Bang for your Buch by Jared Carrabis
Buchholz goes 8+ in win, saves pen


After a rainy night at Fenway, the Red Sox are back over .500, and I'm feelin' pretty damn good about it.

Remember that offense that everyone was talking about this past winter. You know, the one that wasn't going to score any runs? Currently, the Red Sox are fourth in the American League with a .270 team batting average.

Their 56 home runs trail only the Toronto Blue Jays and prior to the Tampa Bay Rays putting up a 10-spot on New York, the Red Sox' 213 runs were good for second-best in the American League.

As it currently stands, the Yankees have scored 231 runs in 2010. 60 of those 231 runs have been scored against the Red Sox. Had Boston's starting pitching lived up to their potential, not only would the Red Sox be the leading run scorer in the American League, but they'd have plenty more wins to show for their offensive efforts.

Back in December, we had hopes of the offense stepping it up in order to support the pitching and defense. Here on May 20, we stand here, a game over .500, hoping that the starting pitching, the bullpen and the defense can step it up so that all these runs that the Red Sox' offense is putting up are not going to waste.

Tonight, the Red Sox got a perfect example of what they need to right the ship.

Player A: Makes the least amount of money in the Red Sox rotation ($443,000), leads the team with five wins (5-3), has lowest ERA in the rotation (3.26).

Player B: Makes $30 million, is also 5-3 and has an ERA of 6.08.

Player A, of course, is Wednesday night's starter, Clay Buchholz. Player B is a combination of both Josh Beckett and John Lackey. Even combined, the two highest paid pitchers in the rotation can't stack up to the young Buchholz.

Desperately needing a strong start from the right-hander, Buchholz delivered. The right-hander was touched for a run in the fourth on an RBI double by Joe Mauer, but went on to whiff seven Twin batters, issuing just one walk and allowing five hits.

Buchholz came out for the eight inning and allowed a leadoff single to Denard Span, as the leash was short on Buchholz, due to his being over the 100-pitch mark. Daniel Bard came on in relief, allowing Span to score, but held on to grab his first save of 2010.

The offense for Boston was provided by none other than David Ortiz, yet again. With Victor Martinez aboard at first, Ortiz pounded a fastball offering from Scott Baker that clanked atop the Green Monster. After a video review by the umpires, it was a two-run shot for Ortiz and a 2-1 lead for the Red Sox.

The home run for Ortiz tied him for the team lead alongside Dustin Pedroia with eight big flies. The four-bagger for Ortiz boosted his average in the month of May to .373 with 7 HR and 17 RBI in 14 games.

The Red Sox would add to their lead in the bottom of the sixth with some two-out action. With two away, Adrian Beltre (2-for-4) knocked a base hit into right field. With the count even at 1-1, Jeremy Hermida continued his brilliant 2-out hitting by smoking a single into right field. With Beltre now in scoring position, Bill Hall knocked a two-strike, base hit into left to drive in Boston's third run, which ended up being the game-winner.

Final score: Twins 2, Red Sox 3
WP: Clay Buchholz (5-3)
LP: Scott Baker (4-4)
SV: Daniel Bard (1)

Game notes: David Ortiz now has 8 HR on the season. In 2009, Ortiz still hadn't homered by May 19. He hit his first HR on May 20, and would not hit his eighth until June 26. Jeremy Hermida's two-out base hit to keep the rally alive in the sixth inning boosted his numbers with two outs to .350 this season, to go along with 2 HR, 4 doubles, and 17 of his 22 RBI.

Tweet of the Night:

Usually the TOTN is relevant to the game, but this one had more of a "wow factor" to me than a tweet about the game. This one comes your way Via Jon Couture, who is a Red Sox writer for The Standard-Times in New Bedford.

@JonCouture: Meaningless Fun With Numbers: #Rays win in N.Y. made them 29-11, which no team had started since 2002 #RedSox ... who missed the playoffs.

Thursday's pitching match-up:

I'll be at Fenway on Thursday night, so I'm extra pumped for this lefty vs. lefty duel. Jon Lester takes the ball for Boston, as the Red Sox try to get even with the Twins' Francisco Liriano, who has already defeated the Sox once this year. Hopefully he can return to his historical numbers against Boston, which go as the following: 1-2, 7.20 ERA. Lester will be gunning for his fourth win of the season.

-Jared Carrabis

Just substitute "The Rock" for "The Red Sox," and "New Jersey" for "Fenway Park," and we're good.



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





Published on May 20, 2010

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