Bay Can't Do It By Himself by Jared Carrabis
Jay-Bay homers again, but Palmer retires last 19 in CG, Bard makes debut!


Looking to secure their second win in as many tries against the Angels this series, the Red Sox' chances were looking good as the team came into the game hitting .308 in the past five games.

Eyeing win number 22 on the season, things got off to a great start for Boston. With Angels' starter the unbeaten Matt Palmer recording the first two outs of the game consecutively, David Ortiz dropped a base hit into center field for Jason Bay. Bay snapped a three-game homerless streak by crushing the first pitch he saw, an 88 MPH slider, into the stands in left field. The two-run blast for Bay increased his team-leading total to ten home runs on the season.

The Sox picked up their second pair of runs the very next inning when Nick Green scorched his eighth double of the season into left field to bring Jeff Bailey around to score. The very next batter in Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out to the right side of the infield, allowing George Kottaras to come in through the back door to up Boston's lead to 4-nil.

Those four runs in the first two innings would be all the Red Sox offense could muster against Matt Palmer. Palmer hurled a five-hit complete game victory in Boston in which only those four runs were allowed against the right-hander. It took a mere 109 pitches to put the finishing touches on Boston, as Palmer retired the last nineteen Red Sox batters that he faced to improve to 4-0 on the season.

The 30-year old may look like a veteran, but he was only making his seventh career big league start in only his second season of big league experience. Palmer came from the SF Giants, where he made three starts last season. Wednesday night was his first complete game at the Major League level.

Tim Wakefield has been the Red Sox most consistent, and successful, starter in Boston's rotation thus far. However, Wednesday night wasn't his finest outing in recent memory. Wake blanked the Halos for the first two frames before being the centerpiece of a nightmare inning at the hands of the Angels. Five pairs of LA cleats touched home plate before the final out was recorded, including a three-run shot by catcher, Mike Napoli.

Wakefield got the hook after 4.2 innings and was charged with seven earned runs after giving up eleven hits before the fifth inning was concluded. The knuckleballer fluttered 91 pitches (56 for strikes), while facing 29 batters. Wake was charged with his second loss of the season after an outing he'd like to forget, but remains above .500 thanks to his great start to the season.

The night wasn't a complete wash, as Red Sox Nation caught their first glimpse of pitching phenom, Daniel Bard. Personally, I've been anticipating his Major League debut for quite some time, and he did not disappoint. Bard struck out the first batter he ever faced at the Major League level, Mike Napoli, on three pitches. Napoli waved at back-to-back 96 MPH fastballs before taking a seat on the bench after whiffing at 98 MPH heat.

The strikeout pitch to Napoli was the fastest that Bard was clocked on the gun, but the right-hander stayed in the 95-97 MPH range throughout the duration of his two shutout innings of work. Bard fired 38 pitches (25 for strikes), allowed just one hit, walked one and had the one strikeout of Mike Napoli who had homered earlier in the game. I was expecting more K's being that the Angels' offense had to watch knuckleballs come across home plate all night before getting hit with 98 MPH fastballs, but nonetheless, a great debut for Daniel Bard.

The rubber game of this series will feature a match up between Brad Penny and Ervin Santana. Penny has made four quality starts for Boston this season in six starts, and as a fifth starter, that's all we can ask of him. Those who expected him to come in and pitch like he did when he started the 2006 All Star game, get your mind out of the gutter. As a fifth starter, we expect six innings with three runs or less. So far, Penny has been able to provide the Red Sox with a chance to win almost every time he has taken the ball, and that's all we ask. Santana will be making his first start of 2009, as he makes his return to the mound after a collateral ligament sprain in his pitching elbow had him on the shelf from Spring Training until now. Santana was an All Star in 2008, but is just getting back on track in 2009 and will likely have a limited pitch count on Thursday.

Things you'll need to know to impress your friends:

After hitting his tenth home run in his 34th start for Boston this season, Jason Bay is on pace to watch 48 balls leave the yard off of his bat. Will he hit 48 HR? Probably not, but if he stays healthy, and the way he's been swinging the bat all season long, don't be surprised if this Canadian-born baseball player gets within the 40 HR range for the first time in his career. Bay had been hitting .400 on the year when swinging at the first pitch, but his first inning home run was the first that he had hit after swinging at the first pitch in 2009. It's also worth noting that the right-hander was hitting 0.83 in the first inning prior to his two-run bomb.

Nick Green had an RBI double in the second inning of Wednesday's game. David Ortiz has only played six more games than Nick Green in 2009. To this point, Green has a higher batting average (.296) than Ortiz (.220), Green has more home runs (1) than Ortiz (0) and the shortstop has a higher OPS (.792) than Ortiz (.650). The only major category that Green trails Ortiz in is RBIs. Ortiz has driven in 15 runs in 2009 thus far, while Green has guided 13 runs across home plate in his at bats. By no means am I picking on David Ortiz, I'm simply trying to get some appreciation for my main man, Nick Green.

Tim Wakefield lost just his second game of the season on Wednesday night. Both of his losses have come against the Angels. In game two of this series, Wakefield tossed 4.1 innings. It was the first time that the knuckleballer hadn't made it out of the fifth inning all season long.

Jacoby Ellsbury, who is quietly hitting .295 this season, was caught stealing for the fourth time on Wednesday through 32 games. Ellsbury had 50 steals in 2008 and was caught only 11 times in 145 games. He has 16 steals so far in 2009, but was a perfect 9-for-9 in stolen base attempts when he burst onto the scene on June 30 of 2007, playing in 33 regular season games en route to a World Series title.

Go Sox, Bruins, Celtics,
-Jared Carrabis

PS -- Just a friendly reminder, you are reading the award-winning Best Red Sox Blog as voted by Red Sox Nation at the 2009 New England Sports Blog Awards!

Final Score: Red Sox 4, Angels 8

Published on May 14, 2009

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