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Hot Bats & Hot Heads by Jared Carrabis
Sox win again, Lowell goes deep twice, Tazawa wins first
They say home is where the heart is, and so far, home is also where the wins are. Read on and I'll tell you how heart led to wins at home.
Looking to continue their climb back to the top of the American League East, the Red Sox turned to a young arm from the far east; I mean realfar. Tuesday night was the very first Major League start for 23-year-old, Junichi Tazawa. When he took the mound at 7:10pm, he became the second youngest Japanese-born pitcher to start a big league game in major league history.
In his first inning of work, Tazawa loaded the bases on a pair of singles and hitting Miguel Cabrera on the hand, which ultimately led to his leaving the game. On a potential double play ball, Nick Green committed a throwing error, which allowed a run to score. Three runs in total would score in the top of the first, only one of the three runs were earned.
Just a night prior, Miguel Cabrera was drilled by a Brad Penny fastball. Later in the game, Edwin Jackson plunked Kevin Youkilis with a fastball of his own. On Tuesday night, these heat-seeking fastballs were not forgotten.
After Cabrera had been pegged for the second consecutive night, Detroit starter Rick Porcello (may or may not have) returned the favor. Now, NESN commentator Dennis Eckersley claims that Porcello's actions were unintentional, however, I disagree. Want an explanation? Well, the Tigers are in a playoff hunt, their best hitter got drilled twice in two games by a Red Sox starter, there were two outs, there were no men on base, and the Tigers had an early three-run lead. Result: perfect time to retaliate.
With two outs and the bases empty, Porcello let a 94 MPH fastball fly up and in on Victor Martinez. Martinez took exception to Porcello's wandering fastball and made it known by staring out at the 20-year-old right-hander. Martinez struck out to end the bottom of the first, but leading off the bottom of the second was Kevin Youkilis.
The first pitch that came out of the hand of Porcello in his at bat to Youkilis hit the Sox cleanup batter right in the back. Instantly, Youkilis reacted by charging out towards the mound with his sights set on the right-handed pitcher who is my age (gulp).
Youkilis removed his helmet and fired it at Porcello before the two wrestled each other to the ground on the right side of the diamond. Gotta give credit where credit is due, the 20-year-old Porcello held his own against the beast that is Kevin Youkilis. As both dugouts and bullpens emptied, only Youkilis and Porcello were ejected when the dust finally settled. Youkilis will receive and automatic fine of $50,000 for charging the mound and will undoubtedly receive an extended game suspension (that he may or may not appeal since he did not throw a punch, just a helmet).
"A ball came up high at my numbers and it looked like there was intent there, with two days in a row of getting hit," said Youkilis. "At some point, you have to do something to protect yourself as a hitter. I had enough of it, I felt like I had to do what I had to do."
When things finally settled down, Red Sox fans that were still excited from the fight then realized that Boston was still in a 3-0 hole. Enter: Jason Bay. With Mike Lowell coming off the bench to replace Youkilis, David Ortiz ripped a base hit into right field to put two men on for Boston's left fielder, Jason Bay.
On the first pitch of the at bat, Bay ate an 88 MPH fastball alive by blasting the offering from Chris Lambert deep over the Monster and onto Lansdowne Street. Bay's 23rd bomb of the year knotted the game up at three.
In the very next frame with two outs, Mike Lowell came to the plate in a game in which he planned on watching from the bench. Instead, he ripped a 3-1 fastball into the second row of the Monster seats to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead.
That would have been enough to say that Lowell had a successful night off the bench, but he wasn't done there. Just two innings later in the bottom of the fifth, with Dustin Pedroia standing at first base after one of his three walks on the night, Lowell slammed a 1-2 breaking ball high over the Monster and onto Lansdowne Street for his second home run of the night to give Boston a 6-3 lead.
By that time, Tazawa's night had been finished. The right-hander had a very promising first outing by tossing 98 pitches over his five innings of work, giving up three runs, one earned, on four hits. He walked two and struck out six in impressive fashion.
A rain delay ensued leading into the top of the seventh, but when the tarp came off the field, Takashi Saito turned in a perfect inning of relief, striking out one. In the bottom half of the frame, Jacoby Ellsbury made a bizarre trip around the bases. After hitting a weak chopper to the right side of the infield, Ellsbury advanced on a two-base throwing error by reliever, Ryan Perry. Then, with Pedroia at the dish, Ellsbury swiped third base for his 52nd steal of 2009. Finally, something we don't see every day, the speedy Boston outfielder came in to score when umpires flagged Perry for a balk.
With a healthy 7-3 lead, bench coach Brad Mills elected to go with Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth anyway, knowing that the Yankees had already defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in a comeback effort, the Texas Rangers had been blanked by the Tribe and the Rays had yet to play out in Anaheim.
Thankfully, Papelbon had his rough outing on a night where he was pitching with a four-run lead, rather than Monday night's one-run lead. The Boston closer allowed a lead-off double to Alex Avila, before serving up a two-out, two-run shot to Curtis Granderson. Aside from those two hard-hit balls, Papelbon struck out the side and kept the Tigers from inflicting any further damage.
Boston kept pace with the Yankees in the AL East with the win and picked up a game on the Texas Rangers in the Wild Card standings. After the Sox had gone final in Boston, Tampa Bay also got blanked by a 6-0 score at the hands of Ervin Santana, which moved the distance between the Sox and Rays to 3.5 games in the East.
"Sometimes you need those kinds of things and it will get you going."
--Victor Martinez on Youk charging the mound one series too late.
Final Score: Tigers 5, Red Sox 7
Things you'll need to know to impress your friends:
After hitting two long balls on Tuesday night, Mike Lowell completed his 13th career multi-home run game. Lowell's last multi-home run game came way back in 2007 when the Sox' third baseman went deep twice against the Yankees on April 22 as part of a 7-6 win to complete a three-game sweep over New York at Fenway Park.
The last Red Sox player who came off the bench and hit two home runs in the same game was Joe Foy back in the magical season of the Impossible Dream. Foy lifted two round-trippers at Fenway Park in an 8-7 victory over the Washington Senators on June 9, 1967. Coincidentally, Foy also played third base in that game when he entered as a pinch-hitter.
Terry Francona was also ejected in this game for arguing a close call at second base that didn't end up in the Red Sox' favor. It was the fourth time this season that Francona has been sent to the showers by one of the four umpires on the field.
Jason Bay has now homered in consecutive games to give him 23 for the season. He has three homers in his last four games and is hitting .308 with 3 HR, 5 RBI and a 1.169 OPS in the month of August.
The combined ages of Tuesday night's starters (Junichi Tazawa, 23 and Rick Porcello, 20) equal out to be just one year older than recently designated for assignment, John Smoltz, and the knuckleballer who is soon to return, Tim Wakefield, both 42.
Daisuke Matsuzaka threw a 40-pitch bullpen session at Fenway Park on Tuesday and will throw 55 pitches on Friday. From there, the Red Sox will extend Matsuzaka to a 65-pitch bullpen session and so forth, until the right-hander can work his stamina back to the near-100-pitch mark, before facing live major league hitters again.
Wednesday's pitching match-up:
Already trailing 2-0 in this four-game series, the Detroit Tigers can't be too optimistic when it comes to facing Josh Beckett. In his last start in the Bronx, Beckett blanked the Yankees for seven shutout innings, but did not earn a win due to his offense providing literally nothing. Either way you look at it, the Sox' chances look good in this one. Beckett is 7-0 in 10 starts with a 2.58 ERA at Fenway Park. He's faced Detroit just one time this season, but that one time just so happened to be the night that Beckett took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before giving up a hit with two outs. The right-handed ace racked up nine K's in that start against the Kittens--excuse me, Tigers. Beckett's opponent, Armando Galarraga is 6-10 with a less than stellar 5.23 ERA.
Check out the brawl video before MLB deletes it:
Published on August 12, 2009
Sox win again, Lowell goes deep twice, Tazawa wins first
They say home is where the heart is, and so far, home is also where the wins are. Read on and I'll tell you how heart led to wins at home.
Looking to continue their climb back to the top of the American League East, the Red Sox turned to a young arm from the far east; I mean realfar. Tuesday night was the very first Major League start for 23-year-old, Junichi Tazawa. When he took the mound at 7:10pm, he became the second youngest Japanese-born pitcher to start a big league game in major league history.
In his first inning of work, Tazawa loaded the bases on a pair of singles and hitting Miguel Cabrera on the hand, which ultimately led to his leaving the game. On a potential double play ball, Nick Green committed a throwing error, which allowed a run to score. Three runs in total would score in the top of the first, only one of the three runs were earned.
Just a night prior, Miguel Cabrera was drilled by a Brad Penny fastball. Later in the game, Edwin Jackson plunked Kevin Youkilis with a fastball of his own. On Tuesday night, these heat-seeking fastballs were not forgotten.
After Cabrera had been pegged for the second consecutive night, Detroit starter Rick Porcello (may or may not have) returned the favor. Now, NESN commentator Dennis Eckersley claims that Porcello's actions were unintentional, however, I disagree. Want an explanation? Well, the Tigers are in a playoff hunt, their best hitter got drilled twice in two games by a Red Sox starter, there were two outs, there were no men on base, and the Tigers had an early three-run lead. Result: perfect time to retaliate.
With two outs and the bases empty, Porcello let a 94 MPH fastball fly up and in on Victor Martinez. Martinez took exception to Porcello's wandering fastball and made it known by staring out at the 20-year-old right-hander. Martinez struck out to end the bottom of the first, but leading off the bottom of the second was Kevin Youkilis.
The first pitch that came out of the hand of Porcello in his at bat to Youkilis hit the Sox cleanup batter right in the back. Instantly, Youkilis reacted by charging out towards the mound with his sights set on the right-handed pitcher who is my age (gulp).
Youkilis removed his helmet and fired it at Porcello before the two wrestled each other to the ground on the right side of the diamond. Gotta give credit where credit is due, the 20-year-old Porcello held his own against the beast that is Kevin Youkilis. As both dugouts and bullpens emptied, only Youkilis and Porcello were ejected when the dust finally settled. Youkilis will receive and automatic fine of $50,000 for charging the mound and will undoubtedly receive an extended game suspension (that he may or may not appeal since he did not throw a punch, just a helmet).
"A ball came up high at my numbers and it looked like there was intent there, with two days in a row of getting hit," said Youkilis. "At some point, you have to do something to protect yourself as a hitter. I had enough of it, I felt like I had to do what I had to do."
When things finally settled down, Red Sox fans that were still excited from the fight then realized that Boston was still in a 3-0 hole. Enter: Jason Bay. With Mike Lowell coming off the bench to replace Youkilis, David Ortiz ripped a base hit into right field to put two men on for Boston's left fielder, Jason Bay.
On the first pitch of the at bat, Bay ate an 88 MPH fastball alive by blasting the offering from Chris Lambert deep over the Monster and onto Lansdowne Street. Bay's 23rd bomb of the year knotted the game up at three.
In the very next frame with two outs, Mike Lowell came to the plate in a game in which he planned on watching from the bench. Instead, he ripped a 3-1 fastball into the second row of the Monster seats to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead.
That would have been enough to say that Lowell had a successful night off the bench, but he wasn't done there. Just two innings later in the bottom of the fifth, with Dustin Pedroia standing at first base after one of his three walks on the night, Lowell slammed a 1-2 breaking ball high over the Monster and onto Lansdowne Street for his second home run of the night to give Boston a 6-3 lead.
By that time, Tazawa's night had been finished. The right-hander had a very promising first outing by tossing 98 pitches over his five innings of work, giving up three runs, one earned, on four hits. He walked two and struck out six in impressive fashion.
A rain delay ensued leading into the top of the seventh, but when the tarp came off the field, Takashi Saito turned in a perfect inning of relief, striking out one. In the bottom half of the frame, Jacoby Ellsbury made a bizarre trip around the bases. After hitting a weak chopper to the right side of the infield, Ellsbury advanced on a two-base throwing error by reliever, Ryan Perry. Then, with Pedroia at the dish, Ellsbury swiped third base for his 52nd steal of 2009. Finally, something we don't see every day, the speedy Boston outfielder came in to score when umpires flagged Perry for a balk.
With a healthy 7-3 lead, bench coach Brad Mills elected to go with Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth anyway, knowing that the Yankees had already defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in a comeback effort, the Texas Rangers had been blanked by the Tribe and the Rays had yet to play out in Anaheim.
Thankfully, Papelbon had his rough outing on a night where he was pitching with a four-run lead, rather than Monday night's one-run lead. The Boston closer allowed a lead-off double to Alex Avila, before serving up a two-out, two-run shot to Curtis Granderson. Aside from those two hard-hit balls, Papelbon struck out the side and kept the Tigers from inflicting any further damage.
Boston kept pace with the Yankees in the AL East with the win and picked up a game on the Texas Rangers in the Wild Card standings. After the Sox had gone final in Boston, Tampa Bay also got blanked by a 6-0 score at the hands of Ervin Santana, which moved the distance between the Sox and Rays to 3.5 games in the East.
"Sometimes you need those kinds of things and it will get you going."
--Victor Martinez on Youk charging the mound one series too late.
Things you'll need to know to impress your friends:
After hitting two long balls on Tuesday night, Mike Lowell completed his 13th career multi-home run game. Lowell's last multi-home run game came way back in 2007 when the Sox' third baseman went deep twice against the Yankees on April 22 as part of a 7-6 win to complete a three-game sweep over New York at Fenway Park.
The last Red Sox player who came off the bench and hit two home runs in the same game was Joe Foy back in the magical season of the Impossible Dream. Foy lifted two round-trippers at Fenway Park in an 8-7 victory over the Washington Senators on June 9, 1967. Coincidentally, Foy also played third base in that game when he entered as a pinch-hitter.
Terry Francona was also ejected in this game for arguing a close call at second base that didn't end up in the Red Sox' favor. It was the fourth time this season that Francona has been sent to the showers by one of the four umpires on the field.
Jason Bay has now homered in consecutive games to give him 23 for the season. He has three homers in his last four games and is hitting .308 with 3 HR, 5 RBI and a 1.169 OPS in the month of August.
The combined ages of Tuesday night's starters (Junichi Tazawa, 23 and Rick Porcello, 20) equal out to be just one year older than recently designated for assignment, John Smoltz, and the knuckleballer who is soon to return, Tim Wakefield, both 42.
Daisuke Matsuzaka threw a 40-pitch bullpen session at Fenway Park on Tuesday and will throw 55 pitches on Friday. From there, the Red Sox will extend Matsuzaka to a 65-pitch bullpen session and so forth, until the right-hander can work his stamina back to the near-100-pitch mark, before facing live major league hitters again.
Wednesday's pitching match-up:
Already trailing 2-0 in this four-game series, the Detroit Tigers can't be too optimistic when it comes to facing Josh Beckett. In his last start in the Bronx, Beckett blanked the Yankees for seven shutout innings, but did not earn a win due to his offense providing literally nothing. Either way you look at it, the Sox' chances look good in this one. Beckett is 7-0 in 10 starts with a 2.58 ERA at Fenway Park. He's faced Detroit just one time this season, but that one time just so happened to be the night that Beckett took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before giving up a hit with two outs. The right-handed ace racked up nine K's in that start against the Kittens--excuse me, Tigers. Beckett's opponent, Armando Galarraga is 6-10 with a less than stellar 5.23 ERA.
Check out the brawl video before MLB deletes it:
Published on August 12, 2009
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