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April 14, 2008
By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON _ The Boston Red Sox said they didn’t want to use any excuses.
The ballclub had a short offseason due to their World Series championship. They had an abbreviated spring training due to their season-opening three-country 19-day trek through Japan, the West Coast and Canada. To make the schedule tougher, Boston finally opened at home against the Detroit Tigers, followed by the first regular-season series against the Yankees.
When the Red Sox returned from their around-the-world trip with a 3-4 mark, and posted a 4-2 record on the team’s home stand that concluded last night with an 8-5 victory over the Yankees.
No excuses needed now that the team is back to its regular grind. It won’t get any easier, however, as the Red Sox play two in Cleveland, beginning tonight, and then two at New York.
“We’ll get ourselves into that grind of the season,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “That doesn’t mean you’re going to win, but you can see how good you can be. We’ll see. We’re playing some really good teams. We did what we wanted to tonight and now we’ll pack up and play another good team and see how we do there.”
The one aspect of Boston’s series against New York at Fenway Park was the solid starting pitching in the first two games of the three-game set. Rookie Clay Buchholz had to deal with a no-decision on Friday after working six good innings where he allowed one run on four hits in a 4-1 loss. Ace Josh Beckett earned his first win of the season in Saturday’s 4-3 win, working into the seventh inning and allowed three runs on five hits.
Last night Daisuke Matsuzaka was given the ball.
It was a night when the Sox’ bullpen needed a break, so the right-hander needed an efficient outing. His teammates gave him a 7-1 advantage after three innings, but Matsuzaka allowed three runs in the top of the fourth and lasted only one more inning. He threw a total of 116 pitches over just five innings, but still ended up with his third victory of the season.
“We had some long innings when we were hitting, it was cold and his command wasn’t very good,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “It was a struggle to get him through five. We were getting to a point where we were getting kind of antsy of pitch counts going up in a hurry. He gave it every thing he had there just wasn’t a lot of command there. He would make a pitch and wouldn’t follow it up.”
When he left the game the Red Sox held a 7-4 lead and reliever David Aardsma followed with two scoreless innings before Mike Timlin started the eighth and surrendered a solo homer by the Yankees’ Jason Giambi that cut New York’s deficit, 7-5.
Timlin then allowed back-to-back singles to Jose Molina and pinch-hitter Melky Cabrera before he was given the hook. Left Javier Lopez got Johnny Damon to ground into a well-executed double play by second baseman Dustin Pedroia before Robinson Cano grounded out to second to end the inning and threat.
Boston scored the all-important insurance run in the bottom of the eighth for an 8-5 lead. Lopez faced one batter in the ninth and retired Bobby Abreu. Sox reliever Manny Delcarmen recorded the final two outs with a huge strikeout on Alex Rodriguez and a ground out by Hideki Matsui to finish it out.
Even though he earned the victory, it wasn’t the best outing for Matsuzaka.
He entered the game with a 2-0 record and a 1.47 ERA in three starts this season, his second in the majors. Because all of his “firsts” were taken care of in 2007, Red Sox manager Terry Francona said yesterday afternoon that Matsuzaka is more in sync and relaxed this season.
“Because of that the ball is coming out with some life to it and without a lot of exertion,” the manager said.
Rewind to 2007 and all the hoopla and attention the Japanese import was getting. The entire year, and still to today, the Matsuzaka Media Mafia follows his every move. All the off-field distractions eventually got to him.
“Last year when he came to spring training he didn’t have the ability to give up a run without having Red Sox Nation or his nation asking a ton of question,” said Francona. “He threw the ball well. He used all of his pitches and it was exciting. Then as the season progressed he got into some ruts, trying to overthrow.”
The Red Sox expect things both on and off the field should be a little less stressful for Matsuzaka this season.
Speaking of stress, the heart rate for Red Sox personnel must have been racing prior to this season due to the anticipation of the early adversity they would face. It hasn’t been a problem and they don’t want it to be.
“Everything seems like it’s going into key right now,” said Delcarmen. “You can see our bats coming around and our pitching is getting better. Hopefully we can keep it going.”
Many Red Sox players, including Francona, have admitted to being tired prior to the club’s home-opener last Tuesday. Still, they weren’t going to blame anything or anyone for a possible hiccup.
They haven’t needed to.
At some point the schedule must get a little easier for the Red Sox. It won’t happen this week as they travel to Cleveland for two and New York for two.
The Red Sox wanted a normal routine and now they have it.
“I think everybody has gotten adjusted from that long road trip we were on,” said Coco Crisp. “Everybody has settled in and now we can just go out there and play the game.”
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