Final, Phillies 2-1: The Red Sox have now lost six of seven, scoring a grand total of 15 runs in that span.
Just one run has come in during the first two games of this series, and it’s on an RBI double by John Lackey. Go figure.
With the Yankees leading Milwaukee at home, it looks as if the Sox will fall 2 1/2 games back, three in the loss column.
If there is a silver lining, it is the effort of Lackey. He gave the team a great chance to win against the best team in baseball. Also, the Adrian Gonzalez-David Ortiz drama is next to nothing. No injuries, no errors, no mishaps. Unfortunately, no change in the production from this slumping crew.
Jon Lester will be hoping for that run support to return in the series finale Thursday, and he might need it. Cole Hamels is on the mound for Philadelphia in a 1:05 p.m. affair. We will be at it bright and early to get you prepped for that one.
End 8th, Phillies 2-1: Ryan Howard made a nice bid for an insurance RBI with a long drive the other way. Jacoby Ellsbury was able to track it down on the track, setting up Antonio Bastardo’s third save chance of the year.
Bastardo, a lefty, will face Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
9:22 p.m.: A two-out triple by Chase Utley off the very top of the right-field wall is the last action of the night for John Lackey.
Lackey was very good. He was also very mad when he saw Terry Francona emerge from the dugout after having thrown just 90 pitches.
Francona doesn’t want to push the issue with Lackey and his elbow. Also, Ryan Howard is 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in his career against Franklin Morales, the new Boston pitcher.
Mid 8th, Phillies 2-1: The scoreless streak for the Red Sox was ended a few innings ago, but they still haven’t scored without help from their pitcher in 19 innings.
It’s time for everyone to accept the fact that this team is in a slump. There are no fixes, no crazy lineup shuffles that can instantly change things around. They just need to fight through this.
John Lackey starts the eighth.
End 7th, Phillies 2-1: It wasn’t the worst pitch in the world, the one Raul Ibanez hit off John Lackey for a solo home run in the seventh. It wasn’t the best, either.
Lackey’s 0-1 curveball broke low but got just enough of the plate for Ibanez to go down and get it. He launched it over the wall in right for his ninth of the season.
Lackey cruised through the next three hitters. He is in great shape to last eight innings for the third time this year, which would tie him with Josh Beckett and Jon Lester in that category. Clay Buchholz hasn’t done it at all.
Mid 7th, 1-1: The talk in Boston will surround the Gonzalez-Ortiz situation and John Lackey’s night, but in Philly people will discuss how Vance Worley grew up a little tonight.
In throwing a career-high 116 pitches, Worley has limited the Red Sox to just five hits and the one run. For all the chatter of what Ortiz’s return to the lineup will mean, it’s been Lackey’s bat that has done the damage.
Worley is finished. Lackey grounded out to end the seventh so he will keep on keepin’ on. His pitch count is just 77.
End 6th, 1-1: The John Lackey-Vance Worley matchup is going to end up being the best of the series.
Lackey hit Chase Utley with a pitch and had Utley steal second on him, but gets a huge strikeout of Ryan Howard and retires Shane Victorino on his ninth ground ball of the night.
Lackey is doing a wonderful job of keeping the ball down. He has walked just one.
Mid 6th, 1-1: This matches the deepest Vance Worley has gone in a game. He should get a chance to go a bit further with a pitch count of 93.
Adrian Gonzalez singled with one out in the sixth. Kevin Youkilis had a bid for a base hit of his own taken away by Placido Polanco, who smothered the smash and threw to second for a force.
David Ortiz, the savior for the lineup, flew to center and is now hitless in his last 15 at-bats.
End 5th, 1-1: Well, we wondered if John Lackey having to run the bases would impact him in the fifth. Nope.
Lackey gets three outs in a span of seven pitches, including his third strikeout of the game. That’s 57 pitches through five for the righty.
Mid 5th, 1-1: John Lackey, everyone’s favorite target, just took it upon himself to end his team’s scoreless streak at 15 innings.
With two outs and Josh Reddick on first, Lackey crushed the hardest hit ball of the night off the wall in center. Reddick scored with ease and Lackey pulled into second with his fourth career hit.
Earlier in the at-bat, Lackey swung ferociously at a Vance Worley offering. His back foot twisted and he nearly fell down, a rather comical attempt. Perhaps he was just up there looking for something to crush and let out some of his frustrations.
Not to be a downer, but you often see pitchers who have to hustle something out on the bases go back to the mound and struggle. Let’s see how big Lack responds.
End 4th, Phillies 1-0: We have our first legitimate fly ball to the right side of the Red Sox outfield, but it’s really just a true double in the gap off the bat of Raul Ibanez.
Adrian Gonzalez and Jacoby Ellsbury converge on the ball at about the same time. Ellsbury takes it, his throwing arm lined up to receive the ball and fire in.
John Lackey works around the two-bagger and is in pretty good shape. He has thrown 37 of his 50 pitches for strikes. By the way, the final out was an easy dribbler to David Ortiz.
Mid 4th, Phillies 1-0: It looked as if the presence of David Ortiz in the lineup was going to pay some dividends in the fourth, but only because right fielder Domonic Brown nearly misplayed Ortiz’s liner just shy of the track.
The last out came with Kevin Youkilis on first. He battled for 11 pitches with Vance Worley, including one that he fouled off the top of his left foot. Youkilis crumpled to the ground, and that had to remind many of the Dustin Pedroia foul ball in San Fran last year.
Fortunately, Youkilis was OK. He did a great job of making Worley work.
End 3rd, Phillies 1-0: Three innings into this one and the Phillies haven’t hit one ball to either Adrian Gonzalez or David Ortiz, with the exception of a ground ball single to right that Gonzalez could’ve stopped with his own breath.
John Lackey gets through the tough top-third of the Philadelphia lineup with two grounders to Marco Scutaro and one to Dustin Pedroia.
Now, if the offense can muster something, that would help the frustrated folks in New England.
Mid 3rd, Phillies 1-0: The Red Sox got their first hit with a Josh Reddick flare to left.
That set up a nice bunt situation for John Lackey with one out. But Lackey pulled back the bat on an 87 mph fastball right down the middle.
Certainly, that’s the toughest pitch to bunt.
Jacoby Ellsbury followed with his second groundout of the game and the Red Sox’ scoreless streak is now at 14 innings.
End 2nd, Phillies 1-0: John Lackey’s second pitch of the second was hit for a double by Shane Victorino.
His third was hit by Raul Ibanez for an RBI single. Phillies lead.
Ibanez is now hitting .363 (20-for-55) agianst Lackey.
No major chances for the big boppers in that inning. David Ortiz took the throw from Kevin Youkilis on the final out of the inning, a grounder by Vance Worley.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: That’s 13 straight innings without a run for the Red Sox, who still have only four base runners in this series.
Vance Worley strikes out David Ortiz and Jarrod Saltalamacchia in a quick second. Ortiz never even took a hack, staring at three straight strikes.
Good thing they get him back in there.
Personally, I don’t get the whole David-needs-to-hit thing. Sure, you want his bat in the lineup. Any team would. But he’s being paid good money to be a designated hitter.
If your well-paid designated hitter is going to forget how to be a…ahem…hitter because he gets eight at-bats in nine games, then you have bigger problems. In reality, much of this has to do with keeping Ortiz happy.
End 1st, 0-0: That double play to end the bottom of the first may go down as the biggest of the year for John Lackey. He needed a good start to this one, and after singles by Placido Polanco and Chase Utley with one out, he was in danger of not having one.
Lackey got Ryan Howard to hit right to Marco Sctuaro shaded toward the bag. Scutaro stepped on first and fired to David Ortiz for the DP.
We’ve mentioned this many times in the past day or so. Lackey has been giving up a lot of fly balls (outs and otherwise), and this Phillies lineup hits the ball on the ground to the right side very often. Both of those factors will keep Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez very busy.
Gonzalez had one chance, fielding Polanco’s single with no problem. There was also a sharp foul past Ortiz off the bat of Utley. There will be others.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Excluding one rough start against the Mets, Vance Worley entered this one 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA.
One issue will be how long he lasts. The young righty has yet to go any longer than six innings. The first inning doesn’t hurt his cause as Worley works a 1-2-3 frame in 15 pitches.
Dustin Pedroia was a strikeout victim after rolling in the dirt falling away from a pitch up and in. Jacoby Ellsbury and Adrian Gonzalez both grounded to the right side.
By the way, Worley’s one start for my fantasy team? Yep, it was the one against the Mets. I sure can pick ’em.
7:12 p.m.: Vance Worley’s first pitch to Jacoby Ellsbury is an error on right fielder Adrian Gonzalez. I mean, it’s a strike. We are under way in what figures to be one of the more interesting affairs on the schedule.
6:21 p.m.: Taking a quick look at the hit charts for the Phillies lineup, its clear that this lefty-heavy lineup will keep the right side of the Boston defense busy.
Many of the hitters spread the ball evenly throughout the outfield. Nearly all of them hit the majority of their balls on the ground to second and first.
Most of the eyes will be on Adrian Gonzalez, but David Ortiz’s defensive effort may be much more important. With Gonzalez, the significant thing will be the chances he takes. If he plays a cautious right field and just keeps everything in front of him and makes the proper throws, the team will be just fine.
Dustin Pedroia joked last night that he will have to play second, first and right field tonight. He may actually have to handle plenty in the infield with Ortiz down there. Expect an extremely busy night for Pedroia, who ranks third in the AL in assists among second basemen.
5:47 p.m.: After making official his intent to start Adrian Gonzalez in right, Terry Francona was asked about Dustin Pedroia, whose average has risen 24 points and whose OPS has soared 112 points since June 4.
Francona made a somewhat bold prediction regarding his second baseman’s pursuit of .300.
“I think he’ll be there by the All-Star break,” Francona said.
With 11 games remaining, it’s not out the question. All Pedroia has to do is maintain his current pace, which is pretty solid. He is batting .380 (27-for-71) since that date earlier this month. What is incredible about Pedroia’s season is that he continues to draw loads of free passes despite hitting in front of the best hitter in the league.
Pedroia enters Wednesday ranked third in the AL in walks. It’s interesting to note that he has played 75 games this year, the same number he played in 2010. He has seen a reduction in average, hits, runs, doubles, home runs (by half) and RBIs. But the dramatic uptick in walks (his career high is 74, which he will pass soon at this rate), coupled with 15 steals in 17 attempts has made him a great No. 2 hitter.
That’s the sign of a true MVP-type player. Perhaps because of lingering issues with the foot, or whatever it is, he has had a definitive drop in his ability to slug (few realize he was on pace for nearly 30 home runs when he got hurt last year). But he has found a way to make up for it by working pitchers to the tune of 4.30 pitches per plate appearance, tops on the team and sixth in the American League.
Because of this, Gonzalez gets to see so many pitches from the on-deck circle and then step to the plate with first base occupied. It’s been a huge factor in his success, and Pedroia deserves credit for making the most of things.
5:16 p.m.: Clay Buchholz will likely be out until after the All-Star break, according to reports out of Philadelphia.
Buchholz told reporters he felt some discomfort in the troublesome back in a throwing session earlier in the week.
“I definitely didn’t think it was going to be there like it was,” Buchholz said, according to MLB.com’s Ian Browne. “Yeah, I expected to go out and throw…I didn’t expect it to be completely gone but it just didn’t get better as quick as I thought it was going to so that’s where we’re at right now.”
Buchholz was hoping to return near the end of the trip or early in upcoming seven-game homestand, which starts Monday. That seems rather unlikely right now. The team will not take any chances until the back is right.
This keeps the rotation rather set going forward. Andrew Miller and Tim Wakefield figure to remain starters with the twosome of Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. It’s doubtful John Lackey is going anywhere, but between his struggles and his admission of elbow issues, you have to wonder how long his leash is.
Makes tonight’s start a very, very important one.
4:09 p.m.: The Rays have already lost today, so they fall three games out (all on the loss side) pending tonight’s action.
Amazingly, Tampa Bay is just 19-20 at home and still that close in the AL East. Perhaps Joe Maddon’s themed road trips are paying off. Team is a bit looser away from home.
Speaking of teams playing looser, that’s something that could benefit the Red Sox tonight. John Lackey has been tight all year, it seems, and the awkward defense could have everybody on edge. Jacoby Ellsbury will probably be leaning to his left constantly. Guys like Kevin Youkilis and Marco Scutuaro might be extra careful with their throws to first when afforded the time.
And you know Terry Francona is as tight as can be on that bench, just praying things turn out OK.
It’s the kind of game that can become a whole lot easier if this offense jumps on Vance Worley. With Ortiz in there, that becomes easier. Still, even if that whole shift had not taken place, you just haven’t seen a lot of carefree ball from this bunch of late. Winning or even just playing with a lead has so much to do with that, but just finding some way to have fun could do wonders.
If Gonzalez looks a little awkward going after a ball, but makes the catch, poke some fun at him. Same with Ortiz at first. And if you get to Worley early, go nuts. The dugout has severely lacked energy. Tonight, with a struggling pitcher on the mound, a shaky defense in the field and a youngster opposing them, the Red Sox would do themselves a service by just trying to loosen things up and remember they’re playing a game.
You just get the feel that this is a rather sensitive team right now.
Ortiz is a big part of that turning around. While I’ve made myself clear in about four different stories on our site how I feel about the Ortiz-Gonzalez situation, it can’t hurt to have one of the team’s most fun-loving individuals back in the mix. That’s one of the pros of the move by Francona.
3:18 p.m.: John Lackey is a relative afterthought in this one, but he’ll jump right to the forefront if he struggles again.
Unlike Vance Worley, who will be new to the Red Sox lineup, Lackey has seen many of the Phillies before. Here is the Philadelphia lineup against the big right-hander:
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Placido Polanco, 3B
Chase Utley, 2B
Ryan Howard, 1B
Shane Victorino, CF
Raul Ibanez, LF
Domonic Brown, RF
Brian Schneider, C
Vance Worley, P
The top third of the lineup is a combined 4-for-31 (.129) against Lackey. The next third is a combined 22-for-60 (.367), although almost all of it is Ibanez, who met Lackey many times in their AL West days.
2:59 p.m.: Francona added later in his session with The Big Show that he is undecided about doing the Gonzalez in right field thing any further. “Maybe once in Houston. Maybe not,” he said.
How things go tonight will have a lot to do with it, one would think.
Here is the lineup in support of John Lackey:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, RF
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, 1B
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Josh Reddick, LF
Marco Scutaro, SS
John Lackey, P
2:41 p.m.: Terry Francona has confirmed with WEEI’s “The Big Show” that he will play Adrian Gonzalez in right field and David Ortiz at first base.
We should have the complete lineup for you in a moment.
A couple of quotes from Francona on the matter, first on his trepidation:
“I don’t want to do it very often. It may not even be in our best interest to win the game tonight…We’re taking a gamble on the defensive side.”
On what made it something he was OK with doing: “This won’t be a trainwreck or we wouldn’t have done it. Talking to Gonzo, he’s got me convinced that he’s going to be OK, or I would not have done this.”
8 a.m.: All eyes will be on the lineup card when the Red Sox look to bounce back Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Boston manager Terry Francona is expected to install David Ortiz at first base and move Adrian Gonzalez to right field in an effort to kick-start a suddenly floundering offense. The Sox fell for the fifth time in six games Tuesday night, recording just two hits in a 5-0 loss to Cliff Lee and the Phillies.
After the loss, Francona said he was “still wrestling” with what has been one of his most difficult decisions as manager of the team. However, reports surfaced prior to Tuesday’s game saying that Ortiz had already been told he was starting at first. Francona indicated that the only way he could play Ortiz at first would be to put Gonzalez in right, so the regular first baseman would not just be getting a day off.
One issue with the move would be the fact that John Lackey is on the mound for Boston. Amid his year-long ups and downs, Lackey’s fly ball rate has soared and the Phillies showcase several left-handed power hitters who are not averse to pulling the ball toward the rather short right-field power alley at Citizens Bank Park.
Lackey won his first three games after coming off the disabled list before giving up five runs in 3 1/3 innings in a loss to San Diego his last time out. He is 2-1 with a 3.44 ERA in three career starts vs. Philadelphia.
Vance Worley, 23, gets the nod for the Phillies, who are now 31-13 at home. Worley is 2-1 with a 2.83 ERA in eight games (six starts) this season.
First pitch is 7:05 p.m. Lineups will be out roughly four hours in advance.
