It’s a telling sign about Boston’s power outage when the guy who returns to the lineup after missing 35 games still leads the club in home runs. David Ortiz returned to the Red Sox lineup Friday night against the Kansas City Royals and, along with Pedro Ciriaco, helped to propel the Red Sox to a 4-3 win. Somehow, things are always different with Ortiz in the lineup.
Tonight’s game was, of course, a minor occurrence amidst the backdrop of a mammoth trade deal between the Sox and Dodgers. The reported trade deal includes Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto for James Loney (1B), Jerry Sanders (OF/1B), Ivan de Jesus (INF), Allen Webster (RHP) and a player to be named later plus cash considerations.
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Jon Lester went seven complete innings (he left the game with a gimpy hamstring – you’ve got to be kidding, right?) and was assisted by shutdown relief from Vicente Padilla, Andrew Miller and the just activated and 2012 expected closer Andrew Bailey.
Papi got it going early with a single in the first inning that scored Ciriaco and Jacoby Ellsbury. In the top of the third, Kansas City tied to it at 2-2 on an Eric Hosmer solo homer and an Alex Gordon double that scored Alcides Escobar.
KC took the lead in the fourth when Johnny Giavotella singled to Sox first baseman Mauro Gomez (AGonz has been scratched just before the game, driving a media feeding frenzy that continued into the early morning hours Saturday) to score Mike Moustakas.
"In the seventh, Sox sensational surprise Ciriaco doubled to score Gomez and Mike Aviles to put the Sox up 4-3 for good. Keep this kid and keep playing him until he proves he’s not worthy. So far, I have seen nothing that would contradict the fact that he’s the real deal. Oh wait, stop letting pitchers get you in a pitcher’s count and whiffing you on a hard curve. It’s not like I’m outing a secret. Teams now know this. If Ciriaco can correct this flaw and stay healthy – he’s 6′, 170 soaking wet – he can be a real force."
Bailey came in and did what Sox fans had hoped for all year; he put KC down 1, 2, 3 to ice the win. It was a solid Boston win completely overshadowed by a potential blockbuster trade. Film at 11. Stay tuned to www.bosoxinjection.com for details.
By the way, Adrian Beltre has been mashing it and hit for the cycle tonight. Good luck getting that salt out of your wound.
Baby, even the losers, get lucky sometimes.
Baby, even the losers, keep a little bit of pride, they get lucky sometimes.
– Even The Losers, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers