Notes On A Big Win
The Sox beat the Rays in Tampa and there's lots to talk about, including Eduardo, the leadoff hitter, Renfroe, Boston's defense, and probably other things
What do you say about the baseball game that had everything? There were strike-’em-out-throw-’em-out double plays, there were great defensive plays, there were awful brain-melting meltdowns, and at the end of 11 innings, there were more Boston Red Sox that crossed home plate than Tampa Rays, which, when you think about it, is the one thing all games should contain. This was the fourth of 19 that the Red Sox play against the heal nip’n Rays and it was the fourth Red Sox victory. Nice how that’s working out. And yet this was a game the Red Sox spent the majority of innings attempting to lose, or so it seemed in the moment. Which is to say there is lots to talk about.
Come with me, won’t you?
A Big Win
It’s June and it’s just starting to get hot, so the season isn’t anywhere near finished. Heck, it’s not even half way over, but I’ll be darned if these games don’t feel intense and maybe a little bit pennanty. The Red Sox gave the Rays two runs in the first with more “awful” defense after blowing a scoring opportunity of their own in the top of the first. But the bats were enough to come back and win the day. Also the game. They won that too.
The victory moves Boston 1.5 games ahead of Tampa, 5.5 up on New York, and… aww heck, lemme just post it.
Pretty, huh?
I’ve written it many times but this team isn’t perfect. They’ve got lots of holes and can be exasperating to watch (see: innings 4-10 of yesterday’s game) but they can hit and, for all the griping, the bullpen is actually pretty darn good. If the Red Sox can get through their starter, the combination of the bullpen and the offense can win a lot of games.
Anyway, mostly I just have to pinch myself that this team is real, and I’m not about to wake up in the middle of the 2020 season again.
Yup. Looks pretty real.
Eduardo Struggles Again Kinda Maybe Aw Who The Heck Knows Anymore
The Sox won yesterday so it’s easy to forget everything that didn’t go their way. One of those things was starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, who hasn’t had things go his way for a while now, as evidenced by his 6.07 ERA. Rodriguez gave up seven hits in six innings while walking one and striking out seven. Yes, there was a homer in there, but on the whole that’s usually a pretty darn good start. The problem was the Red Sox defense couldn’t turn a ground ball into an out.
It actually got to six before Boston managed to turn one into an out, and even that came on a bizarre play where Enrique Hernandez got Alex Rodriguez’d by Rays centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier. Kiermaier elbowed the ball out of Hernandez’s glove as Hernandez went to tag Kiermaier who was running from first to second on a grounder to the second basemen. The umpires ended up ruling Kiermaier out though it’s not clear if it was because of his flying elbow or because the ball rolled out of Hernandez’s glove right to Xander Bogaerts who was covering second and who gloved it before Kiermaier managed to touch the base. As I said, just a weird weird play. But an out!
That wasn’t the lot of it either, though I’m not going to recount all of it because it’s late and I really don’t want to go back and watch those highlights again. Please trust me that Rodriguez was the innocent victim of some of the 2021 Red Sox patented awful defense.
He was also the victim of Rays rookie Wander Franco, the number one prospect in baseball, who was playing his first major league game. Franco took what looked like a slider that didn’t slide from Rodriguez and crushed it over the left field wall for his first major league home run. Two Rays were on base at the time so that erased a three run Red Sox lead and guaranteed Rodriguez’s ultimate pitching line would look yucky. Which it does, at least the runs allowed part.
Still though, I was encouraged by Rodriguez’s start. His fastball looked good, he got lots of swings and misses, he only walked one guy (Franco, natch), and he made it through six innings on only 90 pitches. It wasn’t a no-hitter, or a shutout, or anything approaching domination, but it was better than the linescore would lead you to believe.
The Hunter Renfroe Revenge Game
Even with last night’s homer and single, Hunter Renfroe’s 2021 batting line won’t blow you away. It’s fine, but certainly not spectacular. But fine is good! Fine is great, even! Fine is what the Red Sox haven’t gotten from numerous other players they signed over this past off-season, so I’ll take fine quite happily. And yesterday Renfroe fined his former team, which made it all the sweeter, by hitting a two run homer and then singling to drive in another run in the 11th inning. He also helped throw out Yandy Diaz at third base to end an inning, so that wasn’t too shabby either.
I’m not saying give Renfroe a long term contract, but it’s nice to have someone in this lineup who can hit a little bit who isn’t Xander, Rafael Devers, JD Martinez, or Alex Verdugo. Just one guy beyond that doesn’t seem like too much to ask.
The Red Sox Defense
The Red Sox managed to kick the ball around pretty good yesterday. I’m not going to go into each and every mistake, partly because there are too many and partly because it’s later than it was before when I refused to look at highlights and I need to go to bed at some point before the sun comes up. Suffice it to say there were too many, far more than you’d like. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a whole lot the Red Sox can do about it.
They aren’t going to replace Devers at third base, Bogaerts is staying at shortstop, there’s nobody to play first on the regular who isn’t Bobby Dalbec right now, so in a lot of ways the Red Sox are stuck. Right now. They’re stuck right now. Not this off-season though. I would expect GM Chaim Bloom to attempt to fix the defense in some ways over the offseason. But for now, Red Sox fans just have to kinda accept that this is who this team is and they’re going to make more errors and mistakes than a good defensive team wouldn’t make because they are not a good defensive team.
That leads us to our last topic though, which is…
Santana Leads Off Again
Danny Santana started in center field and, against all logic, in explicably batted in the leadoff spot again yesterday. I’ve covered this again and again and probably again as well, so instead I’ll leave you with just the above tweet, which adequately sums up my feelings on the topic. So instead of more in-depth analysis, here’s are the times from last night’s game when Santana came to bat, what happened, and what happened after he batted.
Inning: First
What Happened: Struck out on three pitches
What Happened Afterwards: Verdugo walked and Bogaerts singled. JD and Devers made outs. No runs were scored.
Inning: Third
What Happened: Walked
What Happened Afterwards: He scored as the Red Sox lineup put together five straight hits after he batted.
Inning: Fourth
What Happened: Grounded out
What Happened Afterwards: Red Sox went down 1-2-3
Inning: Seventh
What Happened: Flied out
What Happened Afterwards: Red Sox went down 1-2-3
Inning: Tenth
What Happened: Singled to left field
What Happened Afterwards: Was stranded at third after Verdugo was thrown out trying to steal second
What does all that prove? Nothing I suppose. It’s a good reminder though that the leadoff guy does come to bat an awful lot. Santana actually lead off the inning all five times he came to the plate yesterday. The leadoff spot is important. The leadoff hitter comes to bat more than any other hitter. Heck, if the Rays had tied the game in the bottom of the 11th, guess who would have lead off the top of the 12th for the Red Sox?
To be clear, this isn’t about cutting Danny Santana. Yes, they should do that, but this isn’t that. This isn’t about playing Danny Santana less. Yes, they should do that if they’re not going to do the first thing, but this isn’t that either. This is simply asking for an acknowledgement that the leadoff spot is important, that putting Danny Santana there repeatedly is costing the team runs, and that Danny Santana, on this roster or not, does not possess the skills to be the Red Sox leadoff hitter. At all.
Good win though.
Definitely a flawed team, but so is every other team in the AL East.
But the Red Sox have developed a charming habit of winning games they have no business winning, simply because they can freakin’ hit.
May not be sustainable, but it’s fun!