Let the games begin…

Red Sox Spring Training, Part I

While most of New England remained buried under a pile of snow, the Red Sox finally began Spring Training play down in sunny Florida much to the excitement of the hometown faithful. While the goal of the spring is to get through healthy, there are noteworthy performances that determine who stays with the big club and who goes to the minors.

Wins and losses are irrelevant in the Grapefruit League, and (barring injuries) there are really not an awful lot of open jobs with the big club. Perhaps there are 1-2 competitive bullpen spots but the everyday lineup, bench and starting rotation appear to be set.

On February 26th, the Sox held their annual exhibitions with Boston College and Northeastern and easily swept both games. The following night, the Sox began their Grapefruit League schedule against their cross-town rival Minnesota Twins. Hideki Okajima had a disastrous stint in relief, allowing four runs and Brandon Duckworth didn’t fare much better as the Sox lost 8-4…On Monday, the Sox opened the home portion of the spring schedule against the Twins. Daisuke and Andrew Miller each pitched clean innings, Big Papi hit a mammoth homer and the Sox won 7-6 on Josh Reddick’s two-run homer in the eighth. Josh Beckett suffered a “mild concussion” after getting hit in the head by an errant batted ball while he was standing in the outfield. He was checked out by the medical staff and found to be all right, though he was scratched from his scheduled start later in the week.

The Sox opened March with a 5-0 win over the Twins, as both Lester and Papelbon had very good outings. The Sox manufactured a couple of runs early on before the scrubs carried on for the win…Atlanta came to City of Palms on the 2nd and downed the Sox 6-1. Of note, John Lackey pitched a couple of innings allowing one run while Big Papi went 3-3 with a stolen base…The Phillies came to City of Palms on the 3rd and came away with a 2-0 win as Cole Hamels pitched five strong innings while the Sox’ Stolmy Pimintel allowed both runs in the second inning. Of note, Carl Crawford has yet to get on base while Mike Cameron is 4-for-7.

On Friday the 4th, a skeleton crew of Red Sox traveled to Tampa for a Friday night tilt with the Yanks, and it was the first televised action of the new season. Old Friend Bartolo Colon started for the Yanks and retired the side in order in the first. Clay Buchholz started for the Sox and he, too quickly retired the first three Yanks. In the second, Josh Reddick made a nice leaping catch of Cano’s liner to left. Both starters were through after three innings, as Buchholz allowed only one single but struggled a little with his control, walking two batters in the third. The Sox pushed across a run in the sixth when Lowrie doubled to the gap in left center, was pinch run for by Oscar Tejeda, who scored on Daniel Nava’s two-out single to right. The Yanks tied the score in the bottom half on doubles by Teixeira and Cano. The Sox scored three runs in the seventh, capped off by a triple by Tejeda. The Sox made it 5-1 in the ninth as Linares doubled and scored on Tejeda’s base hit up the middle. Tony Pena, Jr. struggled in relief, allowing two runs before being lifted. The Sox were able to get out of the jam on a grounder to second. It doesn’t matter whether the result is meaningless. Any time the Sox beat the Yanks is a good day…

On the 5th, the Sox split squads at home against the Marlins and on the road in Sarasota against the Orioles. In the Marlins game, Daisuke got smoked, allowing seven runs in three innings as Florida coasted to an 11-2 win. On the road, the Sox and O’s played to a 4-4 tie after 10 innings…On the 6th, the Sox traveled to Port St. Lucie for an afternoon date with the Mets. Andrew Miller and Michael Bowden struggled in the early innings as the Sox lost 6-5. Okajima and Rich Hill pitched well in relief and the Sox got homers from Juan Carlos Linares, Tim Federowicz and Josh Reddick…On the 7th, the O’s came to City of Palms and John Lackey pitched three innings of one-hit ball as the Sox prevailed 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth when Yamaico Navarro drove in Darnell McDonald, who doubled to lead off the inning. All of the starters were replaced after five innings and Oscar Tejeda continues to open eyes as he had another hit and is 8-15 so far on the spring.

On the 8th, the Sox had split squad games against the Astros at home and the Cardinals in Jupiter. The Sox downed Houston 3-2 as Josh Beckett started and allowed a couple of runs over three innings but otherwise pitched quite well. Paul Hoover doubled in the bottom of the eighth and scored on Nate Spears’ base hit up the middle. Ryan Kalish also had a big day, going 3-3. The other squad of Red Sox then defeated St. Louis 8-7 as Stolmy Pimental started and allowed two runs over the first 2 ⅔ but the Sox came back with three runs to go ahead. The Cards then put a five-spot on the board in the fifth but Ryan Lavarnway’s two-run homer in the eighth put the Sox ahead for good. Jacoby Ellsbury went 3-4, Yamaico Navarro and Darnell McDonald both had two hits and Juan Carlos Linares reached base four times…
On the 9th, a split squad contingent of Orioles traveled to City of Palms to face Clay Buchholz, making his third start of the spring. JD Drew homered leading off the bottom of the second and then Buchholz got out of a jam in the fourth with runners on second and third with one out on a pop out and grounder to short. The O’s Joe Mahoney tripled to right leading off the eighth and scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly to left. In the bottom of the ninth, Lavarnway singled leading off, was run for by Reddick who went to third on a single by Kalish. Reddick scored the winning run after the bases were loaded and Yamaico Navarro was hit by a pitch.

The Sox traveled to Port Charlotte on Thursday the 10th for an afternoon date with the Rays. Daisuke started and had another rough outing allowing five runs over 3⅔ as the Sox lost 8-6 when Alfredo Aceves allowed three runs in the bottom of the ninth. On the plus side, Andrew Miller and Daniel Bard pitched well in relief, Mike Cameron (back in the lineup after having been out for a week with knee tendonitis) went 2-4, Nate Spears went 3-3 with a triple and Drew Sutton homered. Daisuke’s outing has to have the staff more than a little concerned at this point.

On the 11th, the Sox sent split squads on the road, to Kissimmee with the Astros and a short hop to Lee County Stadium for a date with the Twins. Jon Lester started the Twins game and allowed no runs and four hits over four innings, but Jon Papelbon wore the goats horns as he imploded in the fifth, allowing three runs over ⅓ (three walks, double, HBP). The Sox ended up losing 3-2. In the game at Kissimmee, the offense was in high gear as the Sox blasted Houston, 9-3. Dustin Pedroia doubled and tripled and catcher Mark Wagner had two triples in the winning effort.

Adrian Gonzalez made his first appearance in the lineup on the 12th as the Sox faced the Marlins at City of Palms. John Lackey started against the Marlins’ big gun Josh Johnson. The Sox started quickly as Ellsbury doubled and scored on Pedroia’s single. Gonzalez then singled in his first at bat. After the Marlins came back to tie in the second, the Sox put a three-spot on the board as Ellsbury doubled in a pair and Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly. Drew Sutton then replaced Gonzalez, who had a pretty good debut. With one out in the fourth, Ellsbury hit a long solo homer to right to make it 5-1. Lackey left after 4⅓, having pitched very well on this day as it was time to empty the benches and let the scrubs give it a go. The Sox made it 6-1 in the fifth when Ortiz doubled, was run for by Nava, who scored on Mike Cameron’s sacrifice fly. The Sox “B” team pushed across three more runs in the sixth on a series of singles, walks and a couple of sacrifice flies as they coasted to a 9-2 win.

Josh Beckett started on the 13th as the Sox traveled to McKechnie Field in Bradenton for an afternoon date with the Pirates. After Beckett allowed a solo homer in the second, the Sox came back to take the lead on Mike Cameron’s two-run double. Lars Anderson made it 3-1 with a solo shot of his own. But Beckett had a meltdown in the fifth, allowing another homer, walk and pinch-hit double. He was replaced at that point by Oh No Atchison and by the time the smoke cleared the Pirates were ahead, 7-3. Darnell McDonald tightened things a little with an opposite-field homer in the sixth, but the Pirates pushed across two more runs in the bottom of the eighth on a double and a pair of singles off of Lenny DiNardo as the Bucs won 9-4.