Crazies Are Dancing After SWEEPING!
The Boston Red Sox have just SWEPT the lonely Baltimore Orioles, right out of Boston. The Sox crazies are dancing after SWEEPING, the O’s with their brooms. Today was by far their best all around team performance of the season, as they had the starting pitching to go along with a well balanced offense. Justin Masterson, filling in for the injured Daisuke Matsuzaka with the early 11:05 am start on this Patriots’ Day, pitched brilliantly.
Masterson, who gave up four hits and only one run over 5 1/3 innings had his A game with him at the ballpark today. He had the Baltimore, hitters on their toes and kept them baffled for the majority of the ballgame. While only tossing 84 pitches over that period, he struck out three hitters along the way to picking up his first victory of the season. Boston’s offense provided the only runs of the day that Masterson, and the team would need early in the bottom of the first inning.
Early hitting and aggressiveness by the Sox hitters got them off too a quick 3-0 lead after only two innings. Jacoby Ellsbury who doubled to start the game came around and scored on a single to center field by Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia would also come around to add the second Boston run in the first thanks to Rocco Baldelli, and his first RBI, in a Sox uniform. The captain of the Sox Jason Varitek, was at it again today as he went deep in the bottom of the second for his third round tripper of the season.
The Sox relievers were also on top of their game today, as they combined for 3 2/3 innings of shutout relief. This was a much needed outing for the bullpen as they made quick and pretty easy work of the Baltimore hitters, as they only surrendered one hit over their outing. With the sweep of Baltimore over this weekend, the Sox are now back over .500 mark on the young season, as they improve too 7-6 on the year.
Sox official score card from today game vs the Orioles:
| Boston | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Ellsbury, CF | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .268 |
| Pedroia, 2B | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .281 |
| Ortiz, DH | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .196 |
| Youkilis, 1B | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .469 |
| Baldelli, RF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .231 |
| Carter, RF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .000 |
| Bay, LF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | .293 |
| Lowell, 3B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .280 |
| 1-Velazquez, PR-3B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Varitek, C | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .250 |
| Kottaras, G, C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .222 |
| Green, N, SS | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .240 |
| Totals | 39 | 12 | 15 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 20 |
| 1-Ran for Lowell in the 7th. |
| BATTING 2B: Ellsbury (2, Hendrickson), Ortiz (2, Hendrickson), Pedroia (4, Hendrickson), Lowell (4, Liz). 3B: Ortiz (1, Sarfate). HR: Varitek (3, 2nd inning off Hendrickson, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Ellsbury 4; Pedroia 5; Ortiz 5; Youkilis; Bay; Lowell 3; Varitek 5. RBI: Pedroia 3 (5), Baldelli (1), Varitek (4), Ortiz 2 (6), Lowell 2 (13), Ellsbury (4), Youkilis (10), Carter (1). 2-out RBI: Pedroia; Ortiz 2; Lowell. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Lowell 2; Bay; Carter; Varitek 2. SF: Carter. Team RISP: 8-for-18. Team LOB: 11.BASERUNNING SB: Ellsbury (5, 3rd base off Hendrickson/Zaun).FIELDING E: Green, N (2, fielding), Velazquez (1, throw). DP: 2 (Green, N-Pedroia-Youkilis 2). |