Projo Sox Blog

By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas _ Some may put all the blame on Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek for the Texas Rangers stealing eight bases en route to a 7-2 victory Saturday night.

There may even be a few people who fully believe none of it was the captain's fault. This season he's allowed 92 stolen bases and has thrown out only nine runners. While those are pretty disparaging numbers, the Sox' pitching staff needs to take responsibility, too.

Sox manager Terry Francona explained after the game there's a lot that goes into stopping a running game and it's not all on Varitek's shoulders despite the stats.

"There's so much that goes into it, so to blanket that like that [wouldn't be fair]," said Francona. "There are times we ask Tek to not come out of his crouch. There's times when we don't pitch out often. There's times we concede runners [did it twice Saturday]. There's times when we play against teams where, like tonight, running is their strong suit. If you get behind it can snowball a little bit. There are a lot of factors."

Brad Penny, the Sox' starter Saturday night, was on the mound for six of the Rangers' swipes and other than the unsuccessful pitch out on Elvis Andrus in the fourth inning, all six bases were stolen on balls.

"That's part of baseball," said Penny of the effective running game by the Rangers. "Earlier I was just trying to throw strikes and I was off a little bit. The way to stop that is to keep them off base. . . I need to pay more attention to it and not let the coaches take care of it. I have to put that on me and not let them give me a sign. I have to go out there and do it myself."

Penny's time to the plate is different on every pitch, but he admits he has to be better on that aspect of his pitching.

"My times have been slow to the plate when I'm behind in the count. Again, you have to keep them from getting on base," he said.

Penny was also on the mound on May 3 against the Rays when Tampa stole a total of eight bases off the Sox, five of which were against Penny. When the Rangers swiped six against the Sox here on July 22, Clay Buchholz was on the mound.

It all comes down to scouting reports.

"As much as we pay attention to them, so do other teams," said Francona. "We pitched out tonight and still didn't get (Andrus) because he out ran it. (Jacoby) Ellsbury's done the same thing against teams. The one they did do, which is very difficult to guard against is when they're in a bunting situation and Mike (Lowell) is cheating in to guard against the bunt and that puts you in a tough spot if you're a third baseman. They executed it twice and that's part of being a good team."

When Varitek was approached after Saturday's game and asked what he thought of Penny's overall performance, the catcher gave a strange and unusual response.

"I'm not really sure," he said. "Obviously he wasn't able to stay efficient with his pitches."

 Tags  Brad Penny Jason Varitek stolen bases Terry Francona

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