Things you'll need to know: Friday by Jared Carrabis
Buchholz, Ortiz, Lester and more!


Here are the things you'll need to know to impress your friends for Friday, September 25, 2009:

Clay Buchholz continues to prove himself worthy as the third starter for the Red Sox's rotation come October.

In his last six starts, Buchholz is 5-0 with a 1.32 ERA. He's struck out 31 batters in 41 innings and opponents are hitting just .185 against the right-hander since August 29. The Red Sox are 7-0 as a team in Buchholz's last seven starts.

Buchholz has allowed one earned run or less in six of his last eight starts and with the exception of his seven earned runs game against the White Sox, he has turned in a quality start in nine of his last ten outings.

August 13 was the last start in which Buchholz was on the losing end of a decision.

The Royals' five-error game against Boston on Thursday night was their five game with five errors or more since 2002.

In their win against Kansas City, both Victor Martinez (23 games) and Dustin Pedroia (16 games) extended their season-high (and career high for V-Mart) hitting streaks.

Time to compare two Sox players:

Player A: 26 HR, 91 RBI, .459 SLG
Player B: 21 HR, 101 RBI, .472 SLG





Can you name these two players? Well, if you guessed David Ortiz for Player A, you're right. Big Papi's numbers aren't too far off from trade deadline prize, Victor Martinez (Player B).

After launching his second home run in as many nights, Ortiz upped his average to .237. This is the highest his average has been since the second game of the 2009 season, when Papi was batting .333.

Since the focus will be on the series in the Bronx this weekend, let's take a peek at Jon Lester's numbers. In his last 20 starts (since May 31), Lester has gone 11-2 in 135.2 innings with an ERA of 2.13. Over that span (this is ridiculous) opponents are hitting just .207 against the left-hander. The Red Sox are 16-4 in games in which Lester has started since May 31 and he has two complete games over that span.

-Jared Carrabis

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





Published on September 25, 2009

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