Sweepless In Seattle by Jared Carrabis
Sox drop 2 of 3 against Griffey & Co., head home for six games


The Red Sox have officially wrapped up all of their regular season games on the 2009 schedule out on the west coast.

After dropping the rubber game against Ken Griffey Jr. and the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, the Red Sox fell three games behind the scorching-hot Toronto Blue Jays. Coincidentally, after an off-day on Monday, the Sox head back to Fenway Park where they will welcome the Blue Jays to Boston for a three-game set. The six-game home stand will feature the first place Jays and the Sox' first taste of interleague action against the (as of right now) first place New York Mets. The Red Sox may be 13-4 at home this season, but they certainly have their work cut out for them in the next six games.

The biggest news to come out of Boston's three-game series with the Seattle Mariners would be the absence of David Ortiz. Red Sox manager Terry Francona removed his designated hitter from the lineup for the entire series in Seattle, with the extra day of mental vacation coming on Monday's off-day.

Before Ortiz was given four days to regroup, his batting average sat at .208, still with no home runs and a .618 OPS. In 130 at bats this season, Ortiz struck out 23% of the time (30 K's). I agree that Ortiz needed some time to get his swing back, but benching him against a team that entered the series losing their last four starts only to bring him back against the team with the best record in the American League doesn't make much sense to me. But, as always, In Theo We Trust.

Now it's time to break things down a bit and put some things in perspective.

Who's hot:

JD Drew entered the three-game series against Seattle hitting .238 with 18 RBI and an .836 OPS. In three games at Safeco Field, Drew went 5-for-10 with a HR and two RBI. He also walked three times, which helped raise his OBP from .360 at the start of the series to .384 by Sunday's game going final. His .500 showing at the plate in Seattle boosted his average from .238 to .261.

Josh Beckett picked up his fourth victory of the season, improving to 4-2 on Saturday, which proved to be Boston's only victory in the series. Beckett tossed seven innings for only the second time in 2009 and gave up two earned runs on four hits. The two earned runs surrendered by Beckett went in the books as only the second time Beckett has let up two earned runs or less so far this season, with the first time being his Opening Day start against Tampa Bay (1 ER). The right-hander racked up five K's in his victory.

Jacoby Ellsbury is currently the proud owner of a 13-game hitting streak. The streak that started on the second of May has boosted Ellsbury's batting average from .273 to an even .300. Over the streak, Ellsbury has gone 21-for-56 with four extra-base hits and has only struck out six times. Along with his 21 hits in 56 at bats, Ellsbury has also walked three times, allowing his OBP to rise from .306 to .331, which ultimately has led to six stolen bases during the streak.

Since May 6, Julio Lugo has gone 13-for-34 (.382) with a double, a triple and a home run. When Lugo started his 13-for-34 tear, his batting average sat at .267. Now, ten games later, Lugo is hitting .333 with an .866 OPS and 4 RBI.

I'm going to put Nick Green in both sections. Why is he hot? In his last seven games, Green has gone 8-for-18 (.444) with a pair of walks, a double and two RBI. In that span of time, Green's average has raised itself from .265 to .302 and his OBP has gone from .333 to .368. We'll also give green some hot points for being so valuable to this team thanks to his versatility, appearing in 22 games at shortstop, 4 games at third base and 3 games at second base.

Who's not:

We'll get to the point of why Mr. Green is "not hot" at the same time, because of his costly defensive miscues. One of his two errors that came on Sunday led to, what should have been an out, the winning-run moving into scoring position, which eventually came home on an RBI single by former Cleveland Indian, Franklin Gutierrez. In 15 total chances combined between third and second base, Green has yet to make an error, but in 87 chances at shortstop, Green has made six errors on the season.

It goes without saying that David Ortiz is colder than the North Pole. In his last three games, the left-hander is hitting 0.71 (1-for-14) with no walks and four strikeouts.

On Friday night, Jon Lester made his return to his home state of Washington, but unfortunately for him, it was one he'd like to forget. Lester got knocked around the yard five earned runs on eight hits, allowed three walks and gave up two home runs in 5.2 innings of work.

Don't get me wrong, Jason Bay isn't in a slump, but he was not the Jason Bay we are used to seeing in 2009. Bay was only 1-for-10 in the series against Seattle, but that one hit was his eleventh home run of the season. In his defense, he did walk three times, only K'd once and drove in two runs. Bay returns home with his teammates where the right-hander holds a .305 batting average and a 1.077 OPS.

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

Jason Bay has eleven home runs in 2009. Nine out of his eleven home runs have come on an opposing pitches fastball. Note to opposing pitchers: don't leave the fastball up to Jason Bay.

Daisuke Matsuzaka could be making his return to the Red Sox rotation as early as this coming Friday. In Matsuzaka's last start with Pawtucket, the right-hander tossed five innings (70 pitches), giving up two earned runs while striking out nine. The return of Matsuzaka will more than likely push Justin Masterson back into the bullpen.

With John Smoltz on the horizon and Clay Buchholz not just knocking on the door, but literally kicking down the door to the big leagues, it is within the realm of possibility that the Red Sox could very well trade Brad Penny to make room for their abundance of starting pitching. If Penny is the odd man out, the Red Sox likely will be looking to score a young shortstop, or a young catcher (still).

This coming week, Kevin Youkilis begins his road back to the Red Sox roster. Youkilis is scheduled to be in the starting lineup for the Paw Sox in two rehab starts before he is activated from the disabled list. The bearded man himself is eligible to return on Wednesday if all goes well without any setbacks at Triple-A.

"He'll have a lot to say about how he feels. This is a situation where he wants to go and get some at-bats," manager Terry Francona said. "He's obviously smart enough to know they're good for him -- so he'll know when he feels the best at the plate."

In game one of three against the Toronto Blue Jays, Tim Wakefield will be getting the ball at Fenway Park looking to return to form. This season, Wakefield is 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA at Fenway and holds a 16-11 record in his career against Toronto with a 3.76 ERA.

Congratulations to the Bruins and the Celtics on their great seasons,
-Jared Carrabis

Published on May 18, 2009

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