April 25th Red Sox

        The Red Sox dominated the Twins in every category last night. Josh Beckett took the hill hoping to build off a little momentum from the night before. He gave the Sox six strong innings with just two runs allowed and for the second straight night the bullpen was able to perform. Most of the time you have confidence when your team takes a 10-2 lead into the bullpen, but not this year, at least not right now. The Sox bullpen needs to build up confidence in both themselves and the fans before everyone stops holding their breath during the last few innings. 

        This looked a lot like the Sox hitting team we were getting used to during the Rays series. Mike Aviles and Adrian Gonzalez combined to reach base in eight of their nine at bats, touching home on five separate occasions. Ortiz added an absolute blast for his third home run of the season, tallying three runs batted in. This is a strong lineup top to bottom, but the top of the lineup has potential to ridiculous damage and with a few weaker bats at the bottom they are going to need the top to get hot for a while. Boston needs some solid run support while the starting pitchers and bullpen try to finally get their feet underneath them. 

        In his second game as Red Sox Marlon Byrd went 2 for 5 with a run and a few nice grabs in centerfield. I wasn’t happy to see this trade go through, but the Sox did have the right idea. They need a steady glove and a veteran to help manage the outfield while Crawford and Ellsbury are out with long injuries. After having hit .070 for the Cubs I don’t expect him to come over and hit .300, but it would be nice if he could sprinkle in a few nice games like last night. 

        Kelly Shoppach once against caught Beckett last night. It has now been every start since his first that Shoppach has been behind the plate when he takes the bump. Valentine was very adamant during spring training when talking about everyone would catch everyone, but that seems to now be out the window. However, Valentine and everyone else knows that this is a good thing. While it is annoying that Beckett is so picky as a pitcher what matters most is he is doing well and if that means starting Shoppach every fifth day than so be it. He is a veteran game caller and he has actually been swinging a pretty hot bat this season while Salty hasn’t. Catchers need a lot of days off and that is how it has been in the Sox organization for a while now and I hope Valentine doesn’t mess with that. The Sox look for a much needed sweep of the Twins tomorrow night with Buchholz.