| 01 March 2009
Game Notes:
Saturday - Red Sox 16, Reds 5 - Box Score
Sunday - Red Sox 2, Twins 1 - Box Score
Josh Beckett threw two perfect innings to start Sunday game. It's still early but Beckett has looked untouchable so far... Tim Wakefield followed Beckett with two scoreless innings but did allow one hit and one walk, before Jonathan Papelbon made his first appearance of the spring.
Papelbon threw a clean inning and earned the victory. After the game he told the media that it's always a challenge to focus on the little thingsin Spring Training, rather than try to blow everyone away in your first outing:
"The biggest thing for me is to be able to control that adrenaline in these spring games and not go out there in my first few outings and try and blow people away," he said. "Just go out there and really just perfect my delivery and worry about getting that (velocity) later on in the spring."
Tito had good things to say about Paps and his delivery:
"He looked strong," Francona said. "When Pap doesn't pitch much, you see him get a little sideways and he wasn't. I thought he stayed in his delivery real well, stayed over the top of the ball, drove the ball down and that was good to see."
The pitching staff continues to impress so far this spring. Takashi Saito and Hideki Okajima each threw scoreless innings yesterday. And Clay Buchholz looked sharp again on Saturday, throwing two scoreless innings against the Reds. Ramon Ramirez and Manny Delcarmen also had strong outings.
Offensively, the Red Sox had a big day on Saturday, pounding the Reds for 16 runs. Julio Lugo went 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored and an RBI. Brad Wilkerson 2 for 4 with a home run and a double. JD drew and Jason Bay also had two-hit game and Chris Carter continued to impress with a 3 for 5 showing. And Jason Varitek went 1 for 4, but did earn 4 RBI on the day.
Sunday proved to be the exact opposite. The Sox beat the Twins 2-1 but Kevin Youkilis' home run proved to be the majority of the offense. Julio Lugo, Jeff Bailey, Rocco Baldelli and Josh Bard also had hits in the game. And Dustin Pedroia reportedly had a grand slam stolen from him by the wind...
If you missed it - Michael Bowden and the Sox were crushed by the Rays 12-4 on Friday.
Going forward the Red Sox will be missing a signifigant number of players thanks to the World Baseball Classic. David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Bay and Dustin Pedroia are all headed top thier respected WBC teams and Daisuke Matsuzaka remains with the Japanese squad. Terry Francona will be challeneged to field a team worth watching over the next few weeks, but keeping the remaining players health and not overplaying them is a larger concern.
Youngsters Jacoby Ellsbury and Jed Lowrie should see lots of playing time ... Brad Wilkerson, Jeff Bailey and Chris Carter will have plenty of chances to earn a bench spot in the bigs ... Top prospect Lars Anderson will see more time as well ... and Rocco Baldelli is expected to fill in at DH in an effort to keep him fresh.
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