Three's for me by Jared Carrabis
Red Sox find themselves back in win column after another brilliant start by Josh Beckett


In the year of the bizarre, the Red Sox have found their most consistent performer in a man who most deemed a "question mark" at the start of the year.

You don’t need me to tell you that this season has been, for the most part, surreal to Red Sox fans. It has been one disappointment after another for Boston, but every fifth day, Josh Beckett has taken the mound and given our frustrated minds a one-day vacation.

On Saturday, Terry Francona opted to give Carl Crawford a much-needed day off. With Marco Scutaro also getting a day off, this allowed Jed Lowrie to slip into Boston’s lineup in the leadoff spot. Lowrie had entered the game hitting at .471 (8-for-17) with a 1.115 OPS. Small sample size or not, it’s safe to say that Lowrie has been seeing the ball well in the early going.

With the ink still wet on his seven-year, $154 million extension with the Red Sox, Adrian Gonzalez knocked a base hit into right field for an RBI, as Kevin Youkilis, batting behind Gonzalez, sliced an RBI double down the right field line.

Thanks to another brilliant start by Beckett, the Red Sox’ first inning would have been enough. The right-hander from Spring, Texas was masterful yet again, as the Blue Jays were only able to scratch together one run off Beckett in the early innings. Fresh off an eight-inning masterpiece against the Yankees, Beckett turned in a two-hit, seven-inning performance with nine strikeouts, bringing his strikeout total to 19 in his last two starts.

Lowrie rocked a two-run homer into the Monster seats for good measure in the second inning, and finished the day 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored.

Beckett picked up the win, his second, which accounts for more than half of the wins that the Red Sox own this season. On the downside of things, despite the win, the Red Sox still aren’t hitting with runners in scoring position, and are continually leaving double-digit men on base on a nightly basis. On Saturday, Boston was just 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, and stranded 11 men on base.

On the up side, Kevin Youkilis is finding his stroke. He’s now hit safely in six straight games, and is walking like a madman. Also, Daniel Bard seems to have shaken off the cobwebs that had skyrocketed his ERA in the early going, and Jonathan Papelbon has looked fantastic in his five appearances this season. Papelbon collected his second save of the season against Toronto in the series’ second game. Boston’s closer recorded one strikeout, the eleventh for Boston pitching on the day.

-Jared Carrabis

Final score: Blue Jays 1, Red Sox 4





Published on April 16, 2011

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