Red Sox Grades

This game was tougher than the Red Sox than it should have been. The pitching matchup alone should be reason enough for confidence. Buchholz came into this game the best pitcher in baseball. Vance Worley came into this game with an 0-4 record on the season and lost 7 straight decisions going back to last season. The Red Sox offense had disappeared in Arlington, but had otherwise been prolific this season. The Twins are a mediocre hitting team so far this season. But of course you have to actually play the games and nothing went as planned.

The Twins started on Buchholz early hitting him for two quick runs in the 1st to put the Red Sox into a 2-run whole to start the game. He gave up 2 doubles, a single and two walks with 1 out in the first inning before he seemed to find his bearings and struck two batters out to get out of the inning. After that he cruised through the 2nd and 3rd with 1-2-3 innings. A pair of back to back 1-out doubles made it a 3-run game. In the 5th a  ground rule double, a single and a sacrifice fly would add another run to make it a 4-1 game. Buchholz settled down again for a 1-2-3 6th inning. This was an awful start for Buchholz compared to his body of work thus far this season. He had allowed 5 earned runs in his previous 6 starts, he gave up 4 in his 6 innings of work this game. Luckily, a bad start from Buchholz is about the same as a good start from John Lackey or Felix Doubront and the game was still easily within reach when Buchholz left the game after 6 innings. This unfortunately ends a 6 game winning/quality start streak for Buchholz.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: B-

Alex Wilson came on for the 7th with the Red Sox trailing by just 1 run. He immediately put on the first two batters with a single and a walk before getting his only out of the inning on a strikeout. Andrew Miller came in to clean up Wilson's mess and struck out the next two batters to end the threat. Ever since taking the loss in that 5-4 loss to the Royals on April 21st Miller has been in really good form. He has come into some tight spots and performed well. We got our first look at Craig Breslow this season as he recently came onto the roster with Andrew Bailey coming off with some bicep issues. Breslow worked a 1-2-3 8th and started his season off on a good note. The Red Sox took a 1-run lead in the bottom of the 8th and with Andrew Bailey on the DL Joel Hanrahan was brought in to close. Hanrahan gave up the tying run on a solo home run to make it 5-5. He got the second out and gave up a walk before leaving the game with some sort of ailment. Hanrahan is having some serious issues this season between the blown saves, injury problems and ineffective relief appearances. It's a shame that the closer at the beginning of the season has become one of the least reliable arms in the bullpen for the Red Sox. Mortensen got the last out to end the inning. Mortensen gave up two free passes in the 10th with 1 out, but got himself out of the jam without giving up a run. He kept them off the board in the 11th as well. This was a nice outing for Mortensen going 2.1 innings in such a tight game was clutch. The bullpen had a significant chunk of innings to eat with a short start from Buchholz and the extra innings and got away clean outside of the blown save by Hanrahan.
BULLPEN GRADE: A-

This was an interesting game for the Red Sox. They did a pretty good job of getting on base and eventually put up some runs, but were crushed by 4 double plays, Pedro Ciriaco getting caught trying to steal third and a bad call on a play at the plate against Stephen Drew. Shane Victorino broke the ice with a solo home run to put the Red Sox on the board in the 4th. Daniel Nava lead off the 5th with a double and Stephen Drew brought him home with a single. Jacoby Ellsbury followed up with a double that should have scored Stephen Drew from 1st base, but the umpire blew the call and called him out to end the inning. On the replay there was no doubt that Drew had beaten the tag and scored the run. I really think baseball needs to add instant replay. The umpires are only human and the technology is available and has been implemented successfully in the NFL for years. I may be upset when a call is overturned that doesn't favor my team, but knowing that they got it right makes it easier to take. There's nothing worse than being on the wrong end of a blatant and costly blown call by an umpire. Anyways, back to the game. Victorino and Pedroia lead off the 6th with back to back doubles. David Ortiz hit into a double play to kill the chance for a really big inning, but advanced Victorino to 3rd. Mike Napoli would follow up with a single to add another run to make it a 1-run game. After being denied a run in his last time on base, Stephen Drew took matters into his own hands with a solo home run in the 7th to tie the ballgame at 4-4. Dustin Pedroia added a solo home run over the monster to lead off the 8th and give the Red Sox the lead. This was the first home run of the year for the Laser Show. David Ortiz extended his hitting streak with a double and was pulled for Pedro Ciriaco to pinch run. For whatever reason Ciriaco chose to steal third after Salty had drawn a walk and was tagged out at third to end the inning. In the 11th Salty and Middlebrooks hit back to back 2-out singles and Stephen Drew brought the winning run home on a walk off double. This was the first real breakout game for Stephen Drew going an impressive 4 for 5 with a walkoff double, a home run and 3 RBIs. It was a nice all around effort with everybody in the starting lineup getting a hit. Pedroia and Victorino both had great games going 3 for 5 and a solo home run for each of them. David Ortiz managed to extend the hitting streak with his double in his last at bat, but the two double plays he hit into were devastating.
BATTING GRADE: B

6 Sox, 5 Twins

Stephen Drew saved the day last night where he hit an RBI double in the bottom of the 11th to cap off his best day as a Red Sox, by going 4-5 with 3 RBIs.

Joel Hanrahan had his chance to win his job back and to win the game, except he gave up a HR to Brian Dozier. And if that wasn't awesome enough, he seemed to tweak his elbow and not even finish the inning. Thankfully Clayton Mortensen came through huge, picking up where Hanrahan left off and went 2 1/3 innings of shutout ball. Looks like with Bailey on the DL and Hanrahan blowing, my prediction of Tazawa becoming the closer. Which he should, he's our best reliever.

Clay had his worst outing of the year, four runs over six innings. He did get nine strikeouts though and his ERA is still a ridiculous 1.60 on the year.

Victorino hit his first home run, and Napoli had an RBI and Ortiz extended his hitting streak to 26.

What To Do With Stephen Drew?

When the Red Sox signed Stephen Drew to a 1-year $9.5 million contract back in December it was assumed that he would be the starting shortstop.Pedro Ciriaco had a decent season last year, but could he be your starting everyday shortstop? Jose Iglesias was widely regarded as a busted prospect with good defensive skills but lacking the offensive skills to be an everyday MLB shortstop. Xander Bogaerts was the future, but needed more experience in the minors. Drew suffered a concussion during spring training and Iglesias got to step into the starting role. Iglesias missed two games with a minor elbow injury, but in the five games he has played he's been tearing it up and is currently batting .450. Meanwhile, Stephen Drew has gone 2 for 13 in 4 rehab games in AA Portland. I understand that these are small sample sizes and Drew has a much longer track record of productivity at the major league level than Iglesias, but I would really like to see Iglesias get a little more time with the big club. At one time people spoke about Iglesias the way they are currently talking about Xander Bogaerts. People saw a lot of talent in Iglesias and I'd like to see him get the chance to live up to those expectations. He's been bouncing around the minors for a while, I think he needs to get the chance to prove he's not a bust. At the same time, can you really bench a player you spent $9.5 Million this season? That's the 6th highest paid player on the team between Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury. He does deserve a chance to show that he's worth the money. It's sort of an embarrassment of riches to have so many viable options at shortstop. Drew is reportedly done with his rehab assignment and will join the Red Sox on Wednesday.

Red Sox Injury Updates (UPDATED)

The Red Sox have been playing great to start the year, but they do have a rash of injuries. Here is the latest.

Lackey is most likely going to the DL. So far the Red Sox are saying there is no sign of a tear, and it seems like he just strained his bicep. It's too bad, because he was actually pitching well, but we won't know more until the results from the MRI are analyzed. For now, the Red Sox are feeling pretty good it won't be a long term injury, and Aceves is most likely going to take his spot in the rotation for the week.

Ortiz is feeling good and has been going through base running drills. He will start extended spring training games today or tomorrow, and the tentative plan is to have play a AAA game on Thursday.

Drew will be back on Weds. He is in AA right now, and will start there for another 2 days. He is 1-10 games down there, so it will be interesting to see what they do with the red hot Iglesias who is 9 for 17 while filling in.

***UPDATE***

Lucchino on @dandcshow re Lackey: 'my understanding of the MRI is that he had a mid-biceps strain, no structural damage'