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Curt Schilling’s Video Game Company 38 Studios Lays Off All Employees

Sox Rebound in Rubber Match after 4-1 Loss to O’s

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Big Papi Struggles as Red Sox Wilt Out West

The Red Sox put their final West Coast trip of the season behind them, and thankfully so, as they dropped four of the six games in Anaheim and Seattle. The long trips were not fruitful for the Sox as they finish the season 4-8 in Anaheim, Oakland, and Seattle, losing all four series they played out there.

The biggest story would be the benching of hero David Ortiz due to his struggles at the plate, specifically his power outage, as he is still homerless this season through 48 games.

The Red Sox will get their first look at the first place Blue Jays, who they trail by three games, and a quick foray into interleague play with a series with the Mets.

Red Sox at Angels

The Red Sox opened the series with a 4-3 win by doing what they do best: getting a quality start and winning the game in the bullpen. Justin Masterson rebounded from back-to-back poor showings, and went six innings with only two runs allowed. He left with a 2-1 deficit and the usually steady Manny Delcarmen allowed another score to leave Angel starter Jared Weaver, who pitched brilliantly, in position for the win. He went seven innings and allowed only one run, a J.D. Drew home run, on four hits.

However, Jose Arrendondo, who was dominant in setting up Francisco Rodriguez last season, continued to stuggle and loaded the bases with one out. Big Papi came up with the sacks full, a theme for the week, and was able to get hit by a pitch to drive in a run. The next hitter, Jason Bay, grounded out to tie the game.

Jason Varitek doubled in the game-winner in the ninth for the victory. Ramon Ramirez pitched a perfect eighth inning for the win, while Jonathan Papelbon faced four batters in the ninth to get the save. The Ortiz line: 0-3, 1K, 2LOB, season average .218.

The Red Sox jumped on Matt Palmer to open the second, scoring a pair in each of the first two innings, led by Bay’s latest home run in the first. Palmer recovered and completed the game allowing no other scores, including facing the minimum the rest of the way and striking out eight as the Angels won 8-4.

Mike Napoli hit a three run home run in the five-run fifth as the Angels took the lead for good against Tim Wakefield, who failed to complete five and allowed seven runs. The Ortiz line: 1-4, 0K, 0LOB, season average .220.

The Papi haters had a field day with the final game of the series as the big man had a banner day for ineffectiveness: 0-7, 3K, 12LOB, season average .208. Ortiz was a major factor in the Red Sox 5-4 loss in 12 innings as he failed to deliver with the bases full three times, including the eighth and twelfth innings with a chance to win the game. Dustin Pedroia was 4-6 and Julio Lugo was 5-6 to lead the offense.

Brad Penny gave up three through six, but Francona opted to have him start the seventh and he was out of gas. He allowed one more run before Hideki Okajima finished the inning with no more damage done. Ramirez had another stellar outing, 2.2 innings of shutout ball. However, the Red Sox fell 5-4 in 12 as you could just feel the loss coming as the runners left on base kept piling up, especially during the Ortiz at bat in the 12th.

Red Sox at Mariners

The Red Sox had the script flipped on them again in the opener of the M’s series as they jumped all over starter Chris Jakubauskus, going up 4-0 through three, however the Mariners left him in and he kept them in the game through six as the Red Sox offense faltered. Jon Lester failed to complete the sixth after getting victimized by Ichiro Suzuki’s second home run of the game as the Mariners won 5-4.

Newly minted Seattle closer David Aardsma closed the game out on his former mates. Ortiz sat the entire Seattle series as Francona, loyal as he is, finally could not handle his struggles. He will be back in the lineup when the Red Sox open against the Blue Jays.

The Red Sox finally held on to an early lead to take the middle game 5-3. Jason Bay hit a two run homer in the first and Varitek matched the feat in the second as the Red Sox got on Garrett Olson early. Josh Beckett had a solid outing with seven innings, four hits, three runs (only two earned), and five strikeouts.

The familiar trio of Okajima-Ramirez-Papelbon sealed the game with two scoreless innings. The Red Sox only had six hits, but made good use of them as they scored five on three longballs, Jeff Bailey’s insurance HR included.

Ramon Ramirez’ ERA shot up to 0.86 and he took his first loss as a Red Sox in the tough 3-2 defeat to close out the road trip. David Aardsma pitched a scoreless, though not uneventful, ninth inning to earn the win over his former club. Masterson had another good outing, though he did allow nine hits over his six innings, which including six whiffs and only two runs allowed.

The Red Sox had eight hits in the loss and wasted a Drew home run in his 2-3 effort. Nick Green also had two hits, but had two errors as well, including a critical one in the ninth inning.

The Week Ahead: Red Sox vs. Blue Jays

Toronto sports the major’s best record and their pitching gets all the headlines, led by Roy Halladay (who the Red Sox will miss this series) and his eight wins. But, what is getting less press is their elite offense: #1 in MLB in runs scored, #2 (AL #1) in average, and #3 in home runs. Young stars in the making Aaron Hill (.345 BA, 11 HR, 33 RBI) and Adam Lind (.329, 7, 35) have mixed well with veterans like Scott Rolen (.326, 3, 12) who is hitting well, but lacking his typical power and injury, at this point. All Star Vernon Wells (.263, 5, 21) has stumbled a little out of the gate, so this team could get better.

Tim Wakefield opens with Brian Tallet (2-1, 4.68, 1.28), whose numbers look worse than they are. He allowed 10 runs in one start, his only bad outing as a starter this season as he has not allowed more than three any other time. Brad Penny draws rookie Chuck Cecil (2-0, 1.80, 1.05), who also has 15 K’s in 20 innings in the majors. Lester looks to bounce back against Robert Ray (1-1, 3.60, 1.10), another rookie who just came off an eight inning effort against the White Sox.

The Red Sox fare well against inexperienced pitching and swept two series from a similar offensive team (the Yankees), but they are really struggling to score runs and if they cannot get a couple more guys warmed up, the Blue Jays will take this series. The Blue Jays look to be for real, though they had the hype behind them last season. Time will tell how they will handle increased expectations as they continue to play well and how the rookies continue to adapt to the majors.

Red Sox vs. Mets

The Red Sox open the 1986 World Series rematch with the Mets with a great pitcher’s duel: Josh Beckett against Johan Santana (5-2, 1.36, 1.04). Masterson and Mike Pelfry (4-1, 4.61, 1.54) take the hill in a battle of young arms and Wakefield faces Tim Redding (2008: 10-11, 4.95, 1.43).

The fact that the wild Mike Pelfry has a better record than Johan Santana speaks to the problems that the Mets have had the past couple years. Despite the offense on paper (David Wright, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Gary Sheffield), they score runs inconsistently (#27 MLB rank in HRs). The bullpen was blowing up all last season, but free agent acquisitions J.J. Putz and K-Rod have settled that down (3.00 bullpen ERA, #2 MLB rank).

This could be a big stop for Beckett, who may be in a stopper role, one he has been very successful at in Boston and could set the table for another win streak with the newly rebuilt tail of the Mets rotation coming up.

The Future of David Ortiz

Something definitely needs to be done with Ortiz. I would drop him in the order as he has become a black hole in the third spot, killing rallies and leaving plenty of men on base. Terry Francona elected to sit him, of course.

I have even heard an unconventional idea from Steve Philips on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, which is to play him at first base to shift his mental focus. He is so poor defensively that it might hurt more than it helps, but slumps become more mental than physical.

Players tend to overcorrect things or correct things that are not broken and experiment. The fact that Papi is not even hitting the ball hard for the most part is the concern, he is squibbing the ball when he is even making contact. The whispers are growing louder that he is done, being that he is a burly power hitter in his mid-30s, he fits a profile of breaking down. His batting average dropped 70 points last season (35 points from his average as a Red Sox) and at bats per home run jumped from 13.1 (2003-2007) to 18.1, so those seem to have been leading indicators that he was on the decline, but the power has dropped precipitously.

He still hit 23 home runs last season, despite the wrist injury that had many questioning his effectiveness and that has supposedly healed. So, I think it has become mental at this point. While his 40 and probably 30 home run seasons are in the rearview mirror, his power should not be totally gone. Take the pressure off him with a drop in the order (if he does not read it as an insult) and additional days off and hopefully, he can find his stroke.

Tags: David Ortiz, Red Sox, View from the Monster

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