Boston's Marathon by Jared Carrabis
Sox tack on the runs, complete 4-game sweep


While runners from all over the world were running the streets of Boston, the Sox were doing plenty of their own running within the friendly confindes of Fenway Park.

A twelve-run, fifteen-hit attack was unleashed on the Baltimore Orioles courtesy of the Boston Red Sox on Marathon Monday. The Sox hosted their fourth consecutive home game against the O's, while looking to complete a four-game sweep of the birds, winning their fifth straight game in the process. With Daisuke Matsuzaka on the shelf, Justin Masterson got the start with an 80-pitch limit on the evening.

Masterson, making his first start since July 5, 2008, looked like he hadn't skipped a beat since joining the Red Sox' bullpen on July 23, 2008. The sinker-baller hurled 5.1 innings in his return to the Boston rotation, giving up just one earned run on four hits, while walking two and striking out three. Masterson earned his first victory since earning the W in the wild 8-7 comeback win against the Tampa Bay Rays this past October.

It seems as if though Fenway Park was just what the Red Sox' bats needed to wake up. Four games into this home stand, the Red Sox have averaged 7.5 runs per game, when prior to this 5-game win streak, the Red Sox hadn't even scored more than five runs in a game for the whole season.

With the exception of Rocco Baldelli and Nick Green, all of the Boston starters had one of the 15 hits on the day. Recently, Red Sox fans have been watching the resurfacing of Jacoby Ellsbury's bat. On Monday, Ellsbury was 3-for-6 with a double and an RBI. The Red Sox are above .500 at 6-4 when Ellsbury gets a hit. The Boston offense relies heavily on Ellsbury's ability to get on base for the big bats and produce runs by stealing bases and being able to score from first on extra base hits. Ellsbury has now hit safely in six straight games, hitting at .323 in that span of time.

Also putting on a show for the Fenway Faithful has been Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia his hit safely in every game so far this home stand, going 9-for-18 (.500 AVG) against the Baltimore Orioles. The Red Sox second baseman picked up his first four-hit game of the 2009 season and his first since going 4-for-4 on August 20, 2008 against the Chicago White Sox. Pedroia drove in three runs on Monday and watched his batting average climb from .233 at the start of the series to .281 following a four-game sweep. His average was as low as .179 this season.

Another top of the order guy that had a big day at the plate, since it appears like I'm going down the lineup, was David Ortiz. Although we are still awaiting hit first home run of the season, Red Sox fans will take all the production that we can squeeze out of this guy. Ortiz went 2-for-4 on Monday, both hits going for extra bases. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Ortiz drove in a pair of runs after stroking a stand-up triple. The three-bagger for Ortiz was his first since a 13-4 shellacking that the Sox took from the Rays on October 14 during the ALCS.

More good news, it seems that Jason Varitek's comeback season is no fluke (knock on wood). In the bottom of the second, the captain drilled his third home run of the season deep into the Monster seats from the right side of the plate to pick up his fourth RBI of 2009. Varitek finished the day going 2-for-5 with two runs scored.

Kevin Youkilis continues to sizzle, as his batting average still sits at a red hot .469. Youk only had one hit on Monday, but it had nothing to do with making outs in all of his other at bats. The Red Sox' first baseman walked three times on the evening and drove in a run on a bases loaded single to the opposite field.

Hitting out of the seventh spot, Mike Lowell had himself a solid day at the plate going 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI. On the day, the Red Sox were an impressive 8-for-18 with runners in scoring position. Just to provide an example on how busy the Sox were on the base paths on Monday, they plated twelve runs, but still managed to leave eleven men on base. This game could have been a mirror image of the Cleveland massacre at the Bronx the other day.

It's clear that the Red Sox offense got off to a slow start in the first week of the season, but if this isn't proof that the offense is what we need it to be for the rest of the year, then I don't know what is. The key to the Red Sox success in 2009 is going to be their starting pitching. The offense is capable of putting up double-digit runs every single night, the Red Sox' defense is currently ranked fifth in the American League, and the starting pitching has the potential to have a gem being pitched through all five slots of the rotation, but has so far been very streaky in 2009.

Make no mistake about it, the Red Sox have thebest bullpen in all of baseball. Already through thirteen games, the Red Sox bullpen has made their presence felt in the American League as one of the most dominant pens in recent memory. Manny Delcarmen has stepped his game up in 2009 and has proven to be invaluable to this team. Coming off a career high 2.2 innings pitched on Friday night, Delcarmen returned to the mound on Monday to pitch 1.1 scoreless innings. Delcarmen still sports a 0.00 ERA in 2009 in six appearances. As a matter of fact, you have to go all the way back to September 7, 2008 for the last time Delcarmen has given up a run during the regular season. His efforts on Monday earned him his first hold of 2009.

Some final game notes, Rocco Baldelli left the game on Monday with a mild right hamstring strain. If this injury lands Baldelli on the disabled list, Jeff Bailey's phone will be the first to ring to fill his roster spot. After the game, Terry Francona revealed that Jed Lowrie will likely undergo surgery on his ailing wrist. The procedure will keep Lowrie out of action until the All Star break. Julio Lugo is expected to return to the Red Sox within a week or so, and when he does, he will take over as the starting shortstop, moving Nick Green back to the utility infielder role.

The Red Sox now welcome the Minnesota Twins to Fenway Park for a brief two-game series. Tim Wakefield gets the ball on Tuesday night against Scott Baker. Last Wednesday, Wakefield threw a complete game, in which the knuckle-baller took a no-hitter into the eighth inning. Wakefield brings to the mound with him, a career 13-5 record with a 4.38 ERA against the Minnesota Twins.

Go Bruins, Celtics,
-Jared Carrabis

Final Score: Orioles 1, Red Sox 12

Published on April 20, 2009

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