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Inside the Game -- Sox 8, Rangers 3 / Photo

BOSTON – Clay Buchholz is only 23 years old and, as a rookie, he will go through a few trials and tribulations.

But he’s wise beyond his years when it comes to mixing his pitches and keeping the opposition off-balance.

Two early Texas at-bats speak to that pitch-selection maturity, aided, of course, by the calls of the catcher, in this case Kevin Cash.

In the second inning, Buchholz thoroughly confused Rangers’ designated hitter Jason Botts. Buchholz slipped a 93-m.p.h. fastball past Botts for strike one, and then Botts flailed and badly missed a 76 m.p.h. curveball for strike two.

Botts clearly was expecting another curveball, or something offspeed. Buchholz, though, delivered a 93 m.p.h. fastball, and Botts missed it, his swing late.

One inning later, Buchholz befuddled Josh Hamilton, who entered the game batting .299. Hamilton swung through a 76 m.p.h. changeup for strike one. Then he couldn’t hold up and foul-tipped a 74 m.p.h. changeup.

Down, 0 and 2, Hamilton, who had waved and missed a 76 m.p.h. curveball for a whiff in the first, apparently was looking for another offspeed pitch. He didn’t move a muscle as Buchholz whipped a 91 m.p.h. fastball past him for a called third strike.

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David Ortiz had a few big hits in the four-game series with the Rangers, showing flashes of his dominant presence at the plate.

Still, he hasn’t yet found a consistent groove, as evidenced by his ups and downs yesterday. He’s not quite locked in, though he’s getting closer.

In the third inning, for instance, Big Papi came to the plate with runners at first and third and none out in a 0-0 game. It was gimme RBI opportunity for Ortiz, who has knocked in at least 117 runs in each of the last four seasons.

The count reached 1 and 2 when Texas reliever Dustin Nippert hung an 83 m.p.h. slider on the outer half of the plate. It was a pitch that, when he’s in his groove, Ortiz crushes to left-center. But Ortiz pulled off the ball and barely stayed alive on a foul tip.

Nippert’s next pitch was away, too. This time it was a 93 m.p.h. fastball. Ortiz again pulled off the pitch and was unable to reach it, swinging and missing for a strikeout.

Ortiz wasn’t able to drive the ball to left field in his next at-bat, either, but he got a break when Milton Bradley lost his routine high fly ball in the sun, the ball falling behind the outfielder for a gift RBI double, capping the Sox’ five-run rally.

But in the fifth, Ortiz managed to keep his front shoulder in and drive a pitch on the outer half of the plate off the Green Monster for a two-run double that put Boston on top, 8-0.

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Good things happen to good teams. And vice versa.

The Red Sox are a good team. The Rangers are not.

Take a look at the bottom of the fourth, when Boston pushed across five runs for a 5-0 lead.
It started with a four-pitch walk. Then Nippert balked him to second, wheeling to make a throw to first and then inexplicably holding the ball. Lowrie tried to sacrifice. It was a terrible bunt, popped up. But the placement was perfect toward the shortstop grass, the ball falling for a single. Lugo bounced a 15-hopper up the middle, perfectly placed over the bag between the shortstop and second baseman for an RBI.

Lugo committed a mistake and was trapped off first on Kevin Cash’s weak popup/liner to second, a seemingly easy double play, but Kinsler’s throw to first short-hopped Ben Broussard and got away for an error, allowing a run to score.

Ellsbury reached when shortstop Michael Young fielded his roller in the hole and threw wide to first. Pedroia ripped a two-run double to right-center for the only hard-hit ball of the inning. Then Ortiz and the Sox got a gift RBI double when left fielder Milton Bradley lost Ortiz’ high fly in the sun, the ball almost hitting Bradley on the head as he sank to the turf, trying to protect himself.

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Baserunning instincts – the good and the not so good.

* J.D. Drew showed good instincts in moving from first to second on a wild pitch in the second.
As Kason Gabbard delivered his pitch to the plate, Drew moved out to his secondary lead. Then, seeing the ball was going to be in the dirt, Drew started his momentum toward second, just in case the ball got away from catcher Gerald Laird.

The ball did indeed bounce up on Laird and roll only a few feet away. Not every baserunner would have then dashed toward second. But because Drew had anticipated the ball would hit the dirt, he was able to take off and make it to second base without a throw even though Laird quickly pounced on the wild pitch.

* Jacoby Ellsbury, who generally makes outstanding baserunning decisions, got caught in no-man’s land between third and home and was tagged out on a double play that was scored 8-2-4-2 on Kevin Youkilis’ fly ball to center with runners at first and third and one out.

Ellsbury tagged, went halfway to the plate and then retreated to third as Dustin Pedroia attempted to take second on the throw home. When the Rangers threw to second to try to nail Pedroia, Ellsbury started home again as Pedroia raced back to the uncovered first-base bag. Texas second baseman Ian Kinsler saw Ellsbury, had him trapped and threw to catcher Gerald Laird for the putout.

* Jed Lowrie scampered quickly from first to third on Julio Lugo’s chopper over the second-base bag in the fourth, making a nice, crisp turn at second and easily beating a throw to third. Most baserunners would have stopped at second.

-- Steven Krasner

Posted by Steven Krasner  at 3:06 PM | Permalink