By Jeff Louderback For the second time in three games, a Red Sox starting pitcher could not consistently throw strikes and created his own trouble with an abundance of full counts and walks. Somehow, the Red Sox won both times. On Thursday, it was erratic left-hander Felix Doubront who issued six walks and commonly faced [...]
By Jeff Louderback Walks haunted Red Sox starting pitcher Felix Doubront and even reliever Clayton Mortensen in a game that appeared headed for the loss column at Tampa Bay on Thursday night. Then Rays closer Fernando Rodney entered, and 19 of the 35 pitches he threw were balls. His lack of control led to Will [...]
By Jeff Louderback His team reeling after dropping nine of its last 11 games, Jon Lester demonstrated once again that he is the staff ace by limiting Tampa Bay to two runs and eight hits with five strikeouts and no walks in Boston’s 9-2 rout of the Rays on Wednesday. Lester improved to 6-0 with [...]
By Jeff Louderback Forget about the 20-8 start that the Red Sox posted to open the season. The momentum from that stretch has been erased because of a 2-9 skid that has seen this club plagued with ineffective pitching, a lack of timely hitting and awful defense. Fortunately, in baseball, there is a 162-game schedule. [...]
By Jeff Louderback Another night of ineffective pitching, a lack of timely hitting and atrocious defense resulted in yet another loss for the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night. This time, it was John Lackey serving up five runs, Mike Napoli botching a routine pop up that led to the deciding two runs and Shane [...]
By Jeff Louderback Who are the 2013 Boston Red Sox? Are they the club that stormed to a 20-8 record, fueled by exceptional starting pitching and timely hitting? Does the 2-8 mark they have posted in their last 10 games more accurately reflect their makeup? Or perhaps the 22-16 record they currently own, which puts [...]
By Jeff Louderback Though they are third in the majors in on-base percentage (.343), slugging percentage (.446), OPS (.789); and fifth in runs (159) and batting average (.267), the Boston Red Sox are a team that relies more upon its pitching and defense than it has in previous seasons. This is why David Ortiz is [...]
By Jeff Louderback On Tuesday night at Fenway Park, the Red Sox delivered a lackluster and sloppy performance against the ho-hum Minnesota Twins and the result was a 6-1 loss and injuries to two more players. Catcher David Ross and third baseman Will Middlebrooks collided while pursuing a foul ball that was caught by Middlebrooks. [...]
By Jeff Louderback Mike Carp could be the left-handed hitting version of Seattle’s Mike Morse – a promising minor leaguer who finally harnesses his power at the major league level. The 26-year-old Carp, who the Red Sox acquired from Seattle on February 20, has been one of the club’s most surprising additions, batting .464 (13-for-28) [...]
By Jeff Louderback The Red Sox and Blue Jays continue to stampede in different directions. Boston claimed two out of three at the Rogers Centre and improved to 20-8, which is the best record in the majors. Toronto, which implemented an array of offseason trades that cost them numerous top prospects for costly veterans, dipped [...]
