Lester started the game with an initial two innings having thrown 58 pitches, two walks, five hits and three runs. He went on to labor through three additional innings as he took the loss for the game (0-1 for '10) and the Twins prevailed 5-2.
However it wasn't all Lester's fault. Sure he didn't execute his pitches and nail down his location, but there were two hits in the game that graced off of Sox fielder's gloves for a hit (one for an RBI) and another hit up the middle that skipped awkwardly off of the second base bag to bring in another run.
Then again the Sox didn't exact provide the run support their accustomed to either, with a solid outing from Twins starter Pavano.
The Beantown Bombers dropped to 3-4 on the season, but there was one silver lining – struggling DH David Ortiz secured a towering RBI-double, his most solid contact of the season by far.
Still Papi is currently 3 for 24, hitting .136 with 3 hits, 2 walks, 11 strikeouts, no homers and 2 ribbies. Unsettling considering Ortiz had a huge slump to start the '09 season, not going yard til May 20th, nor hitting a follow-up second homerun til June 6th.
Add to that the fact that Ortiz has already been tossed from a game for arguing strikes and went on a brief expletive-filled tirade on a Boston radio show -- aparently buckling under the pressure of his slow start.
According to baseball sources, an at-bat sample size of 24 is too premature too tell. They say the usual litmus test for a veteran hitter is 100 at bats, but the Sox slugger needs to turn things around sooner than that if he intends to keep his DH role instead of being a pinch hitter.
The talk in Boston is that the Sox may be giving Ortiz a shorter leash than usual considering they have another veteran all-star hitter like Mike Lowell riding the pine who could make a great DH for them.
Time to turn it around Papi. Boston loves ya, but the Sox are in the toughest division in baseball by aways, and must raise the bar each year for that reason. Ortiz can't be the weight that lowers or staggers that bar, otherwise he may find himself riding the pine pony or worse -- traded.
Not something I want to see happen (because I dig Papi and think his bat will come back to haunt us later) but I'd give him 20-25 games to turn his stroke around before his name winds up in some nasty trade rumors.
Because if there's anything we know about Sox GM Theo Epstein, its that unfortunately business will always come before loyalty -- even to the man who helped dethrone the Yankees in 2004.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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