Fenway Fables

In May, Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester will look back on the previous month and yell “April Fool’s!” or at least Sox fans hope.

Lester had another rough outing on the mound Monday as the Twins cruised to a 5-2 victory in their opening game at Target Field. Lester was wild again, throwing 48 of his 107 pitches for balls. When he wasn’t wild he was hittable, allowing nine hits and four runs over five innings.

History shows that Lester likes to turn April Fool’s Day into an entire month. He has started 14 games in April throughout his career and is 2-5 with a 5.08 ERA. Fantasy owners beware of selling this guy cheap. While he might cost you a few points in the beginning, Lester tends to breakout in the months following. The past two years he has went 28-10 in the months following April.

The Sox two runs came from a deep double (which was almost caught) to left field, scoring Kevin Youkilis from second. The other was a sacrifice fly by Dustin Pedroia. Overall, the atmosphere of the new outdoor stadium propelled the Twins to a big victory over a struggling pitcher.

Don’t be the fool, Lester will find his control and push 15 wins wins 200 strikeouts once again.

After losing their first three-game series to the New York Yankees, things got even worse for the Red Sox (1-2) on Friday night. They got off to an early 3-0 lead on a David Ortiz double and a J.D. Drew two-run homer. However, the Red Sox failed to hold the slim lead for the second consecutive game.

Despite Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield being the oldest player on the field, he out-dueled the Royals young-gun, 26-year-old Kyle Davies. Wakefield left the game in line for the win even after he gave up back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning. The home runs came off the bats of Royals’ Billy Butler and Rick Ankiel.

Ankiel wasn’t about to settle for just a solo home run. The Royals’ center fielder got greedy and smacked a broken-bat single into left field, which scored the game tying and go-ahead runs. The one-run lead proved to be insurmountable for the Red Sox and they lost the game 4-3. Their record is now 1-3 and they are tied for last place in the American League East.

Of course it is way to early to push the panic button, but the underlying problem with designated hitter David Ortiz will need to be addressed sooner rather than later. It is heart breaking to any Red Sox fan who has followed the club since their amazing 2004 World Series run. Any Sox follower knows that Ortiz proved to be one of the most clutch batters in Red Sox history after hitting two game-winners against the Yankees in the ‘04 ALCS.

Times have changed and players around the league are growing older. David Ortiz seems to be leading the pack. His early struggles last season lead to many questions from the media. Now, Ortiz faces these questions everyday, and after getting ejected in the fifth inning of Friday’s game, it is obvious the frustration is settling in. If the Red Sox continue this losing streak they will be forced to make some changes, and the first one will likely be Ortiz. If this does happen, it will be a painful day for every member of Red Sox Nation.

The Boston Red Sox opened the 2010 Major League Baseball season with a bang Sunday night after making a late-inning comeback  against the New York Yankees.

The Yankees got off to a quick 2-0 lead when catcher Jorge Posada and center fielder Curtis Granderson hit back-to-back home runs in the second inning. Any speculation about how Granderson would fit into the Yankees powerhouse lineup stopped abruptly when he homered in his first at-bat and followed it by making a catch while slamming into the green monster.

However,Kevin Youkilis, and Dustin Pedroia answered for the Red Sox. Youkilis hit a deep off-the-wall double off of C.C. Sabathia and eventually came in to score after a sacrifice fly by Adrian Beltre. Pitcher Josh Beckett continued to struggle and was pulled midway through the fifth inning. He allowed five runs and only recorded one strikeout.

Sabathia continued to cruise through the game allowing only the hit to Youkilis until the fifth inning, where he allowed three more hits and another earned run. The excited opening night crowd at Fenway was silent going into the sixth, with the score 5-2. After a Pedroia walk and Victor Martinez double to put men on second and third, Kevin Youkilis stepped into the batter’s box and took the form of a superhero. He tripled off the monster, driving in two runs and later scored on a Beltre single. The game was tied at 5 and the Red Sox bats were alive.

After struggling against Beckett, Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez got his first hit, doubling to left field in the seventh. A ground out from Robinson Cano scored another Yankee run and a single from Posada added their last. Heading into the seventh the Red Sox were trailing 7-5.

Yankees pitcher Chan Ho Park stepped to the mound and allowed a quick single to Macro Scutaro. After striking out Jacoby Ellsbury, who finished the game hitless, Pedroia came to bat once again. He crushed a pitch from Park over the monster and tied the game at 7. Youkilis then doubled for the second time. The stage was set for David “Big Papi” Ortiz to hit in the go-ahead run for the Sox. However, he was walked and held hitless for the night. Instead, it was two wild pitches that resulted in Youkilis scoring the run.

Red Sox center fielder Mike Cameron added one more run in the bottom of the eight to make the score 9-7 and give Jonathan Papelbon the chance for the save.

Papelbon did just that. The win belonged to Red Sox relief pitcher Hideki Ojamia (1-0). The loss credited to Chan Ho Park (0-1), and the save to Papelbon (1)

The Red Sox will play the Yankees again on Tuesday night.

Red Sox starting pitching has gone from great in one game to gruesome in the next two. No surprise, the Sox are two losses from beginning their winter vacation.

Jon Lester’s surprisingly poor and ineffective start at home in Game 3 of the ALCS led directly to a 9-1 Red Sox loss yesterday. The Rays lead the best-of-seven series, 2-1.

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Tim Wakefield will get a chance tonight to turn the tide, with the unpredictable flight of his knuckleball the perfect image for the out-of-nowhere performance of Lester, who allowed eight hits and five runs (four earned) in 5 innings. The left-hander’s Fenway Park dominance this season (11-1, 2.49 ERA) meant squat on a day when the Rays jumped all over his offerings.

Tampa Bay scored the game’s first run on a second-inning groundout and pushed the lead to 5-0 in the third on B.J. Upton’s three-run home run and an Evan Longoria solo shot.

Rays starter Matt Garza thoroughly outpitched Lester, stifling a Red Sox lineup that looked thinner than ever with Jacoby Ellsbury going 0-for-3 from the leadoff spot and slumping David Ortiz turning in an 0-for-4 out of the No. 3 hole. Ellsbury (0-for-14) and Ortiz (0-for-10) are hitless in the series.

Daisuke Matsuzaka threw a Game 1 gem (seven scoreless innings, four hits), but Game 2 starter Josh Beckett (4 innings, eight runs, nine hits) and Lester have let the team down big-time. To have Lester be the culprit counts as a shocking development to a team that was hoping to get on a roll at home.

The Rays pitched and hit a lot better than OK. As a result, they have four more chances to do that just two more times.

Relatively speaking, the Red Sox starting pitching has been really bad the last two games. There are not that many opportunities remaining to turn that around. Wakefield will try to do just that tonight when he starts Game 4.

It’s impossible to say if the wild card spot was won on July 31 when the Red Sox traded a disgruntled Manny Ramirez, but it most definitely could have been lost.

The Sox were a team in turmoil because of their mercurial star, and something had to give. When they succeeded in shipping out Ramirez in a three-way deal that brought back Jason Bay, there was relief. But there also was fear.

The Red Sox hope last night didn’t mark the culmination of that deal a third World Series title in five years is the ultimate goal but it’s fair to say that beating the Cleveland Indians, 5-4, at Fenway Park to clinch their fifth playoff berth in six years is a step in that direction. They clinched at least the wild card, while trailing AL East-leading Tampa Bay by three games with five to play.

None of it seemed remotely small at the time, be it Curt Schilling’s season-ending injury before the season even started, Ortiz missing two months with a torn tendon sheath in his wrist or ace Josh Beckett struggling through tingling and numbness in his right elbow. Then, of course, there was Ramirez, whose attitude and demeanor had become so poisonous, the Red Sox decided they simply could not live with the left fielder. They couldn’t trust he’d even be in the lineup for games like last night’s clincher.  Theo Epstein pulled the trigger with a clear conscience.

The deal was applauded in the clubhouse. Bay symbolized everything Ramirez did not; a quiet, mature, team-first player who would always give 100 percent effort, even in areas like baserunning and defense in left field. The Sox played .560 ball with Ramirez. They’re at .646 since.  For his part, Bay succeeded by immediately establishing he wasn’t here to replace anyone.

Pitcher Paul Byrd arrived from Cleveland after the Ramirez deal. Byrd had been watching from afar and was impressed at both the bravery of trading such an offensive force, as well as the foresight to bring in an underrated player like Bay.  Now Byrd, who will start tonight vs. the Indians, looks around the clubhouse and sees a team in every sense of the word.

Nation Notes: Jed Lowrie, in his head-spinning rookie season, has played in 42 games at shortstop and 47 at third base, often toggling between the two in the same game, as he did last night. He has hit in every spot in the batting order except leadoff. He has played in 47 of the Red Sox’ last 48 games.  J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell both made progress yesterday. Drew, battling a herniated disk in his back, received an epidural and almost immediately felt positive results. The Sox planned to have Lowell (torn hip labrum) hit in the batting cage last night, then on the field today. Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 14 games, a career best, with a double in the fifth inning. Dustin Pedroia hit his 53d double, tying Tris Speaker (1912) for third in Sox history.

Pitching very much like the postseason Game 1 starter he is in line to be, Jon Lester delivered a lift to the Red Sox yesterday on the big stage.  In a tough matchup against Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay, Lester was the unanimous winner in a 4-3 Red Sox victory, their third win in four games against a dangerous Toronto squad.

The Red Sox are now one game back of the Rays in the AL East with the biggest week of their season on the horizon; three games against the Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla., followed by three more against the Blue Jays in Toronto. And Lester was able to send his team on the road all smiles. That’s what leaders do.

Lester went eight innings, allowing just one run; a Jose Bautista first-inning home run and retiring 22 of the last 28 batters. He struck out six and the one serious threat he faced runners on first and second with one out in the seventh when the Red Sox’ lead was just 2-1  he got out of with a picture-perfect double play.  Jonathan Papelbon made things way too tense in the ninth, allowing a pair of runs. But the closer settled down enough to collect his career-high 38th save.

The homestand began with an unsettling series loss to the Rays. The Blue Jays are not as good a team as Tampa Bay, but the Red Sox took great pride getting the best of a team that came here having won 11 of their previous 13.  And to have their best pitcher this season pitch his best was the cherry on top for the Sox, who have won nine of 13.

Down 1-0 after Bautista’s blast, the Red Sox offense struck at their first opportunity as Jacoby Ellsbury led off the bottom of the first with a single, stole second, advanced on a Dustin Pedroia sacrifice bunt and came in on David Ortiz’s groundout.  An inning later, after Jason Bay led off with a double, Coco Crisp gave the Sox the 2-1 lead with a two-out RBI single.

Halladay (seven innings, three runs, two earned, six hits, no walks, five strikeouts) got in a groove after that, retiring the next 13 batters.  But Crisp bested him again in the seventh with another big two-out hit, bringing in Lowell. Kevin Youkilis’ sacrifice fly in the eighth following a rare Ortiz triple drove in the fourth run, which became absolutely critical when Papelbon stumbled slightly.  But in the end the story was all Lester, whose record now stands at 15-5 with a 3.15 ERA.

The playoffs begin Oct. 1 or 2 for the American League. Lester’s next scheduled start is Saturday in Toronto, then Sept. 25 at Fenway against the Cleveland Indians. That puts him right on track to pitch Game 1 with plenty of rest.  Tweaks can still be made to the current rotation order; Lester, Matsuzaka, Beckett and Tim Wakefield, but the Sox may opt not to mess with success.

Nation Notes: Sources in Tokyo indicate the Red Sox appear to be in the lead for the services of 22-year-old righthander Junichi Tazawa. The Sox have been the most aggressive team with Tazawa, though the Yankees have a contingent of four scouts trying to lure Tazawa. The Sox will have a powwow today to discuss how Bartolo Colon might be used the rest of the way. It doesn’t appear Colon would have any more starting opportunities. The Sox have been reluctant to use him out of the bullpen because Colon isn’t a fan of it, but he might be asked anyway. J.D. Drew will make the trip, but after getting an injection in his back Friday, he’s not likely to be available to play until this Friday in Toronto.