Now we know the Red Sox are not going 162-0. Two games is a very small sample. Here’s what we’re seeing:
■ You knew it was going to be bad when the Run Prevention Sox made their first error of 2010. And it was. The Sox and Yankees were locked in a 4-4 game in the eighth last night when Derek Jeter hit a routine grounder to short with two on and two out. Marco Scutaro’s throw bounced in front of Kevin Youkilis and everybody was safe.
What could we say other than, “Lugo would have made the play, Renteria would have made the play, Nick Green would have made the play’’? Naturally, Hideki Okajima walked the next batter and the Yankees went ahead, 5-4, on the way to a 6-4 win. It’ll probably be Boston’s only unearned run all season, but it hurt nonetheless.
■ The David Ortiz Dilemma is real. Big Papi went 0 for 4 last night and is hitless in the first two games. He made the final out of three innings. He struck out miserably with a man on second and two outs when the game was tied, 4-4, in the fifth.
Ortiz is going to be a thorn in the side of Terry Francona unless he starts hitting. If we could extract emotion and loyalty from the equation, Ortiz would not have started the opener against CC Sabathia and he would not start tonight against Andy Pettitte. Granted, Ortiz has good lifetime numbers against Pettitte (18 for 49, .367, 1 homer, 10 RBIs) but that was then and this is now.
Ortiz can’t hit lefties anymore. He says he has nothing to prove. He’s wrong. He says he’s going to be here next year. Wrong again. We love the Big Fella, but it looks very much like it’s over.
Ortiz never gets a hit against a good pitcher anymore. He’s missing his pitch when he gets ahead on the count (did you see the slow swing on the 3-and-1 cookie Sabathia threw him Sunday?).
Oh, and the shift is killing him, too. Papi actually barreled up a ball on a 3-and-1 pitch from A.J. Burnett last night, but it resulted in a grounder to second that would have been a single to right if not for the shift invented by Joe Maddon.
It’s not fair to give up on Ortiz based on a couple of games, but at this juncture, it’s clear that the Sox would be better off using Mike Lowell as designated hitter against lefties. Lowell is a man waiting to be traded (he was dutifully taking grounders at first base at 4 o’clock yesterday), but he’s still more of a threat than Ortiz to hit southpaws.
■ The Sox probably have the best starters in baseball, but Josh Beckett and Jon Lester in the first two games combined for an aggregate 9 2/3 innings, giving up 13 hits and 9 runs, walking 6 and hitting 2. Red Sox Nation tonight turns its lonely eyes to newbie John Lackey.
