Boston hit 4 homers on 20 hits Monday to bring down a mighty reckoning of vengeance on their west-coast rivals who knocked them out of the ALDS last October. Defense, again, was not a premium in this one – but Clay Bucholz's start was variably better than any of the Angels pitchers could manage last night. Clay got the win, but gave up 8 hits and 4 runs over 5-2/3 innings.
Bill Hall and Adrian Beltre hit their first home runs as members of the Red Sox and Pedroia and Youkilis contributed dingers to the pummeling as well. It seemed no matter who was up to the plate, the Angels starter Saunders and multiple bullpen members could just not avoid giving up a hit and couldn't buy an out to get out of troublesome innings.
Sox record: (12-14)
Yay's:
- After missing action and being scratched from the lineup Sunday with a sore groin, Youkilis stepped back into action and slammed a pitch over the monster in his first at-bat to ignite the Sox's offensive onslaught for the evening.
- J.D. Drew was about the only guy who had a good series in Baltimore last weekend, hitting 2 homeruns in 3 games. His quality at-bats continued Monday going 2-3 with a walk. Call me crazy, but I've noticed that the Sox have traditionally gotten a couple hot months per season out of Drew and when he's on, the whole team gets a boost. I'm not saying Drew is the X-factor in the lineup that decides Boston's fate, but he certainly has a big impact at times.
- Mike Lowell was inserted in the DH spot for Ortiz in the series opener, a great move by Terry Francona for the outing as the clutch veteran matched up with Saunders better than Papi and went 4-4 with 4 RBIs. Even though the Sox organization has officially resisted to call the Papi-Lowell mix a "platoon", it appears to be nothing else than that. Which in my mind, works perfectly. It gives you options for matchups and if one guy gets hot, hey great leave him in. If not? Well then you've still got options and with Papi getting better at-bats as of late and Lowell continuedly proving his value – that's the best solution for the Sox.
- Being swept by the Orioles in Baltimore over the weekend noticeably didn't sit well with the Red Sox players and staff. They made no excuses, stayed focused, used it as fuel and clearly made a statement in their powerful win over the Halos.
Nay's:
- I believe the Sox's whole emphasis this offseason was defense. They still appear to have too much offense and not enough of the big D. Even in overpowering wins like 17-8, that is still not the kind of baseball the Sox want to playing. Baseball's an endurance sport, and it's a 3-game set with the Angels here even in the short term. Scoring 17 runs one night and not having enough in the tank for the next 2 nights is not the goal.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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