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Late Rally Earns Sox A Win

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Now this is more like it. 

The Red Sox rallied for an exciting late win on Wednesday, pounding out seven runs in the seventh inning to beat the Rangers 9-4. 

It was the third straight Sox win, with this one clinching a series victory regardless of Thursday’s outcome. The Sox have not swept the Rangers in a three-game set at Fenway since August, 2008. Wednesday’s win was made even more satisfying with the knowledge that Texas arrived in Boston having won 10 straight, baseball’s longest stretch of consecutive wins so far this season.

Is the Sox’ streaky offense finally here to stay? Only time will tell, of course, but it’s satisfying right now to note that Boston has scored 32 runs over the last three games, their first set of three games with nine or more runs scored since May 9-12, 2016.

Thrilling Lately

Late rallies are thrilling. Boston has outscored opponents 95-55 in the seventh inning and later this season. The club’s team AVG of .302 in innings seven to nine this season is the best in the major leagues. No other team is batting above .281 in late inning appearances.

For those prone to criticize Manager John Farrell‘s in-game strategy, Wednesday’s game may have left them at least temporarily speechless. Farrell injected Mitch Moreland and Josh Rutledge into the game in the seventh inning resulting in the club’s first pair of consecutive pinch hits since last September 5th. When Moreland drove in a run he tied Hanley Ramírez for the longest such streak by a Red Sox hitter this season (5 games).

Adding to the fun Wednesday was the major league debut of Sam Travis, who before his family in the stands, went 2-for-4 with his first MLB run scored. Travis is first Sox hitter with two hits in his MLB debut since Will Middlebrooks on May 2, 2012.

Speedy Sale Earn Wins

Chris Sale, who had the chance to beat his own MLB single-season record for most consecutive outings with 10+ strikeouts (8 games), fell short of the mark. Instead, Sale struck out six over 7.1 IP, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits with one walk. Sale now was 101 strikeouts this season joining Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, and Roger Clemens as the only MLB  pitchers since 1900 with 100+ SO through 10 starts of any season according to ESPN.

Sale is the first Boston pitcher since Martinez in 2000 to allow three or fewer ER in 7.0+ IP in each of his first six home.

Official time for last night’s contest was two hours and 59 minutes. In Sale’s seven decisions this season all but one have completed in under three hours of play.


Life After Farrell

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After a 3-3 road trip that included an embarrassing 1-3 series against the Oakland A’s, the Red Sox have returned home to Fenway for three-game sets against the Rangers and Mariners beginning Tuesday.

The 1-3 weekend series against the Athletics to end the road trip was especially vexing coming after a two-game sweep of what were the first place Cardinals. On Sunday, the Red Sox were in danger of their first-ever four-game sweep by the Athletics in Oakland. The A’s swept the Sox in four games once before at Fenway in 1971.

Red Sox John FarrellThe road trip leaves the Sox just above .500 at 22-21, a full seven and a half games behind the first place Yankees, and six games behind Baltimore.

The Sox team batting average is .267 (compared with .282 for 2016), still good enough for third best in baseball after the Nationals (.274) and Yankees (.269). Boston’s slugging percentage, meanwhile, is an anemic, below average .408 (vs an MLB-best .461 last season), speaking to the club’s power outage when it comes to meaningful production.

The Red Sox team OPS+, a useful measure of on-base percentage plus slugging and accounting for variables in ballpark condition, is 98. The majors’ best teams, the Astros and Yankees, are at 118 and 114, respectively, indicating their performance is 18% and 14% better than average.

Not surprisingly, all of this is leading to easy speculation once again that Manager John Farrell‘s job is in jeopardy. FOX Sports Ken Rosenthal wonders who Sox Baseball President Dave Dombrowski might turn to for a Farrell replacement. Rosenthal notes that the best choice may have been former Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo, who left Boston in the off-season and has so far managed the Diamondbacks to a second place position (27-19) in the National League West.

Rosenthal spotlights two incidents that indicate Farrell may have lost control of his club: the bizarre and prolonged issue involving Dustin Pedroia and Orioles Manny Machado and the more recent heated dugout discussion between Farrell and the struggling Drew Pomeranz. 

Now some additional news and notes of particular interest to Red Sox fans:

  • Ten years ago, in 2007, the Red Sox won 70% of their first 40 games (28-12). The fact is, three of the last four teams to win that many of their first 40 also won the World Series: 2016 Cubs (29-11), 2007 Red Sox, and the 2005 White Sox (28-12). Only the 2010 Rays (29-11) missed the mark. This season, it’s the Astros (29-12) that are looking for their first-ever win in the Fall Classic.
  • Longtime Sox fans might remember the name Joe Lahoud, who patrolled the Fenway outfield from 1968-71. The New England native went on to play with the Twins, Angels, Rangers, and Royals before retiring in 1978. The now 70-year-old Lahoud is in the news again, suing his former employer, New York-based Document Technologies LLC, for age discrimination after, to hear Lahoud’s story, some outrageous behavior on their part. Employers “shouldn’t be able to displace workers because of discrimination of any kind,” Lahoud recently told the Boston Herald.
  • Bill Ballou of the The Worcester Telegram & Gazette caught up with another, albeit more recent Red Sox veteran, Dave McCarty, who joined the club in 2003 and retired after being designated for assignment in 2005. “Boston was by far my favorite place to play,” McCarty told the newspaper. “The pressure of playing for the Red Sox didn’t bother me. I loved that, thrived on it. In Boston, you either love it and embrace it, or you just fold.”
  • On Sunday, Mitch Moreland homered in his third straight game for a new career high. Moreland’s 14 home runs at the Athletics’ Coliseum are the most by a visitor there since 2010. The last Red Sox player to belt a home run in three or more consecutive games was David Ortiz last season (also three games). If Moreland can hit a home run on Tuesday he’ll be the first Boston player with four such games since Adrian Gonzalez in 2011. The club record since 1913 is a HR in five straight, most recently by Jose Canseco in 1995.

Post-Papi Era Starts With A Win

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The first game of the Post-Papi Era was a satisfying Red Sox win in a rare visit to Boston by the Pirates for the start the 2017 campaign. 

Amid the pomp and ceremony of a new Sox season there were Patriots and fireworks (thanks to an Andrew Benintendi blast over the right field wall), and even well wishes from David Ortiz himself, albeit through social media, not in person.

The Sox, held scoreless into the fifth inning, suddenly erupted for the entirety of their runs, all coming with two outs. After a triple by the club’s 2016 triples leader, Jackie Bradley Jr., a fleet-footed and highly motivated Pablo Sandoval beat out an infield single that put the Sox on the board. A surprising bunt against the shift by Sandy León put two men on in time for a 384-foot blast off the bat of Benintendi. 

After the game, Manager John Farrell said the decision to bunt was León’s. “We want our guys to play the game,” Farrell said. “That’s an attack on Sandy’s part that he’s worked on, and it worked here today.”

At 22 years, 271 days old, Monday’s home run made Benintendi the youngest Sox player to homer on Opening Day since Mookie Betts two seasons ago. “For a guy of his stature,” Farrell noted of the latest rookie phenom, “there’s such great timing and fluidity to the swing, he creates easy power.”

Porcello Solid

The 2016 American League Cy Young Award winner, Rick Porcello, did not disappoint in his first ever Opening Day start. Porcello allowing three earned runs on six hits with a walk and five strikeouts. His 6.1 innings of work marked his 42nd consecutive start with at least 5.0+ IP, the longest such active streak in the league and, after 56 such starts by Luis Tiant, the second longest by a Red Sox pitcher since 1913.

Porcello had held the Pirates scoreless for 23.0 IP before allowing 3 ER in the seventh on Monday. With the win he improved to 3-0, 1.23 ERA in four career starts against the Bucs.

Porcello was followed by Matt Barnes, Robby Scott, Heath Hembree, and Craig Kimbrel, who collected his 20th straight save. For Barnes, the outing marked his 100th career appearance.

Hits Keep Coming

Even without the Large Father, the hits kept coming for the Red Sox.

Every Boston batter but Mitch Moreland connected for at least one hit Monday. Xander Bogaerts and León had two apiece. 

In all, the Sox amassed 10 hits starting, one would hope, a new string of double-digit hit games. In 2016, fully half of Boston’s games featured 10+ hits, the most of all the major league clubs. 

Dustin Pedroia, unquestionably now the leader of a large body of stats for active Red Sox, was 1-for-4 on Monday, his 11th straight Opening Day at second base for Boston. Pedroia’s is the 2nd-longest consecutive Opening Day start streak at any position in club history, trailing only Carl Yastrzemski’s 12-start streak in left field (1961-72). The game also marked Pedey’s 1,399th major league game, tying him with Dom DiMaggio for 11th on the club’s All-Time Games Played List. He’ll need 147 more to meet Jason Varitek at #10 on that list.


Porcello’s First On Opening Day

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Red Sox manager John Farrell yesterday named Rick Porcello the Opening Day starter for 2017.

The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner will be making the first Opening Day start of his career when he faces the Pirates at Fenway on April 3. Farrell also announced that Sox newcomer Chris Sale will start the second Fenway game on April 5.


Porcello, of course, had a memorable 22-4 campaign in 2016 with a 3.15 ERA that included an MLB-best 13 wins at home split between two streaks: six straight from April 15 to June 16 followed by seven straight from July 4 to August 29. The only hiccup, a team win but a no-decision for Porcello on June 23 against the White Sox.

Rick Porcello


Rick Porcello flickr photo by Keith Allison shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license

 

Porcello didn’t lose a game at Fenway last season until September 14.

Kyle Kendrick Impresses

Far from the glare of the Porcello-Sale-David Price spotlight is Sox non-roster invitee Kyle Kendrick, 32, who despite not playing at the MLB level at all in 2016, is having a great spring training. Over 18 innings, Kendrick has given up just three earned runs while collecting 16 strikeouts. The Boston Globe‘s Peter Abraham says Kendrick is giving the Sox something to think about. The Boston Herald‘s Evan Drellich also has a package on the righty saying that Kendrick has gone from longshot to a nice commodity.

Now, a few other notes of interest to Red Sox fans:

  • The rebuilding Chicago White Sox have cleared the path for one-time Red Sox prospect Yoan Moncada to join their major league club. This past week Chicago somewhat surprisingly sent veteran second baseman Brett Lawrie, 27, packing. There’s talk that the Royals, Mets and Blue Jays are teams interested in Lawrie, though the player’s agent says Lawrie won’t sign anywhere until he’s fully recovered from “minor soft-tissue discomfort in his lower body.” For his part, Moncada miserable spring (he was hitting .200 with 13 strikeouts in 30 at-bats entering Wednesday’s game) came through with two home runs against the Royals.
  • Nice bit of background on the connection between members of the Sox coaching staff from Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal. Farrell, Chili Davis, Gary DiSarcina all were playing with the 1993 Angels, as was former Sox bench coach and new Arizona manager Torey Lovullo. DiSarcina remembered restaurant meetings after the games as his “classroom.” “Little did we know,” Farrell says, “here we are grabbing coffee again.”
  • There’s so much offensive power in baseball, right? So, when was the last time a major league club batted at .300 or better? You’ve got to go all the way back to the 1950 Red Sox! Only Vern Stephens (.295) and Bobby Doerr (.294) slipped below .300 that Sox season. Billy Goodman led the club (.354, a career best over 16 big league seasons), followed by Dom DiMaggio (.328), Al Zarilla (.325), Walt Dropo (.322), Hall of Famer Ted Williams (.317), and Johnny Pesky (.312). Overall, Boston batted at .302 that season. Hardball Times has a deep dive on the history of .300 AVG ball clubs that’s a fun read. In 2016 the Sox led MLB with a .282 AVG, the best team AVG since the Tigers batted .283 in 2013.
  • Last season only two first basemen collected 20 or more doubles, home runs, and stolen bases: the Padres Wil Myers (29 2B/28 HR/28) and the Diamondbacks phenom Paul Goldschmidt (33/24/32), who also achieved that feat in 2015 (not since Ryan Braun in 2000-01 has such back-to-back achievement happened). There are only 11 first basemen in MLB history to reach the 20 2B/20 HR/20 SB milestone. You have to go all the way back to 1987 to find an American League first baseman with such a season. That was Joe Carter (27/32/22). The only others in the Junior Circuit are Rafael Palmeiro (40/37/22) and Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, who collected 29 doubles, 40 home runs, and 23 stolen bases while playing 99 games of the 1970 season at first. Last season, Mookie Betts (42/31/26) became the eighth Red Sox at any position to join the 20/20/20 club and the first since Jacoby Ellsbury (46/32/39) did it in 2011. Only one Sox players has ever done it twice: Jackie Jensen in 1954 (25/25/22) and again in 1959 (31/28/20).

Sox Winter Weekend Recap

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Rather than watching it on television, RSNStats is just back from a road trip to experience the Sox Winter Weekend in person. Here’s how it went. If you’re not interested, scroll down anyway to catch up with the latest Red Sox news.

Friday’s Town Hall Meeting

Festivities for the sold out event commenced Friday night at the Foxwoods Resort & Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut with the Town Hall Meeting hosted by NESN’s Tom Caron and recorded for later broadcast. The meeting started with many of the 2017 players coming to stage to welcome and present jerseys to Sox newcomers Chris Sale, Tyler Thornburg, and Mitch Moreland.

Sox newcomers Chris Sale, Tyler Thornburg, and Mitch Moreland receive their jerseys from Rick Porcello, Craig Kimbrel, and Mookie Betts.

The introductions were followed by a long question-and-answer session with Sox owner John Henry (who, suffering from laryngitis spoke very little), chairman Tom Werner, president Sam Kennedy, president for baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, and manager John Farrell. Kennedy proved himself an excellent public speaker, taking the lead on most of the questions aimed at ownership, while Dombrowski and Farrell, who really are not dynamic presenters, shared the duty for answering nuts and bolts baseball questions. 

The Town Hall Meeting was long, presumably so NESN would have sufficiently interesting content for their edited broadcast version.

Saturday’s Breakout Sessions

On Saturday there were three hour-long breakout sessions as well as a main pavilion with various attractions that was open all day.

Inside the Main Pavilion

Breakouts included the excellent “Call to the Hall” with Wade Boggs, Dennis Eckersley, Carlton Fisk, Pedro Martinez, and Jim Rice, “Memories of 2007” with John Farrell, Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield, and “Cy Young Award Winners” with Eckersley, Martinez, David Price, and the team’s newest Cy Young award winner, Rick Porcello.

In the afternoon five current Sox players battled the coaching staff in an enjoyable, light hearted game show for bragging privileges. The players participating were Matt Barnes, Mookie Betts, Deven Marrero, Blake Swihart and Chris Young vs coaches Ruben Amaro Jr., Dana LeVangie, Victor Rodriguez, Carl Willis and new Sox bench coach Gary DiSarcina.

Sure, the “game show” format was silly, but it gave the crowd a chance to see the players’ and coaches’ personalities outside the lines. Who knew, for instance, that pitching coach Carl Willis was such a fun personality? And while you’d likely have suspected it, Betts proved himself just as adept at winning over the crowd in the ballroom as he does winning them over with his impressive skills on the field. He’s witty, funny, and ideally suited to be the future face of this franchise.

Winter Weekend: Worth the Trip

Breakout sessions were very well attended, so that meant a lot of standing in line to be early enough for a good seat or run the risk that you wouldn’t even get in the room. Autograph sessions, included with each ticket, gave you access to a mystery player who was only revealed after standing in line for an hour or so (mine turned out to be Jim Rice, so no complaints here).

Xander Bogaerts
at NESN’s broadcast booth

Much of the weekend’s festivities are geared to kids (Wally features prominently), particularly the activities in the main pavilion, where there was wiffle ball, batting cages, and base running simulations but also a live NESN broadcast stage with live interviews being conducted throughout the day and a section spotlighting Sox player awards through the ages.

In all, Sox Winter Weekend was a great experience. I’d like to see a few more breakout sessions, which by definition cater more to the adult fans. Perhaps I’m in in the minority, but more about the business of baseball would offer the fascinating inside access that I crave. I heard several attendees say they’d like the Sox to limit ticket sales somewhat so that less time would be spent waiting in line and for sessions to begin. But these are small quibbles. The event was well organized and fun. If you’re  Sox fan, it’s impossible not to recommend.

Red Sox News & Notes

Time now to catch you up on the latest news and notes of interest to Red Sox fans.

  • Baseball this weekend mourns the loss of Royals righty Yordano Ventura, who died at just 25 years of age in a car crash in his native Dominican Republic. Ventura started against the Red Sox twice in 2016, once in Kansas City on May 17 and again in Boston on August 28. The tragedy was doubly horrific following the news just hours earlier that former major league infielder Andy Marte also died in a car crash in the DR. Marte, once a Red Sox prospect, started his big league career in 2005 with the Braves for part of a season before spending five years with the Indians and finishing up in 2014 with the Diamondbacks. Marté was 33. ESPN reported that both men were under the influence at the time of their accidents.
  • Sox starter Drew Pomeranz told The Providence Journal that he received a stem-cell shot in his left elbow following the 2016 season to help deal with “minor elbow discomfort.” Pomeranz hopes to be the club’s fourth or fifth starter. “I definitely feel great,” he told the Journal, “I feel pretty prepared [for spring training].”
  • The Blue Jays are said to be interested in former Red Sox catcher Jarod Saltalamacchia says ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. Saltalamacchia appeared in 92 games with the Tigers last season batting just 42-for-246 (.171) with 12 home runs. Salty slashed .243 AVG/.307 OBP/.455 SLG over 3+ seasons with the Sox (2010-2013), reaching a career-high 25 HR in 2012.
  • 50 years ago the Red Sox and Cardinals met in the 1967 World Series. The Sox went down 3-games-to-1, but battled back to tie the series before losing in Game 7 by the score of 7-2 at Fenway. To commemorate that series the MLB schedule includes four Red Sox/Cardinals games in 2017 with two at Busch Stadium on May 16th-17 and two at Fenway on August 15-16.
  • Jerry Remy was on hand for photographs and autographs at Sox Winter Weekend. Last week came ambiguous word that Remy signed “a multi-year deal” with NESN to broadcast 115 Sox games per season. 
  • Single-game tickets for most 2017 Red Sox home games go on sale January 28 at 10:00 ET at redsox.com and by phone at 877-REDSOX9. Purchases of up to 12 single-game tickets are permitted in a single transaction. Opening Day tickets and tickets for games against the Yankees and Cubs, however, will not be available on that date.