PHILADELPHIA — Shortly after leaving the hospital on Friday, Jarrod Saltalamacchia fired off a text. The recipient was Bobby Valentine.
The Red Sox catcher, who had suffered a left ear laceration in Friday's game, wanted to ease his skipper's concerns. In the process, Saltalamacchia also made a bold proclamation.
"Hey Bobby, this is Salty. Everything came back good and the stitches are all — doctor cleared me to play and I'm good for [Saturday]," Saltalamacchia wrote in the text. "Plus, I'm due to hit a bomb."
But Saltalamacchia was mistaken. Instead of blasting one bomb, the backstop slammed two long balls in the three-game series against the Phillies, including a three-run homer in Sunday's 5-1 win.
With the offensive onslaught, Saltalamacchia has continued to entrench himself as one of best offensive catchers in the American League. Over his last six games, Saltalamacchia is batting .478 (11-for-23) with three homers and nine RBIs.
His homer in the third inning of Sunday's game traveled an estimated 466 feet, signaling one of the longest round-trippers in the majors this season. Even shortstop Mike Aviles took a moment to admire Saltalamacchia's blast.
"There's not many catchers that can hit for power the way he does," Aviles said. "When he's up there, you always know there's the chance he can clip somebody and put some runs on the board in a hurry."
The catcher's success also rewarded Valentine for a risky decision. During day games after night games, the skipper has routinely elected to start backup Kelly Shoppach at catcher. Since Shoppach has developed a strong rapport with Beckett, it made sense.
Valentine, however, followed his gut and stuck with Saltalamacchia on Sunday. He wanted to ride the catcher's blazing bat and game-calling acumen — since Josh Beckett tossed seven scoreless innings with Saltalamacchia last week — to a victory.
The gamble paid dividends for the Red Sox, considering Saltalamacchia went yard while Beckett only allowed one run through 7 2/3 innings with his batterymate.
"If there was any indication that [Saltalamacchia] needed to be off, he was off," Valentine said. "He and Josh were so in tune last start. When Josh was really on tune with Kelly one game, he said, 'Why switch a good thing?' So I just took a page out of his book, said, 'Why switch a good thing?'"
Despite 12 stitches in his ear, Saltalamacchia is oozing with confidence. Now, he's finally starting to carry the catching torch left by Jason Varitek.
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