Jonathan Van Every, Won’t Be Forgetting!

This will definitely be the week that rookie Jonathan Van Every, won’t be forgetting about anytime soon.  Van Every who recorded his first major league home-run and game winning hit as a pro on Wednesday evening, added another first on Thursday.  What was it?  With the Boston Red Sox so far out of the contest with the Tampa Bay Rays, in game 1 of their 4 game series, he got the call.  With a depleted bullpen Van Every who was in right field was summoned to the mound by manager Terry Francona, to help save some very tired arms.

After hitting the bullpen early and often enroute to their worst defeat of the season, Francona could have continued using his “pen” or see if Van Every had something left in his arm.  Van Every who hadn’t pitched in over a decade not since he was back at University Christian High School, in Mississippi as a senior, actually didn’t fair all that bad.  He was called upon to retire the rest of the Rays in the eighth and he made pretty quick work in doing so.  As he tossed only 15 pitches with 9 going for strikes, while allowing only 1 hit and walking 1.

Now if you think the entire situation couldn’t get stranger, wait it gets stranger, as not only did Van Every become the pitcher.  But Javier “Javy” Lopez, made his way out to right-field in place of Van Every and stayed in the line-up as the Sox #3 hitter replacing David Ortiz.  So in the matter of moments a few things you won’t see everyday happened, a positional player pitches and a pitcher plays the field.  One last quick note Lopez was the first Sox pitcher to play the field since Tom Burgmeier, back in 1980.