23 year old Justin Masterson was livin’ the dream. Called up from Portland, he got his first major league start for the Boston Red Sox last night against the Angels. And the kid delivered - 6 innings of 1 run, 2 hit ball! Pretty much the definition of livin’ large.
Enter the Red Sox bullpen - or should I say the resident batting practice crew… 6 runs in 3 innings later the Red Sox had a 7 to 5 loss. Masterson should have notched his first major league win. Instead…
I think it is time, even this early in the season, for the Red Sox to start thinking about their bullpen deficiencies… Maybe some of these young starters should stay up in the bullpen, and some of the current crew should be sent down?
The Boston Red Sox are continuing to cycle through youth as they deal with injuries and illness. Last night it was Craig Hansen up from Pawtucket in relief of youngster Jon Lester. As Craig came up, David Pauley, Tuesday night’s starter went back down. Hansen joined Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, and Jed Lowrie, all of the same draft year.
For tonight, Hanson is back down and Justin Masterson is coming up from the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs filling in for yet another sick starter. The 23 year-old pitcher was named Eastern League pitcher of the week a little over a week ago. In his 4 starts with the Sea Dogs thus far this year he is 1-0 in 19 innings pitched with 5 BB, 23Ks, and a 0.95 ERA. Baseball America ranks Masterson as the #4 prospect in the Red Sox organization.
The one-two punch of lead-off rookie Jacoby Ellsbury and 2nd year man Dustin Pedroia powered the Boston Red Sox to another come-from-behind win last night, this time against the Angels. Pedroia went 4 for 5 last night batting in the winning run (Ellsbury) with a double in the bottom of the 8th. Pedroia’s .364 batting average is current tops in the American League.
Ellsbury, who went 3 for 5 last night, had two home runs (including his first lead off homer) and a bunt single in the 8th. He scored from first on Pedroia’s double (man is Ellsbury fast).
Both saved another youngster, David Pauley, who gave up 5 in 4.5 innings filling in for Josh Beckett who had a sore neck (is it me, or are pitchers getting more fragile?).
For the Sox, the youth on the pitchers mound is taking a little time to gel. It is nice to see the young guys in the field doing so well…
Yesterday, Patriot’s Day, was a very big day for Boston Sports.
112th Boston Marathon
The “Big Kahuna” event of the day was the 112th running of the Boston Marathon (26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston). More than 25,000 people started and 21,963 people finished the race. While it is a huge local event, with the exception of the women’s wheelchair division, it has been a long time since an American won (1983 for an American man, and 1982 for a local man; 1985 for an American woman and 1983 for a local woman; 1993 for men’s wheelchair and 2005 for women’s wheelchair), and even longer for a local person.
Winners for the day were:
Boston Red Sox Complete 4-Game Sweep of Texas Rangers
The Red Sox always play a home late morning/early afternoon game on Marathon Monday. The Red Sox are hot. They have won 9 of their last 10. Clay Buchholz notched his first win of the season with 6 shutout innings as the Red Sox completed a 4-game brooming of the Texas Rangers.
The Down Note - The Bruins Lose in the Playoffs to Montreal
Completing the big day on a down note was the Montreal Canadiens 5-0 thumping of the Boston Bruins in the 7th and final game of their first round playoff season. Given that hardly anybody expected the Bruins to win more than 1 game, making it to game 7 was an accomplishment. Still, a win would have finished the day nicely…