Brandon Moss walked out of the shower, clutching his towel, and faced down the gaggle of reporters gathered in front of the two temporary green lockers in the middle of the clubhouse, one belonging to him, the other to Jacoby Ellsbury. He shook his head, reached in, and grabbed the clothes that hung there. He walked over to the unoccupied locker of Dustin Pedroia to dress.
"I'm going to have to talk to him about this," Moss said. "He's going to have to stop hitting bombs."
Though Ellsbury might not be swayed, his current kick has rocketed him up into the sphere of power hitter. OK, not quite. But with his two-run, fourth-inning shot into the Red Sox bullpen in a 5-3 win over Toronto last night, Ellsbury now has two homers in 31 major league at-bats after hitting just two in 436 minor league at-bats this season between Double A and Triple A.
With Josh Beckett pitching a tick better than Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay, Ellsbury tried to outdo (or at least match) his Pawtucket roommate, Clay Buchholz, who happened to throw a no-hitter Saturday night. Coming up one double short of the cycle, Ellsbury demonstrated both the newfound power and the speed that have endeared him to all of Red Sox Nation, including the 36,839 in attendance last night.
Had he ever completed a cycle before?
"I don't think so," said Ellsbury, who had just the three at-bats last night. "Usually I'll miss one of them. I'll get two doubles or two triples to miss the cycle."
Two triples? "I almost had three in Double A," he said, before admitting that it's usually the home run that gets him.
"He's a strong kid," Beckett said. "I think he's learned how to hit the ball with authority. [When he first came up] you could almost see him trying to hit a ground ball the other way because everyone knew he was a fast guy. Now he's swinging the bat with authority.
"He's strong, as strong as anybody. He was feeling his way through it at first, but now he's one of our guys."
But the three-quarter cycle (single, home run, triple) might not have been possible if it weren't for Coco Crisp. After J.D. Drew opened the fourth inning with a walk, Kevin Youkilis pushed him to third base with a line single to center. Jason Varitek struck out swinging. With one out, Crisp grounded a ball to second baseman Aaron Hill, who sent it to shortstop John McDonald hoping to start the double play. With an oncoming Youkilis, McDonald relayed to Lyle Overbay just a split second too late.
Crisp was called safe. Drew scored. Next up, Ellsbury.
"It was a bang-bang play. I beat it out," Crisp said. "That's what you're supposed to do. Run the ball out. Nothing special."
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