Did anyone else get the chills last night as Ortiz’s shot just cleared the center field fence in the fifth? I sure did. I kept smiling for the rest of the inning (which was hard not to with all the homers) and even laughed out loud as I realized the team was giving Papi the cold shoulder when he came back to the dugout. And Red Sox Nation topped it off by giving him one of the loudest ovations of the season, to which Papi answered with a curtain call. What a great moment at Fenway Park.
Then making the Fenway Faithful even more respondent, Jason Bay followed suit with a home run of his own (that’s 12 on the season – HR Derby??) which was then matched by a homer by Mike Lowell. But don’t forget about Varitek’s homer, second of the game, that was hit even before Papi came to the plate. I mentioned yesterday about how Varitek had an off year in 2008 and how now he seems to have got his groove back. I also said that Papi might do the same. Varitek is proving to us that you can have an off year but still come back.
But let’s look at some of the other things that happened last night that we might have forgotten about.
Jacoby Ellsbury tied a major league record with 12 put outs. I wonder how that feels to tie a record like that considering it’s not really one that you can control. You just have to get lucky and have the ball come at you every inning – which is basically what happened. The one catch that I will give Ellsbury credit for is the catch he made in the first inning preventing Aaron Hill from getting extra bases. Great catch. As for the rest of them – most were routine fly outs. And yet he tied a record. Take what you can get, Jacoby!
Brad Penny got his fourth win of the season (6.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, BB, 2 K). This wasn’t a bad start at all by Penny, but the seventh inning was when he started to get a little tired. He gave up 4 hits alone that inning, which also allowed the two runs (the second run scored on a double play). You take those 4 hits away and you’re looking at something much different. I guess it doesn’t make any difference, but it makes his start look a lot better – 9 hits seems like a lot. Regardless, he gave them up and still only gave up 2 runs. Great job, Penny.
I’ll end with talking about Daniel Bard. He didn’t seem to have his stuff last night (0.2 IP,3 H, R). I’m wondering if maybe he should go back down to AAA for a while and come back up in July or August. Our bullpen right now is rock solid and we can afford to send him down, especially since Masterson just rejoined the pen. I say send Bard back down and bring him back up when he’s ready – but by all means don’t trade him! I keep hearing these trade rumors on RedSoxProspectus and WEEI and I don’t like them one bit. Keep Bard in AAA, but out of the trade talks.
And with that, I bet you Papi will hit another one tonight.
Keep the Faith!
