian Vazquez gunned down Derek Fisher to end the game when Fisher tried to steal second base. The win moved the Red Sox (39-30) into a first-place tie with the Yankees (38-29), who have lost their last six games.
David Price (5-8-3-3-3, 107) was fortunate to have allowed only three runs. The Astros stranded seven baserunners over the first three innings, including leaving the bases loaded in the second and men at second and third in the third.
Bogaerts homered in the first and he hit his second home run in the sixth, after Dustin Pedroia walked with one out. With two down in the inning, Hanley Ramirez singled and went to second on a wild pitch. Andrew Benintendi walked. Jackie Bradley doubled to right, scoring both runners, and Boston led 5-2.
Jake Marisnick homered off Price to open the bottom of the sixth. That ended Price's night and Heath Hembree took over - and he gave up a home run to George Springer, making it a 5-4 game.
Astros reliever James Hoyt hit both Mookie Betts (right knee) and Pedroia (left side) in the seventh. The umpires issued warnings to both teams as a pissed-off Pedroia yelled out at Hoyt. (Pedroia was taken to a hospital for x-rays.) The Astros brought in Chris Devenski and Bogaerts promptly singled home Betts.
Joe Kelly gave up a leadoff double to Yuli Gurriel in the seventh, but got the next three batters. Matt Barnes began the eighth by walking both Springer and Jose Altuve. Carlos Correa lined out to left for the first out. Robbie Scott relieved Barnes and walked Brian McCann on four pitches, loading the bases. Carlos Beltran singled to left, scoring Springer. Altuve also tried to score, and was thrown out by Benintendi. The Astros challenged the call, but it was upheld. Gurriel then was called out on strikes - and ejected by home plate umpire Greg Gibson. (Following along on Gameday, I could see that strike three was not a strike, it was too far inside.)
In the bottom of the ninth, trailing by one run, the Astros faced Craig Kimbrel. Alex Bregman struck out swinging before Fisher lined an 0-2 pitch to center for a single. Norichika Aoki's at-bat was a lengthy series of foul balls and throws to first - fttcftftft - before he lined out to left. With an 0-1 count on Springer, Fisher took off for second. Vazquez fired down to second and Josh Rutledge put the tag on Fisher - and the game was over.
Four of the Red Sox's last eight games have lasted more than four hours. Two of the four games went into extra innings; the two nine-inning affairs have clocked in at 4:06 (last Sunday) and 4:08 (tonight).
Betts, RFCam Ellis, Baseball Prospectus Boston:
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Moreland, 1B
Ramirez, DH
Benintendi, LF
Bradley, CF
Rutledge, 3B
Vazquez, C
As you've surely noticed, Price is walking a whole bunch of people. His current 3.71 BB/9 would be the second-highest of his career ... Not only that, but he's walking almost twice as many batters per nine innings this season than he did in 2016 (1.98 BB/9). ... Why such a jump? One answer might be that Price hasn't been able to rely on what was, last year, his best pitch: the changeup.John Farrell and Rick Porcello, on Porcello's pitching problems this season:
According to Brooks Baseball, his changeup was pretty consistently his second-most used pitch, and his go-to off speed choice ... For a good chunk of the season, it was his most effective pitch. His changeup generated the lowest batting average against ... missed the most bats ... [and] was his most accurate pitch. ...
This year, however, is a totally different story. He went from throwing the changeup for a ball 26 percent of the time to 37 percent of the time. It's also been a significantly less sharp pitch for Price, averaging an inch less in both horizontal and vertical movement this year compared to last. Batters are swinging at his change ten percent less often this year (53 percent) than last (63 percent), too. He's also throwing it less, going from 22.8 percent usage last year to 15 percent this season. Essentially, Price's most reliable and effective pitch has gone missing. ... While Price said the blister didn't affect him, he also talked in that same press conference about his lack of feel for the change up.
The glimmer of hope? ... It's an unreliable sample size, but so far, opponents are only hitting .091 against his change this year. Despite Price shying away from using his change up, it's still generating whiffs at roughly the same clip this year (20.93 percent) as last (23.31 percent). There are encouraging signs that a Price turnaround might not be far away: his contact numbers have improved and his velocity hasn't dipped.
Farrell: "One thing we've tried to do is not throw as many four-seamers up in the strike zone where it might be more difficult to get back down in the bottom of the strike zone. There's been a high number of two-seamers tonight [Saturday], but still, finding their way to the mid-thigh region, the belt region, and that can be trouble as we saw here tonight."The Red Sox will keep sending Porcello out there, though. Farrell: "Honestly, there aren't any alternatives. Rick is a key member of this team, and we've got to continue to work to get it right."
Porcello: "I know what it is to fix. I'm just having a really hard time doing it."
June 18, 1977: Billy, Jax Clash In Fenway Dugout
Boston had won 9-4 the night before, hitting six home runs, including four solo shots off Catfish Hunter in the first inning; Hunter had been yanked after facing only six batters.
In the bottom of the sixth on Saturday, the Red Sox led 7-4. After Fred Lynn singled, Jim Rice hit the ball into right field. Reggie Jackson was slow to field it, and Rice raced into second with a double.
New York manager Billy Martin made a pitching change and when he was back in the dugout, he sent Paul Blair out to replace Jackson in right field. Reggie jogged back to the dugout and he and Martin got into a lengthy shouting match. (I wish the clip in the link above had more of the lead-up to the confrontation.)
Martin, after the game: "If you don't hustle, I don't accept it. If a player shows up the club, I show up the player. ... He showed us up all over the country."
The Yankees lost the game 10-4 and were swept the next day 11-1.
Watching the dugout fireworks in the middle of that Saturday afternoon game is a very clear baseball memory from childhood. I was 13 that summer. (I swear I watched the first game of the series on TV, also.)
Boston hit 16 home runs in the three games. Those games came during a stretch of 10 games (June 14-24) in which the Red Sox clubbed 33 home runs. Less than two weeks later, on July 4, the Red Sox beat the Blue Jays 9-6 at Fenway. Of Boston's 11 hits in that game, eight were home runs. (No baserunners for the first four innings - and then BOOM!) The 2004 team will always be my favourite Red Sox team, but that 1977 team has got to be solidly in second place.
Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown won 20 or more games for the Chicago Cubs each year from 1906-1911. He logged 37 saves over that stretch, and he had two seasons where he led the National League in both complete games and saves.Amazing. In 1909, Brown led the National League in wins (27), games (50), innings pitched (342.2), complete games (32), and saves (7). In 1910, he led the NL in complete games (27), shutouts (6), WHIP (1.084), and saves (7).
Brown also led the NL in saves in 1911 (13). In that season, he pitched in 53 games. He started 27 games (and completed 21 of them) and finished another 24 games as a reliever.
(Of course, saves were not a stat back then. These were compiled retroactively.)
And: Roger Clemens, on his baseball career (and seemingly a defense of his alleged steroid use): "I did it the right way and went out there and did what I had to do."
100 Years Ago: The Gamblers' Riot At Fenway Park
The Sporting News called the riot at Fenway Park on June 16, 1917, "one of the most disgraceful scenes ever witnessed in a major league ball park".
Jacob Pomrenke, baseball historian and SABR's Director of Editorial Content:
Pomrenke posted the only known photo of the Gamblers Riot, from the Boston Post of June 17, 1917:
Jacob Pomrenke, baseball historian and SABR's Director of Editorial Content:
The first-place Chicago White Sox were in Boston for a pivotal series with the second-place Red Sox, the defending World Series champions. Despite a rain-soaked field, Lefty Williams' pitching paced Chicago to an 8-0 shutout in the series opener on Friday, June 15 to put the White Sox ahead in the standings by two and a half games. Both teams' aces, Eddie Cicotte for the White Sox and Babe Ruth for the Red Sox, were set to take the mound the following afternoon. ...The teams eventually played nine innings - and the White Sox won 7-2.
A crowd of 9,405 filed into Fenway Park for the 3 o'clock afternoon start. ... [Some] spectators took their spots in the right field bleachers. That was where the usual contingent of "sporting men" gathered daily to place wagers, large and small, on the games. ...
The atmosphere was tense from the start. ... As a steady drizzle came down from the sky, the crowd began to get restless.
More trouble began brewing in the fourth inning ... Heavier rain began to fall, and a few fans from the outfield bleachers ran across the field to the covered pavilion, stopping play for several minutes. Cries of "Call the game!" began to be heard as the White Sox were retired in the top half of the inning. The refrain only increased in volume as Cicotte set down the Boston hitters in order; the Boston Globe reported that "it seemed as if every man in the bleachers was shouting."
In the fifth ... John (Shano) Collins stepped to the plate for the White Sox [with two outs], all hell broke loose. A crowd of about 300 fans from the right field bleachers, led by "some tall man in a long rain coat," suddenly began leaping over the fence and marching onto the playing field. Barry McCormick, a former Chicago Cubs infielder in his first season as a major league umpire, immediately called time and "stood gazing in amazement" to see what the crowd would do. But "they didn't rush at the players or umpires," the Chicago Tribune reported. "Instead of fighting, the mob simply surged out upon the field, clear up into the diamond and stood around." They were obviously stalling for time. If the rain continued, the field would soon be deemed unplayable and the game would have to be called off. ... There was still one out remaining before the game was official.
Umpire Tommy Connolly ... looked around for police officers to help herd the mob off the field. He saw none. Five officers were somewhere in the stands, but they could not be found. ... Connolly and Red Sox manager Jack Barry, taking charge, approached the leaders of the mob and persuaded them to leave the field so the game would not have to be forfeited to Chicago. The fans did not retreat to their old seats in the bleachers, but climbed into the grandstand boxes instead. Just when play was about to resume, "new leaders and recruits came from the gamblers' stand ... then the first crowd piled out of the boxes again. This time, the mob was riotous."
McCormick immediately ordered the Red Sox off the field and both teams attempted to exit under the stands through the Boston dugout. A melee ensued. The mob converged on the players, and the five late-arriving police officers were helpless to assist. ...
The White Sox were forced to fight their way off the field. Buck Weaver, a fiery infielder and former team captain with a perpetual smile no matter how tight a spot he was in, was never one to back down from a brawl. Weaver grabbed a baseball bat and started swinging in all directions. Reserve infielder Fred McMullin used a more traditional weapon — his fists — to get away from the violent scrum. ...
[James] Crusinberry and other writers blamed gamblers for the riot:
The trouble was started by the horde of gamblers that assembles each day in the right field pavilion and carries on operations with as much vigor and vim as one would see in the wheat pit of the Chicago board of trade. … The truth is that during [Boston's losing streak] the last two weeks, the gamblers here have been stung, stung for a greater amount than in years. When they saw they were likely to get another trimming and that it might be averted by breaking up the ball game, they incited the fans to riot.
Pomrenke posted the only known photo of the Gamblers Riot, from the Boston Post of June 17, 1917:
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