Things you'll need to know: Thursday by Jared Carrabis
Ortiz, Beckett, Francona, Drew and more!


Here are the things you'll need to know to impress your friends for Thursday, September 24, 2009:

The Red Sox's offense scored nine runs in support of their ace on Wednesday night. It was the second time in 2009 that Boston had put up nine runs for Beckett and the fifth time that the Boston bats have mustered nine runs or more when the right-hander takes the mound. In all, the Red Sox have provided Beckett with an average of 5.56 runs per game in 2009.

Beckett knows how to pitch his way out of tough situations, as the right-hander came within one hit of tying his career high of 13 (Vs. NYY in August of '07) and still held the Royals to just two earned runs. Regardless of setting a new season-high in hits allowed, Beckett pitched his way to his 16th victory of the season.

Beckett's six innings of two-run ball was good enough for his 20th quality start of the '09 campaign.

Boston's 90th win of the 2009 season was also Terry Francona's 560th win as a Red Sox manager. The victory tied him with Mike Higgins for second on the Red Sox all-time managers' wins list. Congrats, Tito!

On Wednesday night, David Ortiz hammered a 418-foot bomb for his 25th home run of the season, plating RBI numbers 86, 87 and 89. Who would have thought Ortiz would reach these offensive numbers after starting the first 35 games of the season with these numbers: .203 BA, 0 HR, 15 RBI, 32 SO.

Since May 20, Ortiz has belted all 25 of his home runs, while batting .245 with 73 RBI and a .505 slugging percentage in 105 games.

After a two-hit night, Dustin Pedroia increased his hitting streak to 15 games. His average over that span continues to climb, as his .373 batting average throughout his current 15-gamer has boosted his average on the season from .292 to .300.

Victor Martinez also continued his dominance at the dish, as his career-best hitting streak continued to 22 games against Kansas City on Wednesday. Martinez's batting average has raised ten points from .289 to .299, as the switch-hitting catcher has batted .349 over his 22-game hitting streak.

Only in Boston can the highest paid player put up big offensive numbers under the radar. With names like Jason Bay, Kevin Youkilis and Victor Martinez in the lineup every day, JD Drew has gotten little to no credit for his recent resurgence at the plate.

Since going 4-for-4 in Toronto back on August 20, Drew has gone on to bat .333 in 29 games, with an OPS of 1.159. The left-handed hitter has hit 8 HR, five doubles, scored 19 runs, driven in 18 runs, and has walked 19 times since August 20. Over the highlighted 29-game clip for Drew, the Red Sox are 21-8 in games in which Drew is in the lineup since August 20.

-Jared Carrabis

To order my debut book, One Fan's Story: If This Hat Could Talk, click HERE!





Published on September 24, 2009

---