One inning may decide a game, but one game doesn’t decide a season. Daniel Bard had a very rough outing, probably the worst in his career. What was most concerning isn’t that Bard gave up four runs in the bottom of the eighth, it was the fact his fastball never registered above 96 mph. We need to see those triple digit fast balls for him to be successful. I would much rather look at the positives in this game instead of dwelling on a loss. Lets look back and be grateful for the following;
Lets leadoff with the leadoff- Jacoby Ellsbury reached base four times yesterday. Which is everything the Sox expect from their speedy center fielder. The major critiscm about Ellsbury leading off is that he doesn’t get on base enough. He started the regular season right where he left off in the spring. Getting on base, scoring runs and stealing bases.
Adrian Gonzalez wasted little time making his presence known by driving in three runs in his first two at bats. Expect this to be a constant, he is going to get plenty more at bats this year with runners in scoring postion for him to take advantage of his sweet swing.
Rhode Island native Dan Wheeler breezed in his first relief appearance.
David Ortiz blasts his first homer of the season, before May even. More importantly, it game at a crucial point in the game. This was the highlight of the afternoon. Not only tied the game for one brief moment. Like the old days, Big Papi delivered in the clutch. Whenever a home run off the bat of Ortiz lands in the left center field seats, then you know his timing is down perfect.
Baseball is a games of inches, and David Murphy hit a pitch that was 6 inches off the plate and landed just on the chalk down the left field line. Nine times out of ten his swings and misses at this pitch, just not yesterday.
So one down 161 to go. Not so bad when you look at it that way, is it?
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