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Late Friday -- or is that early Saturday? -- Sox notes »
May 2, 2008
BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON – A spark can come from the unlikeliest of sources.
It did last night for the Boston Red Sox, in the form of a lightning bolt off the bat of rookie Brandon Moss that lit the team’s slumping offensive pilot light.
Moss crushed a solo homer to center, a towering drive off the roof of the camera perch just to the right of the 379-foot marker.
The blast off Tampa Bay starter Edwin Jackson, with two outs and none on in the fourth, gave the Sox a 2-0 lead over the Rays.
And just like that, the Red Sox’ week-long slump vanished.
By the time Jackson notched the final out the inning, the Red Sox were on top, 6-0, as Boston rained hits all around Fenway Park.
Jason Varitek ripped a single to center. After a walk to Julio Lugo, Jacoby Ellsbury dropped an RBI single into left-center; Dustin Pedroia ripped a two-run single to left and David Ortiz bashed a run-scoring single through the Rays’ shift.
Slump? What slump?
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Boston starter Clay Buchholz had difficult locating his fastball, especially early. Of the first 24 fastballs he threw, only 9 were strikes, including two that were smacked for singles.
So when his lack of command of the pitch got him into trouble in the third inning, pitching coach John Farrell strolled to the mound. It was clear that Farrell discussed a change in pitching philosophy against the Rays because after the visit, Buchholz and catcher Jason Varitek stayed away from the fastball.
The result? Three straight strikeouts, defusing a first-and-second, none-out jam.
Buchholz threw 13 pitches after Farrell’s visit. Only three were fastballs.
The first batter he faced, Jonny Gomes, fanned on three pitches – slider (called), changeup (swinging), curveball (waving wildly). Carlos Pena was next. The sequence of pitches to him was curveball (ball), changeup (strike swinging), fastball (strike swinging), curve (foul), fastball (foul) and curve (called strike three).
Evan Longoria followed Pena. By then it must have been clear to him that Buchholz had abandoned his fastball. With the count at 1 and 2 -- (called strike), curveball (foul), slider (ball) – Longoria appeared stunned when Buchholz delivered a 93 m.p.h. fastball over the plate. He took it for strike three.
Over the first five innings, Buchholz unofficially threw 39 fastballs, only 18 of which were strikes.
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When Carl Crawford reached base on a one-out single in the first inning, Buchholz paid close attention to him, and with good reason. Crawford is one of the game’s best basestealers and this season he is again among the league’s leaders, with eight.
So with Gomes, the Rays’ designated hitter, at the plate, Buchholz threw over to first base five times during the course of the at-bat in an effort to keep Crawford close.
Buchholz also made use of the slide-step in his delivery out of the stretch to the plate.
He was effective on two counts – keeping Crawford from running and getting out Gomes.
Crawford wasn’t able to attempt a steal, and Buchholz whiffed Gomes. The impressive part of the strikeout was that Buchholz caught Gomes looking at a curveball for strike three.
When using a slide-step, curveballs have a tendency to flatten out because it is more difficult for the pitcher to get on top of the ball. Instead of being able to throw over the top for the curve, as Buchholz generally does, the arm angle may slip down a little so the ball doesn’t break down sharply on a downward plane, it remains on more of a flat plane.
Buchholz, though, was able to maintain good curveball-throwing mechanics despite using the slide-step, and buckled Gomes’ knees with the breaking ball for the punchout.
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Moss, playing right field, put a nice charge on Jason Bartlett’s liner to right-center with runners at first and second and two outs in the second and racked up his second assist of the year.
Moss was playing shallow for the Rays’ number nine hitter. He got the ball on the second hop. And even though he took an extra hop-step, his throw home was strong and accurate, nailing Longoria trying to score from second, keeping it a 0-0 game.
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Crawford overestimated his speed and took an unnecessary gamble in running into a double play that ended the fifth.
He was perched on third with one out and the Rays losing, 6-1. Gomes hit a grounder to third, forcing Crawford back to the bag a step.
Nevertheless, despite the fact his momentum had shifted him back to third, and despite the fact that the Rays were down by five runs, Crawford took off for home as Mike Lowell threw to first. Kevin Youkilis, the Sox’ first baseman, received Lowell’s throw for the out there, and then threw home where Varitek, Boston’s catcher, slapped a tag on Crawford for a double play.
Posted by Steven Krasner 
at 11:48 PM | Permalink
