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Baseball Today: Tuesday, April 22 »
April 21, 2008
Postgame notes, courtesy of the Red Sox' P.R. department:
-- The Red Sox improved to 65-48 all-time on Patriots Day, including 26 doubleheaders between 1903 and 1966 . . . Boston is 59-39 at home during the holiday, including a 52-38 mark at Fenway Park . . . The Red Sox have won 5 straight and 7 of the last 8 Patriots Day contests beginning in 2001…They are 3-0 all-time against the Rangers on the holiday.
-- The Red Sox have won 5 straight games and 9 of their last 10 beginning April 12 . . . It is their longest regular-season winning streak since a 5-game run from July 20-24, 2007 . . . They won seven in a row in last year's postseason (the final three games of the ALCS and all four World Series games) . . . They have won each of their last 6 home games, their longest home winning streak since 6 straight from April 12-22, 2007 . . . Boston is 10-1-2 in its last 13 regular-season home series beginning July 19, 2007, the lone setback being 1-2 vs. the Yankees last September 14-16.
--- Boston swept Texas in a 4 game series for the first time since August 4-6, 2001 at Fenway Park.
--- The Red Sox have 117 hits in their last 10 contests and have posted 11 or more knocks in 8 of their last 9 games . . . Boston is batting .338 (117-for-346) with 69 runs scored in that span . . . Over the last 15 games the club has a .320 average (163-for-509), improving its season figure from .242 to .297 . . . The Sox set a season high with 11 walks today, their most in a game since working 11 free passes on July 13, 2006 vs. Oakland.
-- Clay Buchholz earned his first win since a relief victory on September 6, 2007 at Baltimore and his first win as a starter since his no-hitter on September 1, 2007 against the Orioles at Fenway Park . . . He matched a season high with 6.0 innings pitched, the longest scoreless outing by a Red Sox pitcher since Daisuke Matsuzaka blanked the Tigers for 6.2 frames on April 8 in Boston . . . He has thrown at least 6.0 innings in all 4 of his career starts at Fenway Park, going 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA (4 ER/27.0 IP) in those contests . . . He has 40 strikeouts in 43.1 career innings, an average of 8.2 K’s per 9 innings pitched.
-- David Ortiz has hit safely in 7 of his last 8 games, going 11-for-36 (.305) with a homer, 2 doubles, 12 RBI, 6 runs and 4 multi-hit performances, raising his average from .070 to a season-high .177 during that time . . . He has driven in 2 or more runs in each of his last 2 games and in 3 of his last 4, with 11 total RBI in that time.
-- Dustin Pedroia has hit safely in each of his last 10 games, batting .436 (17-for-39) with 6 doubles, a homer, 10 RBI, 9 runs, 4 walks and a steal…It is his longest
streak since a career-high 14-game tear from May 19-June 4, 2007. He is batting .404 (19-for-47) with a homer, 6 doubles, 10 RBI, 10 runs, 5 walks and 2 steals over his last 12 games, including 7 multi-hit efforts, to improve from .250 to .337 . . . He leads the majors with 11 multi-hit games overall . . . He has driven in 10 runs in his last 8 games after just one in his first 13 contests . . . Pedroia has reached base safely in 18 of 21 games, including 15 of the last 17 . . . He is batting .377 (52-for-138) over his last 34 games at Fenway Park beginning August 1, 2007.
-- Jacoby Ellsbury has stolen 2 bases in each of his last 2 games, and in 3 of his last 5 . . . All 8 of his steals this year have come in his last 10 contests . . . He has been
successful on all 17 attempts in his major league career . . . He has scored at least one run in each of his last 5 games and in 10 of his last 11 with 15 total in that time . . . He is 10-for-30
(.333) with 11 walks during that stretch, raising his season average from .176 to .277 . . . He has walked 13 times in 19 games this season . . . Ellsbury has reached base safely in 43 of his 47 big league games with a plate appearance with hits in 37 of those games . . . Boston has won 10 straight games this year when he has scored at least one run, and is 10-1 on the season in those games.
--- Julio Lugo has hit safely in each of his last 7 games, going 12-for-28 (.429) with 2 doubles, 2 RBI, 2 steals and 4 runs, raising his season average from .238 to .314 in that time . . . It is his longest streak since a 15-game run from July 8-26, 2007 . . . Collected 4 hits today, his most since a 4-hit effort on May 12, 2007 vs. Baltimore . . . He has tallied 3 or more hits in a game twice in his last 6 contests.
-- J.D. Drew walked twice in the 4th inning, matching a major league record for walks in a single frame.
-- The Rangers have now lost 9 of their last 11 games…They are now 12-36 at Fenway Park over the last 12 seasons, beginning in 1998 . . . The 11 walks issued by the Rangers today are their most since tallying 12 walks on April 20, 2007 vs. Oakland.
-- Kason Gabbard left today’s game with back stiffness after warming up to begin the 3rd inning . . . He tossed 2.0 innings today, his shortest start since a 1.1 inning outing on August 12, 2007 vs. Tampa Bay . . . He had won each of his first 5 starts at Fenway Park to begin his major league career, tied with Ed Figueroa (July 12, 1974-July 30, 1976) and Bret Saberhagen (May 25, 1984-May 3, 1988) for the 2nd longest such streak in the majors since 1956 . . . Tim Wakefield leads in that category with wins in 7 starts from June 4-August 13, 1995 . . . Gabbard is 3-0 with a 4.39 ERA (27 ER/55.1 IP) in his last 11 starts beginning August 7, 2007 . . . He is 1-0 with a 2.18 ERA (5 ER/20.2 IP) in his last 4 starts.
-- Hank Blalock extended his hitting streak to 8 games with a single in the 3rd inning . . . He is batting .424 (14-for-33) with 2 homers, 5 RBI, 5 runs and 3 walks during that stretch . . . It is his longest hitting streak since a 12-game tear from July 30-August 11, 2006…He has reached base safely in 16 of 18 games this season.
-- Dustin Nippert today allowed 8 runs, all earned, in 2.1 innings or work . . . It is the most runs allowed by a Rangers reliever since Doug Brocail surrendered 8 runs (6 earned) over 2.0 innings on September 7, 2005 at Minnesota . . . The last Ranger to allow 8 or more earned runs in a relief outing was Doug Davis, who gave up 10 over 2.1 innings on August 9, 1999 vs. Toronto.
Posted by Art Martone 
at 3:46 PM | Permalink
Hideo | April 21, 2008 11:40 PM link
Kason Gabbard only lasted 2 innings after taking a spill off the mound when he apparently lost his footing in the second inning. At first, Gabbard appeared to be alright, but did not return for the third inning. Dustin Nippert replaced Gabbard and threw a dreadful game allowing 9 hits, 4 walks, and 8 earned runs over 2.1 innings. For the Sox, Clay Buchholz had his best start of the year going 6 innings allowing only 5 hits and walking 2 with 0 ER. Buccholz also recorded 6 strikeouts.
Julio Lugo had a career day going 4-4 with a double, an RBI, and a stolen base. Perhaps Lugo may be stepping up to the plate with a bit more urgency as Jed Lowrie is nipping at his heels, turning in consistent impressive performances. However, no matter how well Lowrie plays, Francona is a guy that likes to stick with his players. We saw this last year when Pedroia struggled through the first month of the season hitting under .200, and then later in the year when Lugo struggled hitting around .180. Lowrie was part of quartet of Red Sox rookies in today's lineup that also included Jacoby Ellsbury, Kevin Cash, and Joe Thurston. Thurston was brought up after Alex Cora went to the DL with a sore elbow. I was surprised to see that the Red Sox elected to call up Joe Thurston who has been bounced around the minor leagues and has played a handful of games in the Majors in 04 with the LA Dodgers and 06 with the Philadelphia Phillies. Instead, I thought they might bring up Brandon Moss again, considering what he did in Japan and the buzz that stirred around him in Red Sox Nation helping the Sox come from behind in Game 1. Moss would bring the Red Sox a left handed power threat opposed to a left hand contact hitter in Thurston. Thurston's average was lower in Pawtucket at .255 opposed to Moss's .286. Moss also led Thurston significantly in HRs, RBIs, and Total Bases. The one statistic that Joe Thurston was significantly better in than Moss was strikeouts. Moss has struck out 24 times in 70 ABs opposed to Thurston who had 8k's in 47 ABs. Perhaps this was the main reason why the Sox brass selected Thurston rather than Moss, however I would have liked to see Brandon be the one they brought up.
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